When things were simpler...

[El Sid]

Having mentioned that I thought I ought to fire up the old D30 (see my swan post in the compact forum) I actually went and did so - there's a couple of the results posted in the May theme thread.

According to the pictures that were still on the card it hadn't been used in 2½ years! Still I recharged the batteries and took it out for a spin. I'd forgotten how uncomplicated it was compared to anything modern (eg my 80D) - no unnecessary video faff, no umpteen pages of menus and sub-menus, no complicated tracking options and adjustments and just 3 focus points which all work the same way with all lenses, just shove a battery in, turn it on and start shooting - ah, bliss...

Anyone else sometimes miss the simplicity of older cameras? Even my 20D and 40D are pretty straightforward to set up. and use...

[Trev B]

I sometimes wonder why we got all these things on the modern SLR camera's, video for example. Why do you need video on a still camera, I've never used it although I do quite a bit of filming. Canon do not produce any decent soft wear for editing picture or sound. I could go on, but surely by doing away with some of the gimmicks a few hundred quid could be knocked of the price, if not more.
The same can be said of mobile phones and cars. I've just bought a new car, it's going to take me for ever to try and understand the heating and air conditioning controls for a start - if I need air conditioning I just wind the window down.

[SpringfieldPhoto]

I put a roll of film through my Bronica recently. It has no gimmicks at all and the viewfinder is back to front. Got some lovely black and white pictures and I even processed them myself in a friends dark room. Might dust off my 50 year old Pentax Spotmatic.

[Trev B]

I used to have a Mamiya RB64. Cracking bit of kit, no 101 buttons to fiddle with, just a shutter button and film winding knob - wish I still had it.

[SpringfieldPhoto]

With my new R6, I seem to spend more time switching options on and off than taking pictures. Eco or smooth, preview or none, aspect ratio changes, and loads of others. Do I take better pictures? No.

[John Liddle]

My very first camera from 60 years ago - a gift from a friend of my parents.

You couldn't get much simpler!


My old press plate camera by John Liddle, on Flickr

[Trev B]

My very first camera from 60 years ago - a gift from a friend of my parents.

You couldn't get much simpler!


My old press plate camera by John Liddle, on Flickr

Do you ever use John

What a great thing it would be if Canon brought out a 'Basic' Digital SLR, no video, no 101 other things on it, just a basic manual camera. - you dial in the aperture, you dial in the speed and focus manually.

[John Liddle]

Do you ever use John

I'm afraid not Trev - I'm not at all sure I could source the glass plates it was originally intended to be used with and the likely cost cost of developing and printing the 120 roll film rather puts me off.

[El Sid]

What a great thing it would be if Canon brought out a 'Basic' Digital SLR, no video, no 101 other things on it, just a basic manual camera. - you dial in the aperture, you dial in the speed and focus manually.

The old D30 comes close when in manual mode except that it doesn't have the handy split prism for manual focusing.... If only it had a few more pixels...

[John Liddle]

Perhaps this is what you're after Trev........

https://uk.leica-camera.com/Photography/Leica-M/Leica-M10

[Trev B]

Perhaps this is what you're after Trev........

https://uk.leica-camera.com/Photography/Leica-M/Leica-M10

Yes, the only problem, Robert would most likely give me my marching orders off the Forum