…I’m currently borrowing my dad’s Olympus OM2 and I really like it. At the end of the semester I have to give it back to him, but I want to have a decent manual 35mm camera of my own. I like the OM2, but as far as I can tell (I don’t have the manual so I could be mistaken) there is no way to take a double exposure with this one, which is the one feature I wish it did have.
Anyway, I want to start searching ebay for a good deal… ideally I want to spend $50-75. I’ve seen the OM2 go for that range, and I was thinking of just looking for that, but if there is a similar camera out there that would also have the ability to do double exposures, I might want to get that . So anyone have a recommendation?
My only Olympus is digital-when it comes to 35mm, I’m a Canon guy and absolutely love my A1. I doubt you’ll find them for that cheap, though, as A1 and F1 are considered high quality cameras. While some manufacturers may have offered the feature, intentional double exposure isn’t common on the 35mm format, until you reach a high-end amateur or pro body. Is there a reason you want to use the 35mm format?
I ask that as some 120 TLR (twin lens reflex) cameras offered separate shutter cocking and film advance, making the intentional double exposure quite easy. A Mamiya C220 could hit your price point and offer features you’d never thought of. Email me for more info.
(some people in the class have cameras where you can hold in the button that allows you to rewind the film, and then “fake out” the camera advance to do double exposure)
You might be able to find a Minolta MAXXUM 8000i camera (or another Minolta i-series camera) in that price range online. I’ve had some fun with double exposures on mine.
ok, what i would say is that since the onset of digital, Olympus no longer seem to be doing anything with the OM range, which at one time had the widest range of lenses available (I REALLY wanted the flexible on you could use for gastroscopies… ). What I would recommend is you take a serious look at an early Canon EOS. There is enough variety in the range to enable you to find one to suit your needs exactly, and as they are making digital versions now too (easy to tell, just look for the D suffix on the model number) then if and when you want to upgrade you can do so without having to buy all new lenses, etc.
ok, what i would say is that since the onset of digital, Olympus no longer seem to be doing anything with the OM range, which at one time had the widest range of lenses available (I REALLY wanted the flexible one you could use for gastroscopies… ). What I would recommend is you take a serious look at an early Canon EOS. There is enough variety in the range to enable you to find one to suit your needs exactly, and as they are making digital versions now too (easy to tell, just look for the D suffix on the model number) then if and when you want to upgrade you can do so without having to buy all new lenses, etc.
My sister travelled around Europe for many years with a pre-WWII Zeiss-Ikon which took incredible pictures. Or maybe she took incredible pictures. Anyway, several times in her travels people offered to buy her camera, which was a hand-me-down from my grandfather.
That’s a technique taught in ‘Nikon School’ and other creative photography venues. The only problem with that is you cannot ensure that the film remains motionless with respect to the field of view presented by the lens. The camera body needs the option you’re seeking for film registry to be exact.
Don’t know what you’re attempting. The classic I was taught involved an impressive tree on a windy day. Using color film with camera on a tripod, you took a triple exposure using red, green, and blue filters. The result was a landscape and tree trunk which looked normal, but the tree had rainbow branches and leaves. Ditto for waterfalls. This effect will get screwed up if the film moves even a little tiny bit during the hold down rewind button and move advance lever operation. If exact registry isn’t important, then most any 35mm SLR will work.
The Nikon FM series (FM, FM2, FM3A, FM10) has a multiple-exposure lever. These might be a bit out of your price range (eBay recently had an FM go for $96, body only) but maybe you can find a good deal.
I love my canon ae-1, and you can definitely do double-exposures with them. I have not done many of them, but I haven’t had any problems when I have. I have wanted to try the trick with the three different colored filters, but I’m usually shooting B&W, so that wouldn’t help too much!
Another idea would be to get a Holga and really, REALLY easy to double-expose. Tons of fun!
AE-1 only has aperture priority, if you want it, but is otherwise completely manual. There’s no auto-wind, auto-advance, or anything like that. It’s old, metal body, and durable as hell. I do have a Pentax K-1000 which is COMPLETELY manual, and that’s great for landscapes, but I take lots of pictures of wigglylittlekids and adjusting the aperature and shutter while chasing kids is hard work!
Ok so by ‘if you want it’ you mean that I could tell it not to and do all the settings myself? And I’m trying to remember… aperture priority means that you set the f-stop and it chooses the shutter speed? or is it the other way around? That’s what the OM2 does, and I like that…
The Canon AT-1 is all manual. I bought mine used in 1981 and used it for 15 years. It’s been sitting in it’s camera bag along with all the lenses I bought for it for the last 8 years or so. I’ve thought about selling it and if you’re interested, e-mail me.
Sorry about that! Here is a more detailed breakdown:
You have to set the shutter. You have to set the ISO (actually, it’s so old, it’s called ASA). You have to manually load and wind the film, and you have to advance it each frame. On the lens, you can set it to “A,” and it will automatically set the aperature for the shutter speed. You can also manually set the aperature by just turning the ring on the lens.
Other little things I found out as I went along: you can hook it into the studio lights without using a hotshoe adapter. This is SUPER handy. It does have a timer, but it took me months to find it! I don’t much use the depth-of-field preview because to my eye, it just makes things look darker. I’ve also found lots of nice lenses on eBay, but 99% of the time, I just use my handy-dandy 50mm fixed lens. I’d really like to get a portrait lens one of these days, though.
The AT-1 was a full manual camera
The AE-1 was manual plus Shutter priority You select the shutter speed, the camera sets the f stop.
The AV-1 was the same camera as the AE-1 but with aperture priority instead of shutter priority
The AE-1P was an AE-1 with a fully automatic program mode. (Camera choose both shutter speed and aperture)
The A-1 was the top dog back then. You could shoot this as a manual, aperture priority, shutter priority, fully automatic and a 5th mode I don’t recall. I guess I will have to get my A-1 out and check the manual. Here is a page describing the Canon A series cameras.
