Film camera prices - wow!
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Posted 11/03/2021 - 09:19
cardiffgareth wrote:
Talking of medium format, I was due to go collect a 200mm for the Bronica tomorrow but after my Covid jab I'm feeling shivery and hot all at the same time so looks like I'm staying in.
Was going to stock up on some film as the lab I go to, where the lens is, is pretty reasonable but, it's not just cameras that are getting more and more expensive, check these links out. Now bear in mind last year I bought a 5 pack for £25!
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Talking of medium format, I was due to go collect a 200mm for the Bronica tomorrow but after my Covid jab I'm feeling shivery and hot all at the same time so looks like I'm staying in.
Was going to stock up on some film as the lab I go to, where the lens is, is pretty reasonable but, it's not just cameras that are getting more and more expensive, check these links out. Now bear in mind last year I bought a 5 pack for £25!
link
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They're definitely taking the p*ss there. Last summer I got lucky and scored a couple of pro packs for just €30 each and I still have other, now expired, film that I need to get through first. I've considered selling it but I want to continue using MF colour film so if I sold it I'd only have to spend more later on Portra.
Pentax hybrid user - Digital K3, film 645 and 35mm SLR and Pentax (&other) lenses adapted to Fuji X and Panasonic L digital
Fan of DA limited and old manual lenses
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Posted 11/03/2021 - 14:08
Pwynnej wrote:
Basically door stop territory...
I've got a nice M645 pro collection with 35C, 45N, 80/2.8, 150, 120 macro and 210/4 - all except the 35 were new, and the 120 Macro was stock clearout. Prices for this kit are a bit like bank shares, ie cost you more to sell than you will get....
Probably due to complexity of the kit and the fact cost per shot is over 2 times more than 35mm... but the results....
Jonathan-Mac wrote:
And if you think 35mm SLRs are expensive then you should have a look at anything medium format...
And if you think 35mm SLRs are expensive then you should have a look at anything medium format...
Basically door stop territory...
I've got a nice M645 pro collection with 35C, 45N, 80/2.8, 150, 120 macro and 210/4 - all except the 35 were new, and the 120 Macro was stock clearout. Prices for this kit are a bit like bank shares, ie cost you more to sell than you will get....
Probably due to complexity of the kit and the fact cost per shot is over 2 times more than 35mm... but the results....
I'm very surprised. The majority of medium format gear I see for sale now is going for quite a tidy sum. Pentax 67s for example are regularly selling for £1000 plus if serviced and in good nick. Rolleiflexes for £700-£1000. Even my humble Yashica Mat 124G often sells for more than £175. Fuji GW690s go for between £400 and £750. These are (mainly) ebay prices. Obviously, from somewhere like the Finnish Camera Rescue guys they go for a lot more, but then they have been checked, serviced and come with a guarantee. Accessories often sell for a surprising amount. Rolleiflex Bay 1 filters are a bit eye-watering, and even the Yashica versions aren't cheap.
K.
Kris Lockyear
It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head. Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lots of film bodies, a couple of digital ones, too many lenses (mainly older glass) and a Horseman LE 5x4.
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Posted 18/03/2021 - 21:32
Was just looking online at lenses and the 85mm Pentax or Samyang, ideally I'd prefer the Pentax.
Anyway, checking out lenses and cameras etc and some people are asking up to £500 for the Samyang 85mm! In different marks you can half that!
Jumps on SRS website and having a butchers and they have 3 ME Supers with 50mm lenses. The 2 with the f1.7 50mm are £179 and £199 and the one with the 50mm f1.4 is £219
Best get on ebay and start searching ME Supers, a few of them and I'll be going on a post lockdown holiday
Gareth
Welsh Photographer
My outfit: K1 gripped - K3ii - two Z-1P - Pentax D FA 24-70mm - Sigma 70-200mm OS HSM - Pentax modified DA* 60-250mm f4 - Irix 15mm Firefly - Pentax FA 35mm - FA 50mm - Sigma EX 20mm - FA 28-70mm f4 - Tamron SP 90mm macro - Pentax AF 540 FGZ II
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Anyway, checking out lenses and cameras etc and some people are asking up to £500 for the Samyang 85mm! In different marks you can half that!
