The good olde Days

[John Mitchell]

I'm beginning to think it might be worthwhile for me to bring my old Nikons and Leica M6 up to Adorama to try to sell while this wave of technical nostalgia lasts. 

 

With the advent of mirrorless cameras and cheap adapters, I'm actually in the odd situation of re-buying lenses that I used to own. Last year, I purchased a couple old Minolta prime lenses to use on my Sony NEX cameras. I got these beautifully made lenses for a song, but I notice that their prices on eBay, etc. have been edging up steadily since then. Nostalgia can be profitable, it seems.

[John Richmond]

Oddly. helping my father in his (blacked out bathroom) darkroom in the very early 60's didn't turn me onto photography.  What it did do was turn me to Chemistry and the other Sciences and that's the direction I went.  I didn't pick up photography again till the eighties.

[Colin Woods]

 

I was recently given an almost complete darkroom, so I will be going back to doing a bit of wet printing soon. Just for the joy of seeing the picture emerge in the tray. I picked up an F100 (that is a lot of camera for the $120 I paid for it) and am using Tri-X 400. I love my pixels, but somehow they are a bit sterile so I will be doing a bit of chemistry on the side.

My earlier comment was a complaint... BUT, In your situation I would be sorely tempted.

Have you costed the chemicals and paper yet?

Dug out my old Yashica FXd last year... the advance lever is bust, so I'd have to buy another camera.

 

I got quite a lot of chemistry with the hardware, enough to get me going at least. I also got about 150 sheets of paper. Its all about 10 yrs out of date but its been stored in a cool basement so it should be OK, at least for proofing and playing with. The chemicals and paper will be much more expensive than I used to pay back in the day but I won't be doing much of it. Besides, compared to what I have just paid for the D750 and 3 new lenses, the paper will be well affordable. 

The advance lever on my K1000 broke - I super-glued a nail onto it. It looked well hardcore.

[Chuck Nacke]

I was into "chemistry" in the late 70's and then found photography.....

 

Hey Edo have any F bodies with prism finders that you want to sell?

[Davey Towers]

 

I was reminiscing just this afternoon on days gone by in the photographers world. I remember learning about fstops, depth of field, shutter speed, ISO's, film grain, pushing film, pulling film, film latitude etc etc. But mostly, before I had my own darkroom, the stickers you got on your prints telling you what you already knew!!! My absolute fave photographer is/was Ansel Adams. I bet he didn't have those problems. What sticks out in your mind of days gone by in the photographic world? Regards, Davey

Apparently there's  a resurgence of interest in shooting 35mm film, so, will you be joining them and buying a few rolls Davey?

 

If you believe the photo mags, apparently there IS a resurgence of interest, especially from teenagers! I have a couple of 35mm cameras in the cupboard still and the darkroom equipment is available on line. I just have nowhere to set it up these days

[AlbertSnapper]

I still often put film through my old Leica and H'blad cameras. Despite the costs involved of process/scan etc., it still returns a good profit.

 

Don't process at home, just go to a nearby lab a few miles away, which seems to do well (absorbed the work from now defunct photo labs), and a local college there keeps a steady flow of students popping in.

 

I've just put a roll of 35mm colour film through my Leica. The film is produced by that well known brand Zen ! (anyone heard of them ?). The film was 9 years past it's use by date, spent much of that time in the Greek heat, and I've pushed it two stops. Results should be interesting !

 

I find that when using film, I tend to be in a different mindset. Certainly wouldn't look to do the illustrative type of editorial shots that Alamy is good at licensing. I'm more creative, never quite sure what I'm going to get, enjoy the moment when collecting the processed films, and go Wow ! (or 'that was a waste of time' !).

 

I liked being able to drop off the trannies (film, not people) with whoever, along with maybe a short caption, and then leave the rest of the process with them. Rather than sit in front of a computer monitor and do the work.

[NYCat]

I know a young woman who has fallen in love with photography and it is film that she loves. She asked for advice about where to buy an inexpensive film camera and I had one I inherited that I was able to give her (I'm keeping my old F100 just in case) and she was thrilled. Then a friend of mine wanted to get rid of her old black and white enlarger and other darkroom equipment. She is very happy and we are happy to free up some space in our apartments.

 

Paulette

[Paul Mayall]

The good old days certainly bring back fond memories,  however when i think of all the running around buying film trying to calculate how many rolls to take how to best store them on long trips especially in outback Australia with temps from 30 to 50 c,  not forgetting airport security and their x_ray machines and so on,  we seemed to make more of a effort then, trying to use only 50 or 100 asa film, No Image stabilization,  yes often a challenge,  and more rewarding in $$$.

 

The best times were waiting hours sometimes days even weeks to see the results on a lightbox. AH yes the good old days!

 

Now back to my DSLR and computer that i am so much in love with .

 

Paul.

[Ed Rooney]

 

I'm beginning to think it might be worthwhile for me to bring my old Nikons and Leica M6 up to Adorama to try to sell while this wave of technical nostalgia lasts. 

