cactuspic Loc: Dallas, TX

Like many of our "younger" hogs, photography was very different when I started with my Kodak Signet, a fixed lens rangefinder where you estimated the distance by eye and calculated the exposure by external meter or tear sheet. Films were slow, as were lenses. I believe Plus-X had an ASA (pre ISO days) of 100 and Kodachrome was at 25. My father, a former pro would tell me that photography was a series of compromises and trade-offs. I was constantly gnashing my teeth at the shutter speed/aperture compromises. Often I wanted to stop down for more depth of field but could not do so because the shutter speed would drop to where camera shake or subject movement became a problem. There were faster emulsions, but they had the problem of increased grain. Over the course time, progress changed the game. I will skip the comedic litany of torn sprocket holes, ripped leaders, and other ways of improperly loading film so that you get a surprise when you open the camera back and see you film has not rewound into its nice little can. Advance such as auto film loading and then the conversion to digital eliminated many of my problems with film including the bags of different color and B&W films that my favorite airlines wanted to X-ray for me. With additional features such as through the lens metering, auto focusing, immediate image replay, histograms, etc, cameras stated to approach the camera of my boyhood dreams. When a purchased my Canon 5D Mark iii, I was almost there...just a little more dynamic range...just a little less noise.

Today the brown truck will deliver the camera of my boyhood dreams. I do not want to rekindle any fanboy argument about the merits of Nikon/Canon/Sony/or other systems. A number of manufacturers now make superb cameras that obliterate the shutter speed\aperture trade-offs of my youth. Now, as I await my Canon 5 D Mark iv, I am thankful for the steady improvements to the tools of my trade that allow me to make compelling images in situations where they would have been just boyhood dreams. I hope all of my fellow hogs had a good Thanksgiving with something to be thankful for.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Sounds good! Enjoy!

coyotecall Loc: New Mexico

Shades of "glory days", glad to see someone else remembers, with clear recall, the days of film and the "fun" we had with it. I will add one; it was late afternoon and I took the long walk to Angel Arch in Canyonlands to get some great shots with my Yashica 35. Got 'em! Classics all of course....got back to my car, re-wound.................and SURPRISE! there I was, staring at a roll of now exposed film that hadn't tracked at all. (flurry of activity follows involving diving into my bag to find my one remaining 24 shot roll, loading CAREFULLY this time, even wasting a few to make sure) a race back to Angel to beat the sun set.....and got a few OK but of course never as good, shots before no light. And don't get me started on being locked away from life for long hours in a dark room. Thank you cactuspic for your story, and thank you Kachina Photographer Gods for gifting us with digital. No love lost with film for this coyote.

billnourse Loc: Bloomfield, NM

I got the 5d mark 4 a couple of months ago replacing a 70d. I don't thing you will be disappointed. Thing is amazing.

Bill

RobertW Loc: Breezy Point, New York

"Boyhood Dreams" were always evolving---First a Brownie, then a Nikon F, then a Leica, then a Hasselblad (supported by a professional need), then a Digital Nikon, then began the downsizing with Olympus OMD EM1 being the winner (plus a Leica DLux6 and my beloved Minox IIIS dating from WWII-----Enjoy the new camera!!!!

sinatraman Loc: Vero Beach Florida, Earth,alpha quaudrant

funny my boyhood dreams centered around Farrah Fawcett Majors and a Lamboghinni countach!!

Photocraig

My dad had a Signet and I had a Pony. That Signet had a Schneider lens and produce fabulous Kodachromes.

cactuspic Loc: Dallas, TX

Thanks Jerry, Bill and Robert. I just received my camera and am customizing it (back button focus etc) I am so excited.

cactuspic Loc: Dallas, TX

No love lost here either. Funny, I loved film at the time. But with the increased capability of digital, such as focus stacking, my memories of film are good but I have no desire return.

cactuspic Loc: Dallas, TX

My first three cameras had Schneider optics...my Signet, my $25 secondhand Kodak Retina (5 weeks of mowing my neighbors yard, saving every penny) and ultimately my Dad's Rollei. Through my Dad's guidance, I learned the benefits of good glass early.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

It was kind of fun to wait a seemingly endless number of days to get your photos back from being developed (if you didn't have a darkroom). I think Polaroid never quite understood the psychology of that. It took away some of the fun of the anticipation.

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

Got my first camera back in '68, a Mamiya (sp) something 35mm. Learned a lot with it, graduated over the years to Nikon, then a Linhoff 4x5 system, and then Hasselblad. Then to Canon Digital, the original 5D because I'm a grain/noise snob and it was the only full sized sensor at the time, to a 6D, to a 7DII, to a 1DX, until now, the 5DIV. In my mind, I have never seen anything as good as the 5DIV. Amazing camera. You will be really impressed, especially if you put some really good glass on it. Have fun.

insman1132 Loc: Southwest Florida

Enjoy! Nothing more fun that learning a new camera. (Well, almost nothing!)

alliebess Loc: suburban Philadelphia

The Signet was my first good camera (a big step up from a Kodak box camera) and I borrowed my father's light meter to use with it. Shot b&w and occasionally color slide film; color prints were way too expensive for a high school kid's allowance.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

There wasn't anything digital when I was a boy so a digital camera wasn't even something I could imagine. So there was no way that a 5D Mark IV was or could have been a boyhood dream. I have to agree with someone about the Farrah Fawcett Majors comment and I'll add Playboy and Penthouse. LOL