Signed up for photography 101 no what?

pest22o

pest22o

Well-known member
HE guys I signed up for intro to photography this semester. I satrt in a few weeks anyone care to help me on what a good beginners SLR camra I should start off with I'm looking something in the line of 900 dollars including lense and for normal pht 101 classes do they use digital or film? anyone care to help a new guy?
 
Just found out I need a 35mm any suggestions help would be really appreciated? I know the first thing you guys are going to ask what do you plan to shoot B&W? landscapes? portaits? I honestly have no Idea I just dont want to go buy something that I think is good and then regret it anyone care to help?
 
I would get an old fully manual nikon body (sorry cant remember model numbers) no matter what you are planning to shoot. Since you are taking 101 you will probably shooting just about everything (hopefully all b&W-its a good place to start if you ask me). As far as lenses I would go with a 50mm, 28mm, and 85-200 zoom. All those are just approximate on focal lengths but it gives you a nice wide angle to play with a good portrait lens, and a zoom that will get you some reach. I'd get the fastest lens you can afford for the 50 and 28 and not worry so much on the zoom as they are pretty expensive if they are fast usually. Go down to your local camera store and see what they have thats used. I wouldnt bother with new at all. And you dont have to stick with a nikon either - I learned on a pentax k1000 from 1980 and didnt outgrow it for quite a few years. As a matter of fact its still my go to camera when I want to shoot film. Digital and autofocus make life convenient but if you really want to learn photography I think an old fully manual 35mm loaded up with some black and white film is the way to really get a grasp on exactly what you are doing.
 
Non-digital photography is out-dated if you ask me. No reason for learning that.
 
I have to disagree with you on part of that statement PT. I definitely think digital is outdated for most purposes but there definitely is a reason to learn it. I don't see a point of darkroom skills past the basics in 101 however. but shooting film rather than digital really makes you think about exposure and composition a lot more. It really helps you understand whats going on in your digital camera. Any SLR should be fine. If I were you I would buy something second hand and a little older to save some money. Your lenses are going to make the difference in you pictures not the camera body.
 
I think one of the best reasons to not learn digital is that you have to really learn to read the light and expose properly. Digital you can just point and shoot and it shows up on the display. Then adjust and point and shoot. To me thats a really bad habit to get into. The closer you can get to getting the exposure right the first time the better. Eventually with a film camera you will get there. That and I just think processing film and playing with enlargers is fun. All the photoshop tools make sense after you've dodge and burned in a dark room.
 
I teach at our community college and we have split our photography 100 level classes (technically ART105 & 106) into Photography 105 and Digital Photography 106.

ART105 is great because they focus upon the traditional darkroom whereas my ART106 classes focus upon the digital darkroom (not to mention the actual photography art).

Film isn't gone... not yet at least.
 
You can´t do business with non-digital anymore, can you?

I think digital just speeds up the trial&error process. You learn about exposure etc. faster because you see the results immediately.
 
ahh, I have to sort of agree with PT on this one. I LOVE film. Its organic, has rich colors and fantastic resolution. And I used to love the peaceful Saturday mornings when I would lock myself in the campus Darkroom going though my rolls of film.

However, is film photography REALLY necessary to learn to become a good digital photographer? No. Learning digital photography helps you to become a better digital photographer. At this same film school they wasted our time teaching us how to cut film on a moviola. They tried to feed us some garbage about how it would help us to become better editors...better storytellers because it would force us to be more careful with our cuts. Please. They were behind the times and they knew it. They were just making excuses for a behind-the-times production facility.
 
I still want to learn it, feels like a right of passage to me. I want to be a filmmaker not a digital camcorder guy? i couldnt think of any other term.
 
This is an endless debate on film vs digital...If I was your teacher/prof I would DEMAND you learn the ropes in film & darkroom techniques PERIOD. When I was in photography school we had to make our own pinhole camera to learn how cameras work etc and we had to make our own silver nitrate film then paper. It all made me better at my craft even with the digital technology of today.
 
If you want to be a filmmaker then why a photography course? I guess there are nice connections there but I would check out filmmaking courses geared towards the technical aspects for DP work.

My humble opinion on the subject is, learn digital. Nothing wrong with film and comparing 35mm to DV is apples and oranges. Of course we all want to shoot on 35mm but that takes a very large budget so we choose to shoot on our DVX. This has nothing to do with digital photography.

Digital photography allows a faster learning curve, immediate results and immediate change to achieve your goal. I think seeing your success after making adjustments is important for the beginner. This keeps him engaged and shooting more. IMHO.
 
I took a B&W class, loved, it, I actually just sold my Maxxim 4 tonight to a buddy of mine who is going to take the same class i took a couple years ago. Its fun..
 
if you want to be a dp, and shoot on film. Get a film camera, it will help alot. They are very cheap and why not... If you want to be a photographer try both. Neither camera will hurt u.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top