Jumps on SRS website and having a butchers and they have 3 ME Supers with 50mm lenses. The 2 with the f1.7 50mm are £179 and £199 and the one with the 50mm f1.4 is £219
Best get on ebay and start searching ME Supers, a few of them and I'll be going on a post lockdown holiday
Gareth
Welsh Photographer
My outfit: K1 gripped - K3ii - two Z-1P - Pentax D FA 24-70mm - Sigma 70-200mm OS HSM - Pentax modified DA* 60-250mm f4 - Irix 15mm Firefly - Pentax FA 35mm - FA 50mm - Sigma EX 20mm - FA 28-70mm f4 - Tamron SP 90mm macro - Pentax AF 540 FGZ II
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Posted 19/03/2021 - 07:57
cardiffgareth wrote:
Best get on ebay and start searching ME Supers, a few of them and I'll be going on a post lockdown holiday
Best get on ebay and start searching ME Supers, a few of them and I'll be going on a post lockdown holiday
Not so long ago you couldn't give an ME Super away. I've ended up with four... Some have had bad experiences with them but all mine have been fine. They do wear out (I used my original one to death between 1982 -- 1992) so it's a bit of a lottery. The most common problem is an erratic meter reading which can often be cured by vigorously turning the exposure compensation dial back and forth.
Kris Lockyear
It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head. Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lots of film bodies, a couple of digital ones, too many lenses (mainly older glass) and a Horseman LE 5x4.
My website
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Posted 19/03/2021 - 08:44
The wind-on mechanism wearing out is another common fault on the ME Super and indeed all the M series bar the MX, which is a hardier beast altogether. Gears wear out as they're made of soft alloys.
Pentax hybrid user - Digital K3, film 645 and 35mm SLR and Pentax (&other) lenses adapted to Fuji X and Panasonic L digital
Fan of DA limited and old manual lenses
Pentax hybrid user - Digital K3, film 645 and 35mm SLR and Pentax (&other) lenses adapted to Fuji X and Panasonic L digital
Fan of DA limited and old manual lenses
Link
Posted 19/03/2021 - 13:42
Jonathan-Mac wrote:
The wind-on mechanism wearing out is another common fault on the ME Super and indeed all the M series bar the MX, which is a hardier beast altogether. Gears wear out as they're made of soft alloys.
The wind-on mechanism wearing out is another common fault on the ME Super and indeed all the M series bar the MX, which is a hardier beast altogether. Gears wear out as they're made of soft alloys.
Having said that, the ME Super has one of the smoothest wind-ons I have tried. It is noticeably better than the K-series bodies. I'm going to run my roll of Washi-D through the ME Super as a result.
Kris Lockyear
It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head. Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lots of film bodies, a couple of digital ones, too many lenses (mainly older glass) and a Horseman LE 5x4.
My website
Link
Posted 19/03/2021 - 13:56
womble wrote:
Having said that, the ME Super has one of the smoothest wind-ons I have tried. It is noticeably better than the K-series bodies. I'm going to run my roll of Washi-D through the ME Super as a result.
Jonathan-Mac wrote:
The wind-on mechanism wearing out is another common fault on the ME Super and indeed all the M series bar the MX, which is a hardier beast altogether. Gears wear out as they're made of soft alloys.
The wind-on mechanism wearing out is another common fault on the ME Super and indeed all the M series bar the MX, which is a hardier beast altogether. Gears wear out as they're made of soft alloys.
Having said that, the ME Super has one of the smoothest wind-ons I have tried. It is noticeably better than the K-series bodies. I'm going to run my roll of Washi-D through the ME Super as a result.
I've had lots of ME Supers with the winding issue, it's not worth trying to repair this so I use them for spare parts, but when the ME's are working correctly they really are a joy to use.
