Something Old and Something Older
I think I've come full circle with regard to 35mm photography. The only thing left is a Leica addiction. Luckily my wallet can't handle it. Instead of a Leica, I've begun to walk down the Nikon road. I just received an old Nikon N90 for $29 USD + shipping from KEH. Once again KEH proves that BGN (Bargain) quality is quite good if you are willing to put up with a few scuffs. I've paired up the N90 with a Nikkor 24-120 AF-D and an inexpensive (but great) 50mm f1.8 AIS. Why the N90? A few reasons. First, I wanted the fast 1/8000s shutter speed so that I could open up the aperture in sunny weather while using ASA 400 film and not resort to ND filters. Second, I wanted to try out intelligent fill flash using an SB-26 flash. Third, I wanted to be able to use autofocus lenses and manual lenses.
My first roll of film using the N90 was Superia 800. Although the Nikkor 24-120 AF-D may not be the highest rated lens that Nikon has produced, I was quite pleased with the results. Here's an obligatory puppy photo.
Fantastic Plastic – Cheap Plastic Film SLRs
This weekend I was stir crazy from staying inside because of heavy rain. We had a little break, so I broke out my fantastic plastic Pentax MZ-50; complete with a lightweight 35-80mm zoom. It's not much to look at, but it's super lightweight and if you drop it, buy another one. This was my first effort with the camera. The light was fairly dim, but good enough for some ISO 400 film. My main goal was to verify that the camera was working correctly and to catch a few shots of super saturated colors that you often get after heavy rain.
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Not too shabby for something you can pick up off Craigslist for $50 USD. Let's see. $50 for the camera and lens, $6.99 for five rolls of Superia 400 from Costco, $10 for processing and scanning(no prints) four rolls from Costco, and $5 for a battery.
What do you get for $72? You get control over depth of field, you get a large viewfinder that is bigger than all but the most expensive full frame digital SLRs, and you get scans good enough for great 5x7 prints. You will be surprised at how much it helps composition to have a large viewfinder. You can also print the scans at 8x10, but they start to get a little grainy. For some reason, the 3000x2000 Costco scans show more grain than is actually there and it's somewhat noticeable when printed at 8x10. However, if you take your negatives into Costo and request an 8x10 enlargement, the resulting prints are much better than the prints from scans. Costco probably scans at a higher resolution for 8x10 prints than 3000x2000. Whatever the reason, I consider their scans digital proofs and good for 5x7 and smaller prints.
If you do the math, you can shoot 4 rolls per month for about $16. The total cost for a year of shooting plus equipment and processing is only $250. It's very economical and the cost is incremental. If you find that you want to shoot more, consider investing $400-$500 in a used DSLR. There's no reason you can't use both film and digital.