Spotted: Nothing But Rangefinders

julianphotoart

julianphotoart

No likey digital-phooey
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The family went to the Getty Villa in Malibu this past Sunday. What was memorable -- aside from 2000 year old bronzes and such -- was that 100% of the film cameras I saw were rangefiners. All THREE(!!!) of them. I had a Zeiss Ikon, and I saw one guy with a Contax G and another guy with, I think, an M of some kind (if it was an M, it wasn't an M8 because I spotted him in the distance rewinding his film). Like I'm sure a lot of us on this forum, when I go places I'm usually on the look-out for actual film cameras.
 
I watch for film cameras too, and the ones I notice tend to be rangefinders or the older folding cameras, since a lot of the newer film SLRs look quite like DSLRs and a lot of the newer film P&S look quite a bit like {d-word} P&S.
 
It's nice to see other film users out there. I was in New York City and was at the Veteran's Day Parade and in one section of the pre-staging area I saw 3 Leica users, a Canon A-1, a Oly OM and someone with a Hassy. I was pleasantly surprised.
 
Where is the tipping point, at which it becomes cool to use analogue cameras? Has it occurred yet? Will it ever, really?

I think most of us in this forum are a little biased. We're probably not the best ones to judge analog-camera-chic.
 
crawdiddy said:
Where is the tipping point, at which it becomes cool to use analogue cameras? Has it occurred yet? Will it ever, really?

I think most of us in this forum are a little biased. We're probably not the best ones to judge analog-camera-chic.
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I was riding the elevator down in the Sahara hotel in Las Vegas, holding the Pentax K1000, when a guy remarked to the effect of "oh wow, a real camera" or something like that. 🙂
 
crawdiddy said:
Where is the tipping point, at which it becomes cool to use analogue cameras? Has it occurred yet? Will it ever, really?
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I live in a fairly trendy part of Vancouver (Commercial Drive) and In the summer I see a lot of kids with older film cameras slung over their shoulders - usually 70's-80's SLR's, and often silver. So I'd guess we're already there.

One thing that is undeniably cool is how great a camera you can get for a very small amount of money.

I have also seen a Kodak Duaflex (a really nice looking and built box-camera TLR) and a gray "baby" Rolleiflex. The former uses 620 film and the latter 127, which suggests a certain amount of dedication on the part of their owners since both formats have been long discontinued. A fair amount of hacking is required to keep those cameras loaded today.

Not that I'm a kid anymore - so who am I to say - but I suspect the appeal goes beyond cool, though cool is always good if you can manage it.
 
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ddutchison said:
I have also seen a Kodak Duaflex (a really nice looking and built box-camera TLR) and a gray "baby" Rolleiflex. The former uses 620 film and the latter 127, which suggests a certain amount of dedication on the part of their owners since both formats have been long discontinued. A fair amount of hacking is required to keep those cameras loaded today.
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Actually, you can buy 127, 620, and 828 directly from B&H still. 🙂
 
cmedin said:
Actually, you can buy 127, 620, and 828 directly from B&H still. 🙂
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That's good news. Still, there's a layer of extra considerations you have to indulge in to keep a camera with a discontinued format going. Mail ordering from B&H is nowhere near as convenient as wandering into the nearest corner store for a roll of Kodacolor Gold.

I guess I'm saying that in an age where everything becomes obsolete in half a decade, it's encouraging to see young photographers taking the trouble to explore a process that is increasingly being dismissed as irrelevant. It's encouraging to see that something other than blind devotion to the newest and the latest can be cool.
 
ddutchison said:
That's good news. Still, there's a layer of extra considerations you have to indulge in to keep a camera with a discontinued format going. Mail ordering from B&H is nowhere near as convenient as wandering into the nearest corner store for a roll of Kodacolor Gold.
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Unfortunately I can't walk into the corner store and get 120 or 4x5 sheet film either. 🙂

I guess I'm saying that in an age where everything becomes obsolete in half a decade, it's encouraging to see young photographers taking the trouble to explore a process that is increasingly being dismissed as irrelevant. It's encouraging to see that something other than blind devotion to the newest and the latest can be cool.
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Agreed 100%! I got a co-worker into film recently and he's been out shooting with some old (Yashica D) gear and having a lot of fun with it. No doubt there's a fair segment who carry film cameras just because they're so 'retro', but there are also a lot of people who just flat out enjoy film and the process.
 
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