I was looking thru my closet and took out my old Canon AE-1. I use to love using that camera. It took great pictures. I have a 52mm, 80-200mm and a 28mm lens plus 2x and 3x extenders.

I also have a Nikon digital that takes good pictures.

Is anyone still using a SLR and is the film technology any good these days. I haven't bought film in about 5 years.

Comments

 

I haven't used my AE-1 SLR in at least 10 years. I pulled it out and dusted it off for my daughter to use in her photography class last year. Still works great and takes great photo's, but it is just so easy to take very respectable digital photos that, unles one is really into the nuances that can be created with inventive use of shutter speeds, f-stops, and various lighting techniques, I just don't see using anything but the digital as being practical.

 

today's digital SLR cameras are phenomenal, I shoot with a Nikon D300 and D200 but even the D40 allows the user controls in order to take the shots they want. Most, but not all, professional photographers have made the switch in the last few years. Here are a few of the advantages of digital: you know immediately if you got the shot; can delete the ones you don't like; you can take hundreds of photos before having to change memory cards; easy to transfer on to your computer; you can adjust ISO settings on the fly; the adjustments that can be made in the digital darkroom and not having to buy film ever again. There are still a few die hard film shooters out there and if that's what you prefer then run with it, it's about what makes you happy. Just know that you can get great photos with either format. Also, depending on the age of your lenses, most if not all could be used on a Canon DSLR. Good luck

 

I have AE-1 and I love it. I have all different kinds of lens and a tripod too. But also have a digital camera too. I love both of them. The AE-1 is great for teaching photography, which I am the 4-H photography leader, but I also have to teach digital also.

 

I just bought an N2000 with a lens and flash for $100

I need to buy film and batteries and check it out.

I have an olympus E-500. I have taken about 50,000 pics, a few are even good!

I am looking to buy the new E 520, it has live view, so you can make the shot looking at the screen instead of through the view finder...

I would like to take a few classes on digital photography, so I know how to properly use all the extra settings.

I read everything I can get my hands on,but I forget it when I try to apply it

the 2 links in my signature are all pictures I have taken, one is for the Az chapter of FTE and the other is my personal pages

 

I too have a Canon AE-1!!!!!!!
GREAT camera!!!

My daughter is taking photography in High School and needed a 35mm SLR.

She said, "Dad. . . I can't operate this antique. Everyone else has a camera that will automatically focus."


What are they teaching in photography class???
While learning, why on earth would you use a camera that will automatically focus??? You don't learn anything that way!

After teaching her how to use this old box, she loves it!
Lenses - Canon 50mm f1.8; Tokina 28-85mm f3.5-4.5 w/macro; Soligor 80-210mm f4.5 w/macro; Tokina 2x 'doubler'.

Nothing fancy. Just a good camera!

Film - My daughter is using Kodak b/w film. I forget which one/speed. (I like color. I remember having to watch TV in b/w. I know, b/w is more dramatic. I don't need any more drama in my life. Gimme color!)

 

Wow there are still people using the Canon AE-1. I bought mine August 1980. What a relic.I do like my Nikon digital but I also like using tha Canon. There is something about framing the subject and capturing what you want with a limited number of shots. Also the anticipation of looking at the photos later. Instant gratification is good but I think it lends to more shot gunning of pictures and hoping one turns out where with the SLR you really take your time to compose it taking into account Fstop, light, framing and depth of field. Nothing wrong with snapping away but I think I will dust off the Canon and show my daughters what it can do.

 

The HS girl we hosted last year got a Digi SLR and takes stunning pics with it. I got an Olympus 550 with is digi and has quite a bit of features I cant figure out. the nicest thing is being able to see on the screen what you jsut did so you can guess if you need to up the exposure.

I like the 'seeing in the dark feature. I can take pics of car stuff under the hood and it will 'find light' and gimme a nice great 7.1mp shot.

