photography, 35mm

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nemoskull

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i fell in love with it and figured out how to devlope in coffie. got an old SLR and just love it.

i eventually want to get a 1950 german camera. had one and bought it to flip it, but fell in love with it as well. 70 years and was still usable with out major repairs.

anyways, thats my hobby. i shoot black and white. (yes, you can still buy it. and no its not going away. people still shoot glass degouretype. 1800's era cameras. glass film!)
 
That brings back memories from high school when I used to have friends that would convert their restroom into a darkroom for black and white photography. I was tempted to get into darkroom developing myself, but the sheer stench from all the chemicals was enough to keep me away from it.
 
I would refrain any camera talk around caseyc he can really chime in ( with a lot of useful stuff of coarse ) Occasionally dust off my old Leica M4. 45 years young.
 
I used to shoot 35mm, but the digital age has caught up with me. I have a Coolpix S6300 I'm still trying to get used to its many features. My old Kodak digital was so simple.
 
I'm wondering what the OP means by a "1950 german camera"? Would that be an antique Leica, Hasselblad, or even a Minox spy camera?? Sometimes it's hard to even buy film for stuff that gets up in age.

My last film camera was a Nikon F4. I shot many thousands and thousands of frames with that sucker. I shudder at thinking of what all that film and processing must have cost. Alas, one day the camera died on me due to a long period of non-usage.


Wagoneer: Isn't the Leica M4 a range finder film camera? I had friends in the past who used those Leica cameras, but I always found it hard to focus with a range finder viewfinder. I used to always pay extra for installing a horizonal split image prism inside the viewfinder for precise focusing. Users always raved about the quality of the Leica lenses. Although I'm sure it's good stuff, it's probably on the same par as my Hasselblad lenses which also cost many thousands each. Leica users also used to say how "quiet" the shutter is. Personally, I always thought the Leica camera made a noticeable clunking noise upon pressing the shutter release. I would have liked having a Leica camera myself, but I just couldn't see having so much multiple incompatible camera equipment.
 
I bought a little Argus slide viewer at an estate sale back in the spring. Put a new light bulb in it the other day, and remembered that my parents have a few boxes of 35mm slides, shot when they were in their mid to late 20s. All photos that I've never seen before. I'm looking forward to going through them. I'm sure they haven't looked at these photos in 30+ years, so I'm thinking maybe I'll pull out the most compelling images and make some sort of art project to give to them as holiday gifts.
 
That would be a really nice thing to do and if you have a good screen and a slide projector (easy to come by and cheap. you could shoot digital copies. Leica made a good product, Hasselblad made a good product. different animals. I think the sharpest lens I ever shot was a nikon copy lens that came in a wood box ouch that lens was sharp, a little too sharp if thats possible. Larger cameras used a lot of Goerz lenses. A lot wound up in china snapped up on eBay Wow talk about off topic!
 
I enjoy 35mm photography also, I haven't gotten into digital because I would have to spend a lot of money on new equipment. There are still a lot of good working 35mm cameras on the used market! And there are still places to send your film for processing. I send my film to a place called The Darkroom, I can see my photos on their web site before I get them back in the mail! They send the negs back and a disk with the photos on it so I can put them on the computer.
 
I don't know much about 35mm film photography but I am interested in fine art photography and photoshop and I just bought my first dSLR. It's a Canon 70d with the 18-135mm lens and the 55-250mm lens. Since I'm already overwhelmed, I'm not purchasing anymore lens but I do want a 35mm prime lens in my bag.

What type of camera do you have now?
 
Congrats on your new purchase. Photography is fun and can also be profitable. "Profitability" assuming if that's what you might want can vary wildly, as with most anything.

Before you purchase anything more, you really need to define exactly what type of photography you want to do. "Fine art" photography is just a weee bit too vague. You will need to be more exacting. Does that mean taking images of models (people) for example? Or no humans, but landscapes or nature/scenery shots? Lens selections will vary depending on what type of subject matter you will be shooting.

As for a 35mm prime lens, that also depends on what type of subject matter you will be shooting. By 35mm, do you mean with or with-out the "focal length multiplier effect?" To answer this question, that will depend on whether or not your particular camera body is "full frame" or not. A full frame body (or non-full frame) will make a huuuge difference as to your lens selection, especially for a wide angle lens.

