My Smena and Yashica cameras arrived Tuesday, the same day that I was laid out with the worst muscular back pain I've had in a long time. After my muscle relaxant wore off I unpacked the beasts and loaded them up with film.
I'm dying to take some interesting pictures, though I haven't had time in the last two days. The Yashica MG-1, in particular, was just as pristine as described by the Ebay seller. It's a pretty heavy-ass camera, but I guess that's one reason why it's still in great working order thirty years or so after manufacture.
The Smena is definitely a cheaper, lighter camera, but with the full measure of adjustments (focus, aperture, shutter). Now all I need is a pile of cheap film and processing. I promise to display some of the results here.
That said, I'm getting increasingly interested in plain old film photography. But, like most techno-hobbies, it can be damn expensive and time consuming. One of my best friend is an aspiring pro photog, and he works damn hard at it (and keeps getting better at it, too), and spends a lot of money on Nikon SLR bodies and lenses. That is not what I aspire to.
However, I think I've realized that I never got into photography because of the venerable point-and-shoot. While they'll reliably capture a moment, I'm always sort of disappointed with the lack of character to the photos. Colorful, but flat -- and it's so hard to compose a decent snapshot (unless you've got a really good $200 point-and-shoot, which I'll admit my girlfriend has -- a gift from me).
But it's relatively expensive to get into nice and pro SLR 35 MM cameras, or the more arty and rarefied realm of Leicas. Instead I've become mildly obsessed with cheap "vintage" but very practical old cameras that few people care about.
However, on the advice of my photog pal, my first stop was nevertheless a Nikon SLR. But not a fancy $200+ one, but a $50 Ebay Nikon EM. Learning the history of this little camera I found out it was a smaller and lighter weight SLR that Nikon introduced in the early 1980s hoping to appeal to women and others who might be intimidated by a big hulking SLR. It's a fun camera with a great stock lens that I continue to enjoy.
SLRs are great, but almost too simple. I've become interested in rangefinder cameras, like the classic Leicas. Unfortunately the starting price for used ones is over $500 and new ones are over a grand. Remember, I'm not a photographer -- for me that kind of cash is lunacy.
But I've learned that there are whole classes of rangefinders--which were the dominant 35 MM camera before SLRs took over--that are out there on the used market (and even new market) that are nearly as good. They just lack the Leica mystique.
Frankly, fuck mystique. For as good as Leica's must be (I've never actually used one) hype is sometimes way more expensive than actual quality (rf. designer brand-name mass market clothing). Addtionally, I'm looking for interesting results, and that might not necessarily add up to the most technicallly superior results.
I've found a whole world of Russian Leica copies from the old Soviet era that are available all over Ebay for $20 or less -- not Leicas, but almost as fun, if you ask me. I haven't yet bought one, but it's just a matter of time.
As someone who thinks that knockoffs and pirate copies are almost as much fun as the originals, who can deny the mystique of Soviet Leica knockoffs? And, to be fair, only the original designs were actual knockoffs, with later designs more of the Soviets' own.
And, of course, like with SLRs, the Japanese produced all sorts of great rangefinder cameras, too. I just bought a whole kit on Ebay of a Yashica (maker of the trendy Yashica T4 point-and-shoot) MG-1 rangefinder camera, including case, flash and two extra lenses. I can't wait 'til it arrives and I can learn more about the heralded process of rangefinder photography.
A final note: Part of what drew me into looking at non-SLR cameras was learning of the cult of Lomo, surrounding the cheap 35 mm camera made by the famed Russian Lomo optics factory. When my girlfriend went to Russia last January I asked her to find me one, but in all the markets in Bryansk -- the small city where she spent most of her time -- the guys there asked why she'd want one and tried to sell her a good Japanese camera instead. The Lomo LC-A is famed for taking weird, unpredictable photos, and some Austrian entrepeneurs have capitalized on the mystique of this strange Russian camera. I've been interested in getting one, but I am not interested in paying the current freight: $180 new (!) or around $100 on Ebay.
Instead for the price of a used Ebay Lomo I will have bought a Nikon EM and a full Yashica MG-1 kit. I also am awaiting the arrival of a different, less famed Lomo camera, the Smena 8, which brings us $8 over the cost of an Ebay Lomo -- but still about $72 shy of the new Lomo.
When these two new cameras arrive, I'll post some impressions and photos. In the meantime, see what I've produced with my cheap digital Pencam.