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The lure of digital cameras with retro film camera looks

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Ianm

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A little off topic, but I was just curious how many of you have been temped to buy a digital camera partly because of its retro film camera styling? For example, I regret not buying the beautiful Olympus Pen F.

I’m currently in Hong Kong and took the image below in a pop-up Nikon shop in Causeway Bay. Every colour Nikon Zf on display and they looked gorgeous.

I was impressed enough to go in and have a play, but was a little disappointed. In the hand the camera doesn’t have the heft of my Nikon FM2, and the ergonomics seems a little messy. So I’m having seconds thoughts about buying one :-(



7401be9861fc42cd9578b82cea7387c3.jpg

Ian
 
So you passed on the Pen-F and are not happy with the Zf's ergos. The Pen-F was another pretty camera with ergonomic problems. Perhaps ergonomics are more important to you than style.

You're not alone---I passed on the Pen-F, despite it being the only Olympus "rangefinder-style" body with a built-in viewfinder and really wanting to love it, because it felt awkward in my hand (that front rotary knob rubbed on my fingers immediately, and you couldn't customize it to be useful for a raw mode shooter).
 
I wrestled with this very same question in the opening post on this thread over in the Nikon Z forum.

Essentially where I landed since starting that thread is that, if you want that retro experience but don't actually want to use film, this kind of camera is great. But if you already have a film camera, it might not be so great.

Rather than spend thousands on something that mimics a film camera, I realized that, for my own purposes at least, I'm better off just going for the real thing and using my Nikon F. When I do digital photography, I prefer to do so in its "native" modern form.
 
I have a Fuji X100 (original version). The glass viewfinder is well executed and I use it all the time, rather than the EVF.

The most filmic digital camera I’ve used is the Nikon D200, which pretty much gets out of your way and produces beautiful pictures. Obviously it handles like a late model film SLR though.

(One could argue that almost all DSLRs are retro for the same reason, they look like a late 1990s film camera :-) )
 
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Many of the Pen series of cameras had that rangefinder / film feel. I thought about a Pen series to shoot digital when I can't or don't want to shoot film and ending up eventually getting a Leica M8....an analog camera wanting to be digital as opposed to a digital camera wanting to be analog. you might try it.

But...warning here....... I still shoot the film. Today I went out and could easily have grabbed the M8 but still, like always....picked up the Olympus OM... for some reason it is so hard to replicate the intangible of shooting film with just about any digital camera, including the M8 or, the Pen F digital.
 
Gregory Gross said:
I wrestled with this very same question in the opening post on this thread over in the Nikon Z forum.

Essentially where I landed since starting that thread is that, if you want that retro experience but don't actually want to use film, this kind of camera is great. But if you already have a film camera, it might not be so great.

Rather than spend thousands on something that mimics a film camera, I realized that, for my own purposes at least, I'm better off just going for the real thing and using my Nikon F. When I do digital photography, I prefer to do so in its "native" modern form.
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I think I 100% agree with you. I wanted to like the Nikon Zf, but the constraints of being a modern digital camera handicap the attempted film camera look. For example, the funny LCD f-stop display, and all the strange tactile controls on the top plate all in the wrong place.

Strangely the digital camera that originally lured me away from Nikon full frame was the little Panasonic Lumix GF1. I’m not sure if it was trying to mimic a film camera, but the small ‘rangefinder’ style body and controls just felt right. With the little clip on electronic viewfinder I felt I was using a Leica M.

Ian
 
Ianm said:
Gregory Gross said:
I wrestled with this very same question in the opening post on this thread over in the Nikon Z forum.

Essentially where I landed since starting that thread is that, if you want that retro experience but don't actually want to use film, this kind of camera is great. But if you already have a film camera, it might not be so great.

Rather than spend thousands on something that mimics a film camera, I realized that, for my own purposes at least, I'm better off just going for the real thing and using my Nikon F. When I do digital photography, I prefer to do so in its "native" modern form.
Click to expand...
I think I 100% agree with you. I wanted to like the Nikon Zf, but the constraints of being a modern digital camera handicap the attempted film camera look. For example, the funny LCD f-stop display, and all the strange tactile controls on the top plate all in the wrong place.
Click to expand...
I think if your definition of what “retro” is is a FM2/FE2 (which tbh is what Nikon is aiming at with the ZFc and ZF) then you will be disappointed by the retro digital cameras. But if you take a wider view of what a film camera is you’ll see there’s almost no common agreement of where controls should be placed. For example, using cameras I either own or have used:
  • Kodak Retina iiiC has the f/stops and shutter speed on the lens, and setting is via a Light Value system
  • Olympus Pen FT has the aperture being set by a “base aperture plus” system (no native f/stop)
  • Nikormat FTn has the shutter speed set on the lens mount
That’s not including all the folders, TLRs, SLRs without auto return mirrors, box cameras etc. There is a far greater diversity among film cameras than digital, which mostly ape late model film SLRs (often because they were originally derived from them). The ZFc and ZF are retro only in looking like the FE2, the X100 is sort of (if you squint) like a Leica M3.
 
