I decided to take a few photography classes at Orange coast College and a prerequisite to the digital classes is that you take the basic film class. I was very reluctant but signed up anyway. Man, I can’t even describe how interesting it has been so far! And it’s pretty inexpensive. I just bought off Craigslist an old-school Canon AE-1 with a 50mm lens, a grip, an autowind, a flash unit, a fisheye lens, a 70-222 macro lens, a teleconverter, and five new filters for $125! The polarizing filter alone – which will fit on my 30D's EF lenses – is worth more than what I spent on the entire lot! Anyway, I am going to shoot some black & whites at a car show this weekend. Here is my new-to-me toy!

 

That's where I learned the craft—good school!

 

Nice camera....awwww...mine's older than that. I have a Canon FTb-n. As well as 2 AE-1's. They're good cameras.

 

i just found a box of AE-1's in a closet at my school and took them (with the permission from my dean). I love this camera!

 

Very cool, Rick! I'll look forward to seeing what you do with it. I think it's great that the film class is a requirement, too.

Mark

 

Hey Rick-Anderson,

Congrats on the "old world" purchase. My first learner camera was a school-supplied Canon FTB... a few years earlier than AE-1's. While you're at it, take it off auto and use the meter.

Amazing thing about photography is that the basic science of knowing how shutter speed and aperture relate (and long vs. short lenses and when or why to use each) is vastly more simple than any of today's cameras with their myriad "auto" functions.

You can also find pro-level film cameras at give-away prices. Hope your photo classes are B&W! Not only is the chemical-based darkroom a lot of fun, but previsualizing photos in terms of black and white is a great discipline and adventure.

 

Will you be developing your own prints, that is a lost art which few know, I have been doing that for a few years now, and want a didgital despratly

 

Hawg... What are you saying? Digital is so anesceptic! You can't get your fingers dirty in the chemicals... No stained fingernails, no soul! --just kidding.

Having experience with digital and analog will enhance anyone's understanding of the media. I love both. I also love/hate both!

Have fun with it.

 

I also have a new Canon 30D with a good collection of lenses. As much as I love digital, this class is making me LEARN photography out of economic necessity if nothing else. Digital photography is cheap. I don't give much thought to snapping a hundred shots in the hope that one turns out. With the cost of film, paper and other film processing materials, I am NOT going to snap a hundred shots! I give MUCH more thought to composition, shutter speed & aperture settings, lighting, and composition. I plan out each shot rather than just snapping and hoping.

 

Congrats on the great find, Rick! I think my dad still has the AE-1 I used in high school. It was a rugged old beast, for sure! Interesting that it was released in April of '76, the same year I was! (Er, born, not released from prison or anything ) I remember a girl I worked with on the yearbook had the higher-end AE-1 Program, and I was quite envious. Those were the good old days; we had a small dark room where I would develop a lot of my own film, too. I enjoyed that, but digital gives you *so* much more flexibility and instant gratification. I've never felt the need to go back to film, but it might be cool to get my hands on that old camera and set up a dark room in my basement...

 

There seems to be a polarization in photography - digital has essentially replaced the professional market while film is preferred by artists

 

I have the same camera, it was my dad's. He got it because the one that it had replaced was left on the roof of the car when we were on vacation in florida. Ah, the memories.

It is a GREAT camera!! I have many lenses and accessories for it. The shutter speeds are a bit off but I know what it can and can't do. I love to shoot black and white with this camera.

Have fun with it.

 

My first SLR's were a couple Ricoh Singlex's in the late 60's. Love B&W darkroom work. I REALLY miss Panatomic-X, a ASA 32 B&W film from Kodak that was just amazingly rich in tone and SHARP. You can find great deals on a lens for older cameras. Got a 135mm F1.8 for $30 bucks, and a Vivatar Series 1 500mm F6.3 long focus (not mirror) for $25. Back in the day when cameras were made of METAL!

