More options for cheap film rigs

After the last photo post I got excited to do more film photography, and what better way to motivate myself to do that than to BUY MORE GEAR. Usually that's a bad idea; GAS, the American disease, is an ugly thing. But I haven't bought a camera in six or seven years, and part of the reason I legitimately don't shoot as much film as I used to, is that my digital camera (a late-oughts Nikon D40) is so much easier to carry around than my serious 35mm rig, an early-90s Nikon N90S— a great camera, but rather bloody heavy. The D40 is light enough that I actually take it places with me, and get pictures when the opportunities arise. So, upon consulting the oracle— photo gear geek Ken Rockwell— I discovered a couple of good late “prosumer” 35mm options that are basically dirt cheap, and lighter than the N90S.

I needed something that would be compatible with the Nikon gear I already own, so I went ahead and got an N80 body for $45, plus a 28-70mm/f3.5-4.5 zoom lens for another $45ish, for a total cost of about $100, with shipping. I could've spent another $50-100 for the heavier, slightly-more-pro F100, which I've coveted for a long time, but since weight is an issue, and I haven't been taking enough pictures to justify the small added expense, I got the N80. About this camera Rockwell summarizes:

The N80 offers features I want that the F100 lacks, and except for the slow [flash] sync speed seems to lack nothing significant. [...] 

Overall, this is an easy camera to love. It is very light, quiet, and feels like it has a shutter at least as smooth and quiet as the F100. In fact, I suspect that the N80 may have a smoother mirror and shutter mechanism than the F100, and therefore may give sharper results with long lenses on tripods. 

Unless you need the durability, fast sync speed or can write down some very serious specific reason you need a fancier camera, this is probably a better camera for most people then an F6 or F100. Why? Simple: it's lighter and cheaper. If you are on a budget then save your money for what matters: the lenses. Heck, who cares if it's plastic: you can throw one away and buy a second one and some film for the same price as just one F100. [...]

I may have gotten one of these instead of an F100 if it was out in 1999 when I got my F100.

Continued after the break:

More Holocene!

One of the Blue Cranes opening bands, who I also can't remember the name of. Anyone?

Update: Bright Red Paper!

Another example of blowing a potentially cool shot by not moving a couple of inches to the left to get the drummer's face in the shot. It's cool anyway, but it bugs me that I can't see the drummer's face.

A rather cool painterly version of the same shot. This is all done in-camera- it's just a slow shutter speed combined with cross-processing.

The bass player. I need to start writing down people's names.

Holocene has cool lighting!

Here are a few more shots from the Blue Cranes' CD release.

I got several cool shots of this saxophonist. What the hell is his name?

Update: Joe Cunningham is the hell is name. A great player!

More fun with lights.

Willie Matheis!

I got my group The Notables together to do some promo shots, and got a few interesting ones of Willie.

I was considering using this picture in our materials and billing him as "Blind" Willie Mathious.

A slightly more cattish pic, like a Hank Mobley album cover.

Black & White Blue Cranes!

Blue Cranes' Reed Wallsmith. Black & whites from their CD release last weekend, Ilford HP5 pushed to 1600.

The unknown Decemberists saxophonist again.

Bill Athens

Rebecca Sanborn

Another shot of Reed.

Blue Cranes CD Release at Holocene!

Here's the Blue Cranes doing their CD release party at Holocene. The band was completely rocking! I revisted my blurry art-crap roots by shooting with 400asa Fuji Provia pushed to 1600 and cross-processed. I hadn't been wild about the way the Provia looked when cross-processing- I did it a bunch on the Rome trip, and they mostly came out looking dull- but pushing 2 stops seems to give it the kind of look I like. It helps to be shooting at Holocene, which has a a lot going on with the lighting. I got a lot of stuff from this show, which I'll be posting over the next couple of weeks.

Reed Wallsmith, the alto player, also played great.

I missed this guy's name- he was sitting in with the band for the CD release, and had a nice rocking free-jazz type approach. I believe he plays with the Decemberists.