Thread: old 35mm slr cameras - now redundant and useless ?

Bill, in a word, NO.

That said, your Ricoh, probably around the XR-S model from 1981 onwards, should still work for the odd occasion you wish to use film, especially B&W.

Probably the best way to use your film camera in an electronic sense, is to shoot film, develop it, and then scan it.

Both B&W and colour negative do this quite well. Colour film can and does do some things quite differently, some say slightly better in colour saturation than an electronic captured image.

The Ricoh reflex cameras used the Pentax K mount and were quite nifty little cameras. I never thought of them as a poor persons version of Olympus, I had Olympus reflex cameras in the seventies, before moving to Pentax then quickly to Nikon.

I always thought of them as a feature packed and extremely affordable reflex camera, using the popular and cheap Pentax K mount.

I still use film and my darkroom.

Mick.

Mick,

Thanks for reply.

Will blow the dust off it and go down local camera shop and find out more about what I can now do.

Yes its a Ricoh XRS - at the time I bought it I did a lot of comparisons and it could do everything that more expensive brands could do at a much cheaper price. Always seemed to be good quality to me.

Have been using digital camera for last ten years and with the highly publicised shut down of film labs in last few years I assumed that 35mm film was dead.

Thanks again

Regards

Bill

Film is not only not dead, it is travelling along reasonably well, regardless of what the pundits say.

However, it certainly is not mainstream any more.

If you wish to purchase film, especially B&W, then may I suggest you look at bulk rolls of 35mm stuff and purchase it from the USA.

I purchase Ilford film from the USA, both sheet film and roll film and have it posted to my front door at under half the price in Australia.

I'm not saying this is the way to go, but if you wish to use your camera, and are not worried about developing your own film, then you may find it is incredibly cheap.

Mick.

Film is very much alive here in Japan. No shortage of film and dark room gear available. Very lively second hand market for 35mm film cameras, medium format, etc. New medium format film cameras readily available.

The film is expensive, but it is still worth using for experimental purposes.
I inherited a nice Ricoh XR-10 from a cousin a little while ago with a flash and a couple of lenses. Changed the batteries and played around with it for a bit and it all seemed OK, so I have loaded it up with film and am waiting for a suitable excuse to use.
Way, way down in this forum is also a thread I started with some pix from a 1933 Box Brownie that I use occasionally. It surprised me when I went looking for film, it is still fairly widely available, at least in capital cities. V. expensive per shot, but lovely big format negative, easy to scan with lots of detail not withstanding the crappy single element lens

SWK

Film can be expensive, especially if you purchase it in Australia, more so if you purchase it in single 135 rolls.

With roll film I use bulk rolls and load myself, my current 135 films are all under $1.95 a 36 frame roll, with development at 25 cents a roll equals $2.20 divided by 36 equals $0.06 per frame.

I purchase all of my film from the USA or Japan, dramatic price difference and that is for the expensive first tier films, Ilford and Fuji. If you go for cheaper second and/or third tier films, then your prices can almost halve again.

Mick.

Film from the USA is very cheap compared to Australia

These sites are very good to deal with:
B&H Photo Video Digital Cameras, Photography, Camcorders
Home | Freestyle Photographic Supplies

There are others. Just Google. You may find some vendor in Australia who can match them (after taking postage and exchange rates into account). I haven't so far found one, even with the AUD at about .93 to the USD.

Developing your own B&W and colour makes it a viable proposition. Easy once you get into it - even the colour (C41 process). Costs shoot up if you have it done at a lab.

Then you need a scanner. Costs again get out of hand if you have it done for you. The Epson flatbeds are good. I use the V700.

Then again, some digital cameras do very film-like files. You may wonder why you bother. I do at times. Just like the old machinery.

Dan