In a rut.

Steph, from my (somewhat experienced) perspective, there is no better tool for you and the amazing experience you are about to live through, than the FE you already have. Get a 28mm lens for it as well as using the 50mm you have. (Maybe get a screw on close-up diopter filter too.) It is a great/perfect tool to documment the wild stuff you will experience with pregnancy and a new baby. Your rut is naturally about to end! Buy film.
 
Trust me, Frank, film is the one thing I don't need. Thanks to people giving me what they won't use, I'm coming up on about 180 rolls of 35mm and 20 rolls of medium format in various types. Lots of expired slide film, black and white of all kinds, and enough in date print film to last me most of my life. My last purchase was a brick of Pan-F and a brick of FP4, plus about 15 rolls of Delta 100 and 10 or so more rolls of it in a bulk roll I bought off APUG a while back.

I think the most interesting film I have is what I planned to use in the TLR: Ektachrome 50 expired in the 80's. 3 rolls, 36 exposures on a 6x6, and the color shift should be interesting. I also still have that roll of APX 25, but I think that's going to be used for portraits of me and the baby.
 
The only camera that I still regret having sold was my Rolleiflex - I think it's a great idea (Rolleicord as well). There is a good looking one over in the APUG classifieds right now for $200. Alternatively, if you want a stero camera as Brian suggested, I have one that I'd sell for $15 + shipping that I picked up off of Craigslist and haven't used.
 
FrankS said:
Film + FE = you're all set! Let it happen, and take pictures.
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FrankS,

You're absolutely correct...sometimes we have to go back to the basics...


A former workmate (Salesman) gave me his Nikon FE w/Tamron 28-70mm lens. That camera was the one that pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of...
 
I didn't say I was DOING it.

Yes, I love the FE. Yes, it is one of the best cameras ever made. Yes, the lens I have for it is superb, no question. However...I don't use it like I should anymore. I bring the Kiev with the Sonnar regardless of the front focus and the FE stays home, lonely and forgotten. I can't STAND to see a camera like that. I don't want to see it sitting on a shelf.

Sometimes it takes a bit of gear shuffling to get me back in the mood to shoot again. Hell, I'm young...I haven't tried enough of what's out there to really have an opinion on what the best is. I want to be able to have that opinion. I want to find what's best for me. That takes a little patience and a lot of trading around.
 
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Steph,

If you must have a TLR maybe go for a entry level one instead of a high end one...Maybe a Yashicamat...there are many models to chose from and the prices aren't too bad...it might allow you to keep what you have...and if you change your mind later about the format you're not out that much...
I have a Yashicamat 124g and it's just fine...it fills a need for a different format and get greats results...no need for a Rollei...
 
I have a non-working Meopta Flexaret now, which is actually how I know I like TLRs. It just stopped working one day, and I've had lots of trouble finding someone who would be willing to work on the thing for me. I figure I'd be better off with a TLR of another brand.

My first choice would be a Rolleicord, but the YashicaMat 124 is a nice one and so is the Diacord. I've also been looking at a Ciro-Flex, which looks to be good as well, but most likely as hard to repair as the Meopta.
 
Oh, and one other thing I've pondered is keeping the FE, selling a bit of the film that I've gotten, and buying a C-41 kit so that I can cross process all the slide film I have. I think that may get me up out of this rut as well.
 
Steph,
The good thing about the FE is that they are common and quite undervalued, so you could always get another when you start feeling nostalgic. Yashicamats go for as much as Autocords even though lots of people think the Autocord is better made. Not sure how the Diacord lines up in those terms. Between the Rolleicord and the Autocord (I've had both) the Autocord is a step up: combined film advance and shutter cocking, and the autocord screen is much brighter (built-in fresnel). And the Autocord is actually a copy of one of the Czech ancestors of your Flexaret, and has the same focusing cam under the lens...very cool.
 
Stephanie Brim said:
Yeah, it's a change in direction thing. It isn't just that I want new gear, I want something that's going to knock the passion back into me again. What seems to do that is when I find something new and cool to use.
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Steph, life is all around and it sometimes gets in the way. The thing to do is to use this time to work through this, and make images even though you might not feel very connected to them or the equipment you're using. Later on, after time, you'll find there was more of a connection than you thought. Buying equipment doesn't help as much as you think it does. It only masks over the things that caused you be in a "rut". My suggestion is just get out there and make images. Cameras are just the tools to do so. Go for a long walk, listen to music, leaf through books of artists and photographers that you enjoy. That should help immensely.
 
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I'm going over to babysit today. My little sister had a baby a month ago and I'm going to help my mother today. I'm looking forward to it. Maybe it'll help.

Anyway, to share something.

I looked through some web stuff last night, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with a layout, and found this: http://pleasewipeyourfeet.com/photos/selfpromo_web.jpg (warning, it's large). I made it a while ago when I was going to put a few images in a cafe. Never amounted to anything and it's been sitting there since sometime in 2005. All those images were taken with the Nikon FE, all developed by me. I still have the negatives for those somewhere, but the one of the sign has been ruined by Wal-Mart.

I took some great photos with the Nikon back in the day. I wonder if all I do need is a change of lens or something. I've used the same 50mm lens since I first got the Nikon almost 4 years ago, sold it, then bought another one almost a year ago. Maybe I need to move out of the comfortable confines of 50mm and be daring. Perhaps go 24mm. Or even 20mm.

So Frank, I'll keep the Nikon. I'll sell my unneeded video game equipment to get the TLR. Or maybe I'll just buy that cheap Ciro-Flex and be done with it. Then I'll start looking around for a new lens and use the Nikon and the Kiev as a complementary kit. I mean, it's like riding a bike. Photography isn't something you 'forget' how to do. The camera really doesn't matter as long as it's comfortable.

I should probably send Frank a print now. HE'S the one who actually made me think about going back through some old stuff.
 
Good. Keep the FE for all the things an slr does best. You'll get the Kiev back soon and will have a RF camera. Sell some video games and buy a TLR for MF. That's a sound plan. At the least, get a closeup filter for the FE/50. You'll be able to take cute pics of the new baby's tiny feet, hands, face. A 28 or 24 for the FE is a good idea too, when you can swing it.
 
One thing I was thinking about last night that I thought about when I first got the FE was that I wanted to get a reversing ring so that I could reverse the 50mm lens and use it as a macro. Perhaps I should look into that as well as a cheap option for macro photography. I think I'll get an 85 down the road for baby feet photos. I have some time.
 
I think you should use this time to document in detail the pre-baby life of you and your bf. Like, a series of self-timer pics of the two of you sitting together to capture an overiding emotion (apprehension?)... go for a night out and take pictures of everything--your two movie/concert tickets, the back seat of your car with no baby seat...your kitchen cabinets filled with just adult food...preparing meals for just yourselves (using self-timer?)...wake up and take a picture of your bedside clock on a Saturday morning, reading 10:30...all of the aspects of your life that involve just the two of you that you may take for granted...because soon it will seem like a million miles away.
 
I think this is a good plan. SLRs are noisy perhaps, but also, looking at your promo images, very good at taking close, intimate photographs.

I like the project idea SteveM(PA) suggested above, too.
 
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