manual slr cameras
Before digital, I used two SLR cameras. The first
was a Yashica FX-3 (original model), an absolutely
bare-bones 100% manual SLR. 
They
can be found for ridiculously low prices 2nd hand, and seem to last
forever. Mine has been going since about 1979, despite taking quite
a beating over the years (all the gallery
pictures marked '88 and '89 were taken with this camera, but these
are poor-quality scanned prints). These cameras often look atrocious
when found in 2nd hand shops because the thin leatherette covering invariably
peels off with time... but the folks at www.cameraleather.com
can supply replacement covering for practically any camera you might
care to name, including FX-3's, ranging from standard black, through
all the colours of the rainbow to snazzy red snakeskin. One nice thing
about this camera, basic though it might be, is that it shares the same
mount as Contax cameras, and therefore opens up the possibility of mounting
the excellent Carl Zeiss T* lenses.
Here are some of the lenses I do have for the Yashica - I don't really
have anything interesting to say about the lenses (for now).
| |
Carl Zeiss T* Distagon
28mm f/2.8 |
 |
Carl
Zeiss T* Planar 50mm f/1.7 |
| |
Carl Zeiss T* Sonnar 135mm f/2.8 |
 |
Yashica
55mm f/2.8 |
 |
Tokina
RMC 28mm f/2.8 |
Next, there's the Pentax Super A, circa
early-1980's, which is 
somewhat
more advanced than the above, but still lacks the auto focus found in
today's do-it-all cameras. Apparently it won the European Camera of
the Year award in 1983. It features aperture priority shooting, as well
as exposure compensation dial. Indonesia
'91 contains some images shot with this camera using a Vivitar zoom
lens that didn't perform too badly. Here are some of the lenses I used
with this camera...
|
Pentax
SMC 50mm f/1.8
(Pentax K mount) |
|
Vivitar
"Image" 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6
(Pentax
K mount) |
 |
Asahi
Pentax Tele-Takumar 400mm f/5.6
an M42 screwmount lens, which works with an adapter on the Canon
EOS D60... |
Recently, we acquired a Contax 139Q body to use in
lieu of the Yashica described above; more will be written here on that subject soon (writing this in September 2006).
