neal3k
Well-known
I used digital for years and still use it - for pictures of my cameras to post on Flickr as well as eBay shots. The X100 series was somewhat close to film but too many trade-offs for the real experience. I did end up with shooting on the manual settings most all of the time, though.
For my fun photography, it is all film and has been for about three years. While I like many film cameras, I have come to really love the Barnack experience and use my Leica/Leica Clone collection for over 80% of my shooting. Then there is the Hasselblad Super Wide.
I guess I like the fiddly part of these old beauties and what it adds to the experience.
For my fun photography, it is all film and has been for about three years. While I like many film cameras, I have come to really love the Barnack experience and use my Leica/Leica Clone collection for over 80% of my shooting. Then there is the Hasselblad Super Wide.
I guess I like the fiddly part of these old beauties and what it adds to the experience.
Axel
singleshooter
That´s very individual what simplicity means I see.
I can follow your thoughts but I end up by taking my phone or digicam when I want to go simple.
Am I too young? (60+)
robert blu
quiet photographer
To be fair it ius true generally speaking film cameras were simpler. But not all of them.
I remember after a few weeks I had my F100 which I mainly used in Aperture Priority I was on a short trip abroad,perhaps a weekend and withpout knowiung I pressed a button or probably a"wrong" combination of button and suddendy it did not work anymore as supposed. The worst part was I had no idea how to reset it! Not a big problem because I enters a camera shop, explained my probelm and the kind gentleman reset the camera for me.
Lesson learned, never travel without the instructi9on manual fofr a camera you do not know perfectly
I remember after a few weeks I had my F100 which I mainly used in Aperture Priority I was on a short trip abroad,perhaps a weekend and withpout knowiung I pressed a button or probably a"wrong" combination of button and suddendy it did not work anymore as supposed. The worst part was I had no idea how to reset it! Not a big problem because I enters a camera shop, explained my probelm and the kind gentleman reset the camera for me.
Lesson learned, never travel without the instructi9on manual fofr a camera you do not know perfectly
Yokosuka_Mike
Abstract Clarity
Lesson learned, never travel without the instructi9on manual fofr a camera you do not know perfectly
So true, so true.
Many years ago I was on a weekend photo excursion with a group of friends. We were deep in the countryside far from civilization. The battery in my Canon F1 died. No problem I thought, the F1’s claim to fame was that the camera would work fine without a battery, it just meant that the match needle light meter would be inoperable. Not true. The shutter would not function. I’d press the shutter release button and nothing would happen. One of the other guys on the trip loaned me his spare camera and I got by for the rest of the trip. I can’t believe I didn’t have a spare battery with me.
When I got home I read the manual, the manual that was in a drawer with other manuals, and it said for the camera to function without a battery the dead battery had to be removed from the camera. I took the battery out of my camera and sure enough the shutter worked perfectly.
After that the manual was always in my camera bag. Of course back then manuals were very thin. Nowadays camera manuals are 200 plus page PDF files. Need to have a laptop in your backpack or at least be smartphone literate enough (meaning smarter than I am) to look at it on one's phone.
All the best,
Mike
Evergreen States
Pierre Saget (they/them)
I find the LCD screen of my X-Pro3 really does help keep me from chimping except in extraordinary circumstances, where I really do feel a need to check my exposure and focus. Most of the time I use the OVF and some combination of back button autofocus, manual focus and zone focus. Almost always a Fuji XF prime lens. Always RAW.
I also shoot film with various 135 and 120 format cameras. Just got my Olympus 35RC back from repair and loaded it up with an expired roll of TMAX 400.
I also shoot film with various 135 and 120 format cameras. Just got my Olympus 35RC back from repair and loaded it up with an expired roll of TMAX 400.
Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
Photography, as an image-making process, is a fascinating and rewarding journey. The choice of tool (camera) is also an enjoyable journey and for some that aspect might dominate such that the image is secondary. That’s fine, we should do what brings us enjoyment.
