I may go back almost as far but have not have had as much experience as you describe so eloquently.

However I did start with film, moved on to digital and happily returned to film once more. I plan to travel to Europe in a couple of months with only an M6 and a Zeiss Ikon. It's going to be a lot more fun than taking my heavy DSLRs and zoom lenses.

Film has not been asleep. There are better films available today than ten or twenty years ago. I hope you have hung on to some of you film stuff just for the fun of it.

And no, only a museum might collect old DSLRs. They won't be worth anything because there are too many of them.

Love it. I have my memories up in the closet with a Nikon S-1 and a 50mm f/1.4 lens given to me in the 1960. Every once in a while I take it down and marvel over the structure of the camera and feel in my hands. These were golden days in photography.
Kodachrome 25 slide film was the king. And those stored slides endure to this day. May Kodak rest in peace.

I see that Fuji has a camera out that echos days gone past.
Look at the Fujifilm X100S. This camera emulates the retro
cameras that we grew up with. Sort of like bringing back an old friend, also a camera system that gives quality results.

Having hung around UHH for awhile now, I know there are many here that go back way
further than I do in their life with photography, and the gear they have owned and the
experiences they have had.
50 years ago I would never have imagined my life today.
The pleasure of now sitting in front of my computer with a cup of tea (cigarette in the ashtray),
sunlight streaming through the blinds and a carpet on the floor.
Leisurely editing the days images.

If this was 50 years ago, today I would be standing on bare boards in a dimly lit 'darkroom'.
The smell of chemicals wafting around me.
Definitely no smoking and panicking that the negs weren't overcooking and the boss wasnt
going to walk in and 'interfere'.
I was about 3 months into my 'apprenticeship' which meant I hadnt been allowed to do
anything, other than do what I was told in the Darkroom and carry equipment around on jobs
and get blamed if the flash units werent fully charged or I hadnt loaded the film backs properly.
Looking back, Im sure he was a really nice guy, a little bloke, had very fair, thinning hair I recall
and always seemed calm, never appeared nervous, always took charge of whatever the job entailed.
Weekends was weddings and we could be rushing around doing 3-4 weddings every Saturday.
(he had 'casuals' who did the candids etc at the Wedding Breakfast).
He only did the 'Formals'.
Weekdays was mainly the Darkroom for quite awhile but eventually I went out and learned
how to photograph (and Light) everything from Factorys to Boardroom Portraits.

By 5 oclock we would be back at the Studio, me sent to the Darkroom to start Developing
while he would wait in reception and be organising the Casuals who would be working the
Candids and also Balls if it was Ball season.

I lasted about 4 years of my 'apprenticeship' and then took the plunge and went out on my own.
With a bit of mentoring from both my ex employer and another equally busy Photographer,
I did pretty well.
One of them gave me a Leica and I never had the heart to tell him that I was paying one off
along with a couple of lenses.
One of them gave me a whole set of lights when he upgraded his Studio and I inherited 4 or 5
(Meta?? something) Blitz flash units with over the shoulder battery packs.

So where did all this come from and where am I going?

My wife and I had to inventory a whole lot of stuff for our insurance recently and I mentioned to
our Broker I had quite a bit of old gear, including old Leica cameras.
Ive got one, still loaded with film, on my bookcase in the office at home but havent touched it since
I 'went Digital'. So that meant looking for the other one and that led to unearthing other stuff
Id forgotten I still had.
Our broker said he wanted pics (as proof I suppose) so a few quick shots later it was all done.
Then I had to give values so sent it all off to Auckland to a Valuer. I think in todays dollars its
come back with an insurable value about 5 times what I probably paid for it.

So heres some pics.
(wonder if our digital cameras will ever appreciate in value??)

Having hung around UHH for awhile now, I know there are many here that go back way
further than I do in their life with photography, and the gear they have owned and the
experiences they have had.
50 years ago I would never have imagined my life today.
The pleasure of now sitting in front of my computer with a cup of tea (cigarette in the ashtray),
sunlight streaming through the blinds and a carpet on the floor.
Leisurely editing the days images.

If this was 50 years ago, today I would be standing on bare boards in a dimly lit 'darkroom'.
The smell of chemicals wafting around me.
Definitely no smoking and panicking that the negs weren't overcooking and the boss wasnt
going to walk in and 'interfere'.
I was about 3 months into my 'apprenticeship' which meant I hadnt been allowed to do
anything, other than do what I was told in the Darkroom and carry equipment around on jobs
and get blamed if the flash units werent fully charged or I hadnt loaded the film backs properly.
Looking back, Im sure he was a really nice guy, a little bloke, had very fair, thinning hair I recall
and always seemed calm, never appeared nervous, always took charge of whatever the job entailed.
Weekends was weddings and we could be rushing around doing 3-4 weddings every Saturday.
(he had 'casuals' who did the candids etc at the Wedding Breakfast).
He only did the 'Formals'.
Weekdays was mainly the Darkroom for quite awhile but eventually I went out and learned
how to photograph (and Light) everything from Factorys to Boardroom Portraits.

By 5 oclock we would be back at the Studio, me sent to the Darkroom to start Developing
while he would wait in reception and be organising the Casuals who would be working the
Candids and also Balls if it was Ball season.

I lasted about 4 years of my 'apprenticeship' and then took the plunge and went out on my own.
With a bit of mentoring from both my ex employer and another equally busy Photographer,
I did pretty well.
One of them gave me a Leica and I never had the heart to tell him that I was paying one off
along with a couple of lenses.
One of them gave me a whole set of lights when he upgraded his Studio and I inherited 4 or 5
(Meta?? something) Blitz flash units with over the shoulder battery packs.

So where did all this come from and where am I going?

My wife and I had to inventory a whole lot of stuff for our insurance recently and I mentioned to
our Broker I had quite a bit of old gear, including old Leica cameras.
Ive got one, still loaded with film, on my bookcase in the office at home but havent touched it since
I 'went Digital'. So that meant looking for the other one and that led to unearthing other stuff
Id forgotten I still had.
Our broker said he wanted pics (as proof I suppose) so a few quick shots later it was all done.
Then I had to give values so sent it all off to Auckland to a Valuer. I think in todays dollars its
come back with an insurable value about 5 times what I probably paid for it.

So heres some pics.
(wonder if our digital cameras will ever appreciate in value??)