Hello all
My battered KS2 has developed a nasty habit of drastically underexposing the first shot of the day - so much so it's virtually black.

as i am poor... i got around this by taking a shot as soon as i had the camera out. problem fixed!

except not it has sussed what i am up to and the problem now occurs if the camera hasn't been fired for a littlw while (maybe 10 minutes). as i mainly shoot wildlife, it's a tad annoying to quickly get a shot of something, only for it to come out too dark to see.

so, what is the point in this, i hear you ask? Well, i gues i better start looking for a new camera!

I'm a bit out of the loop and haven't a clue as to the timeline of the last lot of DSLRs. I guess i've had this one for three or four years now.

I've looked at SRS and i'm not in a position to get a new one as most of my money has been spent on a trip to Norway in March (another reason for wanting a reliable camera). I'm tempted to get a 2nd hand one, but i still haven't a clue on some of those available.

can anyone give me suggestions on what i should look for and at what price?

any help gratefully received. thank you, merci, eskerrik asko, dziekuje, takk.

hi

bit late to the party.. i started developing my B&W films a year or so ago. it's pretty easy, if daunting. As mentioned above, check out the Ilford site, they have lots of info and step-by-step guides.

you can't develop colour with B&W chemicals, you will destroy the film. there are some B&W films that use C41 processing (colour processing)... which may be handy as to get a lab to develop B&W costs more than colour.

i have yet to try developing colour, mainly as the temperatures and timings need to be spot on... if the temperatures are too high in B&W you reduce the developing timing (handy in summer), you can't do that with colour. plus, you need more kit really.

good luck and welcome to the world of film.

very interesting, but, alas, no use to me now as my K30 (bought nov 2012) died a very sudder death at the weekend - right in the middle of the track cycling world championships. the mirror stuck down first of all, i managed to get it to raise by 'pretending' to clean the sensor and it worked fine for several hours. the next morning i took three shots and then it all went dark as the mirror was stuck up. it then refused to turn off, unless you took the battery out, it would also refuse to do anything, no matter what buttons you pressed.

i think i had a few instances of the aperture issue, the odd dark or light shot, but never really paid it much attention.

luckily i had a Super A with me at the cycling and got a few shots with that.

had this with the ME Super - wanted to push some 400, so i turned the ISO up to may and tried the compensation, but it wouldn't go. ended up using manual to compensate and push higher.

how did your shots turn out? i was pretty pleased with HP5 when pushed, but i'm relatively new to B&W processing.

lovely piece of kit

another vote for the (not) boring ME Super. the more i use it, the more i love it.

i've just started processing B&W myself and the scanning is a right pain - i got an old HP (as it did 120 film and a lot of moderm machines don't). the image quality is variable and the preview sometimes bears no relation to the output image.

i may have to bite the bullet and get a new scanner.

welcome back to the world of film - i recently shot a roll in the ME Super and then wondered why it was a Fuji 400, when i only buy 200. turns out it was one i'd taken from an old sureshot and left in the camera bag - it had sat in the sureshot for at least 10 years! it worked fine (although shooting at 200 by mistake probably helped).

STOP IT!!!!

i have a stash of Pentax film cameras now and this is just making the itch worse.... hmmm, an LX you say?

anyway, i don't know enough about the various models, i came into Pentax film cameras via the digital age - in the days of film i used Olympus.

i have an MX, which is a nice little thing, except it tends to have the mirror jam. otherwise it's fine.
ME and ME Super. both are dead easy to use and i've only used the manual part of the Super a few times. these have become the default SLRs in my bag now.
P30 - the first Pentax film camera i bought - maybe 6 months ago now. very simple to use, but i came unstuck with the auto film speed as i was using some Lomo stuff and it didn't register. otherwise a nice little camera. i now have 2. almost feels too small to be a SLR.

i also have an MG, but that only works on the 'manual' film speed, the auto functions are defunkt.

there's some later auto ones, but i've yet to try these.

most came in a box of 'sold as seen' on ebay. i guess i should get rid of some, but i like the little things!

shame Pentax didn't make a Twin Lens Reflex.

i use Fuji Superia 200 in my ME and ME Super.

for B&W i use Kentmere 100 as i wanted to play with B&W and also self-processing.

my choice is mainly governed by what i can buy! i bought a batch of standard Fuji 200 recently as the Superia was difficult to source. i also use the Lomo own brand films for a bit of fun (if they are the coloured ones).

the Fuji is quite bright, as i remember from the old days of film, but not overly so.

i do use Kodak Ektar 120 for the medium format twin lenses and that is lovely, but not used the 35mm version yet.

i use the Lomo store in Soho. process and scan for a tenner.

started using them when someone at my new job suggested it as i was having trouble with snappy snaps, etc when using a Lomo DIY Konstruktor. the friend said Lomo Lab were used to double images and badly wound on film.

link

if you mail your film they will email you a link to download them once processed. must admit, i get slightly preferentia treatment as they know me and they will (most of the time) send them to my dropbox as well - it does mean the excitement of picking up the pics is slightly dulled, but it's a nice touch.

you can get higher res scans too.

the Lomo site used to have a list of UK processing companies that users recommended - Snappy SNaps in Hammersmith was one and i had to go in there when a film jammed in a camera and they were very helpful and did a good job with the scans and printing (they didn't actually charge for getting the film out of the camera, so i was guilted into getting the pics developed!)

i didn't realise Snappy Snaps were so widely different, certainly the one in Kingston didn't have much of a clue when i took my first films in there and processed them without any real thought.