35mm film camera

[Cabin_Fever_1]

@AncientHumanoid

Also a good chance the meter won’t work at all, if the battery was left in all these years, corroding the compartment.

Luckily for B+W or for colour negs the Sunny 16 Rule still works. Remember film data sheets?

Data sheets.
Yes.

The meter seems to work just fine IMHO. I’ll see when I actually get some film processed.

[Cabin_Fever_1]

@gotpasswords

Those Minolta SRT cameras were rugged little beasts.
The good news on that is that negative film has a pretty decent latitude or tolerance to incorrect exposure, so you may be able to use a regular size 386/301 watch battery (or maybe a 375) and get perfectly good exposures.

If you want the metering to be more accurate, some people slip a #9 o-ring around a #675 hearing aid battery to keep it centered in the compartment. This has been the most popular “fix” as the 675 puts out the right voltage (or at least much closer to right than a watch battery), they’re available at any grocery store or drug store and they’re cheap.

For the sake of completeness, you can also buy Wein MRB625 cells, but their price has risen to about six bucks each.

Truth be told, as the camera is 40-50 years old, there’s a pretty good chance that the shutter is a bit off, and probably to a degree that will overpower any minor inaccuracies in the meter.

WOW.
Thanks for the tips. Good to know!

[Cabin_Fever_1]

As an aside, my ex is experimenting with pin-hole cameras (home-made).
Amazing.

[AncientHumanoid]

@Telemark

You can do all that with digital, in fact you can do it much easier with a modern DSLR. Shoot in RAW, do some post-processing, and you’ll exceed what you can do with film that you send out to be developed.

Film is lots of fun, but I honestly don’t feel that there are any advantages today over digital.

See post # 10

[AncientHumanoid]

@Cabin_Fever

Cooleo! Which app do you use? Color me curious.

LightMeterFree

LightMeterPro pay version $2.99

PhotoTools pay version $ donation

Not perfect but fun to use. I use an old Sekonic selenium cell for old times sake sometimes. Love my Minolta Auto Meter IV

[beowulff]

The actual fun is darkroom work.
IMHO, shooting film and having it processed is pretty pointless (and really expensive) these days.

[Just_Asking_Questions]

@Cabin_Fever

I have a black body.
As mentioned, I just want to retro to film for fun.
I have no problem with f-stops, shutter speed, focusing, etc.

Thanks for the tip on the battery. That fought my ignorance.
A 1.5v battery would make the meter go high? or low? Curious.

I think I had to put the needle just a tick higher than perfect alignment to get a proper exposure (appx 1 stop?). I just got used to it. I never knew why it was off until fairly recent.

I used mine from 1977 until 2006. It still works fine. Never had any deterioration in the seals or anything else. Works as smoothly as the day I brought it home from K-Mart(!).

[Cabin_Fever_1]

@beowulff

The actual fun is darkroom work.
IMHO, shooting film and having it processed is pretty pointless (and really expensive) these days.

Yes. I remember the magic of watching images appear in the darkroom.
Unfortunately, I am not set up for such wonders at this time.

[Cabin_Fever_1]

@Just_Asking_Questions

I think I had to put the needle just a tick higher than perfect alignment to get a proper exposure (appx 1 stop?). I just got used to it. I never knew why it was off until fairly recent.

I used mine from 1977 until 2006. It still works fine. Never had any deterioration in the seals or anything else. Works as smoothly as the day I brought it home from K-Mart(!).

Good to know, thanks.
This Minolta has evidently had some TLC - as well as the lenses.
I am kind of like a kid reliving their first bicycle.

[Cabin_Fever_1]

@AncientHumanoid

LightMeterFree

LightMeterPro pay version $2.99

PhotoTools pay version $ donation

Not perfect but fun to use. I use an old Sekonic selenium cell for old times sake sometimes. Love my Minolta Auto Meter IV

Thanks!

[gotpasswords]

[QUOTE=beowulff]
The actual fun is darkroom work.
[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Cabin_Fever]
Yes. I remember the magic of watching images appear in the darkroom.
[/QUOTE]

I do miss the smell. Someone needs to make a darkroom incense with the smell of the developer, hypo and that tang of acetic acid.

I had to give up my SRT101 and what was the other…X700? Bad eyes led to bad focus. I was at a communal darkroom years ago and someone was looking at my prints and said “You’ve got astigmatism!” so I got an autofocus SLR. Now I had good focus and exposure, but all that automation and machine intelligence took a lot of the fun and mystique away.

[Johnny_L.A]

@Cabin_Fever

I haven’t shot film in decades. My last 35mm cameras were Olympus OM-1’s, which should tell you that I am an old fart.

I love the OM-1. It’s just about the perfect camera.

My 35mm SLRs:
Olympus OM-1N
Olympus OM-4
Nikon FM-3a
Nikon FM-2
Pentax K-1000
Canon AE-1 Program

My 35mm rangefinders:
Nikonos IV
Nikonos V
Argus C4

My first SLR was the Canon AE-1 Program. I got some great shots with just the standard 50 mm lens that came with it. Compared to all of the other SLRs – including the Pentax K-1000 – it seems clunky today. But still a great camera.

Every 35mm shooter should have a Pentax K-1000. I like the simplicity, and that you used to be able to get new kits from Kmart for $100. I like cheap things that work.

The Olympus OM-1 is the smallest of the bunch, and that’s what makes it my favourite. I seldom expose film anymore, and when I do I always have to decide between the OM-1 and the FM-2. The Nikon is very similar to the Olympus, but sometimes I just want the smaller package.

The Nikon FM-3a is great. Go old-school manual, or let the electronics help out. It’s still fully functional in manual if the battery dies, except for the light meter of course.

