Have We Seen The Last Release of a Serious Film Camera?

Have We Seen The Last Release of a Serious Film Camera?

  • Yes

    Votes: 271 46.2%

  • No

    Votes: 316 53.8%
  • Total voters
    587
We are done with new "serious film camers." Hasselblad, Mamiya, Leica the best is here now, pick your weapon -
 
It's been over four decades since the Leica M4 with the rewind crank and quick load was introduced. The essential Hasselblad 500-C came out a few years earlier. Since then it's all been tweaking. (and black paint)
 
Frankly, I can't think of anything more "serious" than a Nikon F6. I think the only way they could improve that would be to make a medium-format version of it.
 
I was happily surprised to see the Bessa III go into production so anything is possible.
Man, I wish I had the $$$ for one of those babies!
 
A "serious" camera could have an anti-fondle interlock. When you fondle it too much the shutter would lock up and a speaker would loudly say "Yes! Oh YES YES YES! Ooooh! That feels so-o-o-o-o-o good. DON'T STOP! oooooh... that was so good! Now I can't wait to get out and DO SOME PHOTOGRAPHY!
 
The problem to me is that, in the SLR world, there really hasn't been much more manufacturers can do in the way of "new and improved": take a look at the last cameras each company came out with (Contax with the RTS III, AX and RX; Minolta with the Maxxum 9; Pentax with the MZ-S; Olympus with the OM3/4Ti; and, of course, the still-current Nikon F6 and Canon EOS 1v. If anything, I've long felt there's been too much useless technological churn over the last decade, even before the digital tidal wave hit.

In the RF world, things move more slowly, of course, but stuff did happen: technologically, the three cameras that kicked the bar higher, IMO, were (in no particular order), Hasselblad's XPan, Contax' G series (yeah, I know, "it's not really an RF, but I digress), and my beloved Konica Hexar RF. The Bessas are notable for getting more people into the RF world without their wallets trembling at the sound of the L word, and that's a noteworthy achievement on its own.

So, I really don't think we're going to see any more really new film-based cameras from here on out, although a really nice pocketable 35 might still find a viable market, though sadly nothing along the lines of my Contax Tvs. Between the bumper-crop of used cameras and the shrunken film market overall, I'm hoping more for stability and sustainability than shiny new stuff. (I did my buy-new-shiny-stuff part in 2002, big time.)

Edit: Just wanted to qualify the above graf: we'll probably see refinements of current-production cameras. In the meantime, just be happy you can pick up the phone and order yourself a new F6, 1v, ZI, MP/M7, or all sorts of Bessas. Is it really all that bad?


- Barrett
 
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They make what they can sell. CV can sell film, Zeiss , a few Leicas. It is not about improvement, it is profit.

There is no profit because volumn is too low.

If I voted, I would vote NO.

What about the new Besa folder. Serious? No.
 
I said no. I think that someone will make a rangefinder with a shutter that works at all speeds with or without batteries like the Nikon FM3a. Maybe even Leica in a future incarnation of the MP.
 
I'm still waiting for the Nikon FM4a (sequel to the FM3a). Come on Nikon, according to the timelines, you should have released it three years ago! :)
 
If you're all about the gear and the latest/greatest, you'd be all over digital already.

If you're not, the current film cameras should have you more than covered.
 
Pickett Wilson said:
I'm afraid the M7 is the end of the line for Leica film cameras. They didn't start the digital numbering at M8 for nothing. :)
Click to expand...

Good observation. We might want to keep in mind that Leica was prepared to seize RF production after the M5 disaster in the mid '70s. They went another 30 yrs. and made a few more rupees.
 
Al Kaplan said:
A "serious" camera could have an anti-fondle interlock. When you fondle it too much the shutter would lock up and a speaker would loudly say "Yes! Oh YES YES YES! Ooooh! That feels so-o-o-o-o-o good. DON'T STOP! oooooh... that was so good! Now I can't wait to get out and DO SOME PHOTOGRAPHY!
Click to expand...
You forgot the part where it says, "Come on, baby, put a fresh roll in me!"

Or is that a bit too purple-prose-ish for this thread? :p


- Barrett
 
I'm hoping for a new Veriwide-type of camera - small, preferably 6x9 and 90 or more degrees FOV. I hope Mr. Kobayashi is reading this. :)
 
Hell, dude, it's STILL my birthday. Nothing is too puple-prose-ish for a guy who gets to drive by a former motel every day where the flick Deep Throat was filmed. It's now a dorm for Johnson and Wales University. I keep telling the administration that they should put a bronze plaque featuring a bas relief image of Linda Lovelace and mentioning it in their recruiting literature. Some people have ZERO sense of either humor or the absurd.

I don't recall a roll being used in Linda's movies but Johnson and Wales started out as a culinary institute. In Linda's second movie, the one she denies ever making, the "co-star" was a big red dog and he'd lick anything that was covered in mayonaise. Needless to say, the school administration was pretty cool on my idea of marketing their own brand of Big Red Dog mayo "Good To The Last lick!"
 
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