I just bought a film camera. It is a Sears KSX-1000.

[alfredo]

It is a Ricoh with a Ricoh 50mm 2.0 lens. I have since put my Tokina EL 28mm 2.8 on it.

http://mattsclassiccameras.com/sears_ksx_super.html



It is known as a student lens, it's a good solid camera with few bells and whistles. It came with a flash too.

[elleng]

1. Looks nice,

reminds me of my old Nikon, something like this. I miss it.

[alfredo]

5. I almost bought a Nikon back in the sixties, but ended up buying a Pentax Spotmatic.

It felt better in my hands.

I'm buying a roll of film tomorrow.

[elleng]

8. My folks gave it to me as a birthday present,

after I'd said I'd like a camera. Felt fine to me, but never compared it with anything else.

Have fun with the film!

[alfredo]

10. During the Sixties, Nikon was highly respected for its lenses.

[elleng]

11. Yes, and I bought a couple more lenses,

one Canon I think.

Wide angle and telephoto.

[alfredo]

12. Good glass is always a good buy.

[NV Whino]

2. Ain't technology grand?

[alfredo]

6. Sure is. I love the split image focusing, just like on the Pentax Spotmatic.

[NV Whino]

16. I do miss split image focusing.

[sir pball]

17. You can still get them for most DSLRs..

Installing them seems a bit fiddly but I've been seriously considering one for quite awhile now; I have a bag full of brilliant '70s F-mounts that work fine on my 5100 but for focusing. Well, metering too, but that's just a matter of checking the display.

http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/

[Major Nikon]

34. I got one of those for my D7000

I do a lot of manual focusing and nothing beats a split screen. I can't remember much about the installation other than it wasn't a big deal.

[alfredo]

18. I just finished shooting my first roll. The mirror would stick up every now and then.

I came home and it was still doing it. I took my bulb and blew air in an opening near the a lever, and now it seems to work.

[alfredo]

13. You need this or something like it for your telephoto lens.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1116753-REG/olympus_ee_1_dot_sight_for.html



It's quite a bit like a Telrad finder.

[hunter]

3. Film cameras are fun.

Whenever I see a film camera that I used as a kid, or dreamed about owning as a kid, I can't resist... often the price is absurdly low, at least in my mind.

I sometimes develop film myself; there's something magical about that.

[alfredo]

7. I picked this up for $26 including shipping. The meter works and the owner threw in the flash.

[Major Nikon]

21. If you want to have some real fun, pick up some infrared film

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/841301-REG/Rollei_AGFA_81040122_Infrared_135_36_Black_and.html

You will need an infrared filter to go along with it:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/994075-REG/polaroid_plfilir72052_52mm_ir720_infrared_filter.html

The infrared filter will block out most of the visible light, so it's usually best to compose with the filter off, then put it on before you release the shutter. IIRC the filter robs about 6.5 EV, so you'll probably need to have the camera on a tripod. Some of your lenses may have a red dot on them indicating the infrared focus point, which is slightly different than the visible light focus point.

[alfredo]

22. I will wait and see how this turns out.

I was thinking of having one of my older digitals converted.

[Major Nikon]

24. I have a D5000 that I had converted

It creates some very interesting images. However, there's nothing quite like real infrared film.

Focus and exposure are a bit tricky. The focus point for infrared is just before the visual spectrum and exposure is not the same because light doesn't reflect off objects the same. So it's best to stop down the aperture more than you might otherwise and bracket your shutter speed.

[alfredo]

25. The newer Olympus cameras have a feature called Live Time. It

gives you a real visual clue to exposure. It's like watching an image appear in a developing tank. That might be useful for IR.

I will not be using film enough to invest time and money into IR.

[Major Nikon]

26. In certain applications it would

You can use an IR filter with any digital camera to create IR images, regardless of whether it's been converted or not. The problem is most digital cameras have an internal IR blocking filter, so the two filters work against each other and very long exposures are the result. With a converted camera the IR blocking filter is replaced so exposure times aren't much different. For that type of camera live view is handy to have. Unlike the Olympus feature it doesn't work for long exposures, but it does cause the camera to expose and focus from what the sensor is seeing, instead of what the mirror is seeing. That's why I had the D5000 converted, rather than an older Nikon body that doesn't have the live view feature.

