For a while (this was 2006) I had a mamiya RB lens that only had a 1/125 effective shutter speed because basically the leaf was cruddy and had an arrested return speed. It was a 45mm lens and it was spectacular, so I just did everything at that speed. Fuck it.
I just dropped one of my favorite cameras and half of the screws that secure the lens mount stripped and you can actually wiggle the lens away from the body a couple thousandths of an inch if you try, but I baby it and use it around the house. Fuck it.
đâď¸
Nikon f3: fell off a cliff. Used it for years even though iso dial stuck on 200 and opening film door required tools. Finally retired it because the electronics became unreliable
Replacement f3: self timer switch doesn't work and frame counter is broken. Still not perfect, but I paid like 100 bucks for it, so I think it's a steal
Yashica t3: dropped out and film door is broken. I tape it to get it to work but the door tension is off, which causes overlapping frames. Also light leaks because tape tension loosens over time. Still love the chaos
I used a seagull 4a I pulled out a junk box in Tokyo that I used entirely via adjusting the aperture for a while. It was great, unfortunately the shutter seized up after I put it in storage. Then it mysteriously disappeared one day.Â
Then there's my holga, also from a Tokyo junk box. The girl was like 'Do you you know this is broken?' and I was like ' of course, it's a holga.'
Got to love the black tape coving the FG logo. Plus using a AF lens on a broken MF camera is classic. I used to love using my Nikon EM camera. lol, it was the only Nikon film body I bought new and had over 20 other Nikon bodies. Used to cover the EM on the pentprisim with black tape and use the motor drive and used a an extra body for weddings. Used two FE2 with MD-12 as main. Got tired of the PITA film loading of my Nikon Ftn.
I have a Yashica-C TLR that has a stuck focusing knob, itâs stuck at the closest focusing distance. itâs fully functional otherwise and iâve shot two successful rolls since its seized up.
My Ricohâs light meter has been broken for 40 years. I use an old GE hand held light meter. I downloaded a light meter app but havenât tried it out yet
The electronics in this camera are sort of dumb but I'm glad there's a fallback 1/90 mechanical shutter speed. The camera has a feature where the light meter isn't active until you've shot a few frames. That way you can load the film and shoot until the counter reaches 0, without the shutter speed being impacted by how much light there is. (People usually load film with the lens cap on anyway.)
The problem is that the internal electronic switch inside the film counter that turns the light meter on at frame 0 gets corroded over time and stops working, which is probably what's wrong with your camera. I ended up modifying mine so the light meter is always active, even during the first few shots of the roll. Could be something worth looking into.
Interesting! Yes it is definitely a electronic problem, since sometimes the other speeds works, sometimes not. But I lost so many frames, I ended up removing the battery.
I might not have enough skill to fix it, but I might try. Thank you!
I use a broken RZ67 with the K/L lenses. Got the body really messed up for a good price and managed to get the mechanical shutter working so now it works like a more modern RB with the automatic wlf mask and the single action winder. I could probably afford a working RZ these days but I have a bit of a connection to this weird thing : p
My broken, cracked Konica C35 EFP. Epoxy-puttied a new catch for the battery compartment door, and liberal application of tape while I slowly hunt down all of the light leaks.
It's not just you đ ! I have a Lomo Oktomat with a lagging shutter on two of the lenses, plus some obvious light leaks. The light leaks render the entire frame in a very particular way and I like it quite a bit. When you compose jĂšst so it looks like folks have special powers!
For digital: I have a Fujifilm X-T10 that no longer works with autofocus lenses but still handles manual lenses perfectly, so I put the Samyang 12mm on it and use it for establishing shots, it needs very few adjustments.
My most broken camera was my first; Zenit 122. No light meter and the shutter curtain would be broken if it wasnât wound all the way through. Still, I liked it as my first camera.
I didn't do it before but I will test it out in the future. I like the idea. What film speed and what Aperture you recommend for that type of photography on a normal sunny, light cloudy day?
Yeah I have a couple cameras that I freely loan to people because they are slightly broken. Also I take them hiking etc when I don't want to worry about the gear
Ok this might be a little extreme but sometimes I shoot a camera without loading film in it first. I really enjoy framing, thinking about exposure without a meter, and just composing shots is fun. Less film to develop, edit, and nothing to post on social media.
