Film Cameras
Old Fashion Film Cameras
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If your main reason for purchasing a high megapixel camera is resolution and you don’t want to find yourself outdated a few months from now then keep reading…
You might want to consider this option. It’s a used 4×5” film camera together with a high resolution flat bed film scanner. You’ll stay updated for years to come and your total expenditure will be less than a thousand dollars. You’ll have 100 megapixels in fine detailed film resolution and fine scanned digital images. You’ll be able to enlarge your prints up to 30×40” in size and retain the professional quality.
These older 4×5” cameras have done a great job for hobbyist and professional photographers. They’ve been used for weddings, portraits, products, advertising and landscapes for almost a hundred years.
Where would you find 4×5” film cameras? EBay would be a good choice of places to start. These cameras were used up until the 1960’s, so it should be no problem finding them. You will probable find a used one in good working condition including lenses for around four hundred dollars.
Now for the flat bed film scanner, you may get lucky and find one of them used and in good condition on eBay, I didn’t have any luck there. You should be able to find a new one for around five hundred dollars on the internet. You’ll want to make sure it has the ability to scan films.
If you decide to purchase a 4×5” film camera instead of a new digital camera be sure it has these features. It should fold up into a compact box, it should have flexible bellows, the lenses need to be interchangeable, it needs to accept sheet film, it needs to have a ground glass focusing screen, it needs to have an optical viewfinder and it must be easily hand-held.
You’ll need these four lenses. A general purpose lens, 127 or 152mm lens will be used for most of the photograph sessions. A wide angle lens, will be mostly used for close up and landscape work. An extreme wide angle lens and a special effects lens for telephoto work. If you should need a special lens such as is needed for architecture or macro photography, you’ll probable find lots of them on auction sites like eBay. Used lens for the 4×5” film camera made after World War II give you as good a picture with detail and good resolution as the lenses made today.
Before you purchase a used 4×5” camera you’ll want to make sure the bellows have no light leaks, the lens shutter works properly and at all speeds, the lens elements have no fungus or scratches of any kind and the focus is working accurately between the ground glass and the film.
It is quite feasible to use a 4×5” film camera along with the flat bed film scanner for enlarging images with professional quality. It’s a cheaper option than some of the new digital cameras available today; it offers better image quality and will always be updated in the future, maintaining its original value
If you’re going for the ultimate detailed image enlargement you can use the 8×10” film camera. It’s four times the physical size of the 4×5” camera. It offers much more film resolution and is considered by many as the ultimate step for photo image enlargement.
You might be surprised at how these analog products deliver much better images than its digital counterpart. If you’re in to enlarging photo images, you should consider the 4×5” film camera. You might just be pleasantly surprised!
