Help, please: Camera Afficiondos

sam said:

I have a pro photographer friend who has been really pursuing and shooting with 4x5 Polaroid b&w film. So yes, there does seem to be some fresh interest in film photography. No one has been able to convince me of large enough advantages to go back to film, so I'm quite happy with my digital work.

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I used to shoot Polaroid Positive-Negative film years ago. In just a few minutes you had a negative to make a print from in the dark room. That sounds like ancient history nowadays.

I bought an Olympus SP-560UZ SRL for 500 bucks several years ago. It is a point and shoot although I have several lens that adapt to it as well as filters etc. The whole outfit cost about $700 at the time. Bare bones it does a pretty good job at all phases of general photography. Even decent macro and micro. the stop action is great. 15 shoots in less than a second and you pic and choose which frame give you excellent motion shoots. Has guides in the software to assist you and all and all I have been pleased with the camera. What displeased me was the mother board has been replaced twice. The extended memory cards are the XD type rather than the cheap SD type and all my lens required adapters to attach.

I took a couple of college classes in the art department (analog of course) and we went on camera safaris to that landscapes and wild life shoots. It was a lot of fun sitting in a marsh waiting for that instant when the light was perfect and the eagle returned to here nest with a fish and the light was perfect for a few seconds to get the shot. Now you can create all that with photo shop. or spending the whole climbing to within range of your cameras capability only to have the big horns walk into a position where the light made a shot impossible. Fred fun and adventures, now I have do photography from the handicapped outlook. Fred

Marrinan said:

now I have do photography from the handicapped outlook

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I know how you feel!

Personally, I miss the feel in your hand of the film cameras. Good as they are, it's just not the same. I miss my Leica M3's.

Some of the best photography schools still start their students out with a solid background in film. It teaches them things that they wouldn't learn if they only did digital- full understanding of f stops, asa, and of controlling lighting and exposure. It's like learning hammer and chisel first before going to power, even if you never use hammer and chisel again, you have an innate feel for the material.