I am brought up in the functionalist vein so tend to reject objects that try to look like something they are not. I am disappointed in how much digital cameras in general resemble film cameras so OTOH so called retro styling doesn't make a huge difference. In the beginning of digital there were some interesting experiments. I had the Sony R1 for instance. Now I have something that looks like an SLR, hump and all.
 
rurikw said:
I am brought up in the functionalist vein so tend to reject objects that try to look like something they are not. I am disappointed in how much digital cameras in general resemble film cameras so OTOH so called retro styling doesn't make a huge difference. In the beginning of digital there were some interesting experiments. I had the Sony R1 for instance. Now I have something that looks like an SLR, hump and all.
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Yeah, I find it funny too....the look, the look...the look...either on the outside or the end-product. I always tell people, well...why not just shoot film!!!

Anyhow...people do like the retro look on the outside and strive for the hump, or the rangefinder look. Makes you wonder if some company came out and really thought outside the box, is the physical look of the hump, the rangefinder look etc, really the right one for today's idea of ergonomics? Why not create a camera that really molds to ones hands?

IE....in the Optics world of binoculars, they have really catered to the ergonomics of a binocular with the right body armor, the physical placement of fingers, the focus knob etc.... Can that be done with a newer version of a camera? I look at the PIXII and think they missed out on an opportunity.

--
jim lehmann https://jimlehmann.squarespace.com
 
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I don't find it interesting myself.

There is a reason why older bodies were smaller. Lenses were small no AF, no motors.

Today lenses are larger and heavier, thus the concept of a small body is largely lost due to imbalance. Unless you're using slower smaller primes perhaps. It's mostly a sale gimmick

And why would anyone want a retro EVF camera?

Film is unique, and different look which can't be duplicated in digital. I enjoy both mediums
 
I thought Nikon got it exactly right with the Df (though I don't own one). I like the rendering better than the Zf, and that you don't need an adaptor for the AI lenses that one should really use.
 
Good thoughts. In the early days of digital, designers thought fresh and actually improved on the film camera platforms. But really all the current cameras are about the same.
 
Bags27 said:
I thought Nikon got it exactly right with the Df (though I don't own one). I like the rendering better than the Zf, and that you don't need an adaptor for the AI lenses that one should really use.
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I liked the Df when it was originally produced, then I saw a photo of one next to a FE and saw how big it is, even the Zf looks big. I tried a Zfc at the Photography Show last year and that was about the right size, but it won’t use F mount lenses directly, so you can’t have everything ! (And it’s APS sized frame too).
 
I bought the original Pen-F in early 1964. I always considered it an well designed camera system particularly the rotary shutter. Since then I have other well designed film cameras such as the Robot Star 50, and the Canon 7. No pseudo replicas in the digital world have approach the purity of these designs except perhaps the Fuji X-Pro1.
 
Visually, that's one of the things I like about my old Canon G7



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Since 2006 their entire line of M cameras borrows the design perfected in 1954.
 
I have a confession: I bought a Nikon zf with 40 and 28mm retro design lenses. Totally irrational purchase; I tend towards medium format film, high resolution digital, big lenses, etc. More confession: I have REALLY enjoyed using the zf! The looks are a bit like an enlarged Nikon FM, but it’s the feel with my eyes in the viewfinder that got me! The camera feels like a Nikon F3 with 50mm f1.4 lens. My thumb searches for the film wind lever! Still more confession: The electronic viewfinder is much easier for me to use than the optical viewfinder in my film cameras. My favorite film camera viewfinders are the high eyepoint F3 and Hasselblad with prism. In bright light the zf experience isn’t that different, but in difficult light it is much better. And the magnifier function is spectacular for manual focus! Final confession: I wouldn’t mind the zf viewfinder on a camera that made photos on film. I know. Don’t hit me!
 
Best handling camera I had was the F3HP with MD4 motor drive attached. Put a 300 or 400 f/2.8 or 600 f/4 on it and you had a great handling rig for sporting events. Monopod on the sidelines and you were ready to work.

Other lenses, it was good in the hands.

Would be nice to have a digital equivalent - including the interchangeable finders. Loved having the option to switch them out for various tasks.
 
TLGG said:
Best handling camera I had was the F3HP with MD4 motor drive attached. Put a 300 or 400 f/2.8 or 600 f/4 on it and you had a great handling rig for sporting events. Monopod on the sidelines and you were ready to work.

Other lenses, it was good in the hands.

Would be nice to have a digital equivalent - including the interchangeable finders. Loved having the option to switch them out for various tasks.
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https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/kodakdcs760
 
Well confession is good for the soul. I bet you feel much better getting that off your chest in public.

I haven’t bought mine yet, but I’m still very tempted. But like you it would be a slightly irrational purchase.

Time to turn the level of confession up to eleven. Did you also go for one of the funky colour leathers? I’m told the cameras need to be sent back to Nikon to have these retro fitted.

Hope you enjoy your new camera.

Ian
 
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