PopPhoto's 12 Film Cameras Worth Buying Right Now

[vpwphoto]

[QUOTE=CGW;1177711 Hasselblads are somehow immune to wear and tear.[/QUOTE]

They sort of are...except the fact that the owners generally use them so much.
Since going to my Leaf Aptus Back on mine it shows 38,000 odd exposures in the 5 years I have had it... and probably another 50,000 film exposures.

It has CLA just twice... once when it was two years old and once about 2 years ago.
>>..... they do keep going and going and going... like no other animal out there that can go outside the studio in a backpack without batteries.

The pop photo article did say something about it being an aspirational brand. Just like a Land Rover, and I'd like one of those too. Not that there are not junkers out there... again Land Rovers and Hasselblads are kept in third and fourth and fifth hand circulation for a reason.

[SkipA]

The Canon EOS bodies are easy to find in excellent condition and they are a bargain, price wise. I have two pristine EOS 3 bodies that I'll eventually sell because I very rarely use them. I have never really forgiven Canon for ditching the FD mount in favor of EF. I have more and better FD glass than EF, so I mostly use my F1 rather than my EOS 3 whenever I shoot 35mm SLR.

But the EOS bodies are excellent and highly capable film cameras and used and new lenses are plentiful, so it's hard to imagine a top 12 list that doesn't include them.

[Sirius Glass]

I see more smoked than clean user examples. It's an aspirational brand. That can create problems for the market PopPhoto's targeting in this article. Lacking the savvy to sort junk from jewels, noobs stumble into raw deals, often by swallowing hype that Hasselblads are somehow immune to wear and tear. A good one won't necessarily be cheap or easy to find. The junkers are thick on the ground now, true sucker bait many friends took hook, line and sinker. Caveat emptor, more so than usual

Neither I nor the other Hasselblad owners who bought Hasselblad equipment from Samys or KEH.com had problems. Don't bother to blow smoke up our noses, all you have is blather and hot air. You got nothing. :laugh:

[CGW]

They sort of are...except the fact that the owners generally use them so much.
Since going to my Leaf Aptus Back on mine it shows 38,000 odd exposures in the 5 years I have had it... and probably another 50,000 film exposures.

It has CLA just twice... once when it was two years old and once about 2 years ago.
>>..... they do keep going and going and going... like no other animal out there that can go outside the studio in a backpack without batteries.

The pop photo article did say something about it being an aspirational brand. Just like a Land Rover, and I'd like one of those too. Not that there are not junkers out there... again Land Rovers and Hasselblads are kept in third and fourth and fifth hand circulation for a reason.

They break. Many of the used examples I see are worked-to-death junk.

There's an old joke about Land Rovers taking you there and Land Cruisers bringing you back after the breakdown.

[CGW]

Neither I nor the other Hasselblad owners who bought Hasselblad equipment from Samys or KEH.com had problems. Don't bother to blow smoke up our noses, all you have is blather and hot air. You got nothing.



Lucky you. Enjoy the pissing contest with yourself. Newbs can't always sort what's what and get had in the process buying the brand. Where's the controversy in that?

[Focus No. 9]

[QUOTE=CGW;1177772]They break. Many of the used examples I see are worked-to-death junk.

That's what she said!

[Sirius Glass]

They break. Many of the used examples I see are worked-to-death junk.

There's an old joke about Land Rovers taking you there and Land Cruisers bringing you back after the breakdown.

Gee, that could be said about any camera, but you picked on Hasselblad based on your prejudices and what you had for breakfast. But you must have had something and all this time I thought that hallucinogenics were illegal in Canada.

Just sayin' :whistling:

[Moopheus]

Where are the LF cameras? I feel like such a bastard child.


Yeah, if they really wanted to blow people's minds they could have suggested that a decent user Speed/Crown Graphic could be had for a couple hundred bucks.

They also missed the hipster-oriented toy camera, but I doubt that's their demographic anyway.

[Sirius Glass]

I am glad that they did not include LF cameras in that article because I only have two 4"x5" cameras and I still want to expand more in LF. I don't want the competition for LF equipment.

Steve

[David A. Goldfarb]

A bit of a random list, I thought. They might has well just have said, "there are a lot of great film cameras out there for cheap, here are some bargains," and maybe that's what it is, rather than a "top 12" list. If it gets some digital photographers to look into trying film, it's not a bad thing.

[CGW]

A bit of a random list, I thought. They might has well just have said, "there are a lot of great film cameras out there for cheap, here are some bargains," and maybe that's what it is, rather than a "top 12" list. If it gets some digital photographers to look into trying film, it's not a bad thing.

It's a reasonably informed sample, true. In many areas, though, the whole supply chain for film photography dissolved over the last 3-5 years. It's not so easy now for many to find basic process/print services and that discourages newcomers no matter how low camera prices fall.

[Mark Fisher]

I just think it is nice that they included so many 120 cameras. Anything they do to promote film use is fine with me. I think they were trying to span the low end to the high end and that list is as reasonable as any. The fact that I can think of probably another couple dozen they left out means there are a lot of great options out there!

[Sirius Glass]

Was it a complete list? No
The fact that the article was printed by a magazine which could not dump film any faster than it did, is the past is amazing. The fact that it included several 120 cameras is even better. Hopefully this will start a significant shift towards film.

We should embrace and encourage any new or returning people to film. Furthermore, we should help those who want to learn to develop film and make prints.


No Hasselblads or Leicas were injured or killed in the process of making this post. Neither were Nikons, Canons, Mamiyas nor Pentaxs.


Steve

[vpwphoto]

They break. Many of the used examples I see are worked-to-death junk.

There's an old joke about Land Rovers taking you there and Land Cruisers bringing you back after the breakdown.

Hyperbole that I'm not buying... too much testosterone have you.

[vpwphoto]

No Hasselblads or Leicas were injured or killed in the process of making this post. Neither were Nikons, Canons, Mamiyas nor Pentaxs.


Steve

Right on...:cool:

[Newt_on_Swings]

Im actually surprised they didnt throw a TLR or Holga on this list. Both are great fun, and easily accessible in any market.

I didnt think was a great list myself, but any acknowledgment that film is still around, and its virtues is still great...

[Michael W]

Realistically they publish articles like that on their website to get more page views. Why not list all 12 cameras one under the other? Why do you have to click from one page to another to see the next camera? Because it gets their page count up & that is good for selling advertising. When you look at it like that it's easy to see why some of the choices are odd - it has as much credibility as those 100 Greatest Albums lists.

[dances_w_clouds]

I really thought they should have separated it to 2 groups eg. 35mm & 120 film cameras.

I also mentioned it there last night also as (dncswclds) but got no response... :whistling: :D :cool:

[mabman]

Other than a 'Blad, the only one on that list I'd actually want is the GA645. I keep hoping to find one in good shape (pref. the ZI version) for under US$500, but so far that hasn't happened. I *was* hopeful, though - I see KEH has a GA645 Pro in BGN condition for US$484, which is a good sign that the prices were starting to come down to my ideal range. If this article reverses that trend and starts making the GA645 units *more* desirable and expensive, I'm going to be mad :)

[Tom Nutter]

8. Nikon FM10: WTF? Why bother when you can get mint FE, FM2n, N90s bodies for peanuts?



I have to totally agree with this...just got a second FM2...nothing to do with popular photography though.