 

With the advent of mirrorless cameras and cheap adapters, I'm actually in the odd situation of re-buying lenses that I used to own. Last year, I purchased a couple old Minolta prime lenses to use on my Sony NEX cameras. I got these beautifully made lenses for a song, but I notice that their prices on eBay, etc. have been edging up steadily since then. Nostalgia can be profitable, it seems.

 

 

 

 

I was into "chemistry" in the late 70's and then found photography.....

 

Hey Edo have any F bodies with prism finders that you want to sell?

 

 

Yes, John -- I have a Nikon adopter for my NEX bodies, too, but since I have all the very good Sony and Zeiss lenses I need, with all their bells and whistles, I tend not to use the older Nikons lenses. 

 

And, Chuck, all my F and F2 cameras do have simple prisms without meters . . . but I do not sell personally to individuals. Been there, done that, and I've learned my lesson. Sorry, but that's my final word on the subject.

 

Edo

[Paul Mayall]

 

 

Where's my trusty, old, rock solid Nikon F4s?

F4s,  Now that is a camera for pros only,  1 heck of a solid workhorse that did the job without failure for the guys and gals who knew what they were doing with such a piece of kit.

[spacecadet]

When I worked for the MoD we hardly used 35mm. but fancied some new toys. So we just ordered six F4s. We put them in some very dangerous places.

[Guest]

 

 

Where's my trusty, old, rock solid Nikon F4s?

F4s, Now that is a camera for pros only, 1 heck of a solid workhorse that did the job without failure for the guys and gals who knew what they were doing with such a piece of kit.

 

 

Yes, sir

And so solidly built, I could use the F4s to hammer my tent pegs into frozen tundra ground. Never crossed my mind doing that with my D750

 

Cheers,

Philippe

 

 

Hmmm...The girlie version......F4E user here...... and yes, you literally could hammer in a nail with one...... the best ergonomic, hand-fitting camera I've ever used....and just so pretty as well 

 

Still would rather have digital in the bag...and film era returns in the bank.....

[Robert Brook]

What I miss is having my Hasselblad back suddenly spring a leak, and then going back to do a reshoot the following week, just as storm clouds are gathering.

[MDM]

Yes who wouldn't miss inhaling all that chemical (in the darkroom that is)? And my OM2 was never that good at hammering in tent pegs (actually I was never quite that silly). No the main thing I miss about the olde days is my youth although not that much really - the knowledge that I definitely will not be here in 40 years time and quite possibly not next year that is sobering when I think about it (the death of Bowie is yet another reminder of mortality). No time for looking backwards really.

 

You can have all the nostalgia you want. I love my Nikon DSLRs which allow me to recover images that were accidentally 3 stops underexposed and nobody noticed that they were a bit noisy. That would have been disaster in the olde days.

 

And thereare  some really amazing inkjet papers around now - actually let's call them giclée as it sounds better. I've just experimenting with the Permajet Fibre Based test packs and the results are astounding. Only an expert would tell the difference between these and silver halide papers. Back to the darkroom - no way. Having said that I still have all my darkroom gear and film cameras but I'm not even tempted right now. But never say never - that's why I kept the stuff (that and the awful trade in prices that were on offer when I went digital).

[MDM]

 

 

Yeah ....! 

And you had to THINK!

Blackbird in the snow on a sunny day. Hmmmm..... should I underexpose? Overexpose? How much? Should I use spot metering? Or should I aim for a medium gray subject, lock that exposure and recompose? Ah, those brains had to work hard, those good old days

 

 

You still have to think - all of the above - but you now have a lot more latitude for errors which is surely not a bad thing. You still have to choose the right light, aperture, shutter speed, compose (in-camera and in PP), learn how to calibrate a monitor and colour manage if you want to do it right, learn how to use a raw converter, Lightroom, Photoshop and even a printer if that takes your fancy (it does mine - I love to make a good print). It's not at all as easy as it looks.

[TokyoM1ke]

 

 

 

Yeah ....! 

And you had to THINK!

Blackbird in the snow on a sunny day. Hmmmm..... should I underexpose? Overexpose? How much? Should I use spot metering? Or should I aim for a medium gray subject, lock that exposure and recompose? Ah, those brains had to work hard, those good old days

 

 

You still have to think - all of the above - but you now have a lot more latitude for errors which is surely not a bad thing. You still have to choose the right light, aperture, shutter speed, compose (in-camera and in PP), learn how to calibrate a monitor and colour manage if you want to do it right, learn how to use a raw converter, Lightroom, Photoshop and even a printer if that takes your fancy (it does mine - I love to make a good print). It's not at all as easy as it looks.

 

And when you totally lose the plot... like me, you can print to acetates and then try some alternative process contact printing! I've really got into platinum and palladium printing over the last year or so and the results are worth the effort (finally - I really should have gone on a course rather than just buying a book and reading the internet). Actually it's just reminded me that I need to update my website page on my experiences: http://www.maudric.com/blog/platinum-and-palladium-printing/  Funnily enough, to get good results requires some significant work in calibrating the digital negative (contrast curve mainly), using all the powers of Ps, in combination with a very high quality printer.  Ultimately it's for fun and I am so glad that I only make Pt/Pd prints when I want to, rather than having to rely on analogue/chemical processes!