Down memory lane.

[Willymo]

My daughter and I (You may know her, she's a frequent user of this site.) were chatting about camera basics a little while ago and I said, "Wait a minute, I want to show you something.". I dug out my old Minolta SRT101, popped it open and we looked at the focal plane shutter, watched it operate, looked through the actual lens at the aperature opening/closing. An old film camera is a good learning tool, you can watch everything happen. She was "Wowed". She said I should post a picture of it on here. Nice to remember these old things.

[kevin_c]

Lovely old camera

I have a couple of old Canon's (AE-1Program and AV-1) and I learnt everything on an old AV-1 and A-1 many years ago, I have to agree they are great to learn on.

One reason for this, I believe, is because you actually operate the lens aperture ring and you can see what it does, you focus manually and can see the effect of depth of field easier with a bright big viewfinder etc. - todays cameras are just buttons and LCD displays and there is no indication of what it is actually doing!

I still use my old Canons, and get a great thrill from seeing the negatives come back, although i don't develop them myself these days, and scan them into my PC.

These were real SLR cameras!

[John Tee]

I totally agree! As you say, to open the back of a film camera, fitted with a FP shutter, and actually see what happens when the buttons are pushed is the best way of learning the mechanics of photography and understanding the principals involved.

Modern digital cameras are certainly electronic works of art as far as miniaturisation and (in the right hands!) ease of use and speed are concerned. However, I wonder if the very fact of their automation is denying a large majority of users the true understanding of what actually happens when they release their shutters.

[zero rc]

"... I wonder if the very fact of their automation is denying a large majority of users the true understanding of what actually happens when they release their shutters."
im with you john tee on this one. i still rember with fondness my canon AE-1, removing the lens and turning the f-stop ring and watching how the aperture got larger and smaller. no amount of reading illustrated the point better than actually seeing it in action! just out of curiosity, what is the focal length on the second (not attached) lens?

[sean_buerger]

Technology is more transparent with mechanical film SLRs. Why not pop in a film and use it for the fun of it! Cheers, Sean.

[Willymo]

The other lens (the "big" one) is a Vivitar 80-200 1:4.5

[Naturalist]

I hope you let her shoot some film with it, too. A good learning experience all around.

It is more difficult to "show and tell" with the newer cameras now. Progress?

[angelsfort]

He didn't let me shoot with it!! So I threw a tantrum and started crying and he said he'd go buy some film just to shut me up... LOL Just kidding.

We talked about getting some film for it, but as far as I know he hasn't yet.