Slide film

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	Forums > Photography Chat > Slide film
Dave John Posts: 22335 Joined: 27th Feb 2011 Location: England	quotePosted at 23:00 on 7th October 2013 Yes it really is the best way to understand the photographic process. The best cameras I ever had (still have them actually) a pair of Canon F1's. Totally manual albeit with match needle metering but never trusted it. The Euro-master was always hanging from my belt. Using film and printing on paper also gives a good grounding for digital. As I have said in previous threads there is absolutely no difference whatsoever between darkroom and software. I fully agree with trying to get it as right as you can at the taking stage but can't remember many prints I ever made without some dodging, burning, change of paper grade. As you noted a few post up, the human eye can adjust to a phenominal contrast range, infinitely more so than any film. My favourite: Pictures \| Towns \| Attractions
Edward Lever Posts: 734 Joined: 22nd Dec 2005 Location: UK	quotePosted at 07:38 on 8th October 2013 On 7th October 2013 23:00, Dave John wrote: Yes it really is the best way to understand the photographic process. The best cameras I ever had (still have them actually) a pair of Canon F1's. Totally manual albeit with match needle metering but never trusted it. I used an Olympus OM-1, a totally manual camera like your Canon F-1. It was, and still is, a fantastic camera but the metering was pretty basic (I think it was just an average TTL light reading). Some skill was required in interpreting the reading. Now with digital you can even choose which metering mode to use (eg Evaluative, Spot, Average, Centre Weighted Average etc). This can be useful, but is an example of how digital technology has introduced more choices, and may be confusing to the beginner. In the old days, you made do with what you had, which was often not a lot. Perhaps this principle is what Robert was getting at in starting this thread. My favourite: Pictures \| Towns \| Attractions
Robert E. Speicher Posts: 12 Joined: 17th Sep 2013 Location: USA	quotePosted at 15:02 on 8th October 2013 Hello Ed : Reading the last few posts, especially your last post, started me to thinking that I may be hesitant to start using digital. It must be the "learning" all over again, using focal lengths I am not familiar with, having to have all the "extras" that will help in seeing the results. I am going to have to buy a "new" camera that will allow me to take photos the way my old trusty Minolta gave me good shots. Talking about my past use of slide film and wanting to keep using slide has made me realize that "those" good old days are gone, and it's time to start another "good old days." I thank you and the others for taking time to help me face the present. My favourite: Pictures \| Towns \| Attractions
Dave John Posts: 22335 Joined: 27th Feb 2011 Location: England	quotePosted at 21:12 on 8th October 2013 Not a problem Bob, that's something we do well here on POE. Help our fellow members. As has been said earlier you can buy a good cheap used camera and a couple of lenses quite cheaply now. The rate at which updated models are introduced soon makes the 'older' models a very attrractive proposition. All the major manufacturers supply 'free' software for processing your images. Canon's DPP is amazing for a free product. So get in there bite the bullet and start having fun again. You will not regret it. I remember when I took the plunge into digital having sworn I never would, I felt for a while that it was 'cheating in a way, but soon realised that the advantages far outweighed the disadvantages. My favourite: Pictures \| Towns \| Attractions
Edward Lever Posts: 734 Joined: 22nd Dec 2005 Location: UK	quotePosted at 21:27 on 8th October 2013 Hello Robert, if you really are going to 'go digital', you now have to think about what sort of digital camera would suit you. There is such a wide range of cameras to choose from, ranging from simple point-and-shoot compacts through to 'bridge' cameras and digital SLRs. If you look at the photos submitted to PoE, many excellent pictures are submitted by people using inexpensive compact cameras. This leads on to the question of your budget. Perhaps a good compact or 'bridge' camera would suit you as an introduction to digital photography without spending too much money. Reading between the lines though, I suspect you might want to use a DSLR, since you have been using a film SLR previously, but I feel you are wary of the changes required to cope with the digital world. It is not as bad as you think. Your experience of using a film SLR has given you the photographic knowledge you need, and it only needs a little bit of reading (either on-line or looking at the many excellent Photo magazines) to fill in the newer bits of knowledge. There really is no need for 'extras'. You must already have a computer, since you are using e-mail, and all digital cameras come with image software, although this will not be as sophisticated as Photoshop etc..an advantage if you don't need it. If you do get bitten by the DSLR bug however, then costs can rapidly escalate if you buy a couple of new lenses to go with the digital body. Good luck with whatever you decide. It would be sad if you did not continue to enjoy the fun of making images of the world around you, just because slide film is getting difficult to find. My favourite: Pictures \| Towns \| Attractions
