Location: gone away
Posts: 4,870
I'm joe.
Indeed - my film cameras were fully manual: manual focusing, manual exposure control; I would take a light reading with a light meter (or even estimate the setting) and decide on the aperture and shutter speed. I would even choose the focal length of the lens, as I didn't use zoom lenses.
My digital camera, which admittedly is a compact pocket jobbie, is auto-everything - and I just hate it!
If I could still continue to use Kodachrome 64, I would be back to using my film cameras (of which I have 8 ) like a shot!
Last edited by Barry; 13-06-2015 at 16:47. Reason: spelling!
Barry
And we call that 'progress'?
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Location: gone away
Posts: 4,870
I'm joe.
A 'proper' digital camera enables you to override all the automatic stuff if you're so inclined. But I think 99% of a shot is in the composition, which is why mine are usually crap.
Location: East Riding of Yorkshire these days
Posts: 4,779
I'm Shaun.
I have always done silver halide based photography in the past and as an old friend once told me, "Never burn your bridges" so even though I have my trusty old Mamiya RB67 up for sale I do intend to keep my Pentax 645 and maybe even buy more lenses for it. I cannot understand these people who claim that film is so difficult to use these days because it is no longer available... bollox to that, just try looking in the correct places, seek and thou shalt find...! I obtain all of my photography gear from Silverprint in London or Ag Photographic. No shortage, no problem, it does however run very expensive these days. That brings me on to yet another issue, the pricing of photographic printer paper. Why is cotton fibre printer paper so much more expensive than paper coated with the halides of a precious metal...? This one I simply cannot understand.
To carry on a comment made by Barry; I too find that things are so very different with a digital camera. OK, when I use my Pentax 645 it has a built in TTL metering system but with the Mamiya RB67 it is a handheld exposure meter every time. I liken shooting real photographs to listening to vinyl in that there is a whole different procedure that has to be followed to obtain the most precise results. Camera, tripod, filter, composition allowing for the rule of thirds and then manual calculation allowing for the filter; all things I am very sure Barry will know about. Digital camera; aim and shoot with a bit of composition. What we are losing here is skill...!
Yes, I still shoot film and I shall bloody well continue to do so and yes, I process my own film in a tank the old fashioned way but then I slide a black piece of vinyl out of a Nagaoka sleeve and put it on my Thorens turntable. Am I making sense...? Do you feel what I feel with these words...? Digital photography is not photography, it is IT in a similar way to digital music on a PC or Mac. These technologies are purely about convenience and I know damn well I do not do things because they are convenient in the same way I am damn sure Marco does not. I once visited a photographic gallery in Glasgow with a female friend and 99% of the time I could tell her which was silver halide and which was digital. It is as obvious as CD versus LP.
OK, once again I have been allowed to say my bit. I have now been involved with photography for 45 years since I was 10 years old so yes, I am damn passionate about it and I adore it with all of my heart. I love film to bits but I am starting to find a place for digital. I've said enough I think.
Location: East Riding of Yorkshire these days
Posts: 4,779
I'm Shaun.
Location: East Riding of Yorkshire these days
Posts: 4,779
I'm Shaun.
I have just put a film scan of a medium format negative onto the Abstract Gallery thread 'Malham Limestone Pavement' so that a direct comparison may be made.