[alfredo]

27. I think a filter would be my first step to see if I like doing IR.

[Major Nikon]

4. From the looks it seems to be in pretty good shape

If the meter and the shutter works as advertised there's no reason why it can't take great pictures. Even if the meter doesn't work you can use a modern camera to meter if you don't have a dedicated light meter, or there's always the sunny 16 rule and bracketing.

[alfredo]

9. The meter works, but I have that Sekonic on the way as a backup.

[Major Nikon]

14. If it works at all there's a good chance it's accurate

You can check it easily enough. At mid-day on a sunny day just fill the frame with a grey card angled at a 45 degree angle between the camera and the sun with the ISO and shutter speed set to the same value. It should meter within 1/2 stop at f/16, which is about as accurate as you can expect from a camera like that. If you want to calibrate it, simply perform the same test with a camera or meter that you trust, then adjust the ISO setting until the meter zeros and use whatever offset you come up with from that point on. For instance, if a shutter speed of 1/125 zeros the meter at ISO 200, then you'll just need to set each roll of film 2 notches faster on the ISO setting. The error should be linear, but you can always recheck under different lighting conditions to be sure.

Back when I was shooting slides, a couple of the camera bodies I owned preferred to be set one notch from the actual film ISO so I just always knew to put in the offset to get the meter to work correctly.

[alfredo]

19. Yeah, I will see. I have a bit of a sticky mirror. I used my bulb to blow it out, and it

worked well after ten or so activations. I will see if it works on my next roll.

[flamin lib]

15. Actually I believe it's a Pentax. equivalent to a K1000.

It doesn't have any automated exposure does it? It could be a Ricoh which also had the Pentax K mount but I recall Pentax private labeling the K1000 to several chain stores. It was a good quality intro level SLR. Have fun with it. Shooting film can change the way your head works, not that you need it.

[alfredo]

20. I spent many hours shooting with a Pentax Spotmatic and a Yashica D, and a Yashica 35mm.

The lens on it is very good.

[alfredo]

23. There's a big difference between this and my Pentax. The film advance lever is also the on off

switch for the light meter. The shutter won't work with the lever in the off position.

[Major Nikon]

28. You inspired me to buy another film camera

I pieced together a kit that includes a Bronica SQ-A, two S-series lenses (80/2.8 and 150/3.5), two 120 backs, and an eye level prism finder. I figure I can use it for a while and then turn it around again on ebay for close to what I paid for it.

[alfredo]

29. Grab some Ilford and go crazy! If I can find a good price on a

Yashica D, I might do it.

Oh man, that's one handsome camera.

[Major Nikon]

30. For years I lusted over a Yashica D or 124

If you don't mind a good shooter that looks a little rough (and I don't), I've seen them go in the $100 - $150 range on ebay. Adorama has a decent one for $239 which I almost bought instead of the Bronica. In the end I went with the Bronica because of the lens selections. If I get hooked on medium format I may spring for a macro and/or wide angle lens, both of which will cost more than what I have invested now.

In my experience Adorama rates their stuff pretty conservatively compared to KEH. The E's I've gotten looked more like an E+. I've also returned used stuff to Adorama and it's no hassle. So if you don't like the looks, just send it back.
http://www.adorama.com/US%20%20%20%20668434.html

I've already ordered some Ilford 125, 400, and 3200 along with some Tri-X 400. I also ordered a couple of Ilford mailers, so I'm going to try their developing service.

[alfredo]

31. I like the square format. It takes me back to the days of my first box camera.

Check out the long throw on the shutter button.

[Major Nikon]

32. I had a Brownie that was almost identical

[alfredo]

33. I loved the shape.

[Major Nikon]

35. I ran the first roll of film through it yesterday

I sent the roll off to Ilford for developing and scanning. The scans will be 64mb, which is almost double what you get with Nikon's highest resolution DSLR. I can also get them drum scanned to 460mb.

Mine is very similar to the one pictured, except instead of the waist level finder I have a prism finder which includes a TTL light meter.

[alfredo]

36. I got my first roll of film back from my Sear/Ricoh camera.

Now that I know it works, I can take my time and make more "artful" images.

Converted to B&W. Sears KSX 1000 and Tokina EL 28mm 2.8 Fuji color film