Dave John Posts: 22335 Joined: 27th Feb 2011 Location: England	quotePosted at 21:31 on 8th October 2013 On 8th October 2013 07:38, Edward Lever wrote: On 7th October 2013 23:00, Dave John wrote: Yes it really is the best way to understand the photographic process. The best cameras I ever had (still have them actually) a pair of Canon F1's. Totally manual albeit with match needle metering but never trusted it. I used an Olympus OM-1, a totally manual camera like your Canon F-1. It was, and still is, a fantastic camera but the metering was pretty basic (I think it was just an average TTL light reading). Some skill was required in interpreting the reading. Now with digital you can even choose which metering mode to use (eg Evaluative, Spot, Average, Centre Weighted Average etc). This can be useful, but is an example of how digital technology has introduced more choices, and may be confusing to the beginner. In the old days, you made do with what you had, which was often not a lot. Perhaps this principle is what Robert was getting at in starting this thread. Before the F1's I had a couple of OM1's and have to agree a fantastic camera, the 50mm 1.8 Zuiko was a wonderful lump of glass. My favourite: Pictures \| Towns \| Attractions
Robert E. Speicher Posts: 12 Joined: 17th Sep 2013 Location: USA	quotePosted at 13:45 on 9th October 2013 Last night, I went onto the web to look at the DSLR cameras, to price the brands and models. The bodies, price wize, were not too bad. But lenses really brought me up short. I was stunned to see how high in costs the lenses are. I only want to have two lenses, equivilant to 35-70 and 70-210. I just read an article in Outdoor Photography, U.S. magazine, that said there is an adapter to be able to use manual lenses on digital cameras. It was stated that using the old lenses requires more work to take photos. Well.."duh!" I'm an old man, eye sight going "south" so I guess I will go to auto-focus. Can anyone suggest which brand will have lenses that are close to what I want and won't make me finance two lenses. My favourite: Pictures \| Towns \| Attractions
Dave John Posts: 22335 Joined: 27th Feb 2011 Location: England	quotePosted at 16:35 on 9th October 2013 Hi Bob, personally I like SIGMA lenses and have 3 for my Canon 500D. For what I need they are just as good as Canon, at a much reduced price. Tamron also always seem to get pretyuy good reviews too. You should seriously think about looking at the 'used' or 'secondhand' market. As i indicated previously there are some real bargains to be had especially when the manufacturers bring out new models My favourite: Pictures \| Towns \| Attractions
Edward Lever Posts: 734 Joined: 22nd Dec 2005 Location: UK	quotePosted at 21:30 on 9th October 2013 Bob, another option is to use just one wide ratio zoom instead of two lenses. In recent years, many new zooms have been designed specifically for use with crop sensor DSLRs. Typically these wide-ratio zoom lenses would cover something like 18 - 200 mm, catering for almost any photo requirement. The downside is that these lenses are not very fast, but some include Vibration Compensation to enable their use at slower shutter speeds. I would agree with Dave John that Sigma and Tamron are good independent makes, and are cheaper than the camera manufacturer's own branded lenses. The only caveat is that their resale value does not hold up as well as the camera maker's lenses. My favourite: Pictures \| Towns \| Attractions
Dave John Posts: 22335 Joined: 27th Feb 2011 Location: England	quotePosted at 21:41 on 9th October 2013 On 9th October 2013 21:30, Edward Lever wrote: I would agree with Dave John that Sigma and Tamron are good independent makes, and are cheaper than the camera manufacturer's own branded lenses. The only caveat is that their resale value does not hold up as well as the camera maker's lenses. Fully agree with you there Edward which again leads to buying used manufacturer lenses at similar prices to new Sigma or Tamron. So another good point to help Bob take the plunge. As you also indicate the 'super zooms' are certainly becoming very popular and get very good reviews in the photo press. But one very important thing Bob if you do decide to go down the 'used' road...buy from a reputable store where you can go in and try the equipment in your own hands before buying!!! Try to ascertain the number of shutter actuations of the camera 20-40000 not a problem, 60-80000 upwards be a bit wary that camera has seen some serious use.... Lenses, make sure the aperture blades are smoothe in action and uniform in shape. Any dents on a lens reject it as it has probably been dropped. My favourite: Pictures \| Towns \| Attractions
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