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 By Argile Stox Aug. 22, 2005 A good chunk of my life revolved around film photography, complete with different formats such as 5x7 Speed Graphic, 2¼ x 2¼ roll film, 35mm cameras, and a Bessler CB7 enlarger. I specialized in black & white photography, and would get lost in the darkroom for hours, days at a time. The experience of capturing moments in time, processing film and the manipulation of the images on an enlarger - fascinated me. My photographic "eye" became educated and enhanced with every picture I composed. It was an exhilarating experience each time a picture was produced and I exhibited to friends and family. Much like writing is to me now. I abandoned photography for more than three decades due to life’s challenges and responsibilities. During that time, I felt a void in my life. Frequently, I would observe normal moments in time and wished that a camera was available that instant to capture it. My photography equipment was forever lost in the sands of time, and was reduced to using common disposable one-shot 35mm cameras. My "eye" for composing images was still intact. Yet, I was always discouraged by the results when the pictures were processed in the common one-hour in-store businesses, which are on every street corner. Tracy and I had been talking for months about purchasing a digital camera. On the Internet, I would research this new contraption which has virtually extinguished the film-roll processing industry. Recently, I came across an article that stated that Kodak was discontinuing some of its film manufacturing plants & laying off about ten thousand employees. I was very disheartened by this news – and held a grudge against digital cameras. However, my research on the Internet yielded interesting results, and I became more excited about purchasing one. The prices of digital cameras have become more reasonable and I had experimented with a few of them, that friends had brought to social events. The first camera I ever owned was a Kodak Instamatic 126 format, and the pictures were often grainy when enlarged to 5x7 or 8x10’s. I soon learned that digital cameras had different generations of "pixels" which mirrored the Instamatic and Nikon. The ranges were from 1.1 pixels to the newest 8.0 pixels, they also contained internal memories and supported media cards. The lower the pixel counts the "grainier" the picture. All of this information was very familiar to this writer. Remember Panatomic-X all the way through Tri-X (ASA 32 to 400)? Tracy finally was exhausted from my jabbering about digital camera’s and was very excited that we purchased a Vivitar Visicam 3.3 3715B, which also had a short movie clip feature (no sound). The first shock was that the camera had a veracious appetite for double "A" alkaline battery’s. Okay, so I then purchased a pack of Lithium batteries. As I experimented with the camera, the cost of lithium batteries was getting out of hand. I then purchased a Sanyo Super Quick Charger which came with four Ni-MH double A batteries. After about an initial two hour charging time, I placed the batteries in the camera. Much, much better results. In a pinch, I can always buy lithium batteries, if I exhaust the eight rechargeable batteries while on a road trip. Tracy and I then became slaphappy photographers. The memory card holds about one hundred and twenty shots in a 1024 x 768 format. In addition, the camera has a 4x zoom feature (which can not be used in a 1024 x 768 format. However, I can live with that. There are other settings I can use). The Vivitar also has an extra-fine setting, as well. I printed some of the pictures out – and WOW! I am still experimenting with the camera at the time of this writing. However, I love it! With in a year, I hope to purchase one of those SLR’s (Single Lens Reflex) cameras – with 8.0 or better pixels, and interchangeable lenses. Here I go again! However, this time there is no need for a darkroom – messy chemicals, etc. I can even print color pictures in Black & White. What a joy it is to be behind a camera, again! ------------ Email Argile Stox: argilestox@gmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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