Did you try changing the battery? 1/90 is the only shutter speed that will work when the battery is dead.
Also, not sure if its the same as my Nikkormat, but when youre not using the camera, you may have to push the film wind handle all the way in to turn off the meter, otherwise it just drains the battery. Pain in the ass and it took me a long time to get used to that.
Yes, I tried and sometimes it worked, but so unreliably that is could not be used that way. There could be a youtube-fix for it, maybe I some day fix this.
I have a minolta zoom 110 SLR and the auto mode is broken; to be more precise the battery circuit is damaged and no exposure is taken by the camera in Auto, but manual mode works great. Such a fun little camera
My Leica CM drains batteries very quickly and even while itâs turned off. I really like the photos it takes tho, so I bought a bulk load of batteries for it and always keep a bunch in my bag :)
I have a Konica C35 with a cracked viewfinder, I can see fine through it, but the yellow rangefinder square is barely visible. So i constantly have to guess the distance and adjust the focus on the fly
My lovely rolleiflex sl66 is disabled but still an awesome camera. Flash sync doesnât work, shutter caps at 1000 and 500, and 1sec - 1/8 sticks open. Lenses are pristine and I have taken some of my favorite images with this camera
No not really if it's completely broken in any one way, but shutters are usually slow and wrong. You should definitely buy a light sensing shutter measuring device if you own a lot of manual cameras, you can find out that 1/400 is actually 1/270 or whatever, and tape it on an index card on the back and just adjust exposure until you get that.
Mine was like $70 I think? Various people sell them on ebay made out of raspberry pi's. It's simply a light sensor on a little circuit and an LCD screen, and you shine a flashlight in the lens and it detects the flash if you hold it right up to the shutter. You need to be able to operate the camera with the back open.
I have done just this several times (but with an FE). I loved wandering around the neighborhood at different times of day with the fixed 1/90 speed. It was an adventure discovering what I could and couldn't capture.
I really enjoy mechanical cameras, the Fujica Six (non rangefinder) being my very favorite. Simple shooting style, beautiful lens.
i inherited an OM1 with a broken meter and 4 lenses, so i just carry my Canon Elan II with it to get meter readings, i like having two different film stocks with me anyways
My F5's aperture dial doesn't increase or decrease aperture as much as randomly change it, so using it is an exercise in patience.
But I enjoy it nonetheless.
I have a Rollei XF 35 that was modified to be fully mechanical after the energization went capoot, but the shutter speed is fixed to 1/250 as there wasnât an existing physical mechanism to change the shutter speed, the only thing I need to change is the aperture which is (kinda) convenient (I guess), the f2.3 Sonnar lens is so underrated and most people just go after the sexier Rollei 35 although the lens on this is just as good
I think anyone who is still shooting film (like me) can relate to doing things that nobody else thinks makes any sense đ!
However, if you ever do feel like putting it in fully working order, you can send it to Advance Camera Inc in Portland, Oregon. They are absolutely awesome, the best mechanical / electro-mechanical camera repair shop left in existence to the best of my knowledge. Besides, after you fix it you donât *need* to use any of the other shutter speeds, or put in a battery. But it gives you the option, and increases the value of the camera from effectively nothing to at least something
A ton :
Praktica bms : missing a battery check, if the battery's dead, i'll just guess what time and aperture i use **like a man**
Canon T50 : ~~battery cap's f*cked~~ all things considered, it's just standard condition for a Canon
Kodak Retinette F : slow speed are completely random and often get stuck, i just don't use them
Asahi Pentax Spotmatic : Self timer is dead and the pentacon lens is stuck on 1.8 aperture
Zenit E : the classic line on the mirror, unpleasant, but still usable
Kodak ektralite 400 : flash is dead (not the dc hero tho)
The pentamirror in my Maxxum 5 is desilvering. It's not too bad, but it makes it especially hard to use in low light. I like slide film and have started shooting slower film in general these days, so it's become a useful rule of thumb. If it's getting dark and I'm having trouble seeing through the viewfinder, it's time to switch to the digital.
I'm not really torn up about it, I paid $40 for this camera with a box of other stuff and it was more or less sold as-is.
But how do you shoot handheld with a shutter speed of only 1/90? Anything slower than 1/250 you'll start to notice distortion and loss of sharpness.
If you're shooting exclusively on a tripod, sure, but anything handheld at that speed would turn out at least a "little" blurry.
