Starter Film camera?

While cleaning the house I found an AE-1 and quite a few lenses and stuff that I need out of my way. If I post some pics could you knowledgeable gents help me figure out what I have?

Unless someone has a Photosniper () I'll be emailing ddavidv, though I'm sure I'll have to save up for quite a while.
I' a firm believer in learning on something with no nannies or automatic selections, I'll move to auto settings when I get a lot better maybe, but knowing how every setting really impacts the finished product will help me a lot in the long run. (same reason I do videos with film cameras, and I only moved to a digital 8mm instead of a hi8 with great consternation)
consider me borderline retarded when it comes to photo cameras, so I need to start from the ground up.

Also: I made it into say what? this issue! lol. first time for me, though I see some of you guys in there every month

Any love for a Ricoh KR-5 super II?

I have one I got for photo class in high school. I'll let it go cheap if your interested. sample

I'd recommend a Pentax ZX-50, with a nice 28-80 lens and a longer 70-210mm zoom lens, maybe a flash unit and some filters. Why? Because I have one that I'd love to have back into good hands!

Starter camera to learn on and capable of taking great pics- and inexpensive?

Know what I'd go with.

A classic. Built like a tank too.

well I have gotten in touch with ddavidv, and if I am buying his I will saving for a couple weeks. just curious: nicksta43 & pinchvalve, how much?
I am a poor person who has to commute to work because I can't afford to move out of my in-law's house. lol

I'll take $40. Comes with soft bag, instruction manual, Kalimar 175A automatic flash, Rikenon 50mm lens and I'll even throw in an old Yashica electro 35 gt that needs a little work.

It's in very good condition. Takes very good pictures and feels good in my hands. I can take pictures of everything if you want.

The Ricoh is an all-manual camera similar to the ones we have spoken of throughout the thread. It's a little cheaper-made than the mostly-metal cameras like the Nikon FM, Canon AE-1, Olympus OM and Pentax K1000, but the meter is great, and it supports all Pentax K-mount lenses. I'd go for that.

The Pentax above is nice but it's a modern autofocus body with fully automated modes. I'm sure it has a manual mode but it will be much more suited to automated shooting than manual. Not the best to learn on, if you want to learn about shutter speeds, aperture, and light metering. A good camera, but not for the purpose we have been talking about.

B&W film for the win!

two ways to go for B&W, traditional development or C-41 (color process). Traditional B&W you can do at home real easy, but need to invest in a set up. C-41 B&W, you can bring to any one hour place. Ilford XP2 (C-41) is great stuff. The Kodak version is good, too, but Kodak itself is a sinking ship. Just make sure the lab can do a b&w channel on their machine, if you want the prints to look B&W.

Anyway, with traditional development, get a film changing bag and a two reel tank (and reels). A timer. Chemicals. You can even do home brew. And a thermometer. a couple of graduated measurers and three graduated pitchers. And you are good to go.

I would recommend having the negatives scanned. Nice thing about the C-41 B&W, you can have it scanned at the lab, for a small fee. A good 35mm film scanner will set you back a grand or so, used!

B&H Photo Video and Adorama are the two big mail order houses and they have mostly everything. http://www.freestylephoto.biz/index.php is a bit smaller, but has B&W supplies.

And if you want to try out medium format, the seagull TLR might be a good place to start. thread on the seagull: http://photo.net/equipment/medium-format/seagull

And a bounce flash, vivtar 285 or sunpak 333, will make the indoor shots an order of magnitude or two better.

+1 on Olympus OM-1's. +1 on Pentax K-1000.

Oh and I have one word for you for traditional Black and White film developing.

Diafine.

The stuff is awesome. It pushes most film 1 stop faster, so 100 speed becomes 200, 400 becomes 800, so on. It's not temperature or time sensitive in the least as compared to most developers. And finally, it lasts for more than a year once mixed.

Thank you, O great Brain Trust, for this wealth of information.
I have decided to start setting money aside for the KM from ddavidv, as I just feel it's something worth saving for.
Will keep this thread updated as I progress!

If you do decide to develop at home check yard sales for an enlarger if you want to go that route. I got an oldy but a goody at a yardsale for $20 complete with trays and tongs. I am going to convert the tiny bathroom off my office into a dark room.

rebelgtp wrote: If you do decide to develop at home check yard sales for an enlarger if you want to go that route. I got an oldy but a goody at a yardsale for $20 complete with trays and tongs. I am going to convert the tiny bathroom off my office into a dark room.

WOW that's a deal. I'm definitely going to be looking into the second hand market for all the darkroom stuff. I won't be able to set one up until I get to move so I have a little while to plan it out at least

Its sitting in storage, make me an offer.

+1 on the home darkroom experience. I used to do B & W in the kitchen of my apartment, and later as I gained experience, color. The results were quite satisfactory, and it kept me off the streets.

Sadly, now that I have a house and kids, I have not the time for such pursuits.

dad had a darkroom in our house when I was a kid... I still love digging though the tons of contact prints... he did a mix of B&W and color though...

his camera was stolen on mom n dads honey moon in NYC... ended up that the police got a hold of it and processed the film as B&W and ruined the roll :(... good memories

All this love for the K1000, I should chalk my personal experience with one being a POS to the fact is was a community college rental unit.

Still hated the simple +/- light meter.

This in the AE-1 made it much faster to get dialed in, for me at least.

I have a ton of film cameras, but never owned a K1000. Hmmm, maybe it's time to pick one up.

By the way, I have a FED--a Soviet Leica, basically. I paid less than a hundred dollars for it, and it's in beautiful condition.

I used a K1000 for a long time. Still got it somewhere, still in the case with a bunch of lenses. All this talk of film has me getting the urge to go find it. It does need the foam bumper for the mirror replaced. That's the only reason I stopped using it.

It was replaced with a plastic fantastic Nikon that got the job done, but wasn't near as durable. Still got it too.

That was replaced with Sony's first digital camera. The one that used the 3.5" floppies for memory. Yep, still got that too.

Next was a Sony Cybershot. Not bad until the flash died. Still got it though.

That was replaced with a newer smaller Cybershot that I still use once in a while.

That was replaced by a Nikon D3000 DSLR that the wife uses a lot.

Me, I mostly use my cell phone now.

Maybe it's time to go back to basics. I took some really cool photos with that K1000. Not that I have time to revive another hobby.

I've also got one of these somewhere. I always wanted to find some film for it and give it a try. The bellows are even still intact. It was my Grandmothers. Now if I could just remember which box I stuck it in when we moved.

Toyman01 wrote: I've also got one of these somewhere. I always wanted to find some film for it and give it a try. The bellows are even still intact. It was my Grandmothers. Now if I could just remember which box I stuck it in when we moved.

We actually have a house full of those cameras--maybe three dozen. My parents finally got tired of dusting them, so when they moved they shipped them to us.

My two favorite film cameras right now:

I also have one of these in a complete kit, original box, flash, case, everything. I traded a cheapy socket set for it.

In reply to David S. Wallens:

So, can I blame you if my wife gets mad at me for buying a FED?

neon4891 wrote: In reply to David S. Wallens: So, can I blame you if my wife gets mad at me for buying a FED?

No, it's totally cool. We have ours on the mantle.