Film, the purists cry. And for a long time, I was with them.
Photography is another one of those hobbies that I dabble in from time to time, starting back in high school when I got my first camera, a Pentax K-1000, from a pawn shop. That venerable gadget lasted me for well over 12 years, until it took a tumble. I replaced it with another Pentax, a ZX-50, as I had several Pentax lenses by then. Well, the interest waned, and after a while I sold the whole setup, lenses and all. Someday I’d get another camera, maybe a digital SLR.
You know where this is headed. My federal and state tax refunds came in, and I went to the store. Since I’m not tied to any particular brand because of the lenses I used to have, I did a lot of research and came up with the Canon EOS 20D. Digital SLR’s are still a considerable chunk of change when compared to their film bretheren, but I think the advantages for my type of shooting are worth it.
What advantages, the purists want to know? True, no one cares about megapixels with film. With the right type of film, large blow-ups are no problem; with digital, you’ve got to have a lot of pixels for the same large print. Fine grain films and papers yield some stunning images. But… I’m not a professional photographer. I’m not going to make billboards with my prints. What digital allows me to do is see my images immediately after I shoot them. If I’m not sure about the f-stop or exposure, I’ll find out immediately if I need to change something. For an amatuer, that’s a godsend. I can learn from my mistakes right away, rather than waiting until the film is developed when I’ve forgotten what settings I used for print #25. And at 8 megapixels, while I won’t be doing any banners, I can still print a clear 11×17.
Below are a couple of sample pics I’ve taken while playing around over the last day.
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