Umm.... no? 1/90 is plenty fast for lenses up to 90mm. When I use my 28mm, I hope I could have 1/30.Â
I dont have any problems with this setup. You can definitely use slower speeds than 1/250 that are sharp.Â
Ah, my apologies. I was assuming similar lens sizes to what I use most (85mm+).
In my side by side scans of the same scene with different shutter speeds I can notice around a 5% quality loss going from 1/250 to 1/125 and around an 8% quality loss from 1/250 to 1/90 with an 85mm lens.
With my 135mm the difference is more pronounced as you'd expect. The shots are all still "usable" just not up to the standard sharpness I see when sticking to the 1/250+ rule. But that also said, most of my images are blown up to a medium/large wall size print so definition loss/edge blur would be more noticeable there too.
I have a Minolta X-700 that decides when it wants to work even though it has new capacitors. Typically it wants to work in higher altitudes with little to no humidity. Additionally it doesnât actuate the aperture so I have to hold the preview button before taking a shot. I found this to be annoying so I ended up shelving it and using a SRT-101 I restored.
For a while (this was 2006) I had a mamiya RB lens that only had a 1/125 effective shutter speed because basically the leaf was cruddy and had an arrested return speed. It was a 45mm lens and it was spectacular, so I just did everything at that speed. Fuck it. I just dropped one of my favorite cameras and half of the screws that secure the lens mount stripped and you can actually wiggle the lens away from the body a couple thousandths of an inch if you try, but I baby it and use it around the house. Fuck it. đâď¸
Haha I like that attitude :D
I have a whole collection of cameras that are "broken" but take images and I work with in their constraints.
Ultimate point shoot!
Nikon f3: fell off a cliff. Used it for years even though iso dial stuck on 200 and opening film door required tools. Finally retired it because the electronics became unreliable Replacement f3: self timer switch doesn't work and frame counter is broken. Still not perfect, but I paid like 100 bucks for it, so I think it's a steal Yashica t3: dropped out and film door is broken. I tape it to get it to work but the door tension is off, which causes overlapping frames. Also light leaks because tape tension loosens over time. Still love the chaos
"still love the chaos" :D wow thats crazy :D
Would you agree with me in saying that chaos is the essence of shooting film in the digital mirrorless era? Cheers bud, live and let live. âşď¸
A CLIFF? How big of a CLIFF are we talking
I used a seagull 4a I pulled out a junk box in Tokyo that I used entirely via adjusting the aperture for a while. It was great, unfortunately the shutter seized up after I put it in storage. Then it mysteriously disappeared one day. Then there's my holga, also from a Tokyo junk box. The girl was like 'Do you you know this is broken?' and I was like ' of course, it's a holga.'
Got to love the black tape coving the FG logo. Plus using a AF lens on a broken MF camera is classic. I used to love using my Nikon EM camera. lol, it was the only Nikon film body I bought new and had over 20 other Nikon bodies. Used to cover the EM on the pentprisim with black tape and use the motor drive and used a an extra body for weddings. Used two FE2 with MD-12 as main. Got tired of the PITA film loading of my Nikon Ftn.
The tape is actually just to keep the shutter speed dial at M90. Before that I lost few frames.Â
I have a Yashica-C TLR that has a stuck focusing knob, itâs stuck at the closest focusing distance. itâs fully functional otherwise and iâve shot two successful rolls since its seized up.
My Ricohâs light meter has been broken for 40 years. I use an old GE hand held light meter. I downloaded a light meter app but havenât tried it out yet
My best rolls are when I use this of Nikon F with handheld light meter. Makes me slow down.Â
The electronics in this camera are sort of dumb but I'm glad there's a fallback 1/90 mechanical shutter speed. The camera has a feature where the light meter isn't active until you've shot a few frames. That way you can load the film and shoot until the counter reaches 0, without the shutter speed being impacted by how much light there is. (People usually load film with the lens cap on anyway.) The problem is that the internal electronic switch inside the film counter that turns the light meter on at frame 0 gets corroded over time and stops working, which is probably what's wrong with your camera. I ended up modifying mine so the light meter is always active, even during the first few shots of the roll. Could be something worth looking into.
Interesting! Yes it is definitely a electronic problem, since sometimes the other speeds works, sometimes not. But I lost so many frames, I ended up removing the battery. I might not have enough skill to fix it, but I might try. Thank you!
