Cameras that Last AND Last AND Last... (35mm bayonette mount SLRs in particular)

wrote:

Does Canon still do repairs on the 1v or does the 1-2mm over exposure
not bother you that much perhaps because its within/covered by the
slide mount?

It seems the problem has had to do with frozen lubricants or sticky leaf
shutters (it was more prominent on the first rolls of film I shot when I
received the camera).
With more use, the symptoms have been much reduced, so I haven't proceeded
to repair it.

The 1v is a current model available in the catalog, so Canon obviously *has*
to support it, with spare parts and all.
I asked about a possible shutter assembly replacement, and I was quoted a
cost over 300 Euros.

I would suggest you avoid buying one used from a professional, since you
cannot know how much beating has this camera got.

I love the idea of a 24-70/2.8L but in reality, except for "photo ops"/
events I'm afraid the lens would scare off most non-professional
people/models due to its size.

Sure, the 24-70/2.8L is big and a *heavy* lens, and a good camera strap is
essential if you want to have the 1v (especially with the PB-E2 booster)
hanging off your neck together with the 24-70/2.8L

If you want something less scary and heavy, the Tamron 28-75/2.8 is much
less imposing (but seems less solidly built - logical, if you compare
prices).
And surely the standard 1v (without the booster) is less noticeable than the
1v HS version.

Have you ever shot with the 24/1.4 or
any of the other fixed normal to wide angle L lenses?

I have used the 35mm/2.0 lens with another photographer's 1Ds MkII, and it
was a very pleasing experience, shooting during sunsets.
Surely it feels much more sturdy and solidly-built than the 50mm/1.4.
I know, it's not an L lens, but you don't really need something better at
this local distance.

Note that L lenses are (and remain) pricey, but they tend to hold up their
price even in the used equipment market - they could be considered an
'investment' for the serious photographer.

Hope this helps,
N.F.

wrote:

Don't care about digital.

Don't care about screw mount cameras.

Don't care about rangefinders or Twin Lens Reflexes.

Personally, I think you would be happy with the medium format rangefinders,
especially the Fuji 6x9 models (these are 100% mechanical, light and well
built, with wonderful lenses).

Go ahead, try one - I think you'll be hooked ;-)

Cheers,
N.F.

On Jul 25, 8:38 am, Nick Fotis wrote:
wrote:
Don't care about digital.

Don't care about screw mount cameras.

Don't care about rangefinders or Twin Lens Reflexes.

Personally, I think you would be happy with the medium format rangefinders,
especially the Fuji 6x9 models (these are 100% mechanical, light and well
built, with wonderful lenses).

Go ahead, try one - I think you'll be hooked ;-)

Cheers,
N.F.

Ibelieve either I and/or a friend tested out the Fuji 6x9 (I think
this is the largest format rangefinder they make unless they have a
6x12) quite a few years agao. Although a 6x9 transparency is very nice
to look at, like all rangefinders it has parallax problems (what you
see is not what you get), you can't see bokeh/selective focus effects
and there is no way I could get the same kind of deep depth of field
you can with a stopped down 35mm format wide angle. So, though I
appreciate the suggestion, its not a thing I would likely buy and
rarely rent.

Thanks for the suggestion, though :-).

wrote:

Ibelieve either I and/or a friend tested out the Fuji 6x9 (I think
this is the largest format rangefinder they make unless they have a
6x12) quite a few years ago.


Try 6x17!

http://www.lensandrepro.com/RENTAL/fuji.html

There was also a 6x12. All are now discontinued.

On Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:54:16 +0100, Tony Polson wrote:

Try 6x17!

http://www.lensandrepro.com/RENTAL/fuji.html

There was also a 6x12. All are now discontinued.

The GX617 was a viewfinder camera, not a rangefinder camera. Focus was
by "visual estimation."

See:
http://web.archive.org/web/200703221..._01_gx617.html
http://snipurl.com/1oroj

Horseman still makes a 6x17 system.

--
Michael Benveniste --
Spam and UCE professionally evaluated for $419. Use this email
address only to submit mail for evaluation.

On 2007-07-21 04:57:53 -0400, said:

On my window sill, as "decorations", like fallen soldiers, sit the
conked out, worn out, shells of camera bodies from the late '70s
through the late '90s. All met an untimely demise for different
reasons. Some were "pre-owned" and others I bought new. Some died from
a built-in fault(s) common that brand's model, and some simply wore
out before their time. With the price of film cameras so extremely low
these days, all are uneconomical to repair vs. buying a "new" used
camera.

