Nice explainer for someone wanting a brain dump for analog (film) cameras.

I am old enough to have grown up with film. I learned to use a darkroom when I was in 5th grade. I used one again in middle school, high school. I even worked at a "1-Hour Photo" out of high school.

But my cameras were typically the Instamatic™ kind. My mom had a Canon AE/1 and borrowing it from time to time was my only experience with a "real" film camera.

I was at Apple, working in fact on the ColorSync team when cameras went digital. I didn't throw the kind of money some of my coworkers did at the early entries into digital from Nikon, Canon, but I dabbled in it.

But it was when my daughters, born very much in the digital camera era, started to show an interest in film cameras that I also dove into them again. This time I could learn about film cameras on the internet, could by film cameras on eBay. My disposable income meant I could get some decent hardware — and then of course it was a lot less expensive than when it was new because it was used, "obsolete".

I learned at last about "medium format" and was able to get into it with a surprisingly modest amount of cash. A Yashica 635 for example was a fine medium format camera and fairly inexpensive on eBay. Often there are sellers from Japan that seem to give you an honest assessment of the camera they are selling — I have rarely been disappointed.

120 film for medium format cameras is still readily available. Finding a place to develop it and make prints easy as well (in Omaha, Nebraska there is at least one store, thankfully). I even learned to develop my own B&W and color film (it's just a bit tedious though).

I confess though that once developed, I tend to take the digital path — scanning the photo digitally and then adjusting levels, etc. in the computer.

In any event, more than ever, I really got to learn the clever relationship between ISO, shutter speed and aperture — and appreciate them when going with film. I encourage everyone to try it.

A photo from the Yashica 635: https://imgur.com/BNdbzjC

Also Yashica 635: https://imgur.com/o4eYteG

Minolta Autocord: https://imgur.com/oQgXjW0

(Cameras get a little pricier from here down.)

Mamiya C220: https://imgur.com/nL9JjPl

Me (Mamiya RB7): https://imgur.com/Y49UxLQ

Bronica SQA: https://imgur.com/ZMJ3SGq

The linked manual site was useful, I have four various Leica III series cameras that were my great-grandfathers. One of the more obscure pieces of the collection that I'd never seen before is the Visoflex [1], which essentially transforms them into an SLR.

Rangefinders have a fixed viewfinder for framing, as well as a special focusing viewfinder, which projects two images superimposed from different angles, via a very small mirror and beam splitter. The mirror is mechanically linked to the lens' focus ring, and when the two images align in the viewfinder, the lens will be in focus.

1: https://www.cameramanuals.org/leica_pdf/leitz_visoflex_ii.pd...

> Seems like I loaded the film incorrectly and nothing was on them, so I hate my life right now. Let’s skip this part then.

That's a shame! It's a mistake almost everyone that has used a film camera has made, though.

On these older SLRs, one thing you can do to check that the film is loaded properly is to watch the rewind crank as you advance to the next frame. If everything is loaded and the film is engaged properly, you should see it turn.

Very nice text with very nice voice.

It is nothing new to me, but I think it is very-very good introduction to film SLR cameras in particular and photography basics (aperture, shutter speed, depth of field, etc) in general for person who never study this topic before.

I wish author good shots with this «basic» but perfectly capable camera!