As our children are raised in this digital culture, they come across the old analog devices as new and so find them fascinating. My son buy LP records from eBay (local stores overcharge at $40) and one of my daughters is now delighted with film photography (though not with its film and developing costs).
For this daughter the Art Major, it began last summer when she tried using her Oma's old "compact" Canon rangefinder camera, which still had a roll of film in it. I think she liked the challenge of taking a picture well -- yet not knowing how it might turn out until a week or month later -- as well as using a camera different from her friends' digitals.
For Christmas, she got a Holga 120 film camera (with built-in colorized flash), which involved her learning about -- and sourcing -- 120 film.
For her current photograph course at university, she needs a film SLR, and so last night I spent a few hours figuring out her Opa's old Canon T80 camera. This model was produced in 1985 and is famous for being Canon's first with auto-focus -- the lens has a bulky protrusion where the servo motor resides.
The great puzzle about this largely automatic camera is how to set the shutter speed. It turns out that this model was designed to have NO user-adjustable shutter speeds! After some research, however, I found that by putting it into Flowing mode (meant for pictures of race cars and runners), the shutter speed can be changed between B, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, or 1/125.
Some years ago I had bought an external bounce flash for my Canon G1 digital camera, never used it, and last night tried to get it working with the analog T80. The camera recognized that a flash was attached, but would not fire it. I eventually determined that the plastic hot shoe was a fraction of a millimeter too long, preventing it from seating its pins correctly. I filed a tiny amount off the shoe, and then it worked.
I was pleased to email my daughter that she now had a functioning film SLR with external flash for her class, albeit with a limited number of shutter speeds. As I recall, however, 1/125th of a second was pretty much the standard speed for most photography.
In the meantime, the daughter was excited to tell us that she had been accepted into her school's art magazine, with a photo she took last summer with her Oma's film camera.
For this daughter the Art Major, it began last summer when she tried using her Oma's old "compact" Canon rangefinder camera, which still had a roll of film in it. I think she liked the challenge of taking a picture well -- yet not knowing how it might turn out until a week or month later -- as well as using a camera different from her friends' digitals.
For Christmas, she got a Holga 120 film camera (with built-in colorized flash), which involved her learning about -- and sourcing -- 120 film.
For her current photograph course at university, she needs a film SLR, and so last night I spent a few hours figuring out her Opa's old Canon T80 camera. This model was produced in 1985 and is famous for being Canon's first with auto-focus -- the lens has a bulky protrusion where the servo motor resides.
Some years ago I had bought an external bounce flash for my Canon G1 digital camera, never used it, and last night tried to get it working with the analog T80. The camera recognized that a flash was attached, but would not fire it. I eventually determined that the plastic hot shoe was a fraction of a millimeter too long, preventing it from seating its pins correctly. I filed a tiny amount off the shoe, and then it worked.
I was pleased to email my daughter that she now had a functioning film SLR with external flash for her class, albeit with a limited number of shutter speeds. As I recall, however, 1/125th of a second was pretty much the standard speed for most photography.
In the meantime, the daughter was excited to tell us that she had been accepted into her school's art magazine, with a photo she took last summer with her Oma's film camera.
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