What Makes a Good Film Camera

That is me with my truth Nikon F2. The shot was made by my son Lucas man-years ago...I had more hair and less gut back then.

I own a great many cameras. In fact, I have only ever sold some F2 cameras that I had purchased to do a CLA and sell to friends (the CLA was free) never making a single dollar on the sale. I love photography and cameras are the essential tool to practice my hobby. Yesterday I took the wife and our youngest to the beach, not really planning on staying too long, just a simple walk along the beach and let the little guy play in the sand and jump in the water. 

I decided to take a camera that I had not used in a very long time. That is to say, I dusted it off, I had replaced batteries, test fired and put back on the shelf for the past few years. Time to have a little fun and shoot another roll through the film. I checked and the latest battery was put in around January of this year so it should be good to go.

The camera selected was a Nikkormat EL. A beast of a camera that represents Nikon's first tentative steps beyond mechanical shutters. After a few hours of shooting, a single roll put through it, I decided to do a little write up on it for my site. You can find it HERE. While writing about the camera I began thinking what makes for a good film camera?

The answer we keep hearing is "the camera you have with you"...ok that makes my cell phone a good camera...which it is but is it really what I am looking for in a camera? No, so there must be more to it.

What is a camera?
A black box that holds the film the right distance away from the lens to ensure that the image is properly captured on the film. It may have, not always, a shutter that helps you control the exposure through the speed that a traveling curtain moves. It may have a viewfinder to show you or give you an approximation of what you will capture.

That is it. The rest is usually done by the lens. So a black box that might have a curtain...simple. Anything more is luxury. If you don't believe me, grab yourself a box camera, load it up with film and take it out using the sunny 16 rule for exposure (it is something special to capture an image with something made in 1902...believe me). You are now completely simplified. This set up is little more than a pinhole camera and it removes all the bells and whistles for you to just focus on your subject and composition.

What is a good camera?
So what makes for a good "black box"? Here I have shot complex cameras such as the Nikon F6, still one of my favorite cameras down to the simplified box camera experience I described above. I believe a good camera boils down to one question...What do you want to accomplish?

If you are experienced and are looking for a camera that allows you to move around on a walking tour of a new city to capture some nice shots along the way...then you are after something that will do allot of the thinking for you...a point and shoot up to a Nikon F6. If you want to really focus on your photography, want complete control and to live in the moment of the capture of the image...then you want a no frills black box.

But frankly an experienced shooter knows the rig they want for their occasion. The ones that need help are those entering into photography. For that I say buy less camera and more film. A camera like the Nikkormat EL is perfect. You can buy one for under USD 100, modern batteries work on it, it has a light meter and it can use a wide variety of Nikon F mount lenses. Spend the USD 200 you are saving to buy 20 rolls of film. Now go out and shoot.