Value (and values) 35mm

A few days ago I wandered into the local Salvation Army store looking for
some cheap jeans to wear while doing yard work. I happened to see an 35mm
SLR in the counter case and asked to see it. Turns out it was a Chinon CM-7
with a SMC Pentax-M 50mm 1.7 lens mounted. I inspected it and found no
obvious problems. Asked about the price: $10 + tax. What the hell, I
thought, I just spent more than that for lunch. Took it home, cleaned the
shop dust off. Mirror box, finder were spotless. Opened the back, and it
looked like no film had been through it. The camera seems to be a Cosina
variant, similar in some ways to a Nikon FM-10 or an Olympus 2000, but with
a K-mount. Later I loaded a roll of Ilford XP2 Super and when out shooting.
The camera seems pretty basic but certainly capable of giving a properly
exposed negative with a little basic skill from the user. Lens apparently
off a Pentax but works just fine with the camera.
Later I examined the results. I can find nothing to criticize at all about
the lens. Extremely sharp, lovely bokeh and smoothness. I'm sure that one
can spend $3000 on a body and lens, but this seems to deliver 95% of all one
could expect in image quality. Which brings me to my point. What is
happening to the 35mm world that folks are so ready to dump obviously
capable gear (at firesale prices) for digital. Cameras with many years of
useful shooting left in them are practically free while folks chase after
digital point and shoots that seem to have a model life of about 3 months
before being replaced with something "better". I'm not an anti-digital
luddite. I have a Nikon D70s and 18-70 and 12-24 lenses. I enjoy that
camera also. But not 200 times as much as my thrift store camera. Why are
folks in such a frenzied rush to abandon a format that has served well for
80 years. Some of the worlds greatest images were taken on film and 35mm
equipment. Nothing prevents equally great images from being taken with the
same equipment today. I can understand the benefits of the digital workflow
for the working photojournalist, but why are folks abandoning 35mm like it's
poison?

Doug Robbins

Re: Value (and values) 35mm

Sshhh... not so loud, prices might go up. Pentax 50 /1,7 is a very, very
good lens. Be happy. I have 20+ lenses and about 10 bodies but now I use
mainly (90%) Pentax KX (price 50 dollars) and Pentax 50/1,4 (maybe one
of the best fast 50 ever)(price 20 dollars) or Sigma 105/2,8 EX Macro. I
shoot slow slide film and scan it (Nikon Coolscan V ED) Results are
superb, surely better than I could get with a consumer digicam.
As long as they make slide film (for my lifetime I am sure) I will stick
to that.
Väinö Louekari


=?ISO-8859-1?Q?V=E4in=F6_Louekari?=

Re: Value (and values) 35mm

"Doug Robbins" <crobbins6@triad.rr.com> wrote
Ask the first Mrs. Trump:
Vanity, search for novelty, boredom, incompetence,
ignorance, different values ...
I read in a book, so it must be true, that in Somalia
there are what are known as 'whodie' clothes. They are
distributed by aid agencies who buy them by the ton
from US clothing drive charities: Purple Heart Veterans/
Easter Seals/Goodwill... The Somali perception is that the
only reason someone would throw out perfectly good clothes
like these is because someone must have died in them. So
when they see someone walking down the road wearing
Levis, Nike and Hilfiger they ask "So who died?"
There are stories/urban legends about finding mint
Nikon SP first-production rangefinders for $15. My
business partner's wife bought him a lovely Super
Ikonta "C" at a thrift store for $18: "It looked
like what you told me to look out for, honey. Is it?
Was $18 too much?"
--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Darkroom Automation
http://www.nolindan.com/da/index.htm
n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com


Nicholas O. Lindan

Re: Value (and values) 35mm

Yes, 50% of the population have IQs under 100.
BTW: *Lots* of people are currently shooting film - I'm having a great
time buying the cameras I've always dreamed of - thank you lower
fiftieth percentile!
FYI: Scott W. *does not like film*. He is fanatically - even
pathologically - anti-film. Take him with a few (many) grains of salt...


Chris Loffredo

Re: Value (and values) 35mm

I am not sure what the point of holding on to it is, I still have my
film SLRs but they have not had film in them for a number of years now.
From time to time I ask myself why I am holding on to cameras that I
know I will never use again, but getting rid of them seems like more
work then it is worth so I hold on to them. BTW I still have my
sliderule as well.
Scott


Scott W

Re: Value (and values) 35mm

Supply and demand may explain why old 35mm gear is cheap. But that's not the
question I asked. Why abandon good gear when it still functions admirably?
Is this the same mindset that trades cars when the ashtrays are full?
Doug


Doug Robbins

Re: Value (and values) 35mm

It is simple supply and demand, there is a large supply of used 35mm
cameras and very few people left who want to shoot 35mm film.
Scott


Scott W

Content - Value (and values) 35mm
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