What kind of setups do you guys have? Film or Digital? I'm just getting started, taking a class at the local community college. I inherited a pair of AE-1's with several lenses and a host of other goodies. Looking for tips on taking pictures in dark areas like nightclubs and concerts if anyones got any. Also looking for good stories, purely for hilarities sake.

Oops. N/m

Originally posted by Keith2172
Film or Digital?

Do yourself a favor and go DSLR. Canon or Nikon. Some great pictures with minimal work.

/thread

Originally posted by slowmitsu
Some great pictures with minimal work. /thread

Thats kinda the point of why I'm starting in film, if you can do it the hard way than you can do it the easy way right? Eventually I'd like to own an EOS-1 or something, at least a Rebel XTI, but for now this is what I've got and I want to get started.

What do you use? What is your primary subject matter?

Nikon D90 for digital (surface and underwater) and Nikon 8008 (surface only) for film.
all my lenses are interchangable and retain the AF on most of the lenses.

nikon or cannon are hot shit, find a package WITH a lens as there usually the most expensive part.

some Cannon models have the ability to interchange a digital back plate with a film back plate. somthing you might want to look into as you dont have to learn 2 setups

Originally posted by foggy45
nikon or cannon are hot shit, find a package WITH a lens as there usually the most expensive part.

Yeah, good point. Hunt for packaged deals. I've only used a Nikon D40 but I've seen plenty of great shots come out of Canon's. In the end it's about the photographer. Then comes subject matter. Lastly, the equipment.

Originally posted by slowmitsu
In the end it's about the photographer. Then comes subject matter. Lastly, the equipment.

+1
ive seen some BAD ASS shots come from a cheap digital camera in a basic underwater housing that make me wonder if we were on the same dive and shooting the same thing!

one of the professional photographers (marketing guy for the Agressor Fleet) on the boat came into the shop the next week with a brand new $5000 Cannon EOS-1D MKIII and had me order a $6000 Subal housing because he was sooo pissed off that the kid was shooting better pics then his old rig did.

good photographers can take any camera and make it do wonders if you know your concepts of light, depth of field, and scene presentation.

from taking a course with who I think ( and many others) to be one the best ( Jack Butler, who never took a class btw), Start VERY easy and simple.

We actually are started off with plain black and white and the oldest (to me) cameras around.

Find something that lets you control your exposure and play with it. see what changes what and how. Soon you will develop YOUR own style.

Anything else just ask...

http://www.jackbutlersart.com

man has a 20 pg resume and is a brilliant. I mean, he did this with a PIN Hole camera!!!

http://www.jackbutlersart.com/gallery/kultureculture/

My wife has a Nikon D200. It's bad ass. If you've got your settings correct, you can take some bitchin' pictures. If not (and that's the tricky part), you will take some of the worst pictures ever.

IMO, the biggest benefit to a DSLR is that you can get a lot more practice for less money. Since there is no film to develop, you can methodically shoot the same subject multiple times, changing settings as you do, and then preview the exposures on your computer for free. If it will take you 500 pictures to get things right and you're on film, you're going to spend a lot developing and, in the end, that might be more than the cost of the DSLR.

Canon-schmanon. Pick up a D80 and never look back.

Originally posted by DR1665
Pick up a D80 and never look back.

Because we all have 8 bills to drop on a frickin' bare bones camera as a hobby and not a profession. :P

Get a D40 and the extra money can go towards some nice lenses. :7

Well not really a pro photographer, more of a hobbyist. I use digital, a Canon Rebel XT/350D with a couple lenses and an external flash. Mostly shoot events, people, cars, motorsports, pretty much anything that fancies my eye.

But I do love taking pics of girls and cars. So might as well put them together. :P

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b153/SonicYan/Calendar%20Shoot/Forums%20Pics/AyannaDanSpyder.jp g

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b153/SonicYan/Calendar%20Shoot/Forums%20Pics/depthlolz.jp g

SoCal people should find the place and the cars familiar. ;) Thanks to Rob Tallini of Road Race Motorsports. :)

Funny stories? Well when I was shooting that one girl with the white Spyder, her outfit experienced some "wardrobe malfunction". Needless to say this one kid who was watching the shoot was pretty much in awe. :P

Edit: Oops, had to edit the pics, might be NWS. :P Just copy paste in a new browser and attach the g or something. :)