Film Camera Recommendation?

imme

Can anyone recommend a good quality/small film (35mm) camera, not an SLR. Is such a thing still being made? I'm thinking of doing travelling and want to bring my standard digital camera with me and get a Toshiba DV recorder, and a small film camera if I can get one.

Slav

A new non-SLR 35mm camera? Then it's definitely Leica M7.

For a smaller budget any of these Cosina rangefinders:

http://www.cameraquest.com/inventor.htm

Ghost Train

Olympus trip 35 is nice size, good quality. Not still being made, but are available second hand at reasonable prices. Is automatic though, not much manual control

katiemaloe

A leica minilux.... beautiful camera. Or if you want something cheaper, there was a little olympus mju II out a few years ago with a 2.8 lens. It had no zoom but a nice bright clear lens. A good little point and shoot. Or I believe the old olympus trip cameras are fab. I just had a quick look on ebay-

lots of nice little cameras selling for chips

duffarama

katiemaloe wrote: »

A leica minilux.... beautiful camera. Or if you want something cheaper, there was a little olympus mju II out a few years ago with a 2.8 lens. It had no zoom but a nice bright clear lens. A good little point and shoot. Or I believe the old olympus trip cameras are fab. I just had a quick look on ebay-

lots of nice little cameras selling for chips

Have to be aware of error 99 with the minilux though.

You can check out http://www.tripman.co.uk for refurbished Olympus Trips in funky colours.

Otherwise the only new film cameras I know of are the Voigtlander Bessa rangefinders and the Leica M7 and M-P. Also the Zeiss Ikon!

i_am_dogboy

If you don't need inter-changable lenses something like a minolta 7sII or a canon QL 17 GIII would be a great option. They're small, really quiet, battery independent. Both of these have 40mm f1.7 lenses, there are loads of similar cameras out there with varying focal lengths and whatnot, easy to find in good condition on ebay for anything from 20-200 euro. Have a look at http://www.cameraquest.com/com35s.htm

If you have a few more euros to spend, you should be able to pick up a konica hexar for about 400 euro. It's not as small, but incredibly quiet 35mm auto focus almost rangefinder thing. The lens is really something else too, if you search for the hexar AF or konica UC hexanon 35/2 on flickr you'll see how it looks.

Something like a Leica M system or a Contax G system would be great quality wise, but they're not small or cheap, and if you really get into it you'll probably end up selling your kids to keep up the habit.

duffarama

i_am_dogboy wrote: »

Something like a Leica M system or a Contax G system would be great quality wise, but they're not small or cheap, and if you really get into it you'll probably end up selling your kids to keep up the habit.

To be fair, you could have a nice contax G and a couple of lenses for about €1000, I have a G2 and the 45mm F2 and they cost me €500, lenses on ebay vary in price from €800 for the 16mm hologon to €200 for the 45mm

pete4130

Yashica T4 Super ftw.

Mr. Grieves

Olympus XA - it's tiny, 35mm f/2.8 lens, aperture priority and manual focus (rangefinder viewfinder). Stuck mine in my pocket for 3 weeks in India, it was fantastic.

Olympus Mju is similar I think, with autofocus. Both are about 30-40 euro at most on ebay.

DaireQuinlan

Mr. Grieves wrote: »

Olympus XA - it's tiny, 35mm f/2.8 lens, aperture priority and manual focus (rangefinder viewfinder). Stuck mine in my pocket for 3 weeks in India, it was fantastic.

Olympus Mju is similar I think, with autofocus. Both are about 30-40 euro at most on ebay.

Yeah I'll second that, Either the XA or any of its later brethern. The XA is a lovely camera, but it has its flaws, namely no exposure compensation, dim rangefinder patch, and max ASA of 800. I like mine a lot though, its always in a coat pocket. And the mju or mju II are also very highly regarded.

Mycroft H

any recomendations on a small film camera with a lens >35mm?

boardmann

landyman wrote: »

any recomendations on a small film camera with a lens >35mm?

If you want a real manually operated camera experience buy a Leica Threadmount Rangefinder. IIIf or IIIc 1940s/50s vintage,coupled with a Leitz Elmar 5cm f3.5 collapsable lens and any semi-reliable lightmeter.

Small, light, compact,reliable,beautiful classic design and almost silent in operation,can be handheld at slow speeds ie,down to 1/15" or even slower no problem.

Will hold its value better then almost any modern day camera.

PM me if anyones interested.

Noel

josh59

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

Yeah I'll second that, Either the XA or any of its later brethern. The XA is a lovely camera, but it has its flaws, namely no exposure compensation, dim rangefinder patch, and max ASA of 800. I like mine a lot though, its always in a coat pocket. And the mju or mju II are also very highly regarded.

I bought an Olympus Mju in Australia in 1994 and still use it today - great little camera very reliable and I would recommend.