henrycrafter Loc: Orem Utah

YOU TOO!!!

rhudston Loc: Nova Scotia

Hi Rongnongno,
I started serious (hobby) shooting with a Yashica TL-Electro. No zoom lenses, so I had to carry three, and a very simple internal light meter. Loved it. I set the film speed (usually 64), chose the film maker for their colours (Kodak was warm, Fuji was good in the greens and blues, and it's been so long I don't remember the rest), selected either shutter speed or aperture for the shot I wanted and then balanced the other for exposure, and I owned the results of every shot I took. I never had to outsmart my camera. (Maybe I should also state that I drive a standard transmission). When digital took over my wife bought a Pentax DSLR (she had originally been shooting with a Pentax film camera). I got depressed and shot for a long time (when I shot) with a point and shoot (last one was a Canon). Then I bought a Sony a6000 mirrorless and a telephoto lens to go with it (Sony lovers, please excuse the next statement). I loved it and I hated it. You've heard of Pentax Colours? My wife could shoot a beautiful sunset, mine were washed out. Even on fully Manual I didn't have enough control. Next camera (current camera) is a Fujichrome X-T30 with an XF 18-55 lens, and I'm back in the driver's seat. I totally agree that a photo camera is a foolish thing to shoot video - I have an actual video camera for that - but I have the X-T30 set to manual and I have shutter speed, aperture, focus, and ISO under my own control. I shoot in RAW and use Capture Express to edit and save photos to JPG. I'm not one to promote any product, but I do want to tell you, for those among us who believe that the artist should control the result, there is hope.

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Thaz soooo sorry that you need a studio camera to make you think.

Clearly, you CAN think. The sorry aspect is needing that large device to force you into doing so. There must be some sorta discipline that you could adopt to ensure thinking without lugging that thing. And yes I often used one but it was all about necessity and not about self discipline.

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Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Next thing you know she’ll graduate to doing that job with a phone. I’m not entirely joking.

cambriaman Loc: Central CA Coast

A Spec for a camera for people that want to learn what Photography is all about! There will probably not be one offered to this spec because the sales volume wouldn't be big enough to help the bottom line.

henrycrafter Loc: Orem Utah

I don't mind lugging it. I enjoy the process of capturing images with it!!

Humbugger877

With all due respect, some folks on here are overstating the problem and romanticizing benefits of a fully manual camera. I cut my teeth on a fully manual Canon, then move on to a Canon A-1 in the early 1980's. I now have a variety of cameras but often shoot with a Nikon D810. Anyone who pursues photography will take to fully manual operation when the time is in their favor. I shoot manual most of the time. I like the challenge and love the fact that I can check my hunches immediately. The immediacy increased my learning curve considerably vs waiting for a week to get my film developed. The ability to take magnificent photos with lower error rates is significantly improved with modern high end cameras. Finally, the movie mode is ridiculously excellent on the D810 and matches anything that I video with a professional video camera.

Hazmatman Loc: Santa Maria California

The best camera was the one I had with me.

cactuspic Loc: Dallas, TX

Yes, I learned on manual cameras that lacked exposure meters. I developed and printed my black and white film. I learned to shoot macros on a Graphflex by measuring bellows extension and calculating the light loss. Don’t presume you are the only dinosaur on this forum who learned to control a manual camera.

If you were talking about being a chemist and coating your own glass plates, I would better understand. But if you are talking about shooting film with grain structure and color palette “determined by some engineer somewhere,” it’s not much difference than a manufacturer’s interpretation of the Bayer process. Besides, if you handed over your film to a third party to develop, as most of us did, you ceded a great deal of control to a third party.

With the exception of the substitution of a Bayer sensor instead of film manufactured by and often developed by third parties, shooting manually in digital is not that different. You still choose the camera composition, the ISO, the aperture, and the shutter speed. You can turn all the gizmos off and shoot digitally or shoot film if you want. You can still control it

As for myself, I think I will manually take advantage of digital to focus stack a small plant. Although my camera will shoot the sequence if I want, I often like to twist the focus ring myself, if I am not time pressed. Besides, I like the physical involvement.

Be well, be safe, and best wishes for a joyous holiday season.

Irwin

plumbbob1

There is certainly merit to your notions.
One day I miss my old XD11 and the next I catch myself marveling and enjoying my new Sony.

But from various positions, people who have no idea what they are doing are making great pictures, and those of us who think we know it all are struggling to stay ahead.

Happy New Year.

DennisC. Loc: Antelope, CA

I too luv shooting with a view camera, I have a Cambo 45 SR and a Zone VI field camera, I just don’t want to deal with film anymore. I wish I had a 4x5 digital back to adapt.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Mud711

I teethed on an Olympus OM1 (still have it)....have a Canon 6d, SL2 and an OLY Tough.....keep a 50mm on the SL2 M 1/100 f16 ISO 100 for starters......I've learned to dislike manuals, especially bad ones.......occasionally I'll use aperture priority.....I'm lazy and try to keep is simple, when using off camera flash I'll use exposure comp.....I'm very open to learning something new but hesitate when faced with unnecessary complexities....

b top gun

Started with a Nikon film camera around 1980, do not remember the model. Eventually went Nikon DSLR; progressed from a D70s to a D850 which is enjoyable to use with those old manual focus primes from film days.

I scoffed at the "need" for video capability...WRONG attitude, for me anyway. Took our only grandchild to Disneyland in June 2019; wish I had known how to shoot video with the D850 when she decided to try her hand at driving the road course there. A priceless hoot!!! I now wish I had video of that; she will be enrolling in driver's ed in March of 2021. It now takes me mere seconds to switch from photo stills to video and gain focus on both a D7100 and D850 even with those old primes, and I can still use Manual mode for video on either DSLR if I choose. I have taken a lot of pics of her testing for her three black belts in TaeKwonDo and currently Hapkido. Now I video all that and select individual pics for hard prints. I like the challenge of freezing the action when waves are crashing the shore under windy conditions; at the same time 30 seconds of video can say a lot more.

b top gun

Noted earlier in this thread, "Photography is easy, it's learning Photoshop that's hard." There are those who cannot take a good shot to save their skin; yet they can manipulate a digital image to the point where next to "as originally shot" it is nearly unrecognizable. So is that photography or someone very adept as using software???