Analog film photography and cameras

Cheers for your help. From the research I've done over the last few days, I'm going to try and get a Contax T2. maybe an olympus xa or mji II if they are cheap too.

Cheers, will consider

Some advice please! What are people's thoughts on a Yashica T4 vs. Pentax ESPIO Mini? Does anyone own both?

I owned T3, T4 and the Espio, sold the T4 and still have the other two.

Espio is more pocketable. Has a 32mm lens (not a very big difference, but noticable).
Both are lightweight plastic things, pretty fragile, much more than a T3 or Mju-II.
Both lenses capable of very good results, maybe the T4 being a bit better if you count hairs.
I would recommend the Pentax because of the price.
The only thing bothering me about it is that the AF system has a problem with parallel lines, like shutters, fences, tiles and such - but it's managable.

maybe an olympus xa or mji II

If autofokus is an option for you then definately consider Mju-II, Espio mini, T3 & T4, and (somewhat my favourite 35mm point-and-shoot) the Nikon L35AF !
All (except for the T4) can be had cheap.

Fuck a t4. T3 has the same lens

As far as I know it's the same lens design but not the same lens.
T3's lens is bigger, has different coatings, and it's aperture can open up to 2.8.

Anyways, both are excellent, and as I said I did own both and sold the T4 because it gave me money for a lot of film and I was very happy with the quality of T3's pictures.
If money is no object then it's just a question whether you wand a smaller (but fragile) or bulkier (but rugged / waterproof) camera.

Mju-II / CT Precisa

Awesome - just what I was looking for. Found a Pentax for £45 I might treat myself to...

Lots of good suggestions, I've made a list of what to look out for. I may just buy a bunch, test them out and keep 1 or 2 I like the most and sell the rest when I get back

I may just buy a bunch, test them out and keep 1 or 2 I like the most and sell the rest when I get back

Yea, that's what I did.
Actually I shot a couple of same motifs, with same film, same developer etc. with T3, T4, Espio, Mju, XA and L35AF. Fun times, lugging six compacts around (and a tripod), all with the same fucking film in it, haha.
I always wanted to make a nice comparison with the pictures, see which one is sharpest, how they render differently etc. Honestly I goofed some shots (moved tripod because I'm dumb), also it's not that easy as they have the tripod mounts in different places, have different heights, et cetera, light changed, and so on. I could have done a better job.
If I find the time I'll re-scan said pictures properly and put them up.
Though with these old, used cameras it could well be that my copy wasn't great - but yours may just be different (for example I've always found shots from my Mju-II somewhat soft compared to other peoples').

Bottom line: They're all good!
Buy a couple, try them out. In the end you'll keep one because you "like it" more than the others, because it's automatic - but you can ISO-cheat (like with the L35AF) or things like that.

Having used a fair few film compacts I've narrowed down the 3 best I beleive.

1. Ricoh gr1/s/v the smallest, fastest and dharpest. Unfortunately they're a bit fragile and the view finder ain't great also I've yet to find somewhere to repair them cheaply.

2. MJU II, small, fast, pretty damn cheap, rugged as shit and with a good lens. Unfortunately it's ugly and the flash settings can be annoying plus it dosnt give the same amount of control as others.

3. Nikon 35ti, super sharp, really tough, good battery life, manual zone fusing with dial and real pretty. Unfortunately they're a bit big and quite slow compared to the other two. Edit: this also has one of the best exposure meters ever and a large, clear and bright Finder.

I'm considering buying a fuji Klasse w this year, hoping it combines aspects of the other 3 but with current production reliability and warranty.

I can't mention the yashica or contact T series much because of limited experience of them but I have had a play around and wasn't convinced to buy them when I saw the prices they command vs cameras I thought handled nicer.

1.
..unfortunatly have never used the Ricoh's. I'm sure they're great. They're getting old, and having a lot of issues I heard, from display stopping to work to complete sudden death.
I was too scared to invest a lot of money in this.

2.
Yeah it's great. As I mentioned mine didn't seem to be as sharp as others, but still good.
Then I got light leaks (as you can see in the picture upthread), so I'm not using it much now.
It really is small, rugged (and waterproof), also light - you can just throw it in a bag -
which really is a big plus as it means you'll actually have it with you a lot of times.
Oh, the hidden spot meter mode is great as well!

3.
Never used these either, basically because they're expensive
(apart from the T4 I only bought cameras that go for less than 100, most of them for less than 50)
Pictures I've seen from them are pretty fucking sharp.

It's already in the range of "premium" compact cameras for me.
If you're willing to pay a few hundred, there for sure are some real gems out there -
Leica minilux, Minolta TC-1, Contax T / T2 / T3 - I'd also put the Ricohs and Nikon 35Ti in that category.
There are more, and especially if you look at manual focus, there are a lot more great compacts.

Anyway, of the stuff I still do on film - I do it with SLRs if I want excellent quality.
Compacts for me are for fun now, it's ok if they're not in the premium category, as I'm not willing to pamper a precious little princess of a compact camera.

I actually hate the gr1 series. I have 2 and both have died in some way, the view Finder is a joke and the I don't like the wide lens. It's great to have one in your pocket but that can also result in the exposure compensation dial being nudged which is detrimental to quick fire street photography which is its claimed strength. But that could just be me.

I'm yet to try the 35ti, I heard they were a bit fragile. Tempted now after reading your description...

Yashica T4 / CT Precisa

..there's exhaustive info on mir, and of course ken rockwell's page if you're interested..

Anyone got an epson v550 scanner? probably going to be buying a scanner in the next 3 weeks, it sits on the right budget and looks pretty decent, any thoughts would be great!

I've got one, I love it but recently it's been acting a bit odd (not registering on my computer or only scanning in PDF) but this is way more likely due to my faulty laptop or 3rd party software.

I say do it! My only gripe this that it can be hard to get film sitting flat and therefor scans occasionally come out out of focus, I'm going to hopefully rectify this by buying the lomography digitaliza, I've only been putting it off because I'll need 3 for my 3 different formats :/

Nikon L35AF / CT Precisa

I love mine, scans in great quality. it is hard to get the film flat, but its never affected the final image for me.

thanks @IR and @sloth i hadnt seen the "digitaliza" before, is that actually the best option, i remember scanning on a flatbed in college and that being a slight problem sometimes, im finding it hard to believe that Lomo have come up with a product that actually helps the quality of an image haha.

ektar 100 scanned on the v550

Saw a Nikon L35AF today for HK$50 (just over £4), was a bit skeptical because it was in a box of half broken cameras but I probably should have bought it, might see if it is still there in a couple of days..

Check if the on/off switch works, and if the shutter button works*, it's their weak spot.

*..camera needs (two AA) batteries for this

Did try that and nothing happened which is also why I didn't get it, only just occurred to me that it probably needed batteries

..what you might also do when you get there next time is cover the lens* and push the shutter half way - flash should pop up automatically and charge.

*..by the way one of the benefits of this compact camera: light is actually measured through the lens (which means you can use filters)