Love for older digital cameras?

[AkhiMertail]

Does anyone here also like older digital cameras? I mean my favorite camera that I will use anywhere for recreational photography is a Sony Mavica FD-85. Yea, its only 1.3MP and has no optical zoom and can only store 6 photos to a disk. I don't care. I just love how it feels to use, the photos just look fantastic, and it's a joy to use. I was once in a point where I wanted to be in a "gear war" but I felt by going backwards, I was more comfortable just taking pictures I was happy with rather than what some else was. I was wondering if anyone had this experience?

 

[mindless1]

No, I had/have a Samsung Digimax V3, 3.2MP that I was more than glad to upgrade away from. Picture quality was so-so/acceptable but only got about a dozen pics from 2 x AA NiMH cells. Samsung spec was up to 280 pics... Yeah right!! I should've returned it but was going on vacation soon.

Bought it from Onecall, who threw in a free 3 year extended warranty, added to the 1 year std warranty, I got lucky that it broke right before the ext. warranty ended, so they repaired it and it still works today, just no desire to use it.

In retrospect I should've gotten my first choice at the time, a Canon A70 but the Samsung was on sale, and a rebate, reviews seemed reasonable and I was being cheap, coming from a film camera so totally naive about how few pics a digital could get or if it even mattered with my being used to taking every pic as if it cost money because previously with film it did.

 

[Jimminy]

Heck, I have an el cheapo Dimera from early 2000s. It uses a serial RS-232 connection. How's that for old school?

It worked great on windows XP, and fully met my simpleton camera needs (I'm not exactly Ansel Adams . But the software won't even install on win 10 (Yes, the computer has a real RS-232 serial port).

I think we are supposed to throw everything away after a few years, then buy the latest crap, even if we really don't need it

 

[IronWing]

The Coolpix E-990 was a fantastic camera.

 

[ElFenix]

i love older digital cameras because they're cheap on ebay and still newer than the last digital camera i bought new (canon 40D). but none that old so far.

 

[Jimminy]

i love older digital cameras because they're cheap on ebay and still newer than the last digital camera i bought new (canon 40D). but none that old so far.

Canon 40D still looks like a darn good camera (but I'm pretty ignorant). Back in the day (before retirement), I bought a Canon A-1 (35mm SLR film camera) and a bunch of lenses and other stuff. It was pretty good back then. Better equipment than photographer But not that much better than AE-1. I think the F1 was the top of the line, but was out of my budget. Boy, I sure shot (and wasted) a lot of Kodachrome!

I also looked on ebay for nikon Coolpix E-990, but most of them were super grubby, damaged/for parts only/missing stuff

 

[trenchfoot]

Well I have an EOS 10D that still works like a charm. It was my first digital after giving up my AE1 and Rebel cameras and when I finally got a good grip on PS to make up for its limitations (6mp) I sure had a lot of fum with it seeing as if there was no limit to number of shots I could take in order to improve skills/tech knowledge at such a low cost (vs film).

To this very day I still use it even though I've progressed into the 1DX class models while I'm holding out for the R3.

I get great results hanging a 100L IS macro on it. It's my retro 5D body style on the cheap. Every time I use it I feel like I'm getting revenge on Canon for the high prices they want on their current models. lol

 

[bbhaag]

I have to admit I do have a soft spot for my old Fujifilm S6000fd. Sure it lacks some of the bells and whistles that a lot of newer cameras offer but man when dialed in just right it takes some amazing photographs. Fujifilm matched the lens and sensor so perfectly on that camera.

 

[ElFenix]

Gordon Laing reviews old digicams:

23 Years Later: Reviewing the 1998 Classic Nikon Coolpix 900

It looks like a car's radio.

petapixel.com

 

[trenchfoot]

Gordon Laing reviews old digicams:

23 Years Later: Reviewing the 1998 Classic Nikon Coolpix 900

It looks like a car's radio.

petapixel.com

Back in the day the only thing holding me back from buying that particular model was my stuck on Canon religiosity that went way back to the late 60's. Before that I owned a Brownie that got passed down to me from my dad that got superceded by that newfangled instamatic with the amazing flashcube doohicky.

I really did take a fancy to that coolpix though.

 

[YuliApp]

I can't get rid of my D300s. What a workhorse with awesome results i cannot kill. I treat it like a trash and it works and works.

 

[Oyeve]

My nearly 20yr old Olympus C-5060 still takes great pics. I miss using it but will never get rid of it.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

I have a soft spot for the Canon A300. Clunky and fixed focus, but it produced beautiful picture, no matter what.

 

[YuliApp]

I have a soft spot for the Canon A300. Clunky and fixed focus, but it produced beautiful picture, no matter what.

Oh i remmember that! I had one too. It made so pretty daylight photos. Could even find some if i try. It used AA bateries what were perfect back then when no powerbanks were common.

Was exact opposite of Mavica it replaced for me.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

I have a Nikon F-3 and it does not disappoint til now. Bought it from a yard sale back in 2016 and it's in perfect condition.

