Greetings from Somerset, in the South West of England.
I am a newly registered member, so i thought I would post this brief (I hope!) intro in the way that most discussion forum seem to like!
I'm returning to my old hobby of photography after two (or more!) decades away....in the meantime having been interrupted by having kids, ergo being broke, having no time, etc etc etc. I have found that the digital format/methodology which has obviously taken hold in the intervening period just doesn't interest me as much as the analog methodology I was brought up with.
This time around, I want not only to get back into my picture-taking, but also to get some knowledge of processing, with a view not only to saving money on the heinous price of commercial processing, but also to get a greater control over the process as a whole. This might happen by joining a camera club which would give me access to darkroom facilities, or by setting up a limited facility at home - I don't really know the answer to that one yet.
I now find I own two SLRs - a Minolta X-300 with a 28-200mm Vivitar zoom lense (bought for £30 on Ebay) and a Canon AE-1 with Canon 50mm and a Tokina 70-200mm lenses, which was a gift from my brother and which probably requires servicing before I risk outting a film in it! Long-term, I plan to keep one for mono and the other for colour use, which I think will give me a good range of options.
I prefer print formats to slides, and I favour Fujicolour over other films (the colour pallet just appeals to me), and I enjoy shooting at high ASA speeds 200-400) because the light very often isn't too good, especially in the winter months, and using apertures about f8 seems to get me into difficuties with the longer folcal lengths I find I like to employ for a lot of what I enjoy doing, which is landscape-based, but using close-up techniques.
I'm looking forward to benefitting from the advice and experience of those who have been 'at it' for longer (and more importantly, more continuously) than I have, and will probably be posting a series of banal questions as time goes on - so apologies in advance!
All my personal info is in my profile, so please, feel free to be in touch if you want to!
David Popely
Somerset, England
I am a newly registered member, so i thought I would post this brief (I hope!) intro in the way that most discussion forum seem to like!
I'm returning to my old hobby of photography after two (or more!) decades away....in the meantime having been interrupted by having kids, ergo being broke, having no time, etc etc etc. I have found that the digital format/methodology which has obviously taken hold in the intervening period just doesn't interest me as much as the analog methodology I was brought up with.
This time around, I want not only to get back into my picture-taking, but also to get some knowledge of processing, with a view not only to saving money on the heinous price of commercial processing, but also to get a greater control over the process as a whole. This might happen by joining a camera club which would give me access to darkroom facilities, or by setting up a limited facility at home - I don't really know the answer to that one yet.
I now find I own two SLRs - a Minolta X-300 with a 28-200mm Vivitar zoom lense (bought for £30 on Ebay) and a Canon AE-1 with Canon 50mm and a Tokina 70-200mm lenses, which was a gift from my brother and which probably requires servicing before I risk outting a film in it! Long-term, I plan to keep one for mono and the other for colour use, which I think will give me a good range of options.
I prefer print formats to slides, and I favour Fujicolour over other films (the colour pallet just appeals to me), and I enjoy shooting at high ASA speeds 200-400) because the light very often isn't too good, especially in the winter months, and using apertures about f8 seems to get me into difficuties with the longer folcal lengths I find I like to employ for a lot of what I enjoy doing, which is landscape-based, but using close-up techniques.
I'm looking forward to benefitting from the advice and experience of those who have been 'at it' for longer (and more importantly, more continuously) than I have, and will probably be posting a series of banal questions as time goes on - so apologies in advance!
All my personal info is in my profile, so please, feel free to be in touch if you want to!
David Popely
Somerset, England
