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how to use old camera?

Posted by barbara_muret (My Page) on
Sat, Jan 17, 09 at 14:39

I have been gifted a 35 year old Nikon in perfect/new condition with an assortment of micro lenses. I don't have a clue how to use a "real" camera. Can someone recommend a source to learn from. I'd love to take close ups of the amazing tiny flowers and things I see.
Thank you


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: how to use old camera?

You've probably got a very good camera. 35 yrs ago, Nikon was the top camera maker of SLR cameras. Since you mentioned having several lens, I assumed it was a SLR (single lens reflex).

I think at that time, that camera was all mechanical (manual) driven except for the coupled light meter. Look the camera over carefully to see if it has a place for a small battery. This would be the battery for the light meter. If you find it, open it up, observe which side of the battery is up - the positive or negative side - make a note of this so that you'll know which way to insert a replacement battery, and then remove the battery. Record the cell type. Hopefully, there is no corrosion damage to the battery contacts. [If a camera is to be stored for period of time exceeding 6 months, the batteries should be removed.]

There should be two controls on the lenses - focus and aperature setting. If the lens is coupled to the light meter, it will adjust the lens opening when turned on. Usually, the lens is focused by turing the large barrel ring on the lense.

The lense will be wide open while composing and focusing through the view finder. This was a feature to provide a bright view and to aid focusing. The lens will automatically close to the selected f-stop during the exposure and then returns to wide open.

If you do not have a manual, go to Nikon's web site and look for a downloadable version. If this is not available, contact the company and ask where you might get a manual. It is remotely possible that your local Nikon dealer can help you get a manual.

You mentioned 'micro' lenses, did you mean 'macro"?

Macro lenses differ from regular lenses by the shape of the focus field, and the ability to focus on objects close to the lens. A true macro lense is designed to bring flat objects into focus from edge to edge of the negative. A regular lens bring into sharp focus items that are equi-distant from the lense, in other words, it brings into focus a apherical field into focus on the flat film plane. The difference is not noticable for objects more than 8 ft or so away. The difference begins to show, for example, filling the frame of a painting hanging on a wall. The macro will have the better edge-to-edge sharpness. You won't see it in the view finder, but will see the difference when a large print is made.

Macro lenses excel at photographing things like stamps and old post cards.

Your main problem will be finding a photo lab that can do justice to processing the film. Given a good lab, you will find this camera will produce superior results to most digital camera. Only the very high end digital cameras can match it. In my opinion, once you become familar with handling this camera, you will find that it is much easier to use than a digital.


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thank you

Thank you so much (and for the help with the binoculars). I went to the Nikon website and couldn't get anywhere...I'll try again. I went to a bunch of used books stores looking for old photography how to books or manuals with no luck. You have given me inspiration to just experiment and figure it out. Many thanks.

The person who gave me the camera bought the most expensive/quality equipment at the time and it has been stored carefully for 35-40 years. He said the lense (I guess its a macro) would be excellent for the teeny-tiny flowers I wanted to photograph. Between 67-74 he went from an "Ansel Adams" wannabe - to full a color Nature photographer, then to a new facination with tiny detail closeups of color and form. There was a new interest in creating art from microscopic close up detail in the early 70's... it was incredibly beautiful stuff!

Thank you for taking so much time to answer my post, I hope your answer benefits many.


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RE: how to use old camera?

Use Google to find more information.

Go to Google's "advanced search" page.
In the first line, enter "Nikon"

In the second line, must contain exactly, enter the model descriptor of the camera such as DK40, etc.

This should narrow the number of hits to a manageable number of relavent hits. If not, scan down to the bottom of the first page of results and click on "search on results". A new panel will pop up. Supply an additional search term, and then hit return or click on the continue button.


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RE: how to use old camera?

Good advice from jemdandy. We are making the assumption that your camera has a light meter. The one I owned was a Nikon F and did not have the FTN finder. Instead I used a hand held meter that I could use with other cameras that I had which did not have built in meters either. If you haven't gotten your's to work a hand held meter is second best. As for a good lab for printing you can check out KenRockwell.com for his lab contact info. Ken also addresses film vs. digital. According to his site, I haven't used the lab yet myself, they will also scan your film and create files to a CD as a back up and for ease of posting or e-mailing. You might get on E-bay to look for a manual for the model camera you have or take it to a local camera store that has been in business for a long time. There may be someone there that knows film cameras. Not in the mall, all they can talk about is digital. Another thing to keep in mind when doing close up photography is that the greater the magnification of your subject you also magnify any camera movement. Also your range of depth of field is less so you will need to us F stops like F-11, F-16, F-22; This will require you to use slower shutter speeds as F-16 lets in half the amount of light as F-11 so you must leave the shutter open longer by using a slower shutter speed. Like using 1/60 second instead of 1/125 or 1/250 especially if you use slow speed films like ISO 50 or 100. So as you may see you need to stop your lens down to gain depth of field but you slow the shutter speed down one stop for every F-stop to keep your exposure correct until you get to some point you can't hold the camera still enough as the shutter speed is slower so you would need a tripod and cable release. You might not notice the difference in a small print as much but the first time you print a 8x10 of a pretty flower or bug and you see it isn't as sharp as you thought it was it will most likely be lack of depth of field or lack of sharpness because of camera movement. This is why I got interested in photography 40 years ago. I wanted to learn how to make close up photo's. Hope I wasn't to confussing.
John


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RE: how to use old camera?

Here is the web address for a sight that has user manuals for cameras. lenses and many other photo items in PDF format for free downloads.

I have used this site many, many, many times and find that the manuals are reproductions of the original manuals.

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/index.html

When you get to the site home page you will see a list of most of the common camera manufacturers. Select your brand and it will direct you to a page where you can find the specific model number you have. You can either review the manual on the site or you can download a copy free.


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RE: how to use old camera?

Difference between a Macro lens and a closup lense.

Both lenses can do close-ups. The difference lies within the optic design. A macro lense has been optimized for recroding flat objects such as postage stamps and post cards. It brings the image of a flat object in focus all across the film (or sensor) field.

The other lense is an ordinary lens that can close focus. Objects equidistant from a point within the lens comes into focus on the film/sensor plane. In other words, the region of sharp focus is a spherical shell instead of being flat.


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