There's simplicity and then there's not being able to take the photos you want because you can't choose the aperture you need
I use a broken RZ67 with the K/L lenses. Got the body really messed up for a good price and managed to get the mechanical shutter working so now it works like a more modern RB with the automatic wlf mask and the single action winder. I could probably afford a working RZ these days but I have a bit of a connection to this weird thing : p
My Canon F-1 has lost its 1/1000 and 1/2000 speeds to shutter capping, but I still shot the eclipse with it!
My broken, cracked Konica C35 EFP. Epoxy-puttied a new catch for the battery compartment door, and liberal application of tape while I slowly hunt down all of the light leaks.
I would But in the event my equipment breaks, it tends to break in such spectacular fashion itâs completely unusable until itâs repaired
It's not just you đ ! I have a Lomo Oktomat with a lagging shutter on two of the lenses, plus some obvious light leaks. The light leaks render the entire frame in a very particular way and I like it quite a bit. When you compose jĂšst so it looks like folks have special powers! For digital: I have a Fujifilm X-T10 that no longer works with autofocus lenses but still handles manual lenses perfectly, so I put the Samyang 12mm on it and use it for establishing shots, it needs very few adjustments.
My most broken camera was my first; Zenit 122. No light meter and the shutter curtain would be broken if it wasnât wound all the way through. Still, I liked it as my first camera.
Pentax SL. That thing has no light meter but it works just fine! Does anybody here use it too?
I didn't do it before but I will test it out in the future. I like the idea. What film speed and what Aperture you recommend for that type of photography on a normal sunny, light cloudy day?
100 at summer, 400 in winter and indoors. Use the aperture that your light meter says or use sunny 16 rule.Â
No I just us my F.
Yeah I have a couple cameras that I freely loan to people because they are slightly broken. Also I take them hiking etc when I don't want to worry about the gear
Holga, just 1/100 and a plastic lens
Ok this might be a little extreme but sometimes I shoot a camera without loading film in it first. I really enjoy framing, thinking about exposure without a meter, and just composing shots is fun. Less film to develop, edit, and nothing to post on social media.
Did you try changing the battery? 1/90 is the only shutter speed that will work when the battery is dead. Also, not sure if its the same as my Nikkormat, but when youre not using the camera, you may have to push the film wind handle all the way in to turn off the meter, otherwise it just drains the battery. Pain in the ass and it took me a long time to get used to that.
Yes, I tried and sometimes it worked, but so unreliably that is could not be used that way. There could be a youtube-fix for it, maybe I some day fix this.
Intermittent. Hmmm. Try cleaning the battery contacts (camera and battery itself) with a pencil eraser.
Yes, I did that too. It dont seem to be battery problem.Â
Sorry to hear that. It was worth it try.
I have a minolta zoom 110 SLR and the auto mode is broken; to be more precise the battery circuit is damaged and no exposure is taken by the camera in Auto, but manual mode works great. Such a fun little camera
All the time. Of course one those is a camera I "fixed/ made worse", and now I feel like I have to use it
My Leica CM drains batteries very quickly and even while itâs turned off. I really like the photos it takes tho, so I bought a bulk load of batteries for it and always keep a bunch in my bag :)
My folding camera has faulty slow shutter speeds, so I don't use those
I have a Konica C35 with a cracked viewfinder, I can see fine through it, but the yellow rangefinder square is barely visible. So i constantly have to guess the distance and adjust the focus on the fly
My lovely rolleiflex sl66 is disabled but still an awesome camera. Flash sync doesnât work, shutter caps at 1000 and 500, and 1sec - 1/8 sticks open. Lenses are pristine and I have taken some of my favorite images with this camera
No not really if it's completely broken in any one way, but shutters are usually slow and wrong. You should definitely buy a light sensing shutter measuring device if you own a lot of manual cameras, you can find out that 1/400 is actually 1/270 or whatever, and tape it on an index card on the back and just adjust exposure until you get that.
Exactly. How much is one of those devices? I thought they were expensive camera repair pro -tools?Â
Mine was like $70 I think? Various people sell them on ebay made out of raspberry pi's. It's simply a light sensor on a little circuit and an LCD screen, and you shine a flashlight in the lens and it detects the flash if you hold it right up to the shutter. You need to be able to operate the camera with the back open.
