KyleeJo Loc: Bremerton, Washington

So I have a cannon AE1, dont know what sized lense. And I have Digital Minolta Dimage Z1.

Which is better to stick with?

gdwsr Loc: Northern California

I am sure others will agree: The one you enjoy the most at the moment. A lot of us still have our "old faithful friends" the film camera that we dig out every now and then for a change of pace or a back to basics day.

sinatraman Loc: Vero Beach Florida, Earth,alpha quaudrant

Im begging you please dont start this topic. The film fanatics take every negative points about film as an insult to their pagan god. This subject will flame out of control faster then gasoline on a texas brush fire. Both have advantages and dis advantages. the ae1 is a great camera. film equipmennt is cheap film development is not and as fewer people shoot film, cost will go up. film forces you to be disciplined and think through your shots, which is a good thing. each time you take a shot it costs you 50 cents between cost of film and development. I bye the way shoot both which is actualy the best option. digital allows instant feedback you can see what you did imediately and correct your mistakes also it records all the data for each individual shot such as fstop shutter speed iso etc. digital also unintentionaly encourages inexperienced photographers to take a shotgun approach and shoot wildely hoping for one or two good shots as well as the attiutude of i'll fix it in photoshop. if you pursue digital you must be self disciplined to think through your shots everytime. with the cannon ae=1 you can experiment with fast and slow shutterspeeds as well as fstops and depth of field much easier. all controls are on the camera or lens. with digital point and shoot you have to dig thru menus. Heres a sugestion go out one day shooting with one the next day shooting with the other see which you prefer. finaly the two other no no questions to ask because it causes intense arguments are: which is better cannon or nikon, and if your photo has been photoshopped its not a real photo.

Priest Loc: Indiana

You are dead-on --the dispute is worse then politics. priest

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

My view. I'm old and Started with B&W and my own darkroom. Loved it. I could "fix" things in the dark room crop-dodge-burn-etc. etc. Then color came along and you do learn to be very careful that all is right before you take the picture. Not nearly the fun. Then came digitel and Photoshop and I was back in the darkroom (sort of). Lots of things to fix and lots of fun. I still get out my 1934 Graphic 4X5 view camera and go to thje darkroom and have fun. I like to think I'm Ansi Adams. Both are good. - Dave

Priest Loc: Indiana

AMEN! I love time in my darkroom and B&W is a light game. Priest.

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

The lens makes the difference, not the camera.

clockcam

I cut my teeth on an AE 1, one of the last of the film cameras that Canon made that were of good quality. The other two of the "A" series were the AE 1 program and the A 1, both good cameras. But............It's what's up front that counts! Gotta have good glass. I still use film cameras, my user, now is a Nikon F 4s. (Film forever!!)

Cliff

digital_photog Loc: New Hampshire

I shoot film and digital. I send the film out to Walgreens and they develop the negs for under 5$. I scan my own negs and can process the files digitally. I had a darkroom but now we cannot dispose of the chemicals easily. Have some fun with the AE1 as it is a fine camera!! The lens makes the difference. Old FD lenses are sold cheap as their demand is down. 50mm 1.4 is one the the better lenses for your camera.
JMHO

Fred

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

I'm so old I still remember prime 50mm lenses at F/1.2.

digital_photog Loc: New Hampshire

Canon actually made a 50mm f0.95 lens in 1961 Way too much money!! And I am old enough to have shot with a Speed Graphic 4x5!! Pentax had the Spotmatic and rangfinder cameras were popular. The good old days of photography!!!!

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

Yup. One of my favorites was a Yashika Mat 124 twin reflex medium format. It had no meter and just a waist level viewfinder that had everything reversed.

clockcam

I still use a Mamiya 330 pro twin lens. The only one out there that had true interchangibility of the lenses.

Cliff

bobmielke Loc: Portland, OR

I certainly remember those. Great cameras. I shot weddings with two Mamiya Sekor 645, one waist level and one with the PD Prism Finder. Sweet cameras as well.

JimH Loc: Western South Jersey, USA

Kylee, did any of those 13 responses answer your question? :)

The Canon AE-1 is a 1970s-1980's vintage film camera, as you know. In its time, it was considered a very good quality consumer-grade camera that brought SLR photography to the masses, especially when they came out with the automatic program exposure stuff.

It accepts all sorts of lenses, and the one that came bundled with most AE-1s was a 50mm. NEW lenses, ones that were designed and built since about 1987, will not fit on the AE-1 without adapters. The AE-1 and its brethren use a lens mount called "FD", which was superceded by Canon's "EF" mount in 1987 when the EOS generation was born. You don't care what FD or EF mean, other than they aren't interchangeable. FD-style lenses will not fit on new EOS cameras without an adapter, either.

That said, there's nothing WRONG with film cameras. They work just fine. You just need to ask yourself if you're willing to put up with the added expense, the added time and inconvenience, and the added complexity of monkeying around with your AE-1 while you're trying to learn photography in the first place. There may be some here who will recommend that you learn to do your own developing while you're at it, but that opens up a whole 'nother can of worms, so to speak.