When I was in college I took a photography course. A fellow student did an incredible slide presentation using a Minolta Rangfinder camera. You can imagine what he did to the grading curve.
Years later I bought a Pentax SLR of some model and have never been real satisfied with the pictures I could take with it. I finally got a free small darkroom setup, but lost my darkroom space to my wife for stupid storage. Women!
Jerry wrote: "I've learned way more about photography with my old film cameras than with any of my digitals. " I still have my old Nikon F3.
I learned SLR with my dads Nikkormat, solid metal body and all manual adjustments, he paid about $500 for the body back in the mid 70's... it did have a built in light meter (his older pentax before that didn't even have that as I understand it) I started with that when I was about 11 or 12 years old (what he was thinking letting a kid that age use it i don't know lol)... we had a dark room in our house untill I was 6 or 7 (moved to a smaller house and lost our 3rd bathroom that dad used as his darkroom)
I think i was 4 when I got my first camera though... a 110 kodak/fisher price, had rubber bumpers on the end, a slide to cover the super tiny lens and used stick type flash bulbs so it was only ever usable outside... but i STILL have photos I took with that thing growing up.
that being said... while I feel that I learned a lot starting out with the old school SLR the fact that "film" no longer costs money I was able to experiment and I had instant feedback.
I used to have a real passion for photography, but lately I just use my iPhone. I got a Nikon J1 for Xmas and I am starting to think creatively a little bit. Still, it's mostly just pictures of the kids...
A real photographer would have wiped his nose!
pinchvalve wrote: A real photographer would have wiped his nose!
A real photographer would have gotten some macro shots of it, in HDR.
donalson wrote: that being said... while I feel that I learned a lot starting out with the old school SLR the fact that "film" no longer costs money I was able to experiment and I had instant feedback.
That's exactly the reason I feel like I get more out of film. It's become so easy with digital to grab hundreds of images and then pick and choose the best ones that you almost don't have to think about it beforehand. I find I have to make a conscious effort to really think about photos before releasing the shutter with digital; it comes naturally with film.
That said, I am much more willing to get into more experimental photography with digital than film knowing that I'm not going to waste half a roll of film on something that may or may not turn out.
In reply to Swank Force One:
I actually have an old 35mm film camera. Maybe I should learn as much as I can about using film before I make the jump to dslr. I just hate that I can't see my finished product until after processing the film. Or finding film for that matter. I guess it will at least make me more conservative with the shutter lol
cxhb wrote: In reply to Swank Force One: I actually have an old 35mm film camera. Maybe I should learn as much as I can about using film before I make the jump to dslr. I just hate that I can't see my finished product until after processing the film. Or finding film for that matter. I guess it will at least make me more conservative with the shutter lol
Eh.... digitals are cheap these days, i'd just grab one of those and see if you like it enough to make the jump to DSLR later.
Film is cool and all that, but i don' really see the point in using it these days unless it's some expensive and cool boutique hipster kind of deal. 
(I know pro guys still use film sometimes, the last part was tongue in cheek.)
Swank Force One wrote:cxhb wrote: In reply to Swank Force One: I actually have an old 35mm film camera. Maybe I should learn as much as I can about using film before I make the jump to dslr. I just hate that I can't see my finished product until after processing the film. Or finding film for that matter. I guess it will at least make me more conservative with the shutter lolEh.... digitals are cheap these days, i'd just grab one of those and see if you like it enough to make the jump to DSLR later. Film is cool and all that, but i don' really see the point in using it these days unless it's some expensive and cool boutique hipster kind of deal.
cxhb: If you do decide to go the digital route but still want to learn the mechanics, try to find a camera that allows you not only manual control but relatively easy access to those controls. There's nothing more frustrating about digital than having to go through a bunch of menus to change something that should be on a dial or knob. The Canon G-series cameras are pretty good for this (I have a G12), though there are other options.
Swank Force One: If you shoot a lot of black & white, there are definite advantages to film over digital. Digital has problems with rendering midtones and high contrast scenes that film handles quite nicely.
My switch to digital was complete the day I spent 3 hours in a dark room trying to get a handful of decent B&W prints for a lady. About that time the Epson 700 Photo printer came out & I saw a friend's output.
I bought one that weekend.
Most $250 point-and-shoot cameras can keep pace with SLR's in 80% of situations and uses. However, in the tough situations a quality DSLR is tough to beat. I used to shoot for a living, but I'm glad I can enjoy it as a hobby now.
This one is using a long-exposure technique and using a flashlight to expose what you want. The room is absolutely dark.
Here's one of my desktop light setups for product photography:
Don't feel like linking others haha
Me and the missus used to follow NASCAR Busch North and whatever other names it went on to use down the road. I was allegedly the reporter while the wife was the primary photog, so I didn't shoot much. I did like going out during practice and getting single-car shots with as slow a shutter as I could get away with (limited by my antique, cheap equipment). This is probably my all-time fave
Once in a while we got a good gem. The wife got this one
These days I'm limited to shooting pics of the puppies and occasionally some autocross
I'm not a photographer by any means, but I do like to take pictures.
Here are a few I took with a Nikon Coolpix P500 while on vacation last year.
This is one that didn't come out the way I expected but I still thought it was pretty cool.
I'll let my pictures speak for themselves.
And continue speaking for themselves.
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