Does anyone use SLR cameras anymore?

[Terri.M]

First I have to say that I have learned SO much that I have forgotten about using my SLR camera on this board!! You guys are the best!

Does anyone use SLR's anymore or do you all use the digital ones?

I'm saving up for one but won't have it before we go to Disneyland in October. I have an Olympus OM10 that I got from my parents when I graduated about 20 yrs ago. It's a great camera and takes wonderful pictures.

If anyone has any hints for taking great pics with an SLR, especially on dark rides (w/o flash of course) and fireworks, I'd really appreciate it!

 

[handicap18]

I still have my film SLR and use it occassinally with B&W film.

You can use any camera for fireworks. To get the best a tripod is highly recommended. Exposures longer than 1/30th are subject to camera shake. Plus if you want those big long streaks followed by the giant colorful bursts with the castle nice and bright, you'll need an exposure of about 4 seconds.

For indoor rides, use the highest speed film you can find (800 or 1600) and if you have a fast prime like a 50mm f/1.4 or f/1.8 that would give you the best results at the widest aperture (f/1.4 or f/1.8).

Digital SLR's are great expecially with ISO as you can change it from shot to shot, where as with film you have to use the whole roll. Also each shot on a dSLR captures all the info (ISO, lens used, date & time, aperture, focal length, shutter speed and more) on each file. I've found this very helpful as I was re-learning everything. I could just view the file (aka EXIFdata) to see what I used and what worked and what didn't work.

 

[Groucho]

I took my old Pentax K1000 with me to Disney World in January and used it occasionally, sharing lenses with my Pentax DSLR. The reasons were for black and white, but primarily because my fisheye lens give me the full 180' fisheye effect on the K1000 but not on the DSLR (due to the crop factor). Now that I have a digital-ready fisheye that gives me 180' on a DSLR, I'm probably not going to bother bringing the K1000 with me to Disneyland. Though, it doesn't take up much room in the camera bag... but nah. Especially since my wife just announced that since I haven't gotten around to selling my first DSLR, she'd like to bring that with us so that she can maybe use it a little while I'm using my newer DSLR. Plus my friend in CA who'll be joining us for the first day will be bringing his new K100D, so we'll have a whole mob of Pentax DSLRs clicking away.

There's certainly no shame in still using a film SLR, especially as you're probably going to be getting much nicer photos than the non-SLR digital cameras.

For fireworks, "what Kevin said" plus a remote shutter release helps a lot, too. I like shooting in bulb mode so that I can control each picture's shutter speed individually on the fly.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I'm something of a digital phobe. I just didn't like the way digital photos came out. Mind you, technology is such now that you can barely tell the difference. My next camera will be a digital (and my DH has a simple point and shoot digital of his own), but I'm still a film girl all the way. I'll be taking my little APS run around that does panoramics as well as my good SLR (for B&W's and possibly some high quality color shots) on my next Disney trip. I almost considered taking my Dad's old Nikormat too (circa 1970's). It still works well (especially with B&W's) and it's the camera I took my first classes with, so I'm somewhat fond of it. But, I think I've got enough cameras for this trip as it is.

 

[PhotobearSam]

I own 2 SLR's and use them for Wedding and Batisms and some photo shoots but I want a DSLR now.

I will always bring my film Point/Shoot on vacations because I love prints but I have grown to like digital as well.

For an SLR, you can get a nice Canon Elan for around $250 with lens here now. I know it's used but some are really nice and worth a lot more.

 

[boBQuincy]

I was going to keep one of my film SLRs after I went digital, because, well ,you know, this digital stuff just can't look as good as film.

I went to Yosemite National Park in 2001 (Minolta SLR, Royal Gold 100) and 2003 (Canon D30), took the same photo with each, and the digital won. It was close but not too close to tell.
I sold the film cameras and never looked back.

 

[Groucho]

I'm something of a digital phobe. I just didn't like the way digital photos came out. Mind you, technology is such now that you can barely tell the difference.

If you compare a 35mm to a point-n-shoot digital, the 35mm will generally easily win, because 35mm film is absolutely massive compared to the tiny little sensors in the vast majority of point-n-shoots. 35mm film vs DSLR is much tighter battle in terms of detail, and the DSLR has advantages like instant results, white balance and ISO adjustments, no quality loss if you scan the photo into your PC, etc.

Plus, it's much easier to bang off a ton of photos... I did 2,500 on my last WDW trip on my DSLR and about two roll's worth of film on the same trip.

 

[0bli0]

i use my medium format Bronica ETR slr. i love shooting fuji velvia or ilford pan F+ b&w.

i tend to use the camera style/type and lens that makes the most sense to me for the shot. where i choose a film body, the type of film is also selected according to what i feel fits the opportunity.