Cameras and photography

[brian f]

Jd , words like afficianado , pertinent , bells and whistles .
your patter is legend .http://www.threetowners.com/forum/posti ... 1&p=109913#

[georgersweir]

An all time favourite: the Olympus Trip 35. Once advertised by David Bailey and still very popular as a second-hand purchase. There are many Trip enthusiasts and associated web sites. The Trip uses a zone focus system, is a nice size and requires no batteries for its light meter, which is powered by selenium cells around the lens. This may be the best selling 35mm camera ever. Introduced in 1967 and discontinued in 1984, the Trip sold over ten million units. An unusual feature of Trips is that they each have an inscription (concealed) inside that indicates the month and year of manufacture. In addition, models produced after 1978 show subtle cosmetic differences from earlier models (the one on the right was manufactured after 1978):

[Retsum]

the point I'm trying to make is not about the quality or validity of the equipment, but that, often, in items where high technology is involved, where most of the buyers have got very little understanding of the finer aspects of the product, they are being encouraged, and even forced, to accept bells and whistles which they will never use.

You do have a point JD. The digital camera manufacturers (particularly of mid-range and compact cameras) and the reviewers of cameras are obsessed with the total number of pixels in their detector array and use this almost exclusively in their advertising. As George pointed out earlier, it is not the total number of pixels but the pixel density (pixels per square mm.) that is important. Cramming more pixels onto the same area just increases electronic noise (seen as grain).

When digital cameras first appeared I did a quick calculation of the number of pixels (on a 36 mm X 24 mm detector)required to match the resolution of my 50 mm., f/1.4 Pentax lens. I calculated about 25 mega-pixels, giving about 30000 pixels per square mm. That is what the top of the range, full frame DSLRs are providing.

The mod-range and compact cameras use physically smaller detectors and lenses and I've not done the calculations for them but I have noticed that some manufacturers have pulled back from 12-14 mega pixels to 10-12 mega-pixels in order to reduce noise.

[calleytwo]

An all time favourite: the Olympus Trip 35. Once advertised by David Bailey and still very popular as a second-hand purchase. There are many Trip enthusiasts and associated web sites. The Trip uses a zone focus system, is a nice size and requires no batteries for its light meter, which is powered by selenium cells around the lens. This may be the best selling 35mm camera ever. Introduced in 1967 and discontinued in 1984, the Trip sold over ten million units. An unusual feature of Trips is that they each have an inscription (concealed) inside that indicates the month and year of manufacture. In addition, models produced after 1978 show subtle cosmetic differences from earlier models (the one on the right was manufactured after 1978):

Yep. We had about 5 of them and nearly every secondary school here used them for photography classes. Good wee camera. Also had an Olympus Pen - useful little half frame camera in a similar case. - 72 shots on one film. One of the things I used to collect was cameras - had things like a Thornton Pickard half plate, Butcher and Houghton Press camera, Graflex press camera, 1890.s magazine camera and so on. Limited budget so all went to pay for next collection (whatever that was about 30 years ago). Wee Ali

[georgersweir]

An all time favourite: the Olympus Trip 35....

Yep. We had about 5 of them and nearly every secondary school here used them for photography classes. Good wee camera. Also had an Olympus Pen - useful little half frame camera in a similar case. - 72 shots on one film. One of the things I used to collect was cameras - had things like a Thornton Pickard half plate, Butcher and Houghton Press camera, Graflex press camera, 1890.s magazine camera and so on. Limited budget so all went to pay for next collection (whatever that was about 30 years ago). Wee Ali

Interesting to learn that the Olympus Trip was commonly used in Australian schools. When I was in Ballarat in November last year, I found two Trips (in different antique shops) and bought one (the other had a jammed shutter). The one I bought dates from 1968 and is in good condition. These two photos were taken with that camera, processed and printed in Ballarat (the first picture is at Ballarat Railway Station, the second is a street in Melbourne).

[brvhrtjimmy]

i never even thought about slr film cameras till george put this post on,but as photography is my hobby i thought i might like to try that side of it, so i managed to aquire on ebay an slr camera with various accessories and a bag all for £25 which i think was very reasonable, i am really looking forward to using it, i will at some point put a photo/photos on here the are taken by it, and as for the film well it is quite cheap and developing isn’t all that exspensive either.

James Barr (Brvhrtjimmy)

[Retsum]

George, I hate to be critical but these images look slightly fuzzy to me. It may be my screen playing tricks. In order to get them in digital form did you scan the prints or the negatives? Might that process have degraded the images?

[georgersweir]

George, I hate to be critical but these images look slightly fuzzy to me. It may be my screen playing tricks. In order to get them in digital form did you scan the prints or the negatives? Might that process have degraded the images?

No need to apologise , They are definitely fuzzy... I scanned the prints (without taking any great care - hence the evident hair in picture 1). The original prints are much clearer than these renderings. I was just keen to illustrate that a Trip made in 1968 could still take a decent shot (with no impact of age).

[morag]

I have my husband's Voigtlander plus a couple of lens all in leather cases. I don't know what model it is but I used it a few times and it is a good camera.

[georgersweir]

i never even thought about slr film cameras till george put this post on,but as photography is my hobby i thought i might like to try that side of it, so i managed to aquire on ebay an slr camera with various accessories and a bag all for £25 which i think was very reasonable, i am really looking forward to using it, i will at some point put a photo/photos on here the are taken by it, and as for the film well it is quite cheap and developing isn’t all that exspensive either.

James Barr (Brvhrtjimmy)

Hope you enjoy the new SLR/film experience James. Please report back and give us your impressions.

If there is interest from a few 3t locals, we might arrange a photo outing sometime (after the worst of the Winter has passed). Any type of camera would be welcome (film, digital, video, whatever), with no prior experience required. We might choose one or two locations within the 3ts and each post our favourite picture from the day. Any interest?

[brvhrtjimmy]

what a very good idea george,if a date is set and i am free then ill be there,and thanks george for the help you have given me , i was in greenock today and went into boots to see if they sold 35mm film they did and i had a box of 36 in my hand and was going to buy it,but its so long since i used 35mm film i thought it was longer in length than what i had in my hand,so i decided ill wait till my camera comes and take it with me and then buy it.
James Barr (Brvhrtjimmy)

[little plum]

George, I could be up for some of that, evenings and weekends only.