Need help in getting started in photography

macs4nw said:

Good memories! Is that an OMEGA enlarger?

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A D5-XL. A Durst Labrator would be sweet, but even now tend to be much more expensive used than Omegas.

I recognize your GRALAB timer on the third shelf.

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Every darkroom I've ever worked in has had one. I think they're legally required. I've also got an RH Designs Analyzer F-stop timer. I don't consider darkroom work a downside of film use; it's part of the fun. Better living through chemistry.

HBOC said:

You could also shoot film as well. This was taken last autumn with a Nikon F5 + Tokina 17mm, shot with Fuji Reala

Good advice in here. Basically the newer cameras with give you much better low noise and better IQ, but a 5D (if you want full frame) is still a great camera!


Image

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The advantage of using film like Fuji Reala is that you can buy a acamera body that is FULL FRAME for $100. That cheep $100 or $70 body can out perform most digital cameras. But you have to buy and process the film

THat said, you can go farther. If you are doing film why stop at 35mm? Why not go to medium or large format. Large format film might cost $1 per shot but that is still less expensive then a high-end dSLR.

But enough about gear. An iPhone will do well enough. Learning the transition from "snapshooting" to "photography" is more about lerning to think about form and structure and colors and telling a story, you can do that with a pencil and asketch pad.

In fact that might be a fun way to teach photography, take away the camera for a week and have student draw stick figure cartons of what they see.

ChrisA said:

THat said, you can go farther. If you are doing film why stop at 35mm? Why not go to medium or large format. Large format film might cost $1 per shot but that is still less expensive then a high-end dSLR.

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Yes, that is what happens. You think: why stop? My 4x5 Shen-Hao field camera cost me $700, and that was with a couple of lens boards and a bag bellows (it was slightly used). I've got a Mamiya RB67 for no good reason other than it didn't cost me very much to buy. I guess it depends on what you want to learn. With the 4x5, every aspect of the photo is under manual control. You have to previsualize everything. But sadly, the film costs more than a dollar a shot now. I figure after the Quickloads I've got in the freezer are used up, I won't be able to afford to shoot much LF color. B&W is of course much cheaper since I can do my own processing.

ChrisA said:

The advantage of using film like Fuji Reala is that you can buy a acamera body that is FULL FRAME for $100. That cheep $100 or $70 body can out perform most digital cameras. But you have to buy and process the film

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Uh.. no.

Essentially every camera with more than 12-16mpix can out-resolve every but specific, expensive high-end 35mm film. In other words, the 2005 5D at worst is as good as the best of the shelf, readily available film when it comes to the ability to resolve detail at base ISO. If you start bumping the ISO up, it is not even close anymore.

Modern cameras, forget about it. There is no 35mm film that comes close, period.

It doesn't matter how great the body is (and there are some really great bodies out there for analog), but if the film you put in it can't resolve it, you won't see it on your photos.