Damn! I just love DSLR cameras.

Okay, I'm years late into the game and most of you know almost everything
there is to know about DSLR cameras so I'm not going to say anything new or
enlightening. This is simply an expression of my joy of DSLR cameras.

For whatever unknown reason, I got heavy into photography when I was a very
young teenager. I didn't know anyone else who knew anything about
photography. I borrowed $60 for a Pentax Spotmatic. It was love at first sight.

To pay for film and darkroom supplies, I was able to get a cash-job working
weekends. I was too young to work legally.

I majored in photography in art high-school (yes, they really do have them in
some big cities) using mostly 4x5 cameras. I bought my own used 4x5 camera
and, of course, a Nikon FTN. I was so addicted to photography, my girlfriend
spent her entire life's savings account on a whole bunch of stuff for me.
Needless to say, she's now my wife.

I spent countless hours in the darkroom and spent a fortune on disposable
supplies. Not being independently wealthy (or getting a nickel from my
parents), I continued to work week-ends to pay for the expendables. Rolling
my own film cartridges from 100 foot rolls of film helped save money but the
film and chemical costs ate me alive.

For a variety of reasons, I didn't get into photography professionally.

Decades later, I needed to buy a digital camera so that I could market my
house that I was selling and didn't want to use a real estate agent. I long
ago sold off my film cameras and darkroom. I bought what was supposed to be
good 5MP digital camera. I was so disappointed by the results. No control
over depth of field, limited aperture range and everything looked so flat. At
least I was able to sell the house myself and saved over $20K in agent fees
so I guess the camera paid for itself.

Being so discouraged of digital cameras, I shied away from them for years.
Then I read an article by David Pogue in the New York Times about digital
SLRs and became intrigued. Eventually, I bought a 10MP DSLR.

I couldn't believe the great quality of the photographs. The endless startup
time on my old digital camera which frustrated me to no end has been
eliminated. I can snap off 3 frames/second and automatically bracket my
exposures and so much more. The price of a 2GB Sandisk Extreme III CF is now
ridiculously cheap and so fast compared to the old 256MB memory sticks. And
most importantly, the photographs now look like what I used to get from my
Nikon FTN. And, I can change lenses! Miracles of miracles.

Even though we're not doing too well financially right now, again it was my
wife who said to go for it.

I bought a bunch of Photoshop books and Photoshop CS2. No need for a darkroom
and endless costly expendables. I now have a lot less free time while I'm
learning. I watch less TV and the house isn't being cleaned as often but it's
all so worth it.

r $20K in agent fees so I guess the camera paid
for itself.

Boy that looks like me......!!
Jean


--
Photos
http://www.chez.com/anaclet

"John" wrote in message
...

I bought a bunch of Photoshop books and Photoshop CS2. No need for a
darkroom and endless costly expendables. I now have a lot less free time
while I'm learning. I watch less TV and the house isn't being cleaned as
often but it's all so worth it.


Congrats on the new purchase, John.
I, too, was a high school photographer. Newspaper and yearbook with a
Yashika FX3 I bought from a magazine ad. I just think of how much better I
could have become if not limited by film/developing costs back then.
I bought my first dslr almost 2 years ago (Canon DRebel XT) and a pile of
lenses purchased since then. I've taken more photos in the last 3 months
than I did in my last 3 years of highschool. Back then, it was cost
prohibitive to experiment with different settings. Now, I shoot every scene
many different ways, diferent exposures, different speed, just to see what
it does to the final image. I love it. That, plus I don't need to write my
settings down because it's stored in the exif data with the photo. CS2 make
a nice darkroom too.
Thanks for the write-up. It brought back great memories. Enjoy your new
purchase.
-Bill

I too have labored in darkrooms on and off for, I cannot believe, decades.
Photoshop and inkjet printing are the best things to ever happen to
photography, whether the image originates on film or a digital sensor, since
the invention of photography.

"John" wrote in message
...

Big SnipThen I read an article by David Pogue in the New York Times about
digital
SLRs and became intrigued. Eventually, I bought a 10MP DSLR.

I couldn't believe the great quality of the photographs. The endless
startup time on my old digital camera which frustrated me to no end has
been eliminated. I can snap off 3 frames/second and automatically bracket
my exposures and so much more. The price of a 2GB Sandisk Extreme III CF
is now ridiculously cheap and so fast compared to the old 256MB memory
sticks. And most importantly, the photographs now look like what I used
to get from my Nikon FTN. And, I can change lenses! Miracles of miracles.

Even though we're not doing too well financially right now, again it was
my wife who said to go for it.

I bought a bunch of Photoshop books and Photoshop CS2. No need for a
darkroom and endless costly expendables. I now have a lot less free time
while I'm learning. I watch less TV and the house isn't being cleaned as
often but it's all so worth it.

John, I think I'm a member of your club!

Eddie

"Eddie" wrote in message
...

"John" wrote in message
...

Big SnipThen I read an article by David Pogue in the New York Times about
digital
SLRs and became intrigued. Eventually, I bought a 10MP DSLR.

I couldn't believe the great quality of the photographs. The endless
startup time on my old digital camera which frustrated me to no end has
been eliminated. I can snap off 3 frames/second and automatically bracket
my exposures and so much more. The price of a 2GB Sandisk Extreme III CF
is now ridiculously cheap and so fast compared to the old 256MB memory
sticks. And most importantly, the photographs now look like what I used
to get from my Nikon FTN. And, I can change lenses! Miracles of
miracles.

Even though we're not doing too well financially right now, again it was
my wife who said to go for it.

I bought a bunch of Photoshop books and Photoshop CS2. No need for a
darkroom and endless costly expendables. I now have a lot less free time
while I'm learning. I watch less TV and the house isn't being cleaned as
often but it's all so worth it.

John, I think I'm a member of your club!

I suspect there are alot of folks hanging out here who share a similar
history -I know I do.
--
Regards.
Ken.

Please join my team in the fight against cancer.
http://www.grid.org/services/teams/t...3-AEB0DD18A6CE

Eddie