New camera but going old school

[hockeyron]

I really did'nt know where to post this guess this is as good a place as any ...

I started my photography journey for real in middle school .... my 1st serious camera was a Minolta SRT-101 and a year or so later I knew what I wanted ... I wanted a Nikon ...
Owned a F1 & F2 before slowing switching to digital and I love digital but when I look at my current cameras something just felt like it was lacking ... maybe just old memories , maybe just the feel of
a classic pro Nikon film body in the hands ...
So last week I ordered a very nice , well taken care of F2 Photomic from Robert's camera ... looks like a 1974 serial number and opening that box and picking up that camera was like re-meeting a old friend ...
So much has changed and I've got alot to re-learn but I'm hoping this will further improve my photography ... I think we all get comfortable with digital and the disposable photos and just clicking away and checking our photos on the camera and deleting and I'm hoping that using this camera will slow me down even more and get back to the basics of photography, re-learning light and knowing that every click on that shutter is costing me film and developing costs ..
When I showed my wife she's like " why buy a old camera" ? and I honestly didn't have an answer and I'll still be using digital 95% of the time but for me there is just something, some pull that a film camera like the F2 has ...
Yeh I'm a bit crazy and yep I'm sentimental but I'm enjoying myself checking this old friend out ...

Ron

 

[gchappel]

Congratulations on following your heart and feelings. You do not need to justify those feelings to anyone but yourself. I too have pondered going back to film, at least for a little bit.
There is a black and white class at the local college that uses film, and a true darkroom. One of the classes I hope to take when I retire- dang work gets in the way right now.
An exercise I do once in a while is I go out for a day, and only let myself shoot 24 images. Manual exposure only, no cheating. Single shot. No chimping all day. It does make me shoot differently.
If it makes you think- it will improve your photography. Your images may not look any different to others, but they will look different to you. And isn't that what this is all about?
Gary

 

[ac12]

The F2 is probably my favorite of the film cameras.
And the smoothness of the focus ring is something that today's autofocus lenses lack.

Enjoy the ride back in time.

Next step, set up a darkroom

 

[MNglass]

A neighbor of mine has an MG-A that has just been sitting in his garage for about 10 years. I grew up driving Triumph TR3's and Spitfires - along with MGB's and MGC's. It's a beautiful old car and drives completely differently from my wife's S2000. She keeps asking me why I want it and yeah, it is hard to explain. It's a different driving experience. So yeah . . . you should enjoy the F2.

 

[pixel_a_ted]

A couple of years ago I bought a 6x7 medium format film camera off someone on eBay. Unlike you, I had not had much previous experience with film cameras, certainly not ones like this. I enjoyed learning how to use it and shot a few rolls of film. But after the novelty wore off I sold it to someone else on eBay, partly because of the expense and inconvenience of the film processing but also the thing was quite heavy. I still have a 35mm film camera and might consider picking it up once in a while, but I'm afraid I'm just too spoiled by the convenience of digital.

 

[ac12]

A couple of years ago I bought a 6x7 medium format film camera off someone on eBay. Unlike you, I had not had much previous experience with film cameras, certainly not ones like this. I enjoyed learning how to use it and shot a few rolls of film. But after the novelty wore off I sold it to someone else on eBay, partly because of the expense and inconvenience of the film processing but also the thing was quite heavy. I still have a 35mm film camera and might consider picking it up once in a while, but I'm afraid I'm just too spoiled by the convenience of digital.

The RB-67 IS a heavy camera.
Try a Hasselblad. I don't know the current prices, but 15 years ago, I got a used one for less than I paid for my D70.
Or a TLR.

 

[Maurie]

This is really going to age me.
My first camera was an Agfa bellows 120 model - not far from new at the time. After leaving school I started as a trainee photographer with a newspaper and learnt to use the ubiquitous Rolleiflex TLR. By the time I was considered a proper photographer we started using Leica 35mm cameras - what a wonderful revelation that was!

By the late sixties we moved to Nikons, and I’ve been a Nikon snapper ever since; I was slow to move to digital, the D2x being my first adventure into pixel-counting. But I still have a few old Leica and Voigtlander lenses in the cupboard that get trotted out on my Nikons occasionally.

Curiously, my son have just deserted his eclectic collection of digital camera’s and bought an early 70’s Leica. Suddenly my lens cupboard is bare! And now I’m teaching him how to wind 35mil film into a tank in the dark. Like riding a bike - something you never forget!

 

[Rolf]

I had an F2S and fully understand how you feel.

 

[ac12]

This is really going to age me.
My first camera was an Agfa bellows 120 model - not far from new at the time. After leaving school I started as a trainee photographer with a newspaper and learnt to use the ubiquitous Rolleiflex TLR. By the time I was considered a proper photographer we started using Leica 35mm cameras - what a wonderful revelation that was!

By the late sixties we moved to Nikons, and I’ve been a Nikon snapper ever since; I was slow to move to digital, the D2x being my first adventure into pixel-counting. But I still have a few old Leica and Voigtlander lenses in the cupboard that get trotted out on my Nikons occasionally.

Curiously, my son have just deserted his eclectic collection of digital camera’s and bought an early 70’s Leica. Suddenly my lens cupboard is bare! And now I’m teaching him how to wind 35mil film into a tank in the dark. Like riding a bike - something you never forget!

I took a photography class at the local community college.
I was the "weird guy" who used the stainless steel reels.