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Old 26th August 2014, 04:19 PM
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GoodOldNorm GoodOldNorm is offline
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Default Best advice for a beginner

If you gave a film camera and a few rolls of B&W film to someone who had only used digital what advice would you give them to get them started?
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Old 26th August 2014, 04:44 PM
MikeHeller MikeHeller is offline
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Go take some photos!
If the camera doesn't have an exposure meter give them some exposures under different conditions as used to be printed on the leaflet in the film box.
Mike
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Old 26th August 2014, 05:04 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoodOldNorm View Post
If you gave a film camera and a few rolls of B&W film to someone who had only used digital what advice would you give them to get them started?
First off give them only one roll. Make the camera a roll film camera that uses 120. 6x9 would be ideal as that means the film would be used up more quickly but 6x6 would be fine too. Make it a film with a lot of exposure leeway, such as HP5 Plus. Don't worry about exposure calculations with this first film in fact the ideal first camera would be a box camera with no focusing and just a "Waterhouse" stop to change from sunny to dull conditions, or a similar Brownie Cresta that has the advantage of eye level viewfinder. Let them go use up the film and then let them develop the negatives and then make a contact print of the negatives. Then see how things go from there...

richard
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Old 26th August 2014, 05:16 PM
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Slow down, pick your subject carefully, think about your composition and chimp as much as you like.
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Old 26th August 2014, 05:40 PM
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norm I would say go and photograph your friends and family first ,but make Sure that they are the not in a hurry and are patient and willing to wait while you adjust every thing on the camera ,and enjoy it




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Old 26th August 2014, 06:37 PM
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With the suggestion already made. Have fun and do not be scared to make a mistake because you will learn more.
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Old 26th August 2014, 09:07 PM
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the trouble with people these days is as soon as you point the camera at them they think its all over ,as soon as you start to focus or adjust the aperture or speed they get fed up and start saying hurry up ,this can be off putting to somebody just starting .....




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Old 27th August 2014, 12:16 PM
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I'd give them an automatic 35mm film camera so they can concentrate on the composition and their feelings rather than the mechanics. Load it with a forgiving film like HP5+ or Tri-X. Then show them how to process the film and make a print.

I gave my (then) 10 year old son an old Dynax 505 Minolta camera. He loved doing the printing in B&W himself and one of his first prints got a "highly commended" in a competition at his school. It was quite amusing because they asked him to give the picture to them on a memory stick! Since he got a DSLR, he's not got anywhere in the competitions...
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