What should a new high end film camera look like?

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Huss

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I was thinking about this when I should have been working. If someone was going to step up to the plate and release an all new high end film (35mm) camera, what should it offer?
I say they need to dump the optical viewfinders (whether rangefinder or slr) and release one with an EVF. It actually makes far more sense to have an EVF on a film camera than a digital camera. Because with a digicam you have a zillion shots on that memory card, so can afford to mess up some exposures (or bracket).
With a film camera, you have 36 exposures. So you really have to make them count and what would really help would be able to view the actual exposure real time with an EVF.
Fuji already has jpeg film presets. That idea can be expanded (but doesn't really as exposure is more important than 'look' if you catch my drift).

So what say you? Should the upcoming Nikon F7 have an EVF? Because let's be honest, my F6 is really long in tooth now and what other changes can they make that actually are meaningful?
And Leica with the Q2... slap that design onto a QM/QF? Keep that hardware but toss that sensor for a roll that 36 individual sensors..
 
A re-release of the Nikon F3 with a modern viewfinder metering readout would likely be one of the best cameras ever.

Please no autofocus, and make the viewfinder higher magnification.
 
Call me old school
I prefer OVF to EVF any day
Even with aging eyes

EVF makes me ill, seasick so to speak ,... :eek:

I do like the Idea of presets, that would be cool !
Acros in the digi fuji’s is Sublime
 
helenhill said:
Acros in the digi fuji’s is Sublime
Click to expand...

Agreed. In an afternoon yesterday it completely and totally changed my approach to using a digital camera rather than film.

My ideal would be simply a rangefinder with lenses capable of close focus, good viewfinder patch and an excellent built in meter.

SLRs- something small, autofocus and excellent metering.
 
I don't think an evf would help that much - with digital it literally is wysiwyg, with film it's as much as an approximation as an ovf is.
Some of the advances in af with tracking and face/eye detect would be nice, but not sure how feasible that would be without actually putting a digital sensor in there.

Otherwise film bodies matured with af. We're still getting any lens advancements if you're shooting with an f/ef/alpha mount body.

The one thing that's stalled that would be hugely beneficial is on the film side itself. Things like fine grained, high speed C41 or say production of film on a small scale that keeps it cheap for the consumer and profitable for the company.
 
The last thing I would want in a film camera is an EVF. I think the beauty of 35mm film cameras is their simplicity. I personally prefer manual cameras with meters and think film cameras peaked around the mid to late 70s and early 80s. Leica M6, Minolta CLE, Nikon FM/FE series, Olympus OM-1N, Pentax KX and MX—make me one of those brand new and I'd be all over it.
 
Something plastic, full of 3d printed parts.

Here will be no new high-end for film. Leica is true high end, but the only reason why they are doing it is availability of parts and else since those cameras were at peak of production decades ago.
Nobody is going to repeat it. Not profitable.
 
The only 'new' high-end film camera that makes any sense to me at all is if Hasselblad resumed production of the 503CW, and its accessories and lenses.

A Hasselblad V system body has a shot because of the recent announcement of the CFV50c II digital back, which permits continued, useful life for all Hasselblad 500 series bodies and lenses. With a new 503CW, or at least resumed parts production for the 500 series bodies, a buyer would have the choice of shooting film or digital depending on which back they desired to fit, could do film and digital changes in a single session, have a choice of a massive number of excellent second-hand lenses, switch to new XCD series lenses by swapping the body for a 907x, etc etc. Existing owners of Hasselblad equipment have completely compatible accessories and lenses already.

There's no point whatever to producing new 35mm high end cameras, there's simply no market for them. It would be a zero-profit venture which no sensible manufacturer could afford. Leica can continue with their film Ms because all of the production equipment is still in place, at the ready, and there's a reasonable if small continued market for the cameras.

Put an EVF into a film camera? Where are you going to get the high resolution digital image data to support a high quality EVF and TTL viewing/focusing? You'd have to build a digital camera that can also expose film ... where are you going to put that sensor that allows the film to be in the same place at the moment of exposure? Silly idea, and probably not workable in any practical way.

