so i talked my grandfather into letting me use his camera for a while. i want to get into the whole photography thing, but didnt want to start with all this new technology, i wanted to kick it old school.

here is the camera i am using, its a Minolta srT201.

this camera has alot of sentimental value to it and hasnt been used in about 10 years so i wanted to put it to use. this camera was one of many my grand father used in Vietnam. it was his personal camera that my grandmother got for him as a gift before he shipped out.



im about to download the instruction manual for this thing to read up on alot of the functions of this thing. and on my way home from picking this up i stopped by wolf camera to talk to them about the camera and using it. so i got a lil crash coarse from them and from my paps.

anybody got any tips as far as shooting film?

 

Anything in particular you have a question about?

One thing I'd give you a warning about is the light meter in that Minolta may not be too accurate at this point. If it turns out it isn't, you'll have to get a handheld light meter as the one in camera just isn't worth the money to fix, look on EBay for a Sekonic... about the best.

 

I use my pentax k1000 still
and my medium format kowa

I still love film, I just cant afford to do it like I used to (since I no longer have access to a darkroom)

 

Best advice I can give is to bracket exposure

and learn the rule of thirds

 

Yeah I thought the same as you , and I had wanted a Canon AE-1 something fierce when i was a kid. SO I bought a used one and a bunch of books. Then after awhile I bought a Digital Rebel and made more progress in a day or two than in months of film. And all because of that LCD screen on the back. You get instant feedback and can see exactly what different adjustments make. Then I went back to the film and had more fun.

My advice: Go back and forth and explore. Have fun.

 

i snapped some pictures today! i gotta finish this role up and ill take it to get developed to see how shitty i did

there is a guy here that a friend of mine is good friends with that is a pro photographer. when i talked to him he said he would help me out and we would go shoot some cool places after i got the camera. i want to learn as much as i can so i dont seem to stupid when i meet up with him....

ill end up getting a nice digital camera when i get the money one day, this is just to get me started, and to rub in some of the kids faces around here who think their hot shot that can tack sweet *** pics with point and shoot.

 

Haha...same here.

I played around with an AE-1 a few years back while getting into B&W. You quickly get into developing, and before you know it the hobby has swallowed you whole. It's fun, but if you really want to take good pictures take a community college class and buy a new camera.

These old cameras are great...high quality, and manual control of everything. It's an exercise in note taking and book-keeping however...since, like the above poster said, you don't get immediate feedback. Newer cameras store your shutter speed and aperture settings with the photo, which you can review later to learn how to setup right the first time. This also makes it easier to decide which way to make adjustment, and film isn't an issue. With the Canon I had a set range of settings I would try for each shot, usually taking between 10-12 photos, and burning through film. I gradually learned a little and started narrowing things down, but it takes a while.