Re: Getting Started

On Jul 6, 4:15 am, gsa22soc...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Me and my dad are really hoping to get into photography. My dad use to
be an amateur photographer in his college days and enjoyed using a
darkroom. I'm trying to get my dad to purchase a REAL camera so we can
take REAL pictures. My dad is not enthused with the new digital
technology and claims it takes the creativity and freedom out of
photography. I was just curious how much money it would cost to buy a
good 35mm camera and to start a makeshift darkroom and even if we
should invest in a digital camera and if so what would be a good
digital camera and how much does it cost...
Thanks!

One sort of picture is about as real as another.

One bit of good news about your situation is that the selection of
equipment at a reasonable price is quite large. One reasonable avenue
to finding equipment is ebay. If you look at:
http://photography.listings.ebay.com/_W0QQfclZ3QQfromZR11QQsacatZ625QQsocmdZListingItemList
you will see more than a quarter of a million items offered to assist
with photography (if the link doesn't seem to work, go to www.ebay.com
put the cursor over "categories" near the upper left of the screen and
select "cameras & photo"). Understanding the limitations and
advantages of any reasonable number of these items is an ambitious
goal.

One point to consider is what you mean by the words "REAL pictures".

Digital cameras can make nice pictures and do so quite inexpensively
if you already have a computer and only need to look at them on the
computer screen. Making printed pictures can become even more
expensive and time consuming than using film and silver based printing
materials.

As you seem to realize some 35mm cameras are available at bargain
prices. Generally speaking once you expose film in one of these,
seeing a picture needs some more effort. The film must be developed
(for black and white, this is fairly simple and inexpensive). Still,
you then need a way to see a larger copy of the picture since the
original images are somewhat small (typically 24x36 mm.).

There are 2 solutions for this. One is an enlarger and a somewhat
more elaborate darkroom than what is needed to develop film (a
smallish toilet can work for developing, if it can be made dark). The
alternative is to scan the negatives with a film scanner (good ones
tend to be somewhat expensive - >$100).

A way to avoid the need for an enlarger (entirely) is to use much
larger cameras (typically 5x7" or more). With these contact prints
are useful and somewhat more easily provided than enlarged prints.
Still, a large camera is a big nuisance and tends to be more expensive
and is much more fussy.

Normally, the advantage with digital is that an image of some sort is
available, immediately. With film one must learn to become very
reliable and learn a more complex formula for making an image of
dependable quality.

Image quality is easily seen in terms of technical points (sharpness,
contrast, grain, dynamice range or color response & etc.). There is
also a question of what is a pleasing image. Artists have wrestled
with this for centuries. Reflecting on what they have to teach is a
point to consider. The other side of the question is taking pictures.

Broadly, the best advice starting with photography really has nothing
to do with equipment. Select what you will and take some pictures.
Most of the learning and other good comes from using the camera and
studying what you get. There is much equipment to choose from and few
photographers can actually exploit the possibilities they already have.
.

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