Perfect for street photography

Nice.

Except that we're talking DIGITAL cameras, not film.

As someone with a small collection of cameras from the 40s onward - and used to processing films and photo prints at home, in a makeshift lab - I welcome the move from film to digital. Yes, some mechanical cameras are little technological marvels (there's an Agfa Silette on my shelf that amazes me with its precision finish and manufacturing detail every time I pick it up), but I'm tired of the inherent mess of the photochemical process.

Not to mention most people who use film (oooh, edgy!) don't even do their own processing at home. They snap their pictures happily then drop their films at a pharmacy or Wal-Mart. Which means they have zero control over the conditions in which the film is developed and the pictures are printed. Want something enlarged? A crop? A mask? Good luck with that.

 

[BigSmooth]

The first digital camera I owned was an I/O MagicImage 500 with a whopping 0.8MP sensor released back in 1999 (it was also sold under several other brands, including as the Samsung Digimax 800K). I still have some pictures in Lightroom from that camera, and they are... not good. Poor focus, lots of noise (even in broad daylight??), weird colors, tons of over/underexposure issues, etc.

I soon switched to Fujifilm cameras, and I recall using a Finepix 2650 and then an S5000, which was the first "SLR-like" camera that I used. I believe the oldest camera that I still have is a compact FinePix F30 from 2006, largely because I have an underwater housing for it. It was ahead of its time in low-light sensor performance, although it ironically didn't focus very well in low light. It's only 6.3MP, but it still takes good pictures. The biggest issue is that it uses the proprietary xD memory cards that Fuji and Olympus unsuccessfully tried to push in that era.

After that I began using Canon SLRs for many years, including the Rebel XSi and the 60D. I collected some pretty nice lenses, but eventually realized that my gear was just getting too heavy and sold it all. I switched back to Fujifilm and am now using an X-T30 mirrorless that I've been very happy with.

 

[YuliApp]

My first digital camera was Sony Mavica with floppy disc but i have zero love for that one :-D

 

[dlerious]

My first camera was a Pentax LX (might be around somewhere). First digital was a Casio EX Z120 (still have). Last digital was a Panasonic DC-ZS70.

 

[A///]

A UK friend of mine who I visited from time to time before the pandemic recently bought one of those 99-02 Cybershot with the integrated large zoom lens, the DSC F7, IIRC. I had one myself around that time. That "little" gem was an absolute workhorse when it came to taking whitebox photos of stuff I was reselling at the time. Good gig then, before everyone and their nan got onto it.

 

[winr]

Still using this ......
Canon PowerShot A650IS 12.1MP Digital Camera with 6x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom



Ricky

 

[trenchfoot]

It's like I'm always trying to keep up with the latest tech in photography acquisition-wise, but then there's the ancient gear that's got a lot of sentimental value because that piece was what got you hooked into the hobby or profession, or was the one item that you couldn't afford yet made the hard choices and sacrifices to have it in hand along with the big ass shit-eat'in grin that goes with owning it.

Still shooting with my EOS 10D and Powershot G12 to remind me that what gave me hours of fun back then is still fun in the here and now even though I've got some of the latest gear around to keep up with the latest changes in product support and software versions that goes along with it.

 

[YuliApp]

It's like I'm always trying to keep up with the latest tech in photography acquisition-wise, but then there's the ancient gear that's got a lot of sentimental value because that piece was what got you hooked into the hobby or profession, or was the one item that you couldn't afford yet made the hard choices and sacrifices to have it in hand along with the big ass shit-eat'in grin that goes with owning it.

Still shooting with my EOS 10D and Powershot G12 to remind me that what gave me hours of fun back then is still fun in the here and now even though I've got some of the latest gear around to keep up with the latest changes in product support and software versions that goes along with it.

fully sentiment with that logic but when regards to photography, the phones actually cleared like 90% of my nostalgia. The fact that i have it always with me without looking "needy" is a deal breaker. It is more Leica than a Leica could ever be.
However i have a strong attachment to some very specific DSLR glass and i will most likely never switch to mirrorless cameras unless i would see anything which would blow my mind. And since i had 80Mpix DSLR 7 years ago, i doubt anything will.

 

[Marylin]

Does anyone here also like older digital cameras? I mean my favorite camera that I will use anywhere for recreational photography is a Sony Mavica FD-85. Yea, its only 1.3MP and has no optical zoom and can only store 6 photos to a disk. I don't care. I just love how it feels to use, the photos just look fantastic, and it's a joy to use. I was once in a point where I wanted to be in a "gear war" but I felt by going backwards, I was more comfortable just taking pictures I was happy with rather than what some else was. I was wondering if anyone had this experience?

I prefer Camcorder JVC GR-D70U ))

 

[spoopyboy]

The old power shots can be quite fun

 

[Oyeve]

I just dug up my Kodak DC20 from the closet. God, I hated this camera. Shitty res even for that time and took forever moving pics via serial port to my PC. I did take some pics of the 1997 williamsburg bridge renovation so there's that. But man, this camera sucked.