Maybe I saw it as a cheap way to get some decent prime lenses or maybe it was just interest in experimenting. In any case, I ended buying bunch of old camera gear from an elderly gentleman. With reasonable price I got Asahi Pentax Spotmatic F film SLR, Vivitar 35mm f1.9, Takumar SMC 55mm f1.8, mysterious 'Amanda De Luxe' 135mm f3.5, light meter and some accessories. I think most of them were manufactured during the 70s.
The primes have M42 mount so I will be able to use them with my Canon 450D as soon as the adapter arrives. But I could not wait and I had to go and buy a roll of film. The first surprise was the price of the film. I have forgotten that taking a photo actually costs something with film camera and paying 4 GBP for a roll made me think. I also needed battery for the light meter of the camera. Other than the that it is completely mechanic and does not need electricity to take photos.
I had to do some research on how to use the camera and each lens. The easiest one is the Takumar SMC 55mm f1.8 and it is quite close to how modern DSLR works in manual mode. I start by setting the aperture first. Then I check the light meter reading and I adjust the exposure time. Finally I check the focussing - there is no autofocus or focus confirmation light.
With Vivitar 35mm f1.9 I need to check light meter value using a switch on the camera. This sets the aperture of the lens to my setting and light metering can be done. In case of the Takumar the light metering was automatically adjusted based on selected aperture. So there is one more step compared to that.
The 135mm is even more complicated because it does not have a way to preview aperture. This makes things tricky as focussing is difficult with small aperture. Therefore you need to do light metering with the selected aperture first, then open the aperture and focus the lens. After this you must return the aperture setting to the previous value. And all this must be done assuming no changes in the situation.
After taking a shot I have yet another thing to do. There is no EXIF data on film so I have to write the settings down on my notebook. Of course this is optional but I have been trying out new lenses so I want to know how they perform in different situations. At least I do not have to write down ISO... it is same for the whole roll of film.
I have not seen the results of my film shooting yet so I have no clue how well Spotmatic F works and how the lenses perform. I have to take couple more shots and then take the roll to the film processing. I guess there will be some places still doing it with reasonable price.
Just a couple days of film shooting has thought me many things. Most importantly I have much more respect for photographers prior to digital age or autofocus. Capturing the right moment with manual gear required quite some skills and experience. Photography is so much easier today. But the artistic side of photography is as difficult as ever.
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