G
 
Ko.Fe. said:
Something plastic, full of 3d printed parts.

Here will be no new high-end for film. Leica is true high end, but the only reason why they are doing it is availability of parts and else since those cameras were at peak of production decades ago.
Nobody is going to repeat it. Not profitable.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on what your classification of 'high end' is. Leica's are expensive and well built, but they're not high end in terms of technology. The plastic AF SLR is more high end in that respect.

Probably the most advanced film camera we're going to get is the Nikon F6.
 
The point and shoot market seems to be a great place to start based on the prices of compact high end p&s cameras from the 90s.
 
jsrockit said:
The point and shoot market seems to be a great place to start based on the prices of compact high end p&s cameras from the 90s.
Click to expand...

Good point there. Manual cameras last virtually forever and there are plenty of them out there. The electronic point and shoots—even those made in the 1990s—are reaching or past their expected useful life.
 
jsrockit said:
The point and shoot market seems to be a great place to start based on the prices of compact high end p&s cameras from the 90s.
Click to expand...

You would hope that it isn't past the realms of possibility for Fuji to restart the Klasse platform or Ricoh the film GR series.
 
Godfrey said:
Put an EVF into a film camera? Where are you going to get the high resolution digital image data to support a high quality EVF and TTL viewing/focusing? You'd have to build a digital camera that can also expose film ... where are you going to put that sensor that allows the film to be in the same place at the moment of exposure? Silly idea, and probably not workable in any practical way.

G
Click to expand...

A TLR comes to mind. Imagine a digital/film hybrid Rolleiflex... The digital sensor would be behind the viewing lens. Film behind the taking lens. A camera like that could capture a digital AND film image at the same time.

Throughout history silly ideas have been the foundation of revolution.
 
Huss said:
I was thinking about this when I should have been working. If someone was going to step up to the plate and release an all new high end film (35mm) camera, what should it offer?
I say they need to dump the optical viewfinders (whether rangefinder or slr) and release one with an EVF. It actually makes far more sense to have an EVF on a film camera than a digital camera. Because with a digicam you have a zillion shots on that memory card, so can afford to mess up some exposures (or bracket).
With a film camera, you have 36 exposures. So you really have to make them count and what would really help would be able to view the actual exposure real time with an EVF.
Fuji already has jpeg film presets. That idea can be expanded (but doesn't really as exposure is more important than 'look' if you catch my drift).

So what say you? Should the upcoming Nikon F7 have an EVF? Because let's be honest, my F6 is really long in tooth now and what other changes can they make that actually are meaningful?
And Leica with the Q2... slap that design onto a QM/QF? Keep that hardware but toss that sensor for a roll that 36 individual sensors..
Click to expand...

How would an EVF in a film camera even work? Have you actually thought this through? An EVF in a digital camera is a means to omit the complicated mechanism of a mirror and a prism, thus saving a lot of space. Trying to get an EVF into a film camera that shows exactly what's projected on the film would require quite an elaborate and complex mechanism. Silly idea.
 
Jamie123 said:
How would an EVF in a film camera even work? Have you actually thought this through? An EVF in a digital camera is a means to omit the complicated mechanism of a mirror and a prism, thus saving a lot of space. Trying to get an EVF into a film camera that shows exactly what's projected on the film would require quite an elaborate and complex mechanism. Silly idea.
Click to expand...

Huss said:
A TLR comes to mind. Imagine a digital/film hybrid Rolleiflex... The digital sensor would be behind the viewing lens. Film behind the taking lens. A camera like that could capture a digital AND film image at the same time.

Throughout history silly ideas have been the foundation of revolution.
Click to expand...

Next question.
:)

p.s how about a little positivity and inject into the conversation what you would like to see in a future film kamera?
 
Jamie123 said:
How would an EVF in a film camera even work? Have you actually thought this through? An EVF in a digital camera is a means to omit the complicated mechanism of a mirror and a prism, thus saving a lot of space. Trying to get an EVF into a film camera that shows exactly what's projected on the film would require quite an elaborate and complex mechanism. Silly idea.
Click to expand...

Well, rangefinder cameras were made... they didn’t see what the film was seeing.
 
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