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Old 29th June 2015, 10:35 AM
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Default Compact camera buying is there a cure?

Did it again this weekend, went into a charity shop and bought the following, Yashica zoomate 110w £2, Pentax Espio 115m £1 and a Fujica AM £1.50. The cameras were lying in an old shoe box looking unloved and forlorn, one even had an unused film in it (Tudor film). I now have a box full of compact 35mm film cameras, my plan is to put a film through them all and see which I like the best. Maybe the results will stop me buying these little "gems" that once cost a small fortune or perhaps I will be surprised at the quality they can produce (up to 7x5 prints). Whats to lose? It amazes me what you can pick up for less than the cost of a roll of film. Have you had any surprises from a camera that you have bought for virtually nothing?
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Old 29th June 2015, 10:46 AM
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I have an Olympus Trip 35 that I got off ebay for under a fiver, and about once a year I run a roll of film through it for shooting the kids and send for process&print. Always seemed to be a good lens on these, although the lack of any controls can be a bit unnerving for the large format photographer in me. I think I originally bought it to take on a snowboarding trip so I had a camera that if I fell on it and broke it I wouldn't be breaking anything expensive (except my ribs). Kept it round my neck tucked into an inside pocket on my jacket. I was shooting slide film, so just set the meter to a film speed 1.5 stops slower and metered by half-depressing the shutter when pointing it down at the snow, locking the exposure effectively with the snow at +1.5, then composing the shot. Everything on that roll was correctly exposed, in many cases better than you'd get with a more sophisticated camera on auto-exposure.

Sometimes I think I should upgrade to a 35SP.
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Old 29th June 2015, 01:27 PM
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I had a 35SP and it was really good, but sadly you're unlikely to find one in a charity shop. They tend to be quite expensive now.
I also buy these more modern compacts which you find quite often in charity shops. The last was a Nikon TW Zoom 105 which is anything but compact. It is, however, very easy to hold steady. It's a bit like one of those Fisher Price kids cameras that came in bright red, only it cost about £250 when new. Mine was £4.95. There is a very basic Canon which I think is the AF7. It's advantage is a huge viewfinder which makes it a pleasure to use. It gives good party shots with HP5. The drawback with the zoom models is generally the maximum aperture. On the Nikon, which has quite a large front element, the maximum aperture at the tele end is something like f9.9!! They are great to buy and try out, particularly at these very low prices. A disposable costs more.
Alex
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Old 29th June 2015, 02:00 PM
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Originally Posted by DaveP View Post
I have an Olympus Trip 35 that I got off ebay for under a fiver, and about once a year I run a roll of film through it for shooting the kids and send for process&print. Always seemed to be a good lens on these, although the lack of any controls can be a bit unnerving for the large format photographer in me. I think I originally bought it to take on a snowboarding trip so I had a camera that if I fell on it and broke it I wouldn't be breaking anything expensive (except my ribs). Kept it round my neck tucked into an inside pocket on my jacket. I was shooting slide film, so just set the meter to a film speed 1.5 stops slower and metered by half-depressing the shutter when pointing it down at the snow, locking the exposure effectively with the snow at +1.5, then composing the shot. Everything on that roll was correctly exposed, in many cases better than you'd get with a more sophisticated camera on auto-exposure.

Sometimes I think I should upgrade to a 35SP.
The small: Olympus sp, rd, rc, etc have quite a following and they can fetch high prices IF they are working. I have seen them on Ebay with very vague and misleading descriptions such as, " It was working when last used X numbers of years ago, not tested with film etc." The thing to look for is the NO RETURNS option in the listing.
Its a neat trick fooling the meter by changing the film speed on the camera unfortunately most of the modern compacts have auto dx film speed reading and no exposure compensation. Most but not all can be fooled by totally covering the markings on the film cassette with tape this usually sets the camera to a default reading of asa 100. You can of course buy or make your own film speed labels. I have done this with silver foil and black electrical tape whilst watching something boring on TV it can be done but it is very tedious.. (that's the nearest I get to multi-tasking )
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Old 29th June 2015, 03:49 PM
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Yep, seen a 34SP with a dealer for £100 recently.....however....longer term if it actually saved me buying a Leica then I'd actually be SAVING money buy getting one......
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Old 29th June 2015, 03:56 PM
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Yep, seen a 34SP with a dealer for £100 recently.....however....longer term if it actually saved me buying a Leica then I'd actually be SAVING money buy getting one......

Leica can be addictive, best not to start. I have abstained so far but every now and again I get a bit "twitchy"
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Old 29th June 2015, 05:08 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoodOldNorm View Post
Did it again this weekend, went into a charity shop and bought the following, Yashica zoomate 110w £2, Pentax Espio 115m £1 and a Fujica AM £1.50. The cameras were lying in an old shoe box looking unloved and forlorn, one even had an unused film in it (Tudor film). I now have a box full of compact 35mm film cameras, my plan is to put a film through them all and see which I like the best. Maybe the results will stop me buying these little "gems" that once cost a small fortune or perhaps I will be surprised at the quality they can produce (up to 7x5 prints). Whats to lose? It amazes me what you can pick up for less than the cost of a roll of film. Have you had any surprises from a camera that you have bought for virtually nothing?
I think there is no cure. But at least you limit your budget to less than a fiver. I should look in places other than the Internet. Maybe the SwapMeet (Permanent Flea Market, I know, it's a oxymoron, no?) down the road.
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Old 29th June 2015, 07:27 PM
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I have a Leica Minilux which is a Leica, but is also a compact. You can see a difference in the quality of the results, presumably due to the fancy lens. I also have one of their early plastic compacts which I think is a CL 2. It's like a tank. It has a dual lens, rather than a zoom, which is basically a standard lens with a converter to make a short tele. It also gives good results. It's virtually identical to a Minolta model of the same era. These compacts tend to be more expensive due to the Leica badge, although the Minilux has been a good investment. I've never tried the Minilux Zoom, which you could still find new until a couple of years ago. The DX film thing, and the general inconvenience when trying to use a different film speed is a definite drawback of these small cameras. Sadly, small SLRs like the Nikon F75, also have these limitations, although they do generally have exposure compensation of some sort.
Alex.
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Old 3rd September 2016, 05:57 PM
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Well, now you've got me at it, too! I stumbled across this thread a couple of days ago and it reminded me of a Minolta Hi-Matic AF2 that I had seen, in my peripheral vision, in a stack of old cameras in a thrift store (charity shop) here in the US. (It's criminal, how they had just thrown everything into a pile: precision optics being tumbled and pawed on a daily basis by an unthinking public.)
So I went back to the shop, fool that I am. There were no batteries in the camera and I couldn't check it out, so I went home for lunch, downloaded the Operating Manual from the Internet, grabbed a couple of my rechargeable batteries, and sallied forth again.

Everything worked perfectly as far as I can see ! The camera was complete with the dedicated lens cap and the leather carrying case, both of which had been removed and tossed to one side, into an adjacent box.

I have thoroughly cleaned the exterior of the camera and its case and it is now proudly gleaming, almost like new. Despite all the rough handling in the shop the lens is not scratched.

I can hardly wait to put my first roll of film through it!
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Old 3rd September 2016, 06:42 PM
alexmuir alexmuir is online now
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A great find, Roy. I hope you get some good results from it. The most recent purchase I made was a pair of Sea and Sea Motormarine MX10 cameras with matching flash units. They're not in great shape, but were less than £20. They were tested last weekend at the bottom of a Scottish Loch, and they work well enough. Great for underwater selfies!!
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