The Future of Classic rangefinders ?

dee

dee

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My Contax II has been saved with a Kiev II shutter mechanism . I make no appology for this - the shutter was not taken from a useable Kiev ...

Broken Contax cameras find a ready market on e-bay , so someone is either restoring or stripping them . We are not often told if e-bay Kievs really are working LOL !
All of my four have found new lives , albeit two as original and two as Kontax combinations [sorry , but I see this as far better than breaking them up ]

This caused me to consider a time when spares for these cameras become sought after - will demand force up prices ?
Will Contax users finally turn to inexpensive Kievs to keep a much loved ' beater ' alive ?
Will Kiev supporters resent their favourites being broken up as spares for the German Menace LOL ... not to mention innocent Kiev IIs being remade as Contax ...

All conjecture , but ...

Who will be interested ?
My daughter , in her 30s would consider a Minolta 7000i as her ' classic ' [ outdated ] first camera and is firmly into the digital domaine . My 4 year old Grandaughter will consider film archaic - she is totally at home with an I-phone and her new Digital compact .

I guess falling interest will simply match fewer cameras being in circulation .
I have seen some interest by younger people for Wartime style Leica and Contax cameras , but this is surely a minority market . Will Wartime fascination continue to support our toys ?

Are you younger generations discovering the frustrations and joys of cameras that have been round many blocks a few times and have seen so much ?

It may also turn out that we oldies will , in twenty years time , be able to aquire those longed for classics for a song - and be too crotchety to use them LOL .
 
Nikki uses her Nintendo DSi with its built in camera and image manipulation software. She has a lot of fun with it. She also uses a Kodak 8Mpixel camera for Video.

She also likes to take pictures with my Rangefinders, and really liked the Leica CL.
 
I'm 25 and love my leicas (IIIf and M3) and my Ricoh Diacord TLR. I enjoy them so much more than I enjoyed my digital gear which is now gone, if I really wanted to go digital again its cheap enough to buy another SLR or something like a GF1.

I enjoy the whole process of shooting ,developing , and wet printing more than shoot,post process in pshop, upload or print from digital. Digital is fun too, I'm just enjoying film for now and using all the great gear that I only had previously read about. Using vintage gear has really given me a much greater appreciation for photography.
 
My daughter's best friend (15) is very interested in photography. She has a digital SLR her stepfather gave her. She's expressed a BIG interest in film and was fascinated with the fact I develop in my bathroom. She helped me once.

So, for Christmas, we bought her a Yashica GSN. I showed her how to focus with it and how to figure out exposure. About two weeks ago we developed her first roll of B&W film in my bathroom, and she did most of it. I scanned them the next day for her. She was VERY happy and excited!

Not sure if the photos will show up, but I'll try... here's two of her photos:

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I think if we all find a kid interested and teach them, we'll have a whole new generation of film and rangefinder users :)
 
This is encouraging - maybe there is future after all !
I must get my Grand daughter into trying out one of my old film cameras - probably not the Contax / Kiev II !
 
As long as the good, thoughtful photographers are using rangefinders and view cameras and the evil, degenerate, hacks are using SLRs, rangefinders have a future.
 
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I'm 19 and very much into classic cameras. Most of the time I shoot with film, almost 90%. I also started developing my black and white films. And will pursue this year to have my very own darkroom. Indeed, I am part of this minority, but I still hope we would still continue to increase as the months go by.
 
I firmly believe that it's only a matter of time before we have the technology to make CCD's that can fit into old film camera's without modifying the body.... it would basically look like a roll of film that would contain the processor/storage/other magic things.... and a "leader" sticking out that would be the CCD and would go across the film plane.

I also think that the Leica M series is perfectly suited to someone building a digital back for them. They already have a removable base plate and rear door... it seems absurd that no one's made one yet.
 
As it has been pointed out, I think much of it comes down to simply being exposed to something. I was fortunate that my uncle had a passion for photography and did his own developing as someone of that ilk would do. He took the time to share it with me, when I was quite young. Of course that was a long time ago, when digital cameras where not being used. So, the amount of exposure may change, but exposure remains the key.

I think that film will remain viable because art has a way of keeping all methods alive. Some, people will look to reproduce in the way of past masters, just as most will look to produce images in the newest methodology of their current times. Heck, people still look to pinhole cameras, and 8x10 plates. Why would 35mm film be any different.
 
It's so encouraging that still some young people interested in film rf.　I am 27 years old and I have no kid, I will leave my old camera for my kid as a gift if God give me the gift.
 
I'm 33 and still think of myself as a young man :rolleyes:

However, I only got into photography about 3-4 years ago with an Olympus DSLR and within weeks had an OM10, then an OM4ti and now have 2 rangefinders. I've fallen in love with film and film cameras in a big way, love the slower process with film.

Every shot is thought of when I shoot film, resulting in far more keepers as I refuse to waste film.

My girlfriend is 23 and stole my 1960's Olympus Pen as it was "cute" but loves the prints she gets from it.
 
I think that I must be a really bad person! - as I really could not care less if people are still using Kievs, Contax's, or any other type of camera - in twenty or thirty years time!, I probably will not be around to see if any 'clockwork' antiques have survived. Meanwhile, I shall continue to enjoy using my cameras, both ancient and modern, film and digital ( oh! sorry - film is dead - isn't it? ;) ) and if I can help any aspiring young photographer with this or any activity that I may have knowledge of - then I shall continue to do so, but as for vigorously evangelising....nah! - like religion....you go your way! - I'll go mine! :)
Dave.
 
"The Future of Classic rangefinders ? "

"Classic" ... implies from an earlier era. By definition a classic era is removed from the present, contemporary context.

"Future" ... by definition is removed both from the present and the past. The future is intrinsically hypothetical.

Thus, we are discussing technological artifacts from an earlier era. Rangefinder cameras are intrinsically relics, even if they are still mechanically functional, and despite Leica and Voigtlander rangefinders still being manufactured today.

I can still purchase newly manufactured cassette, microcassette and VHS tape cartridges and machines, yet these formats are technically obsolete; artifacts from an earlier era.

Going forward, I do not expect any camera manufacturer, other than Leica and Voigtlander, to continue manufacturing rangefinders; neither do I expect a retrofitted digital sensor for film rangefinders; the market for this is simply too small and specialized.

Parts will become more scarce, with broken cameras becoming parts sources to keep others functional. This same concept is happening more and more with both the ocnsumer electronics and automobile industries in the US, with manufacturers reducing the stocking levels of replacement parts. This is a natural life cycle for manufactured technologies. Enjoy them while we have them.

~Joe
 
Disaster_Area said:
I firmly believe that it's only a matter of time before we have the technology to make CCD's that can fit into old film camera's without modifying the body.... it would basically look like a roll of film that would contain the processor/storage/other magic things.... and a "leader" sticking out that would be the CCD and would go across the film plane.

I also think that the Leica M series is perfectly suited to someone building a digital back for them. They already have a removable base plate and rear door... it seems absurd that no one's made one yet.
Click to expand...

I'm actually more surprised that Nikon hasn't come up with a digital back for the Nikon F. Considering the high production numbers of the F, and the fact that many of these cameras are probably in OK shape just sitting in a closet, I got to believe a limited production digital back, maybe 10,000 units, could be commercially viable. The F's body construction would seem to work well too, considering the back and camera bottom are in one piece.

Jim B.
 
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