Nikon EM - Light streaking, and, if memory serves, unreliable/"jumpy
needle syndrome" (probably due to some kind of resistor failure?

2nd Nikon EM - Bought over eBay abd sent back because of same problem
as above.

Nikon FG - Ultra bright viewfinder with easy focusing but the lever/
gears? are locked up (no its not a battery problem or a failed circuit
board as is common for this model but the gears are literally
mechanically locked up. Also bought over fleaBay (the lockup happened
a few months after I bought it a couple of years ago so was/is not
returnable).

Canon 630 - I believe it was a faulty shutter stop so the shutter no
longer opens? (its been a few years now).

Maxxum 600si - Totally my fault. It was raining and I didn't protect
it well enough. Rain + electronics = flashing "help" signal. :-( (and
yes I did try removing/reinserting the battery after the camera dried
off/I dried the camera off but with no real luck.*

Contax 167MT - Not on the sill (but still in my camera bag). Same
problem as above but happened in a swimming pool, LOL. Minor water,
not really a full dunking, dried off the electronics came back to life
fine but the shutter itself no longer opens/closes.*

Nikon F3 - Also bought on fleaBay and sent back because it kept on
winding and winding and winding during the exposure (and after it
too?), there was no catch/lock to the shutter lever/wining mechanism,
the exact oppositte problem of my locked up wind lever on my FG. Also
sent back to original owner. It was beat to crappish and cost about
$75-$80 and I'm not sure how long and by whom it was used and abused
before me no how much film went through it, anyway, up till the point
I bought it and tried it out I thought that Nikon F3s were nearly
indestructible (I had two that I had bought new in previous decades,
long since traded in on Leica gear/whatever), boy was I ever
wrong... :-(

My other 35mm SLRs (Pentax ZX-5n and MZ-S) are working fine except for
a slight problem with banding (lighter and darker areas within the
exposure due to shutter variance of speed during the exposure,
probably) in the ZX-5n which has not yet resurfaced since I got a
battery grip FG that runs off of AA batteries (maybe the shutter
problem was a power problem?).

Anyways, I've heard that there is a plastic part that really should be
metal (cutting costs?) that also causes breakdown (the kind of
breakdown I can't remember) in the ZX-5n models so it may be only a
matter of time before my ZX-5n (also bought used on fleaBay) goes too.

Don't care about digital.

Don't care about screw mount cameras.

Don't care about rangefinders or Twin Lens Reflexes.

Just want to know others' experiences with which _35mm SLR bayonette
mount _film_ _ cameras, from any era, that are still reliable after
many years of use and/or abuse. Are there any? AND have you babied
your equip, use it often or beat it to heck and expose more frames
than a feature length motion picture through it?

Yes, film cameras are cheap(ish) to replace, but with older cameras
you never know what they've been though and whether you're going to
get a lemon (something bad/"sucky") or lemonade (something good/fun to
drink, though I prefer apple juice to lemonade ;-)), so if/when I get
another Pentax, Contax, Nikon or whatever, _used_, I would want it to
last a bit longer than just past opening the UPS box I got it in ;-).
Cameras are like milk, but without the expiration date written on the
top of the box so younever no what you're going to get... or for how
long you're going to be able to use it/keep it.

My window sill is pretty well filled up, don't want to add more
"decorations" to the window (or the Christmas tree ;-)) so any
suggestions would be appreciated. Cameras are for using/collecting
light, not collecting star dust.

*Yes, I've learned my lesson with water and will only drink it, bathe
in it, or swim in it from now on, sans camera ;-)

My 1969 Nikon F is working just fine.. had the FTn meter recalibrated
for the alkaline batteries and life is good.

My Dads F3 is now in the hands of sister and is functioning perfectly
as it always has... dang it Dad, you couldn't have given it to me? Ok
my sis takes some great photos with it and couldn't afford anything
like it. Probably better he gave it to her. But that is one sexy
camera.

My Nikon N90s is a work horse... perhaps the best prosumer camera ever built.

My other sisters FG is still working fine but she has moved to a P&S
Nikon Digital.. don't know which one. I would like to get the FG from
her for my collection.



