Owning Multiple Cameras

[figment_jii]

Hi - I'm thinking of getting a Nikon D80 before my next trip to WDW in October, but was also thinking of getting a new Point-and-Shoot (Sony Cybershot W50). Before I spend $1200 for the digital SLR and $200 for another camera, I was wonder if anyone else has done this or if I'm just totally crazy. My logic was that the digital SLR will be nice for vacation and pictures that are really important, but it's on the larger size and won't fit in my pocket or purse. A small point and shoot will and would be good for parties or other social activities where I'd like to take pictures, but it's not as important (does that make sense?).

 

[handicap18]

That does make sence. Not everyone does it. I actually have 3 camera's. A dSLR, film SLR and a digital P&S, also DW now has a camera phone. We don't use the P&S very often now though. I've never had an issue carrying around my dSLR and now that DW has the camera phone she will just use that as its more convenient. Granted its not very high resolution at all, but for here its a convenience factor especially with 3 kids under the age of 5. She will take the P&S with her when she goes to different functions with the kids that I'm not able to make.

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

That makes sence yes. We each have our own cameras. KIds have cheap ones. Wife has a nice Point and shoot. I have a DSLR. We also have our 2 older digital cameras. We usually take the 2 better cameras most places but always have the point and shoot. Disney will be no different.

 

[fairestoneofall]

I have two DSLRs and a P&S. When I got my first DSLR, I figured I'd take the P&S on vacations and such. Well, once I learned how to really use my DSLR, I didn't want to leave it at home. So, I took it all over the place. DH takes the P&S when he goes on business trips or when he takes the kids to the air show or something. Of course, I have a feeling that's going to change because he has claimed my first DSLR now that I have the new one.

I'm thinking of letting DD5 have my old P&S for now. She is desperate for a camera of her own. And really, we rarely use it anymore.

 

[mhutchinson]

I have a dSLR and old SLR, my DD claimed my point and shoot. I am seriously considering buying another P&S (like your plans) or two for the times I don't want to haul all my gear.

My thoughts on the P&S are a super zoom to handle the times my larger cameras will stay at home, but my first consideration on a P&S is going to be something waterproof preferably with stabilization...just more thoughts.

Mike

 

[jann1033]

i have a slr( wasn't really planning on using it but if any of my lens fit it i might use it for b&w film ala groucho ), a dslr and would like to get a nicer point and shoot like s3 for husband to use for work before and afters and (hopefully) not get paint filled so i could take it sometimes if my dslr seems like more than i want to use.

 

[handicap18]

i have a slr( wasn't really planning on using it but if any of my lens fit it i might use it for b&w film ala groucho )...

Jann, I was thinking the exact same thing. Up until recently I had absolutly no plans for my SLR. Then along comes Groucho and his B&W film ideas. I was in a local photo shop yesturday and they had a whole wall of film including a huge section of Ilford B&W and other B&W film. I'll have to double check next time to be sure that they develope B&W as well. Many of the bigger/chain stores only develope color film.

3 of my 4 current lenses will work with the film slr (my 18-70mm is a DX lens), but for film I can use the older 28-80 as a "walk-around".

 

[jann1033]

Jann, I was thinking the exact same thing. Up until recently I had absolutly no plans for my SLR. Then along comes Groucho and his B&W film ideas. I was in a local photo shop yesturday and they had a whole wall of film including a huge section of Ilford B&W and other B&W film. I'll have to double check next time to be sure that they develope B&W as well. Many of the bigger/chain stores only develope color film.

3 of my 4 current lenses will work with the film slr (my 18-70mm is a DX lens), but for film I can use the older 28-80 as a "walk-around".

the only lens i am positive will work is a 100-300 which might be a bit limiting but i was thinking of emailing canon and asking about my other canon lens ( espec the 50 f1.8 since i think that is an older lens). didn't want to just try them as i don't know if it could mess something up or not

 

[ducklite]

Your idea isn't crazy at all. I have a very nice digital P&S with a lot of bells and whistles, it's lightweight, and although not pocket sized, it slips into my handbag and is easy to take to parties and such.

I've also got a DSLR that can be heavy and bulky and there are times where I leave it at home because I do'nt want to deal with it.

