Wow, another old thread. This may have been the first thread I posted in three years ago when I joined up here.
I still use SLR cameras, although I have been shooting mostly with my one-lensed RF camera. I may have found my photographic voice, but then again, maybe not.
As I stated previously I have shot with both Nikon and Canon SLR cameras. I began my 35mm shooting career with a Konica, but quickly graduated to a Canon A-1 system, which included a couple bodies, and half a dozen compatible lenses, from Canon and Sigma. While Canon made the best single focal length lenses (I had 15, 50 and 200mm FD lenses) Sigma made the awesome 21-35 wide angle lens that blew away everythig else for years after its introduction. I bought this system in 1982 and involuntarily gave it up (as in, it was stolen from my studio) in 1985. I remember exactly when it got lifted, because it was the same day the Space Shuttle blew up.
I was in shock, and took a couple months to replace my camera and computer equipment after that day. I bought an OM camera and a couple lenses (21mm f/2 and 50mm f/3.5 macro) which I still have - and shoot with - today. I miss my Canon system - it was sweet, and the hundreds (perhaps 1K+) kodachrome and ektachrome slides I have from that era, are testament to it's quality!
Eventually, I gave up photography, as my business collapsed as a result of the ability to create slide shows using only a computer and a projector (at the time, over $10,000 investment, so I didn't do it.) I was bummed, and went back to my previous career: bench chemistry. (I have since mastered digital photography and am perhaps the only person in the universe that does legal uranotype printing and toning, due to my career choice.)
In 1999 I bought my first Nikon camera, a coolpix 950. Since then I have acquired 2 Nikon digital SLR bodies, and 3 film SLRs. And over a dozen lenses that work the entire system. I still love my OM cameras an lenses, but the raw power, and ultimate compatibility of the Nikon system trumps any advantage an obsolete system has to offer. My Nikon bag weighs more than three times what my OM/Leica bag does. But then it is cordura, while my older cameras live in a leather bag. ... Advantage: Nikon.
Recently a friend from work gave me his old film camera ("I know you use old cameras, so here.") It was a Canon EOS 630, with a 35-70 A lens. An A lens is like the opposite of an L lens. It cannot even be focussed manually - it's autofocus only.
How lame is AF only? Ebay and other references put the system at under $100. I am thinking that is a stretch. But for now, I'm back in the Canon world. This seems like an opportunity for a tax deductible donation, eh?
