WANNA KNOW HOW BIG YOUR SENSOR IS??

It is, Scrungee, and there are a lot of Range finder camera fans out there. But at £3,391.oop just for the camera body of the Leica M9 it's too expensive for the ordinary photographer. There are Compact, CSC, and Bridge Cameras with Full Frame but they are all marketed at the high end of the range and therefore again out of the reach of us ordinary photographers. But, like I said earlier, I believe the Camera Manufacturers are slowly edging towards mass manufacture of Full Frame Sensors with the increase in the introduction of more, albeit it the high end range, Full Frame models.

 

The first Cameras I had were a Fed and a Zorki range finder's,both Russian, which I acquired from a Russian ship captain back in the 1960's,,Zorki is Russian for "Sharp Sighted"

 

I started with a Halina 35x in the 1960's which leaked light and you cocked the shutter with the lever you can see on the barrel of the lens. I was with the Black Arrows [No.III Squadron] then and I only wish I had the camera then that I have now.




But it introduced me into the world of photography and then I joined a RAF Photography Club where the guys showed me how to develop my pics......brilliant!!

 

My Fed Range finder led me in to the world of wedding photography and Yashica Mat Camera 2 and a quarter square and a Rolliflex,using monochrome, spending all day Sundays developing and printing in the dark room

 

I think everyone agrees with you on that point, HsuH.

I agree that learning and understanding how a camera works and practicing using it will help people take better shots than if they were just pointing and shooting but regarding having the talent, in a sense, I'm not so sure about. I say that because I can't paint, draw, play any music instrument, sing [although I would dearly love to.....but not all at the same time.] But picking up a camera some how brings to life a latent awareness and curiosity of things around you which wasn't there before. I think you might have to have an "eye" for things but it doesn't really have to be there in first place because when a person accidentally gets a great pic that seems to trigger the desire to learn a bit more.....and then the path goes on.

I very rarely use the automatic mode of my camera even though it was tempting at the first to see what it could do. But I nearly always use Manual mode as it makes you think and use your brain making you more aware, and with Digital if you make an error you learn from it immediately and can bin the image immediately as a bonus!!
Steve R gave members the opportunity to go on a free course that taught them about their camera, how to understand it, and also how to use Manual mode on it more than they ever thought about.....a good course and much appreciated by those who took it. So there are members of GC who now see their cameras in a different light and are more confident in taking pics.

There are those people who pick up a camera and use it for which most of us originally used it for i.e: the taking of pics of the family and hols etc, which is great because that is all they are asking of it. But some people will get the bug and carry on exploring beyond pointing and shooting.

I know, I've seen them!!! If I'm going for a day at a Nature Reserve or the like I take a small rucksack with a large [500mm] lens, a wide angle lens, a macro lens in it plus sandwiches and water, with a fast lens on the camera, and a travelling tripod on my back. But I have seen guys rushing around [why I don't know] carrying gear fit for making a major film at Hollywood!!!

 

I must say, I do miss working out all the correct settings for the result I want. That was part of the real enjoyment of photography when I had my old Canon AV1 but that sort of thing got too heavy for me to lug around all day.

These used to be interesting cameras to use

 

When I go to the RSPB reserve I take a Des O'Connor L.P. with me

 

Actually, Scrungee, with my Pentax K5, it's lesser ranked models, and the newly introduced K3 you can, and I do, go back to 1975 with the K mount lenses and screw mount M42 lens [which I can use with an inexpensive adapter] go back to 1949. There are now more adapters being introduced to cross over lens if you wish, and of course the Tamron Adaptall made fitting their lenses even easier, and to be honest I would rather buy and use old "glass" as they are mostly of superb quality.

 

But that'll frighten the birds and all beasts in the area, Woo