Anne

 

[ukcatfan]

the only lens i am positive will work is a 100-300 which might be a bit limiting but i was thinking of emailing canon and asking about my other canon lens ( espec the 50 f1.8 since i think that is an older lens). didn't want to just try them as i don't know if it could mess something up or not

I am not 100% sure about Canon, but I believe that it is just because the digital designed lenses do not let in enough light. All shots on a film camera would suffer from severe vignetting.

Kevin

 

[tinksdad]

I'm afraid to admit how many cameras we have in the house!!

Since I bought the Nikon D200, it's the only thing I've used for almost a year now!! The idea of having a lighter, more portable P&S camera does have it's up side though!! Especially after a day in the parks carrying a DSLR and three or four lens, flash and a tripod........

 

[ukcatfan]

Hi - I'm thinking of getting a Nikon D80 before my next trip to WDW in October, but was also thinking of getting a new Point-and-Shoot (Sony Cybershot W50). Before I spend $1200 for the digital SLR and $200 for another camera, I was wonder if anyone else has done this or if I'm just totally crazy. My logic was that the digital SLR will be nice for vacation and pictures that are really important, but it's on the larger size and won't fit in my pocket or purse. A small point and shoot will and would be good for parties or other social activities where I'd like to take pictures, but it's not as important (does that make sense?).

I believe you said on the other thread that you have the A95. That is a very nice regular zoom p&s camera in my opinion. I would save the $$ for lenses for the DSLR.

Kevin

 

[0bli0]

like Kevin, i'll refrain from admitting exactly how many i have. but i regularly shoot with: my Canon dslr, a voigtlander bessa L, epson R-D1, mamiya 7ii, Holga, and a Seagull TLR.

personally, i think you'll do quite well with the p&s. you may find you use one quite a bit more - which can be either good or bad...

 

[boBQuincy]

Jann, I was thinking the exact same thing. Up until recently I had absolutly no plans for my SLR. Then along comes Groucho and his B&W film ideas. I was in a local photo shop yesturday and they had a whole wall of film including a huge section of Ilford B&W and other B&W film. I'll have to double check next time to be sure that they develope B&W as well. Many of the bigger/chain stores only develope color film.

The *only* way to do B&W is to develop it yourself. There's something about the smell of the chemicals that just shouts "Photography!" Btw, I haven't shot or developed any B&W for maybe 5 years, so I'm one to talk. I still have my developing tanks, can't get anything for them on eBay.

Or you could try Kodak's simulated B&W which I believe is sort of color film without the dyes, it is processed in the same chemicals as color negative film so any processor can deal with it. It's not bad.

Except for the loss of range (which we can get back with HDR), digital B&W offers many advantages, not the least is that we now have a set of "filters" that we could never afford or carry in the real world.

 

[foto202]

I still have my film SLR canon A2E, and my DSLR. I had a Canon Pro1 until last Friday. I sold it because I never used it. I am just used to carrying the bigger camera. All of my friends know that I am into photography, so when we hang out at parties or whatever, they are used to me with the bigger camera setup.
Speaking of B&W film, I may need to pick some up.

 

[jann1033]

The *only* way to do B&W is to develop it yourself. There's something about the smell of the chemicals that just shouts "Photography!" Btw, I haven't shot or developed any B&W for maybe 5 years, so I'm one to talk. I still have my developing tanks, can't get anything for them on eBay.

Or you could try Kodak's simulated B&W which I believe is sort of color film without the dyes, it is processed in the same chemicals as color negative film so any processor can deal with it. It's not bad.

Except for the loss of range (which we can get back with HDR), digital B&W offers many advantages, not the least is that we now have a set of "filters" that we could never afford or carry in the real world.

OT posting purists may skip this post
ahh those were the good old days..
now that you mention it, i wonder what happened to all my stuff including my enlarger .wonder if those chemicals will some day blow up in what ever basement i left them in when i moved
there is a kind of quirky photo store near me that probably stocks all that stuff since most of their stock has at least few inches of dust on them from sitting on the shelves since the 70s

anyway, when my granddaughter was born i did use some B&W and had a hard time finding where i could get it developed and was disappointed in the lack of range but i think it was kodak...so in that case i would have been better off using the digital and converting, at least i could have played around with it

 

[Groucho]

Heheh, look at all the trouble I caused. You should see the actual b/w prints... so smooth, so nice......