My oldest camera is a Kodak 1A autographic from about 1908... I eventually started collecting cameras too. Not the high $ ones, but ones that have neat or unusual features.

 

I've been collecting old cameras myself over the past six months or so. A childhood friend gave me a bunch of cameras that he got when his grandfather passed away. I have also found a few great deals in thrift and antique stores. Although I have been using them for decorations around my office and home, I might start using them once in a while.

 

I recently got one of these from my dad, which was his fathers camera. Thankfully, I have the manual. I am ready to take many crappy pics before I get the hang of it!

 

The first few of mine were given to me by relatives when they learned I was heavily into photography. When I was a kid really. Those got me started. I bought quiet a few at camera flea markets. Don't see much of those shows around here anymore. They used to be common before the 'dicsount computer shows'. They were good because things that were old but not rare were priced accordingly. I usually find at regular flea markets and yard sales that people think (incorrectly) anything old even though common is worth big bucks.

 

Yeah, I just walk away from the overpriced stuff. But a few of my favorites only cost me five or ten bucks.

Beautiful camera, astrochex. I wish I had heirloom stuff like that but my family never held on to anything.

 

I like this camera so much that I just bought another one on Ebay! This one is an AE-1 Program! I want two so I can shoot with two types of film at the same time.

 

Excellent Rick!

When I got the Zeiss Ikon, I thought it must be an old, valuable camera. So I look on Ebay and they are a dime a dozen. Similar situation with a Kodak stereo camera that I also got from my dad.

I hope to finish reading the manual this weekend and take some pictures.

 

I like the Zeiss Ikon a lot. Maybe I will check ebay for one!

 

There are quite a few different iterations of the Contaflex. The Guide I have shows a history from 1953 to 1967 with 12 different models! The camera I have happens to be the last in the line, the 1967 Contaflex Super BC.

I took it to Samy's in Costa Mesa and they said it was good to use. Good ole "Made in Germany" . I was pleasantly surprised.

Have fun in your quest.

 

Nice! I used my dad's Canon AE-1 in my high school photography class. We developed our own film and spent hours in the dark room. It was a great experience. I think it makes you a better Photoshop user and makes you appreciate digital much more. By the time my younger sister took the class the enlargers were replaced by iMacs and Photoshop.

 

Ok it's been a month, have any scans of some of what you've learned?

 

I think it's great that the film class is offered, but I don't know how I feel about it being a *requirement*.

There's nothing you can learn about the art of photography with a film camera that you can't learn with a digital SLR in "Manual" mode, except for the mechanics of actually developing the film, which is kind of moot if you're going to end up shooting digital later anyway.

It's true that digital makes it easier to fall into bad habits, like getting lazy with composition, knowing that at least one picture out of a hundred will be passable by sheer luck, but that's just a bad habit - not an inherent drawback of digital cameras.

I think after a generation has passed, we'll start seeing students learning on digital from the start, and they won't be any worse for it.

Typing students no longer mess with correction fluid and manual typewriters, painting students aren't required to mix their own pigments to make paint, and sculpting students don't have to make clay out of raw minerals and binders.

There are applications where film isn't going anywhere soon, like high-end portrait and landscape photography, but 35mm isn't the best choice for that anyway - most of the serious portrait and landscape photographers are shooting medium-format and large-format film. Most of the remaining portrait and landscape photographers that ARE still using 35mm have gone to digital.

For the applications where 35mm is the best choice, digital has just about eclipsed film. For some applications, like photojournalism, the tipping point occured several years ago.

Heck, if anyone would like a near-mint Nikon N55 35mm film SLR with a 28-80mm zoom lens, let me know - I'll give it to you for the price of shipping. You can even have my leftover film - since getting my Nikon DSLR, the only pictures I've taken with the film camera were the ones I took to finish off the roll that was loaded.

Here's a stock photo of the Nikon N55, but mine looks just the same:

 

The OCC program is serious, not the personal enlightenment variety that's offered at most schools.