Comments

The Zenit SLR cameras were excellent even though they were big and clunky. They were great cameras to experiment with and they were much cheaper than the more fashionable Japanese cameras such as the Olympus OM-1. 

The other Russian camera I remember from that era was the Lubitel TLR, which I think sold for about £10 in 1980. I owned one for a while and it was a great intro to TLR cameras. 

I started back in the early 70's with a completely manual Praktica L along with a cheap light meter. Although the recommendations you got with your roll of film were always fairly reliable. Then moved on to Olympus OM1 and eventually Canon F1, both of which were 'match needle' only. The only automation I ever had was on various compacts I had over the years.

The all singing all dancing auto metering systems of the modern digital camera are amazingly good in average lighting but a bit of thought is still required where difficult light situations are involved. At least with digital you can experiment with many different settings whereas with film you had to try to get it right in 2 or 3 shots, hence why most photographers had a light meter

Nowadays I occassionally set the basic reading from the camera and then set to manual and adjust shutter and aperture as I think fit, just to  make sure all those years of experience is not lost. An exersize well worth pursueing if not shooting anything of great importance. 

Only had chance to have a few quick looks but I do get that impression too. Let's hope it is a trend that continue

or maybe the powers that be have already initiated a stricter acceptance standard?

Are you two talking about my photos?

 They are in my pictures but have yet to be approved.