I'm not sure if what I wrote above is over your head, or if you fully understood the implications of the various things I wrote. I know you said you are a beginner, so I don't want to assume if you know these things already or not.

Cheers,
Casey




cerenatee said:
I don't know much about 35mm film photography but I am interested in fine art photography and photoshop and I just bought my first dSLR. It's a Canon 70d with the 18-135mm lens and the 55-250mm lens. Since I'm already overwhelmed, I'm not purchasing anymore lens but I do want a 35mm prime lens in my bag.

What type of camera do you have now?
 
Thanks for the input Casey. I've read a few websites so I have general knowledge about photography. Right now I plan to focus on the 70d so FF will be awhile coming, if it ever gets here. :) I think of myself as an artist more than a photographer. I like to reveal "my reality," which entails taking a picture and transforming it until the image reflects my thoughts, feelings, beliefs, dreams, and concepts. For me, photography is about the expression more than the actual image.

I want to focus on fine art photography that either invokes or transfers strong emotion. I love people, places, and things, so right now, I'm all over the place. I purchased the 70d because the zoom and the articulated screen are perfect for weird angle shots and for close up candid profile shots.
 
Nikon D1, F3 hp, canon G11 leica m4, contax iii, deardorff 4 x 5 , 5 x 7 Somebody slap me before I keep going. I sold the Deardorff 8 x 10, Nikon sp. Using the G11 for my ebay sales. Not sure who you are asking? 2 bolex 16mm
reflex movie camera.s sold the Arriflex, My son is using the Bolex. I promise to stop. Linhof 4 Rolliflex 2.8 Help!!!
 
http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/canon-eos-70d-with/4505-6501_7-35811197-2.html

You're welcome. The reason I asked if full frame or not is because of the focal length multiplier effect. If you refer to the link above, there is a chart showing the focal length multiplier being 1.6x for your particular Canon 70d body. In fact, various non-full frame Canon DSLR bodies have the 1.6x multiplier.

What that means is that if you're hoping to get a 35mm fixed focal length "prime" lens because you think this will provide a moderate amount of wide angle coverage, think again. What this really boils down to is that a 35mm fixed lens on your particular 70D body equates to approximately a 56mm focal length. That's because the math comes out to 35mm X 1.6 = 56mm.

Therefore, if you need a moderate wide angle lens, you will need something wider than 35mm. I'm guessing you don't want a fisheye with the distortion? Maybe a 20mm prime lens might work for you? A 20mm lens X 1.6 = 32mm which comes close to a 35mm coverage.

Plus a 20mm prime lens is typically pretty "fast" and usually has a maximum f2.8 aperture for low light hand held shooting at ISO range around 200 to 400, or maybe higher to around 800 to 1000 with relatively little "noise". Of course, a tripod is best if wanting to shoot at slowest ISO possible, especially under low light conditions or long time exposures.

By the way, the "focal length multipler effect" and corresponding lens selection only applies to DSLR bodies that are NOT full frame. If you do happen to have a full frame DSLR camera body, then non of this applies. In other words, a 35mm prime lens truly offers 35mm moderate wide angle coverage for a FULL frame DSLR camera body.





cerenatee said:
Thanks for the input Casey. I've read a few websites so I have general knowledge about photography. Right now I plan to focus on the 70d so FF will be awhile coming, if it ever gets here. :) I think of myself as an artist more than a photographer. I like to reveal "my reality," which entails taking a picture and transforming it until the image reflects my thoughts, feelings, beliefs, dreams, and concepts. For me, photography is about the expression more than the actual image.

I want to focus on fine art photography that either invokes or transfers strong emotion. I love people, places, and things, so right now, I'm all over the place. I purchased the 70d because the zoom and the articulated screen are perfect for weird angle shots and for close up candid profile shots.
 
I have a friend with a full frame Nikon D4 DSLR body plus a bunch of fast Nikon f2.8 zoom lenses. This already costs an arm and a leg. Then he went out and also bought a Hasselblad digital camera. Mind you, a completely digital Hasselblad camera, as opposed to simply buying a digital back for a film body. The sucker costs as much as an economy model new Mercedes Benz car. Well, maybe not so econony, as it can cost over $40,000 for such a camera. Unreal.


wagoneer said:
waiting for a less expensive full frame Nikon
 
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