The ones I did were actually taken with process-as-color b/w film. I told the story a while ago, but a relative worked on a machine that Kodak uses during film packaging so were provided a ton of film to test it with... the upshot is that I have a ton of film lying around, mostly basic 200/400 speed, but some b/w and even a 3200 speed b/w. I'm sure that if I were paying out of pocket, I'd probably be a little slower about using actual film.

I have done my own developing, back in the photography-class days, but never set up my own darkroom. I think I have some of the equipment (unloaded by my father-in-law) and I know a friend of mine has a darkroom in his basement (as well as a portrait studio upstairs) that I could use... but I'm a bit out of practice on the whole developing part! And between the home theater, workroom, laundry room, wiring closet, and PC repair room in the basement, I just don't have anywhere to build my own darkroom...

So I will probably continue to "wimp out" and let the pros develop mine. Hey, at least I've shot some in the recent past, unlike probably everyone but 0bli0.

 

[Groucho]

Oh, I forgot about the original question!

I don't think I'd buy a DSLR and PnS for myself, but it is handy with the wife having a decent PnS, especially for the ability to take video (which is usually easier than digging out the videocamera!) I am carrying the film SLR full-time now, but mainly for the 180' fisheye effect. If I got a fisheye lens for the DSLR that gave me full range, I'd probably only bring out the film SLR for special occasions that call for b/w film.

One downside to the wife getting used to taking video with her camera is that she forgets about the concept of tape in the videocamera, and the need to rewind/fast-forward it. The other day, she decided to take some video of our son and proceeded to overwrite a walkthrough of our studio at SSR and the first half of an Osbourne Festival of Dancing Lights show!

 

[boBQuincy]

Heheh, look at all the trouble I caused. You should see the actual b/w prints... so smooth, so nice......

And there's another issue (also outside of the original thread), printing B&W. Most inkjet printers do not do a really good job on B&W, there is often some color cast and it is not always the same color in highlights and shadows!

Toned prints fare better, or even duotones (a very nice process). Some of the high end inkjets do very well with B&W, maybe I just need to spend more $$$.
For now I send them to Shutterfly or Mpix, or print them on my Canon i9900 and accept that they look just "ok".

Is there a market for a cologne that smells like Dektol?

 

[0bli0]

...The ones I did were actually taken with process-as-color b/w film.

if you like chromogenic films (c41 b&w films like kodak bw400, xp2, etc.), you'll absolutely love the tone and scanability of true mono films!! once you try them you won't go back to chromogenic)

I have done my own developing, back in the photography-class days, but never set up my own darkroom. I think I have some of the equipment (unloaded by my father-in-law) and I know a friend of mine has a darkroom in his basement (as well as a portrait studio upstairs) that I could use... but I'm a bit out of practice on the whole developing part! And between the home theater, workroom, laundry room, wiring closet, and PC repair room in the basement, I just don't have anywhere to build my own darkroom...

all you need is a dark area or merely a changing bag - somewhere to load the film into the tank. in a pinch, you can even use a few doonas/blankets draped over you while you're sitting down - just remember to take off your watch

if you are using a Petersen tank (i highly recommend it since it's extremely easy to feed compared to the old stainless steel reels, fits both 35mm and 120 film, and it's light proof) you can sit in the living room and develop while you watch tv. as Bob says, there is nothing like the smell of chemicals. but you can now get odour-free fixer (the chemical that generally has the smell that you remember from school days).

digitaltruth.com has a great list of development times for various films and developers. i use both d76 and hc110. hc110 is nice for the casual developer since it lasts forever and you don't need to mix anything ahead of time, nor do you need to store bottles of 'stock dilution' like you do with other developers (fortunately i have a shelf in the laundry room).

i don't do any printing at home - i scan them in and print via the computer/photo lab. when i want to do traditional printing from my negs, i'll go to a darkroom in town.

all you need is a tank, a thermometer, developer, fixer, some white vinegar (as a stop bath - it's not necessary, but it means you can reuse your fixer several times), and i recommend wash-aid which greatly reduces your rinse times. after that hang somewhere (preferably in the shower to help eliminate dust on the negs). it will cost maybe $35 usd to get you started, if that.


edit LOL @ dektol comment!! btw have you seen Epson 3800 prints? i think that's next on my cards.... not cheap to operate, though
edit#2 what am i doing up at 4:24am?!