For my camera journey, I’ve come full circle. I started with totally mechanical cameras and that was my first 15 years of photography (1960’s-1970’s). I would read ads in magazines and see cameras with full-information analog-display viewfinders, aperture priority, shutter priority, program, and really wanted to have one. Couldn’t afford it. Eventually bought an AE-1 Program. When autofocus appeared and traditional dials disappeared, I lost interest in cameras (but not photography). From the mid-1980’s to mid-1990’s I ignored everything that happened in the photographic world regarding cameras.
What brought me back was medium format: a family friend had a Rolleiflex and that fascinated me. Not long thereafter I started buying Hasselblad cameras and lenses. Then, digital photography started to become very popular and to me it was a scourge worse than autofocus. But now I was discovering the older cameras and now I could afford them as prices fell.
A camera store I went to every week would have all these Canon Rebel G’s (EOS 500N) for sale on their web site for $20. Although this camera seemed to represent all that I disliked about “modern” cameras, out of curiosity I did some research on it. I found a web page that made the camera really appealing. OK, $20 - not much to lose, eh? Well, I enjoyed it. As an engineer I was impressed how well thought-out the design was even though it used the most inexpensive of materials. With a 50/1.8 it is so extremely light, yet it focuses and exposes accurately.
My experience with that Canon led me to more sophisticated electronic and automated cameras, topping out with an Elan 7NE (eye focus control) and the amazing Minolta Maxxum 7.
At that point I felt that at the very least I shouldn’t be ignorant of modern technology. It bothered me that if someone handed me a digital camera I wouldn’t know how to use it. It also bothered me that I might be making photos with a film camera and someone would remark on that - I wanted to be able to say that I have digital cameras as well.
At that time, still reading about film cameras, I found Ken Rockwell’s site and he wrote about digital cameras as well as about film cameras and lenses. So it came to be that I bought a few digital cameras.
Then, about 10 years ago, I started to feel like all mechanical film cameras are what I enjoy the most. So a journey ends where it began. I like mechanical things. I like analog-display mechanical (trap-needle) viewfinders. I like shutter speed dials, aperture rings, focus rings. I like inserting, winding, and rewinding film. It’s all part of being engaged in the image-making process.
For my camera journey, I’ve come full circle. I started with totally mechanical cameras and that was my first 15 years of photography (1960’s-1970’s). I would read ads in magazines and see cameras with full-information analog-display viewfinders, aperture priority, shutter priority, program, and really wanted to have one. Couldn’t afford it. Eventually bought an AE-1 Program. When autofocus appeared and traditional dials disappeared, I lost interest in cameras (but not photography). From the mid-1980’s to mid-1990’s I ignored everything that happened in the photographic world regarding cameras.
What brought me back was medium format: a family friend had a Rolleiflex and that fascinated me. Not long thereafter I started buying Hasselblad cameras and lenses. Then, digital photography started to become very popular and to me it was a scourge worse than autofocus. But now I was discovering the older cameras and now I could afford them as prices fell.
A camera store I went to every week would have all these Canon Rebel G’s (EOS 500N) for sale on their web site for $20. Although this camera seemed to represent all that I disliked about “modern” cameras, out of curiosity I did some research on it. I found a web page that made the camera really appealing. OK, $20 - not much to lose, eh? Well, I enjoyed it. As an engineer I was impressed how well thought-out the design was even though it used the most inexpensive of materials. With a 50/1.8 it is so extremely light, yet it focuses and exposes accurately.
My experience with that Canon led me to more sophisticated electronic and automated cameras, topping out with an Elan 7NE (eye focus control) and the amazing Minolta Maxxum 7.
At that point I felt that at the very least I shouldn’t be ignorant of modern technology. It bothered me that if someone handed me a digital camera I wouldn’t know how to use it. It also bothered me that I might be making photos with a film camera and someone would remark on that - I wanted to be able to say that I have digital cameras as well.
At that time, still reading about film cameras, I found Ken Rockwell’s site and he wrote about digital cameras as well as about film cameras and lenses. So it came to be that I bought a few digital cameras.
Then, about 10 years ago, I started to feel like all mechanical film cameras are what I enjoy the most. So a journey ends where it began. I like mechanical things. I like analog-display mechanical (trap-needle) viewfinders. I like shutter speed dials, aperture rings, focus rings. I like inserting, winding, and rewinding film. It’s all part of being engaged in the image-making process.