The MX's are hardier, but they do suffer from a variety of issues, some of the common ones are incorrect shutter curtain tensioning, slow-speed mechanisms not working and the hot shoe / X-flash socket not triggering the flash. About 60% of all MX's I come across have the flash issue. The most reliable of the film cameras as the KX, KM and K1000, they just keep going forever and even if they have issues they are usually pretty simple to resolve.
Regards
David
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Some cameras, some lenses, some bits 'n' bobs
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Posted 19/03/2021 - 14:20
I almost never use flash and so I have no idea if either my MXs have that issue. They were both serviced relatively recently and so I expect they are OK. The only issue I have is that there is an occasional slip in the wind-on with the black MX which results in an overlapping frame.
The most annoying film-camera fault I have at the moment is that if I use a cable release with my LX, it just fires the shutter at a relatively fast speed. I noticed it when I was expecting a 4 sec exposure and clearly didn't get that. Everything else works perfectly, so I have been procrastinating getting someone to look at it. I ought to drop an email to Robin.
Cheers, Kris.
Kris Lockyear
It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head. Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lots of film bodies, a couple of digital ones, too many lenses (mainly older glass) and a Horseman LE 5x4.
My website
The most annoying film-camera fault I have at the moment is that if I use a cable release with my LX, it just fires the shutter at a relatively fast speed. I noticed it when I was expecting a 4 sec exposure and clearly didn't get that. Everything else works perfectly, so I have been procrastinating getting someone to look at it. I ought to drop an email to Robin.
Cheers, Kris.
Kris Lockyear
It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head. Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lots of film bodies, a couple of digital ones, too many lenses (mainly older glass) and a Horseman LE 5x4.
My website
Link
Posted 27/03/2021 - 12:11
womble wrote:
Having said that, the ME Super has one of the smoothest wind-ons I have tried. It is noticeably better than the K-series bodies. I'm going to run my roll of Washi-D through the ME Super as a result.
Jonathan-Mac wrote:
The wind-on mechanism wearing out is another common fault on the ME Super and indeed all the M series bar the MX, which is a hardier beast altogether. Gears wear out as they're made of soft alloys.
The wind-on mechanism wearing out is another common fault on the ME Super and indeed all the M series bar the MX, which is a hardier beast altogether. Gears wear out as they're made of soft alloys.
Having said that, the ME Super has one of the smoothest wind-ons I have tried. It is noticeably better than the K-series bodies. I'm going to run my roll of Washi-D through the ME Super as a result.
can't remember which Washi is which, but one of them is super thin... i used in in a MES and it still ripped lots of the sprocket holes. it also reduced me to tears getting it on a processing spool and i lost a few frames at the end when the last bit of film popped off the spool and i just gave up! the film is lovely, but a 24 exposure version would be better for processing.
the other Washi i used was just crazy B&W... and i mean, it is either black or white , hardly any grey or shadow detail. interesting to shoot, bit a bit too extreme!
i do love my MESs, but they do tend to have random issues (the erratic metering is one) and my current one misses a frame now and then, you wnd it and it doesn't fire.
just looking on ebay at other cameras now, i know i'll be outbid on some.
if you fancy something different - i got a couple of pinhole cameras on Etsy - 1 medium format, the other 35mm - from Ranica in Belarus. really lovely items, very tactile and well made. i've had lots of fun with them.
Pentax k100d, k30d 18-55, Tamron 70-300, Tamron 500 mirror, pentax 10-17, 50 1:4, a manual 28, some extension tubes and a bagful of memory cards. That's all i need... and a load of film cameras too... that's it, honest.
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cardiffgareth
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Barrybados
Gareth
Welsh Photographer
My outfit: K1 gripped - K3ii - two Z-1P - Pentax D FA 24-70mm - Sigma 70-200mm OS HSM - Pentax modified DA* 60-250mm f4 - Irix 15mm Firefly - Pentax FA 35mm - FA 50mm - Sigma EX 20mm - FA 28-70mm f4 - Tamron SP 90mm macro - Pentax AF 540 FGZ II
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Foundation NFT