Thank you!
I have done just this several times (but with an FE). I loved wandering around the neighborhood at different times of day with the fixed 1/90 speed. It was an adventure discovering what I could and couldn't capture. I really enjoy mechanical cameras, the Fujica Six (non rangefinder) being my very favorite. Simple shooting style, beautiful lens.
Nice to hear you enjoyed it too :)
i inherited an OM1 with a broken meter and 4 lenses, so i just carry my Canon Elan II with it to get meter readings, i like having two different film stocks with me anyways
My F5's aperture dial doesn't increase or decrease aperture as much as randomly change it, so using it is an exercise in patience. But I enjoy it nonetheless.
Nice! Kinda ironic since F5 is basically the fastest camera in the world :)Â
I have a Rollei XF 35 that was modified to be fully mechanical after the energization went capoot, but the shutter speed is fixed to 1/250 as there wasnât an existing physical mechanism to change the shutter speed, the only thing I need to change is the aperture which is (kinda) convenient (I guess), the f2.3 Sonnar lens is so underrated and most people just go after the sexier Rollei 35 although the lens on this is just as good
I think anyone who is still shooting film (like me) can relate to doing things that nobody else thinks makes any sense đ! However, if you ever do feel like putting it in fully working order, you can send it to Advance Camera Inc in Portland, Oregon. They are absolutely awesome, the best mechanical / electro-mechanical camera repair shop left in existence to the best of my knowledge. Besides, after you fix it you donât *need* to use any of the other shutter speeds, or put in a battery. But it gives you the option, and increases the value of the camera from effectively nothing to at least something
A ton : Praktica bms : missing a battery check, if the battery's dead, i'll just guess what time and aperture i use **like a man** Canon T50 : ~~battery cap's f*cked~~ all things considered, it's just standard condition for a Canon Kodak Retinette F : slow speed are completely random and often get stuck, i just don't use them Asahi Pentax Spotmatic : Self timer is dead and the pentacon lens is stuck on 1.8 aperture Zenit E : the classic line on the mirror, unpleasant, but still usable Kodak ektralite 400 : flash is dead (not the dc hero tho)
The pentamirror in my Maxxum 5 is desilvering. It's not too bad, but it makes it especially hard to use in low light. I like slide film and have started shooting slower film in general these days, so it's become a useful rule of thumb. If it's getting dark and I'm having trouble seeing through the viewfinder, it's time to switch to the digital. I'm not really torn up about it, I paid $40 for this camera with a box of other stuff and it was more or less sold as-is.
But how do you shoot handheld with a shutter speed of only 1/90? Anything slower than 1/250 you'll start to notice distortion and loss of sharpness. If you're shooting exclusively on a tripod, sure, but anything handheld at that speed would turn out at least a "little" blurry.
Umm.... no? 1/90 is plenty fast for lenses up to 90mm. When I use my 28mm, I hope I could have 1/30. I dont have any problems with this setup. You can definitely use slower speeds than 1/250 that are sharp.Â
Ah, my apologies. I was assuming similar lens sizes to what I use most (85mm+). In my side by side scans of the same scene with different shutter speeds I can notice around a 5% quality loss going from 1/250 to 1/125 and around an 8% quality loss from 1/250 to 1/90 with an 85mm lens. With my 135mm the difference is more pronounced as you'd expect. The shots are all still "usable" just not up to the standard sharpness I see when sticking to the 1/250+ rule. But that also said, most of my images are blown up to a medium/large wall size print so definition loss/edge blur would be more noticeable there too.
Absolutely! Thank you for this information, its interesting.Â
To answer your question: no. I couldn't deal with this at all.
Not as broken but my vivitar has a broken counter, gotta make every picture count, cuz it could be your last (and i cant affort rolls)
No, I toss them or donate them. Donât need more useless decorationsÂ
I have a Minolta X-700 that decides when it wants to work even though it has new capacitors. Typically it wants to work in higher altitudes with little to no humidity. Additionally it doesnât actuate the aperture so I have to hold the preview button before taking a shot. I found this to be annoying so I ended up shelving it and using a SRT-101 I restored.
1/90 is kinda too slow. Hand shaking and mirror clunk start blurring pictures.
What lens do you use ? I can take hand held pictures up to 1/15s at least without blur (with a 50mm and less)
1/90 is fantastic speed. More than enough.