What’s more exciting than buying the film camera you’ve been lusting after for a year or so?
Having it delivered to your door and having it in your hot little hands that’s what!
You may have guessed the F5 that we mentioned in our first Back to Basics post arrived today and we’re slightly excited about it. It’s had a bit of a clean and of course Layton test drove the 8fps shutter speed, but we still have to grab some film before the real fun begins.
Here’s a pic of it. It looks so cute with the wee 50mm prime lens we couldn’t resist taking a shot.
Ah, fond memories of the good old days of film photography! My most elaborate 35mm camera was the Minolta XD-11. My next progression took me to two Mamiya 645s and medium format. I spent a lot of time in the darkroom those days. I also shot a lot less due to the cost of film, chemicals & paper. Still, I can understand your excitement over your beautiful Nikon with its “nifty 50 ” aboard. 🙂
Medium format will be the next film step I think – the goal is definitely the Mamiya 645. Layton had a go with one a few years ago and has wanted one since then, but one step at a time. We love the idea of setting up a wee darkroom at some point. The thrill of seeing your photo develop in front of your eyes and of knowing that you created the photo from start to finish is incredible and so addictive and fulfilling.
I’ve always dived into my passions with such vigor. I built numerous darkrooms and advanced to a point where I was doing large color prints with a Swiss process known as Cibachrome where color prints were made directly from slides. You should see the prints I made from 2 1/4″ glass slide using my Mamiya 645. I owned two of these cameras while shooting weddings and family portraits.
That would be amazing. I’d love to see a few if possible.
I wish I had them. Everything was commercial back then. I haven’t a single photo from my professional days. That’s one reason, now that I’m retired, that I keep everything and sell nothing. Photography is my passion so I can no longer put a price tag on my work or precious retirement time. 42 years was enough.