[lifechooser]

I'm after a film body, from the 70's/80's. It must offer fully manual mode, be robust - the ability to work without batteries appeals too. It must have a wide prime, perhaps 28mm, I'd like it to look the part, that chrome/leatherette style that was popular at the time, oh and of course, I'd like it to be cheap.

Any suggestions? So far I've been pointed at a few pentax ME super's on ebay which seem to go for about £50-80. Before I buy one, does anyone want to offer advice. I'd welcome any suggestions of cameras from the mainstream makes, nikon, canon, olympus etc.

[namllihs]

Zenit E, about a robust as they come, you can pick them up on Ebay for about a fiver.

[lifechooser]

Hmm, looks a bit agricultural, but I'll certainly give it some thought.

[Hacker]

How about a Nikon FM, it's a robust, fully manual camera and hails from the late 70's I think.

[namllihs]

Originally Posted by Hacker

How about a Nikon FM, it's a robust, fully manual camera and hails from the late 70's I think.

I had one of these about 25 years ago great camera, and they go for peanuts now
Link

[Dave]

Used to have an Olympus OM1, which was a great camera....no idea what they sell for now though ...best to check fleabay

[lifechooser]

OM1's seem expensive. FM's look to be quite good. What's the difference between them and FM2 or FM2(n)'s?

[emmettleffel]

The Miranda range of cameras were superb.

[Rob Barron]

A lot depends on what you are using now. If you have a Canon DSLR then you might as well get an older EOS camera but don't get a Canon A or T series camera (A1, AE1, T70 etc) as they use the old FD lens mount.

If that isn't an issue then I have to say I would recommend the Pentax ME Super, cracking camera for its day and still extremely capable and robust as well as lenses being cheap as chips because of the Pentax mount.

Although you say no battery, bear in mind that most cameras, even very old ones, that have any sort of Av or Tv mode will need a battery for the light meter. The only ones that don't are ones which had a selenium metering system (look for the honeycomb glass of the meter) as these convert the light into enough power to move the needle.

Anyway, I am sure you'll find any number of these types of cameras going for a song on Ebay, lots about.

Cheers,
Rob

[namllihs]

The Nikon FM was manual and the battery was only needed for the TTL metering.

[lifechooser]

I got one!

First a reply to say that I've got a film EOS, and wanted something fully manual, including focusing, I will not even allow myself to use AE mode with it. I want the anti-digital, although I'm not going to go as far as the 1930 Zeiss Ikon that my friend uses.

I went for a pentax ME super. I only wanted the camera + 28mm lens, but look:
eBay.co.uk: PENTAX ME SUPER PLUS THREE PENTAX LENSES AND EXTRAS (item 180069242182 end time 05-Jan-07 21:24:45 GMT)
28mm, 50mm, 75-150mm, 2x flashes, reversing ring, filters, maintainance kit, manual, and I'm rather excited.

Where did I put that roll of Ilford? Oh yes, just behind that roll of truprint. Well, best to test it first!

[Sonsey]

Good going... looks like the perfect little job lot!