Ideas For A Fun Vintage Camera

many older cameras use roll film which is not so easy to get D&P for on the High Street, so 35mm is where it is at look at FSU Feds and Zorkis, but as an alternative what about an Argus C3 - millions of them about - still a decent picture taker - simple to fix and you could buy 50 of them for your budget!!!

Nick

Many vintage cameras take much better pictures than people are willing to admit these days. The Zorki takes very sharp images, as does the Argus C3. If you are looking for artistic images, look for old cameras with foggy, scratched, or plastic lenses. Try a brownie for 35mm, or a Lubitel for 120 film. Look for cameras with small diameter lenses as the are usualy simpler lens designs which should produce softer focus images. Something with zone focusing or even fixed focus will also likely produce the types of images you are looking for.

- Randy

I think what you are looking for is the subject of the Alternative Camera Forum. Or seach the net for Holga, Diana or toy camera. And read about cross-processing. But I like my photos sharp and clear and have yet to find a classic camera (that works) and takes poor pictures. Even in times immemorial people (and camera manufacturer) wanted the best results.

Okay, maybe that botched repair attempt with a long ago sold 6x9 folder camera with a Radionar three-element lens is what you want. I screwed off the fungus-afflicted front element, dropped it while cleaning it (resulting in a large crack) and probably screwed it back in the wrong way round. It wasn't possible to take sharp pictures anymore, but the bokeh (rendering of out-of-focus areas) was awesome.

The Zenit, it's not a 'fun' camera though but a decent performer with some good quality optics. I have a few of them and I use them almost every day. They're fully mechanical. (No matrix-metering or 5623-point-focus-screen though but I'm sure you can live with that ;-).

Take a look around here - My website.

Michael:

Since you are a beginning photographer, I'll tell you that no particular camera takes awesome photos. Only the photographer can. One can make masterpieces with the crappiest piece of plastic imaginable -- or even a camera without a lens (pinhole); one can also shoot absolute crap with the latest digital SLR. Only your vision, combined with the ability to use any particular camera to its potential can make artistic photos. Now, if you kust want to take photos that have vignetting around the edges, blurry effects, etc. Go buy a Holga from Freestyle Camera or anyplace else that sells them. Get some color 400 speed 120 roll film, and go shoot. You will at least have a start. The rest is up to you.

Artistic, awesome, cool pictures [for the simple-minded]? Easy!

1: Buy one (1) roll of Kodak Ektachrome 100 Plus Professional (EPP).
2: Shoot the film in a camera of your choice and expose it normally (at ISO 100).
3: Drop it off at a pro lab to have it developed and tell them to "crossprocess it in C41 chemistry, pushed 1/3 stop".
[3a: To get a first impression of your results, order also a contact sheet, but this is a bit expensive.]
4: Have prints made of your negs and don't forget to tell them / write a note: "No color correction, please!"
5: Profit?!

You can thank me later for this.

You didn't specify if it was to be a 35mm camera or not, but if you want fun, try checking in at www.toycamera.com... My personal recomendations would be a Holga (brand new) or a Diana (or one of her clones). Both can be had for well under $50 and take "fun" pictures. They do take 120 film though...

The best bet if you want to take artistic photos is a camera with a fairly sharp lens which takes a common filter size (49mm,52mm), you can then buy cheap filters to achieve atrtistic effects. With a clear UV or Skylight filter and a jar of vaseline you can achieve startling effects. You can also hold a piece of black netting in front of the lens to acheve softening effects. I agree with the previous poster no camera "takes awesome photos", its the photographer that does that.