My new Camera! (unboxing pics)

[Invidiosulus]

Late last week I emailed our mutual friend and asked if he knew of any online stores where I might send my old Pentax Spotmatic in for repair.

His reply was that no he didn't but he could send me a camera to use as long as I promised to actually use it.

I've been thinking about picking up a decent digital SLR for a while now but I still really love using film so I told him yes, I'd love to give his camera a new home.

Yesterday afternoon it arrived.

Quite a swell box to ship it in if you ask me!

Opening up the outer box we see the inner box.

The plastic bag is full of film, some 1600 speed B&W I hear is really nice and some of the Kodak BW400CN that you can have processed in C41 chemistry.

Here's the inner box.

Opening up the inner box we get to the meat of the matter,

Here's the stuff set out on my shelf.

That's a 35-135 Zoom so it's a pretty flexible lens.

Very nice kit he put together.

Here it is with the camera body out of the box.

It's a Nikon 8008s, it has a lot of great features including: 3 different metering types(Matrix, center weighted, spot), great visibility through the viewfinder, ability to take up to 6400 ISO film and up to 1/8000 second shutter speed.

He also included the Hove manual for the 8008s which is great to help me figure all the controls, and there are a lot of controls.

This camera has already been used for 200 weddings and shots at a famous racetrack in the midwest.

Hopefully I'll be able to live up to the quality it has known thus far.

A big gigantic thanks to Michael for the camera.

[]

Peace,

Josh

[Coytee]

Very cool!

I was wondering just how you were going to take pictures of the unboxing of your new camera. I was looking through ebay the other day at some Contax/Zeiss stuff.... all I can say is cheap cheap cheap!!! (meaning, you can buy good film stuff at good prices)

[Bill H.]

Congrats.

I used to have a Spotmatic , back in the Day..................great Camera. I hope you enjoy this one also.

[BLSamuel]

Congrats and enjoy. A very nice and thoughtful gesture.

[thefluffy]

Wow, what a nice gesture! I suppose that means you are now responsible taking pictures of all things Klipsch [] It comes with the camera... heheh.

Daniel

[Invidiosulus]

Wow, what a nice gesture! I suppose that means you are now responsible taking pictures of all things Klipsch It comes with the camera... heheh.

Daniel

This.

[]

[Cal Blacksmith]

I still like to use film myself. I am also looking at the new Sony Alpha (digital) body to mate with my lenses and acc. but the one I want is 2K for the body only, well, that is the one I will settle for, the one I want costs a bit more[]

My daily camera is a Minolta Maxxum, 9XI, this is the last film pro camera they made and it works like a charm. I have yet to learn all it can do.

Get that film in the freezer ASAP! The freezer will slow down the chemical changes that causes color shifting. I have used film several years out of date that still worked just fine but it was frozen the whole time.

The only down side to using film now is that the choices are quickly drying up. I am not a fan of color film, I prefer slides but the pickings are slim. Kodachrome is gone, too bad cuz it had AWESOME color and arcihve ability.

[Arky]

Very nice Colter.

[dtel]

Very cool thing to do ! [H]

Now put it to good use and get some pic's of that new baby.

[Invidiosulus]

The only down side to using film now is that the choices are quickly drying up. I am not a fan of color film, I prefer slides but the pickings are slim. Kodachrome is gone, too bad cuz it had AWESOME color and arcihve ability.

Yikes!

I've got to send some stuff to Dwayne's before they stop processing it

I'll probably be trying out some of the newer Kodak offerings though, they've released 7 new films in the past couple of years and are still working at improving grain and such.

-Josh

[seti]

Film is the best!!!!

[LarryC]

Film is the best!!!!

I agree! The competitions at our last camera club meeting were prints, digital slides and film slides. I was dismayed and actually shocked at how lifeless and inferior the digital projections were compared with slides. I was considering a more up-to-date Nikon digital SLR, but now I wonder.

One model, the D300s, has a normal-size sensor which, because it's maybe 40% smaller, delivers more telephoto pics than 35mm film would. The other, the D700, is several $hundred more expensive, but has a 35mm film-size sensor. That would render wide angles as actual wides instead of normal to telephoto range, and supposedly much better color and contrast AWA lower digital noise. Unfortunately, it has only 95% viewinder accuracy as opposed to 100% in the D300 -- I like pics to come out the way I frame them up.

This site estimates the file size needed to replicate a good slide's clarity and detail: 187 megapixels!!!! http://kenrockwell.com/tech/film-resolution.htm

Does anyone else see a parallel with how completely LPs and analog fell out of favor right after digital recordings came out? And look at them now? I wonder how dead film is, and how long it will take to bounce back.

One thing I'm very pessimistic about, though, is ever getting back the clarity, color, depth and life of Kodachrome film and processing. I've done a roll or two of the last runs of Kodachrome 64 through Dwayne's, and think it doesn't compare to the good ol' days of K-chrome 25. I will forever mourn that loss.

