Cameras

[Gordon Maney]

My faithful Canon T90, an SLR I purchased in 1987, is in the hospital. It uses the Canon FD lenses, not these autofocus things that are so common now.

I hope it lives. I need it for the rally. I do have a Canon G5 digital, but I think I just don't have the faith in me to use it for that, and also I don't really have enough storage media capacity.

I am curious as to how many of you may be involved with pre-autofocus Canons, and what you are doing for bodies, parts, repairs, etc.

I can't afford to go to a digital SLR, and quite frankly, I am not sure I want to. I am still a film guy at heart.

[MoparNorm]

Hi Gordon,
Over the years I have had many high end SLR cameras . I have to admit that I haven't taken them out of the cases for several years and have given most of them away. I too love the old school, but it is just too time consuming, and any thing that the older quality cameras could do, the new digitals can do and do as well if not better. I would think that the digital would mesh with your magazine needs better also.

Please don't shoot the messenger! ha!ha! The best deals out there are at COSTCO, I know that there are not any COSTCO warehouses near you, but they have an excellent on line store also. Here are a few Canon's;
Costco OnLine (http://www.costco.com/frameset.asp?trg=subcat%2Easp&catid=79&subid=83&log=&NavTop=)
MN
PS: for the Canon digital that you already have, Costco has 256 cards for it for $50 that would give you hundreds of photos. Just go out and practice before the rally comes!
I also hate to inform you that film will soon be next to the 4 track tapes and record albums at the thrift stores, I can't even find VHS recorders???ha!ha!

[Paul Cook]

On Topic - Extreme Opposite

As I have been setting up the N.O.S. (Neat Old Stuff) section of the new Museum, I have recovered many artifacts of my life from old boxes that were behind other old boxes in closets we never went into.

I have just put the camera I had back in High School out on a shelf for "Show and Tell". To add to Norm's comments about film availability, this camera used 127 film - the kind that you threaded into the slot in the metal take-up spool. Once you used up the roll, the spool from that roll became the take-up spool for the next time. The famous Kodak "Brownie" used 127 film. Some recent cameras ('60's and '70's used sheet film that you could cut to size from bulk - Hazlebad and the like) but 127 film had a paper backing.

What about flash bulbs? The flash attachment for this old "double exposure possible" camera used Press 25 bulbs. A Press 25 flashbulb was the size of a standard 40 watt light bulb. It had a threaded base and a gag back then was to replace a standard light bulb with the flash bulb and wait for someone to turn on the light. I had a adapter that had the big base but used a #5 flashbulb. A #5 bulb had a bayonet base about the same size as a standard single contact auto bulb. I have three boxes of #5 flahbulbs.

Maybe I'll have a 1953 moment and use the flashbulb. I need to remember how I burned my fingers changing flashbulbs.

Who needs memory cards, digitally controlled telephoto, and wireless transfer of photos (maybe we should only say, "images") from the camera to the computer?

I have to wonder if I am wrong to take a picture of my WDX using a digital camera.

[MoparNorm]

I liked nothing better than sitting down with my Grandmother and her dozens of photo albums that went back to the late 1800's. She would spend hours telling me what each photo was, who it was, and where it was taken. This was a ritual that we did every couple of years, it never got old.
Sad to face the fact that folks don't sit still anymore, can't stay to watch a slide show, read a book, or wait for film to be developed. Kodak announced the end of film a few months ago, I haven't been able to get Kodachrome 64 for years, the few photos that people do want to see can be printed on Kodak Paper from my printer, I wonder how much longer they will make that?
Photo chemicals, like oil and fuel, are taboo to the environmentalist. I wonder if the cost of these chemicals and the cost of legal disposal is really behind the demise of film? All for the better 'they' say. I suppose my room of memories would be cleaner if all was all on a disc?
Sounds like Paul's Museum will hold more than a few faded PW photos!
MN
PS, I forgot to add the look, on any young clerks face, when I tried to find a bulb for my projector!