raymac46 Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 I have a closet full of old Nikon F-mount lenses from my film camera days. I also have a teenaged granddaughter who is interested in learning about real photography (no not on a smartphone.) So I decided to get an old digital SLR from KEH (the used camera folks.) Something like the Nikon D90 is cheap as chips these days. It's bad for video but still you can get great still photos - and it works with all these great old film lenses. We'll see how it goes with my granddaughter. I can use the old camera and let her try my more modern Nikon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Neat. I got a old manual telephoto lens for my Pentax K 30 can not remember if I had to have a adapter plate or not. Did some very nice boho effect pictures with it. Was as cheap as chips compared with a modern lens for the K 30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 I have a Nikon 5500 DSLR which will meter and operate OK with the old lenses - but will not autofocus unless the motor is in the lens. The older Nikons will work with autofocus on the older lenses. Manual focus is a problem for my aging eyes, although most lenses have a focusing scale. Most of the improvements in cameras these days is in the area of video, and they are all mirrorless now. The old DSLRs are great for still photography - and that is what I want to do with them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 Here is the old (new to me) Nikon D90 at work. The lens I used here is a 1993 Nikkor 35-80 zoom which is now working perfectly in Autofocus mode. This lens isn't the greatest for build quality but it has pretty good optics. I have a number of old Nikon prime lenses which I'll try out one of these days. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 On 2/7/2024 at 1:43 PM, raymac46 said: but will not autofocus unless the motor is in the lens The old lens I got will not auto focus at all when on the K30. It is still packed away and I can not find any receipts for it either. Seems I can not find any pictures I took with it either apart from this one I was using as a wallpaper. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 My complete index of knowledge regarding photography: - point - click button - send film to be developed and later... - sit back and wonder what the H3LL that pic was supposed to be whilst looking through recently developed photos. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 On 2/9/2024 at 4:22 PM, V.T. Eric Layton said: My complete index of knowledge regarding photography: - point - click button - send film to be developed and later... - sit back and wonder what the H3LL that pic was supposed to be whilst looking through recently developed photos. Now it looks more like, ---- point ----click several hundred times ----download to pc and later... -----delete -delete-delete-delete-delete-save-delete-delete-delete-delete-save-delete--etc -----sit back and wonder what the H3LL you were taking a picture of in the first place 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 This is my old D90 hooked up to my Nikon film zoom lens from 1993. the camera body looks brand new, and when I checked the shutter count it has been used for less than 1000 activations. That means whoever owned it before me probably took about 80 photos per year with it. It has 99% of its shutter life left. Should be good for lots of dino photography with my old lenses. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 On 2/7/2024 at 12:37 PM, raymac46 said: from KEH (the used camera folks.) That site has some pretty good deals.Over here we would have to pay double or treble for the same stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bookmem Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 7 hours ago, abarbarian said: That site has some pretty good deals.Over here we would have to pay double or treble for the same stuff Before digital, you could buy film and have it developed at any pharmacy. How do you do that today and what does it cost? Has the price gone sky high like most scarce products? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 15 hours ago, Bookmem said: Before digital, you could buy film and have it developed at any pharmacy. How do you do that today and what does it cost? Has the price gone sky high like most scarce products? https://www.photo-express.co.uk/services/film-and-disposable-cameras https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/pages/film-developing Just two of the providers in the UK. You can still go to Boots, Tesco,Local camera shops and other shops and there are plenty of postal type services. Prices look pretty decent to me and do not seem to have been inflated at all. As to film choice it look to have increased a lot with many more companies offering a wide range of films types. https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/collections/all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 8 Author Share Posted March 8 As with other analog systems (such as vinyl records) there is some revival of film photography among the Millennial folks. Decent film equipment is dirt cheap and I daresay a lot of the younger set are interested in Black and White media. Getting it processed where I live would mean mailing it out or taking a trip to Ottawa where there are a couple of developers still in business. The local drugstore or Costco does not process film any longer. Neither do major camera firms like Henry's although they do offer digital printing. As for films Kodak, Ilford and Fuji can be purchased online but Kodachrome sadly is out of production. The older digital cameras can give a fair rendition of the grainy film look so many people are rolling that way. I was a holdout for years as far as SLR cameras went. I got my last film based camera around 2003 and I did shoot a vacation with it as late as 2006. Recently I was on holiday and took a tiny digital point and shoot superzoom along as usual. I was a real dinosaur though. I think I saw maybe 3 other people with actual cameras. The ship's photographers still use them but even they are a dying breed. I am totally converted to digital now. When I can get an image like this with a camera the size of a deck of cards. I am happy. I do enjoy the big solidly built old DSLRs for local photo taking but as for flying anywhere with them - never. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 8 Author Share Posted March 8 https://www.keh.com/blog/best-film-cameras-for-beginners-in-every-format?utm_source=emarsys&utm_medium=email&sc_src=email_5378837&sc_lid=371288588&sc_uid=rcz92qMnv8&sc_llid=9145&sc_eh=8f90550975257ee11&utm_campaign=Film+Gear+(03%2F08%2F24)&utm_term=Blog+Content Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 14 hours ago, raymac46 said: Kodachrome sadly is out of production. Kodachrome returns, thanks to Netflix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 9 Author Share Posted March 9 My uncle used Kodachrome extensively in the 1950s and early 1960s and got some great photographs. He was a master of light and shadow and coped well with the slowness of Kodachrome. I remember he tried some of the faster Ektachrome film once and hated the color rendition. From the mid 80s to the mid 2000s I used the faster ISO 200 / 400 Fuji print film but now I am content to dial up whatever ISO is needed on the digital sensor. There used to be a lot of technical stuff involved in photography but now the camera takes care of most of it, leaving me to worry about backlighting, and cropping out the trash buckets, and making sure I don't have a telephone pole growing out of somebody's head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted March 14 Share Posted March 14 On 3/9/2024 at 2:08 PM, raymac46 said: making sure I don't have a telephone pole growing out of somebody's head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 15 Author Share Posted March 15 Retro camera photo of Almonte Falls - March 14, 2024. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 1 hour ago, raymac46 said: Retro camera photo of Almonte Falls - March 14, 2024. Nice photo. You can see individual drops of water if you view full screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 18 Author Share Posted March 18 Spring arrives tomorrow but winterlike weather is holding on (although the snow has gone away.) This rather pathetic image was taken with an old DSLR from 2008 and an even older 12-24 Tokina DX lens from 2004. These old pieces of kit still work great for still photography. I can take the D90, the Tokina and a Tamron 18-200 lens and I am all set for a photo shoot - providing I avoid video and don't mind carrying around a couple of kilos of stuff. This old photo equipment gives me as much joy as my junker laptop collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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