Incidentally, thought the photographic skill of the NIH Camera Club has deteriorated somewhat as membership has turned over, and wonder if it isn't because photographic challenges and results have dropped off as digital has taken over.

[seti]

Film is the best!!!!

I agree! The competitions at our last camera club meeting were prints, digital slides and film slides. I was dismayed and actually shocked at how lifeless and inferior the digital projections were compared with slides. I was considering a more up-to-date Nikon digital SLR, but now I wonder.

One model, the D300s, has a normal-size sensor which, because it's maybe 40% smaller, delivers more telephoto pics than 35mm film would. The other, the D700, is several $hundred more expensive, but has a 35mm film-size sensor. That would render wide angles as actual wides instead of normal to telephoto range, and supposedly much better color and contrast AWA lower digital noise. Unfortunately, it has only 95% viewinder accuracy as opposed to 100% in the D300 -- I like pics to come out the way I frame them up.

This site estimates the file size needed to replicate a good slide's clarity and detail: 187 megapixels!!!! http://kenrockwell.com/tech/film-resolution.htm

Does anyone else see a parallel with how completely LPs and analog fell out of favor right after digital recordings came out? And look at them now? I wonder how dead film is, and how long it will take to bounce back.

One thing I'm very pessimistic about, though, is ever getting back the clarity, color, depth and life of Kodachrome film and processing. I've done a roll or two of the last runs of Kodachrome 64 through Dwayne's, and think it doesn't compare to the good ol' days of K-chrome 25. I will forever mourn that loss.

Incidentally, thought the photographic skill of the NIH Camera Club has deteriorated somewhat as membership has turned over, and wonder if it isn't because photographic challenges and results have dropped off as digital has taken over.

Absolutely. I pray slide film is around for a long time. I've been shooting slide film in my Stereo Realist 3D camera for a while now. When people see it they are in awe. This holloween I am going to take it to some of the bars in town. They usually have great costume contest.

[Cal Blacksmith]

I thinik film will live for those who seek the best quality. Digital will take over for the mass market. There is no instant gratification with film. You can't shoot 1000 snaps and pick the best one with film (well you can but the cost would put you in the poor house) The level of skill needed for film is much higher, you NEED to understand things like how light works, how the camera works, how the different adjustments affect the picture and all the 1000 other things that a skilled photographer does by second nature after years of practice.

This helps the experanced photographer look much better when he (or she) picks up a digital camera and snaps it into manual mode and creates a very nice image. This leaves the point and shoot, let the camera decide duffer bowing down in amazment at the results and thinks that the camera holds the magic and thus wants to know what camera make and mod the "pro" is using so he too can get those great shots!

That said though, I do use photoshop on scanned pictures. Taken at Disneyland 9 / 09

The following shots were on Fuji 200 print film, 4.5 second exposure at f4.5 with a zoom lense set to 85mm (I think) on a 35mm Minolta 9XI

The color shot came out OK but it was not what I was looking for so I ran it through photoshop and the image is much nicer, I think. So much so, I had it blown up to 16 x 20 and it hangs on my wall

[Cal Blacksmith]

The second shot

[LarryC]

So, Cal, were you a professional photog? Good depth of knowledge there IMHO.

[Invidiosulus]

following shots were on Fuji 200 print film, 4.5 second exposure at f4.5 with a zoom lense set to 85mm (I think) on a 35mm Minolta 9XI

The color shot came out OK but it was not what I was looking for so I ran it through photoshop and the image is much nicer, I think. So much so, I had it blown up to 16 x 20 and it hangs on my wall

The version with the photoshop>filter>stylize>glowing edges is what you had a print made of?

[Invidiosulus]

Some pics of the kiddo.

need to try some slower film.

[Marvel]

We have a photography class at the small school where I work. The instructor has the students build a pinhole camera and take pics. They have done some real works of art. He also has them mix their own chemicals for prints. After they have done thier homework and worked in the darkroom for a while, they create some beautiful photos. Through the process, they have learned to be better photographers.

Bruce

[Cal Blacksmith]

No, not professional but a 39+ year long love affair with photography, yes I have made the pin hole camera, have enlargers both color and B&W 35mm and 4" x 5" anong with cameras in both formats. I don't hate digital cameras, I am in fact looking at a full frame 35mm digital SLR body and perhaps one day I can afford it but even at 24 mpxl, there isn't enough definition to make me totally happy enough to give up film.

Yes the Neon outline is the one I had enlarged and printed at 16 x 20. The actual print looks much better than the low res image here.

As for the Baby shots, call me biased but I like the action shot much better, perahps it is the hammer in his hand but the action was captured very nicley and I guess I am biased twoard hammers [] Oh BTW, you need to correct the thumb placement on the hammer, while this will help in the short term with aim, you will stress the tendons and cause damage to the hand but it is a common fault of "beginners" [][][]