Duke, I don't know if you sent this as a joke, but will answer it as a serious submission, but will, also, be quite blunt.

If you go to any of the camera trade or swap meets, you will usually see cartons containing old, cheap
film cameras like your Argus with signs saying, "Free", "Help yourself" etc. I hope you didn't pay more than $3.00 for it. If you haven't heard, we are now deep into the digital era. Film photography is dead except for some limited professional use or by a hobbiest who enjoys playing around with it.

Film is not readily available except from a few speciality dealers and is expensive. Processing is, even, more scarce and extremely expensive. If you intend to try developing your own, there are no packaged developing kits available at all. You'll be on a desert island without a paddle.

If you really want to get into photography, there are excellent digital cameras and lenses to fit any budget. Come off of your desert island and smell the flowers.


John S.

Why is it that some people make fun of someone who wants to use film? I know who. People that have no idea what pure photography is. people that can only get images using a computerized wonder DSLR, just because using film is too hard, to expensive. Creating images the way the great master did is not only fun but a way to truly show your knowledge in photography. I for one love to have total control in the camera, the developing process and on the printing stage. According to some of you this makes me "estrange" right?

Have some of you guys ever herd the expression, "If you have nothing good (or correct) to say, keep quite!) It truly applies here.

Film will range in price from around 3 dollars for a Kodak 200 ASA color, 24 shot roll to 12 dollars for a high end 36 shot high end B/W. Processing is not available in most areas over the counter any longer, it gets sent in or you can send it in yourself. Processing will cost around 15 dollars for a 24 short roll, put on CD it goes up from there. If you want prints, it is 1.00 each. So a single roll of 24 shots is total $48.00, 2 dollars per print. You can get a reasonable all in one Digital for around 400.00 it eliminates the hard cost of film. The best part of digital is that you can shot nearly unlimited shots. You can get instant feed back, and improve your skills very quickly. You just look at you shots on the computer and delete them when you are done if there not what you expected. I have thousand of hard photos on files that I rarely look at but my digital pix's scroll endlessly on the three computer screens at work and at home. Put the Argus on the mantel and let people admire it. Spend as much as you can afford on a digital camera. Good tools will yield good results when used correctly. I been shooting pictures for 30 years. I gave published work and gallery work as well as industrial shots which is my specialty. Happy shooting.