 

i shoot a sony digital with a 1 gig memory card...love it

see one of my buds
021.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

 

I use a point and shoot digital if a want a pic to put up on a web site quickly. If I want a photo for posterity then I use film and one of the 250 film cameras that I have in my collection from old Kodak folders from 1910 through rangefinders (Minolta, Yashica,Canon,etc), TLR's (Rollie, Autocord) and SLR's (Minolta, Pentax, Miranda, Nikkormat, Yashica, Ricoh, Exackta). The one crucial thing I have found is this. When a friend asked me to post some old photos from back in 2000, that he knew I took, I couldn't find them. Those were digital. The photos I took as a 6 year old I still have in my file boxes. Now I thought of a digital SLR but hesitate with a rip off prices over $1000 or more to be comparable to my Minolta Maxxums. These digitals are not complicated to make compared to cameras of old with all the gears and springs that were hand assembled. Just try taking one apart and working to repair it. Yet the digitals can be far more than a decent computer since their kit lense is usually a very basic mid-quality one. Should I find a decent used Maxxum 7D body then I might buy it as all my excellent Maxxum film lenses can be used on it. Oh, one last thing is flash. My current Maxxum, for example, can be set up to shoot flash pictures at almost 60 feet as compared to 1/3 of that with most digitals. The older days had some potent flashes that would literally cost you an arm and a leg today.

 

Above statement is so true. With film you really do need to know "how" to use your camera, "how" to use your film and "how" to see the light and expose it. Next comes developing and printing your film. Suffice it to say this requires some good classes such as photojournalism in college.

 

Everything you would use in taking a quality picture on film - exposure, aperture, shutter speed, composition - apply the same way to a DSLR. With my D300 I have the ability to shoot at 8 frames per second, but it is something I rarely use (action shots only) even though, as someone pointed our earlier, it is possible to "spray and pray" that one of the pics come out. But people who truly enjoy photography and work hard to improve their own skills do not practice in this manner, I don't and neither do any of the other photographers that I know. You can take amazing photos with either format, it's the person behind the lens and all the thought and technique they put into it that allows the equipment to perform at it's highest potential. Being that I normally photograph wildlife, who for some reason just don't like to pose the way you want them to, I prefer digital. One, because of the expanded capacity (I use 8 gig compact flash cards and record images in raw format, about 400 images per card) as I don't have to change "film" often and risk missing the shot I may have been waiting hours for and two, the ability to change exposure on the fly as lighting changes (intermittent clouds for example). I have a lot of respect for film shooters, the learning curve is longer and can be much more expensive (if you shoot a lot of rolls), but if that is what makes you happy then run with it and don't let any of the digital shooters give you any sh** about it.

 

Interesting thread. Brings back memories of my photography shooting days.

I still have my early eighties Olympus OM-2n with a variety of lenses;
28/50/135/75-205 mm lenses, a 3x extender and a powerful T-32 flash,
which is/was good up to 32 meters (105 feet).

I'm in a dilemma on weather or not to off my Olympus stuff,
or just keep it for nostalgia sake.

I'll still keep both my Velbon tripod and Bogen Monfrotto monopod.

I'm definitely going to off my old Besseler 23C Series II enlarger.
I have no use for it.

I wouldn't mind a Nikon DSLR, but can't seeing paying what
they're asking for those things.

Now as for P/S digi-cams, I have a so so Casio Exilm EX-V7 7.2mp 7x optical zoom camera.
It does the job for general purpose shooting; no action shots though; slow shutter lag.
What's nice about this camera is that it doesn't have lens erection.
The zoom lens is internal.

 

sierraben,

I to have a velbon tripod. Great stuff.

Where in Northern California? I travel to san Jose and work in Sunnyvale twice a month.

 

Yep. It's pretty good stuff. I have an older Velbon VGB-3 which is a medium duty tripod.
Works well, as I can unscrew the head and mount it at the bottom part of the center column
and take macro shots of what ever is on the ground.

As for my ''Where in Northern Ca.''?
Look to the right of my post, just below the join date.

That's a hell of a commute from Texas.