The Olympus OM-4 was science fiction when it came out, and I was thrilled to get one. Maybe it’s a little too ‘advanced’. I grew lazy and never used the manual options, which is why I got the OM-1. Great camera, like having it in the collection, but it doesn’t get used.

13 Great Vintage Cameras

[Cabin_Fever_1]

@gotpasswords

I do miss the smell. Someone needs to make a darkroom incense with the smell of the developer, hypo and that tang of acetic acid.

I had to give up my SRT101 and what was the other…X700? Bad eyes led to bad focus. I was at a communal darkroom years ago and someone was looking at my prints and said “You’ve got astigmatism!” so I got an autofocus SLR. Now I had good focus and exposure, but all that automation and machine intelligence took a lot of the fun and mystique away.

I think that is my motivation right now. Sure, my digital cameras allow me much more latitude - but awaiting for that final print, priceless. To see if it actually captured the moment one desired is compelling. Call me irrational, I have been called worse names.

[Cabin_Fever_1]

@Johnny_L.A

I love the OM-1. It’s just about the perfect camera.

My 35mm SLRs:
Olympus OM-1N
Olympus OM-4
Nikon FM-3a
Nikon FM-2
Pentax K-1000
Canon AE-1 Program

My 35mm rangefinders:
Nikonos IV
Nikonos V
Argus C4

My first SLR was the Canon AE-1 Program. I got some great shots with just the standard 50 mm lens that came with it. Compared to all of the other SLRs – including the Pentax K-1000 – it seems clunky today. But still a great camera.

Every 35mm shooter should have a Pentax K-1000. I like the simplicity, and that you used to be able to get new kits from Kmart for $100. I like cheap things that work.

The Olympus OM-1 is the smallest of the bunch, and that’s what makes it my favourite. I seldom expose film anymore, and when I do I always have to decide between the OM-1 and the FM-2. The Nikon is very similar to the Olympus, but sometimes I just want the smaller package.

The Nikon FM-3a is great. Go old-school manual, or let the electronics help out. It’s still fully functional in manual if the battery dies, except for the light meter of course.

The Olympus OM-4 was science fiction when it came out, and I was thrilled to get one. Maybe it’s a little too ‘advanced’. I grew lazy and never used the manual options, which is why I got the OM-1. Great camera, like having it in the collection, but it doesn’t get used.

13 Great Vintage Cameras

Great post!
I miss my two OM-1’s (sorry about the apostrophe}
Thanks for the link! Much appreciated.

[Johnny_L.A]

I’ve acquired a few more cameras in the past nine years, but today I opened the Olympus case. Init, I have the OM-1, and OM-2 (which I didn’t have before), the OM-4, flash, motor drive, and a couple of lenses.

The OM-4 and the OM-2 don’t have Off switches, their LR44/A76 batteries were dead. The OM-1 does have an Off switch, and its Varta 625U battery is still good after several years. I’ve ordered some 625A batteries, which should be the same thing. I had the meter calibrated to the modern 1.55 v batterie when I took it in for servicing. And yes, I also ordered some LR44 batteries for the other cameras.

I really want to shoot things with the OM-4, and I know there’s some B&W film in it.

[Robot_Arm]

I have a Pentax H3 (branded as Honeywell Pentax in the U.S.), a model introduced in the early-'60s. It’s got an external light meter that clips on the top. The model of battery that the meter is designed for is no longer made, but a smaller battery of the same voltage works.

My dad bought it about the time I was born, and used it for years until giving it to me. I bought some additional lenses on eBay; pretty cheap because the camera is so out-of-date. One of my searches turned up a 1000mm lens with no mirrors, it was actually 1 meter long and came in a wooden case. I didn’t get that one.

[Napier]

I’ve toyed with the idea of getting back into film, because I’m interested in ultraviolet photography. Even with film cameras, there are various challenges, such as lenses that won’t transmit ultraviolet, and not being able to meter exposures properly. But with digital cameras, the sensor not being able to detect ultraviolet just makes it impossible, at least for some wavelength ranges. Film, on the other hand, can generally detect ultraviolet just fine, and even other kinds of radiation.

[Johnny_L.A]

@Robot_Arm

The model of battery that the meter is designed for is no longer made

Yes, the older cameras – including my OM-1, were deigned to use the 1.3 v mercury battery that was banned in 1996. There are four alternatives:

@Napier

I’m interested in ultraviolet photography.

I’ve never heard of UV photography. Most of my lenses have a dot on them for infrared.

I’m planning to start The Great Ongoing Film Photography Thread in MPSIMS, but not yet. I want to play with the OMs on our vacation next month.

[Robot_Arm]

@Johnny_L.A

Yes, the older cameras – including my OM-1, were deigned to use the 1.3 v mercury battery that was banned in 1996. There are four alternatives:

I’ll be darned, that is the battery it’s supposed to use. I assume it was discontinued because of the mercury.

If anyone is interested, here is a link to a Pentax forum where someone has posted a copy of the manual for the light meter. It’s rather ingenious the way it links to the exposuer dial on the camera with a compensator for the speed of the film.

(“Pentax forum” seems rife for autocorrect, but I think we’re okay.)

[Johnny_L.A]

@Robot_Arm

I’ll be darned, that is the battery it’s supposed to use. I assume it was discontinued because of the mercury.

Yes, it was because of the mercury.

@Robot_Arm

If anyone is interested, here is a link to a Pentax forum where someone has posted a copy of the manual for the light meter.

I have a copy saved on my computer.

@Robot_Arm

It’s rather ingenious the way it links to the exposuer dial on the camera with a compensator for the speed of the film.

I notice my meter’s ISO is set to 200, which I assume I did for ASA 400 film. So I’m guessing it has a 1.5 v battery in it.