--
Jim

Tony Polson wrote:
wrote:

Ibelieve either I and/or a friend tested out the Fuji 6x9 (I think
this is the largest format rangefinder they make unless they have a
6x12) quite a few years ago.


Try 6x17!

http://www.lensandrepro.com/RENTAL/fuji.html

There was also a 6x12. All are now discontinued.

:-(

It might have been the 6x17cm we tested whilst my other friend had a
(interchangeable lens?) 6x7 Fuji rangefinder. My fondest memories of
these "Texas Leicas" were that I was still in Santa Barbara...
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Santa Barbara......... :-) :-) :-)

I believe the test shots were done from a stairs/balcony in the now
defunct? Del's camera. Seemed as if every week or other week my friend
and I were doing rentals (Nikon lenses, Leica?, Fuji, etc.).

"Bring in defunct, bring in da noise" ;-)

wrote:


Tony Polson wrote:
wrote:

Ibelieve either I and/or a friend tested out the Fuji 6x9 (I think
this is the largest format rangefinder they make unless they have a
6x12) quite a few years ago.


Try 6x17!

http://www.lensandrepro.com/RENTAL/fuji.html

There was also a 6x12. All are now discontinued.

:-(

It might have been the 6x17cm we tested whilst my other friend had a
(interchangeable lens?) 6x7 Fuji rangefinder. My fondest memories of
these "Texas Leicas" were that I was still in Santa Barbara...
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Santa Barbara......... :-) :-) :-)

I believe the test shots were done from a stairs/balcony in the now
defunct? Del's camera. Seemed as if every week or other week my friend
and I were doing rentals (Nikon lenses, Leica?, Fuji, etc.).

"Bring in defunct, bring in da noise" ;-)

LOL!

Mmmmm. Santa Barbara.

Beautiful place, beautiful people!

Jim wrote:
"Michael Benveniste" wrote in message
...
wrote:

Just want to know others' experiences with which _35mm SLR bayonette
mount _film_ _ cameras, from any era, that are still reliable after
many years of use and/or abuse. Are there any?

It is possible to break any piece of gear, up to and including
the counterweight for a boom. Anything with moving parts will
also eventually wear out. Reliability is relative, not absolute.

Certain things like light seals are maintenance items. A
light leak in an EM shouldn't shock anyone. Even if the
camera has slept in a closet for 15 years after 5 years of
sporadic use, time will take its toll on foam. You can
safely assume that any 20th century 35mm SLR you buy will
require replacement seals.

The only film camera I have left from the 1980's is a Nikon FA.
I doubt I've run 1000 rolls of film through it, but I'm pretty
sure I've run 500. In the more than 20 years that I've owned it,
I've done three CLA's and one more extensive repair. The
repair came after a 4+ foot drop onto a concrete floor in
Chicago's O'hare airport. (I did not have a lens attached to
the camera at the time.)

Historically, the FA has been the least reliable of Nikon's
"mid-sized" line (FM/FE/FM2/FE2/FA/FM3A), and these weren't
designed to stand up to as much abuse as the larger "pro"
cameras. But it's a rare pro camera that's had as little use
as my FA. Even fewer were banished to a sedentary life after
being babied through a couple of vacations and family get-
togethers. So it's not terribly surprising that a random eBay
Nikon F3 or Canon F1 has been beat into inoperability. But even
when such gear was new, the pros I knew always took a backup
camera into the field. I doubt very many pros got through a year,
let alone a career, without having to switch to backup.

I'm most familiar with Nikon gear, but in your situation
I'd look for a Nikon F3HP or Canon T90 and have it checked out
and a CLA done by a reliable repair shop. In particular,
because they are FD-mount cameras and were introduced just
before the EOS switchover, T90's sell for less than F3HP's yet
frequently show lighter use.

--
Michael Benveniste --
Spam and UCE professionally evaluated for $250. Use this email
address only to submit mail for evaluation.


The OP's post was an excellent source of the reason that nobody should buy a
camera sight unseen.


SNIP

Jim

A much belated thanks for your understanding of my point(s) and
standing up for me/re-enforcing what I said (or at least tried to
say), Jim :-)

I believe I did mention in a later post that my Nikon EM had a shutter
problem, not a foam deterioration light seal problem. The whole point
of this thread was to find out which cameras, eBa or otherwise, have
withstood the test of time without problems. No more window sills for
me ;-).

Regards to you both,

Lewis