Like many people my age (okay I’m 62) my first camera was a trusty Kodak Brownie. In those days we just had black and while film. I don’t remember if there were any choices of speed. I think we just bought the one film that worked in that camera. It was the very definition of point and shoot itself. It did have a flash. It was a big round aluminum cone in which you placed a flashbulb: it took one bulb for each shot. I didn’t take great pictures. However, I preserved some wonderful memories of family vacations and summers at Boy Scout Camp. Moreover, I was introduced to a lifelong hobby of photography.
When I got to college I was happy to find my roommate also loved photography. He even knew how to develope film and was able to use the college darkroom facility. One time after we had taken photos of the guys in our dorm, he let me come along to the darkroom. I found it fascinating to see the ways you could create different pictures from the same negative.
Some years later I took a step up from point and shoot and purchased a Pentax K1000 SLR and a couple of special lenses: wide angle and telephoto zoom. The great thing about SLR (Single Lens Reflex) is that through a series of mirrors you actually look through the lens to take the picture. It’s WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). It was only the most basic of SLRs. It had an automatic light meter: but was otherwise totally manual. You could adjust the f-stop (the amount of light the camera took in, and of course the focus. In addition you could choose the speed of film. 200 was good for bright days and general photography. 400 was better for action. 1000 was a favorite of mine for low light shots around the campfire. By then of course there was also color film. I mostly chose film that would be developed into slides. Then instead of paying for a whole roll of film of which I might really like 3 or so out of 24, I would only pay for prints of the slides I really liked. I remained jealous of those photographers who could afford to shoot multiple rolls of film on one subject to get just the right shot they liked.
Then came the digital revolution and digital technology replaced film. I was excited to get my hands on a SONY digital camera with 1.5 megapixels. This camera replaced film with a floppy disc. Now my twenty rools of film was replaced with a box of floppies. I could now view my photos directly on my computer and use softwear to create darkroom effects.
As the revolution continued, I went from one digital camera to another, My favorite was another Kodax the Easyshare Z7590. It had a whooping five megapixel capability and a 10X zoom lense. In addition it could take movies. I just purchased another Kodax invention a waterproof digital camera.
However, after all these years I’m ready for another SLR camera. The price on a professional quality camera has come way down. You can get a great one for less than $1000. It seems that the best ones are either Canon or Nikon. I’m still researching before investing, but I can hardly wait.
Photography has come a long way during my life time. I’ve got many good years left and look forward to expanding this hobby when I eventually get to retire. I would encourage anyone who loves pictures to pick up a camera and start shooting. You can print out what you want at home. You can take them to Wal-Mart or your local drug store to print. You can post them on line, put them in a yearly calendar or even carry them on your keychain. You can play a screen saver on your big screen TV or digital picture frame.
The biggest problem with shopping online, is condensing and sorting all the relevant information while at the same time filtering out all the superfluous noise surrounding it. Online is a great place for price comparison shopping. There are literally hundreds of sites, that do nothing buy compare prices for every make and model of digital camera available. Armed with these prices the informed consumer has a definite advantage when they visit their local digital camera store.