Lord Nikon
Shoots Leica
First off, if you think you will use it buy your film in bulk and roll your own. This saves SO much money. In addition to the cost savings, I personally like that I can load each roll so that I get exactly 35 frames so that the negatives fit neatly into my storage sheets. I HATE having 3 extra frames that don't fit on the page with all their mates. I'm really nowhere near as OCD as this paragraph makes me out to be.
To learn:
Film has a STRONG advantage over digital in that it has lots of exposure latitude. Half a stop error will rarely (never) mess your photo up on B&W or color negative film where half a stop can be very important to a digital exposure. So take some comfort there. As with everything else it is better to be in control of whats going on, but there is some cushion for learning curve. Something else that is awesome about the FM2 (or most older film cameras) is that it was totally designed to be used manually. I really get the feeling that on more modern cameras the manual control is something the MFR's feel obliged to include, and do so as an afterthought with a bit of spite. Once you get the hang of it cameras designed to be used manually are very easy to use manually.
As a really affordable learning tool you could always shoot your digital camera manually. I find it kind of frustrating due to the "afterthought" feel of the whole thing and the narrow exposure latitude but it does give you experience in the process for no cost.
For testing film:
So there are 2 ways to go about this.
The first is very methodical, and probably the "better" way but I don't have the patience. It does burn a bit of film, but not much more than a few frames in a roll.
Basically you build a controlled test-target and shoot a frame or 2 of it under specific conditions on each roll. Then you shoot the rest of the film as you please and analyze the test frames at the end. Im a bit too lazy to do this, but it looks VERY promising.
The second is more seat-of-the pants.
The real goal in this whole exercise is to get a negative that scans (or prints) well with a minimum of extra work. When you have a negative like that is technically perfect, and want to do something technically perfect, or technically interesting with it this is very easy! When you have an technically imperfect negative and want a conventional looking scan or print life is hard. The hardest thing to do is maintain highlight and shaddow detail in scenes with wide dynamic range. So, go out and find something like that. On a bright sunny day look for a textured white building with something black and textured in a shadow. Shoot it and see what you get. When you have tricky lighting how you meter the scene is VERY important, and its important to be consistent, but that is covered in great detail in the YOB manual.
Whichever way you choose I would suggest buying & reading "the yob system" book. It explains all of this better than I can, and offers (what I think to be) a MUCH easier exposure system than the zone system. You can find used copies for like $5 here:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/yob...88?ean=9780817425135&itm=1&usri=9780817425135
To learn:
Film has a STRONG advantage over digital in that it has lots of exposure latitude. Half a stop error will rarely (never) mess your photo up on B&W or color negative film where half a stop can be very important to a digital exposure. So take some comfort there. As with everything else it is better to be in control of whats going on, but there is some cushion for learning curve. Something else that is awesome about the FM2 (or most older film cameras) is that it was totally designed to be used manually. I really get the feeling that on more modern cameras the manual control is something the MFR's feel obliged to include, and do so as an afterthought with a bit of spite. Once you get the hang of it cameras designed to be used manually are very easy to use manually.
As a really affordable learning tool you could always shoot your digital camera manually. I find it kind of frustrating due to the "afterthought" feel of the whole thing and the narrow exposure latitude but it does give you experience in the process for no cost.
For testing film:
So there are 2 ways to go about this.
The first is very methodical, and probably the "better" way but I don't have the patience. It does burn a bit of film, but not much more than a few frames in a roll.
Basically you build a controlled test-target and shoot a frame or 2 of it under specific conditions on each roll. Then you shoot the rest of the film as you please and analyze the test frames at the end. Im a bit too lazy to do this, but it looks VERY promising.
The second is more seat-of-the pants.
The real goal in this whole exercise is to get a negative that scans (or prints) well with a minimum of extra work. When you have a negative like that is technically perfect, and want to do something technically perfect, or technically interesting with it this is very easy! When you have an technically imperfect negative and want a conventional looking scan or print life is hard. The hardest thing to do is maintain highlight and shaddow detail in scenes with wide dynamic range. So, go out and find something like that. On a bright sunny day look for a textured white building with something black and textured in a shadow. Shoot it and see what you get. When you have tricky lighting how you meter the scene is VERY important, and its important to be consistent, but that is covered in great detail in the YOB manual.
Whichever way you choose I would suggest buying & reading "the yob system" book. It explains all of this better than I can, and offers (what I think to be) a MUCH easier exposure system than the zone system. You can find used copies for like $5 here:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/yob...88?ean=9780817425135&itm=1&usri=9780817425135
