My First Camera

[bobtrips]

Ray, please go back and read my initial post to this question. The OP asked for a film camera in order to learn photography. I suggested that he consider a digital. That advice was based on both my ~40 year history of trying to learn to take decent pictures, about 35 with film and now about five with digital. It was also based on my professional background in teaching/learning theory.

Now am I strongly 'pro digital'? Well, for a lot of uses, yes. The immediacy of digital is a huge advantage over film and if one's volume of photographing justifies the higher initial costs of a digital camera then the decision, in my opinion, swings to digital.

But it is a cost issue. Quality can be had from either film or digital cameras. Film cameras are cheaper to purchase, more expensive to operate.

High end MF digitals are incredible. They will make extremely high quality huge prints and have more dynamic range than film. But they are also quite expensive. For the typical amateur or the pro who occasionally shoots MF then film is clearly the best option.

Until recently MF film was the best choice for high resolution aerial photography. Now that digital backs are available for MF cameras the choice would be based more on budget than quality.

Film is also the best choice (from what I know) for long exposures such as star trails. It's also the choice that I would make when wanting to take pictures in an environment in which the camera might now survive. While disposable/re-usable digitals are available film disposables are easier to find. I'll take a film disposable to the beach when I'm not doing any serious shooting.