Film or Digital?

[Pkboi24]

Hi everyone,

(My apologies to those that are adverse to wordy posts.)

I'm new to this forum as well as to the field of photography. I recently found a Canon EOS 1000F in my home (probably my uncles) and that's what got me started. For those of you that don't know the Canon EOS 1000F is the international name for what was the Canon EOS Rebel here in North America. It was made in 1990, quite some time ago...I've been having a lot of fun with it taking pictures and what not; however the problem with my camera is that the shutter doesn't seem to open fast enough and cuts off entire portions of my pictures. I thought about getting it fixed but realized that the repair costs might be more than the camera is worth.

I'm thinking about getting a new camera. I've heard all sorts of great things about both digital and film. So my question is, which should I invest in?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks a lot!

--Peter

 

[terri]

Hiya Peter, welcome to TPF! This question comes up a lot, and the answer will be different for everyone. You have to factor in how much you want to spend, what you want to acheive with your photography, would you ever be interested in the darkroom, etc.

Here is a pretty recent thread with some good points to consider:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23368

This thread is in a completely different forum here, so you probably wouldn't have stumbled across it. Hope this helps!

 

[Pkboi24]

Thanks a lot Terri! That thread really helped. Basically I'm just scared that if I go digital I'll lose quality. I used my roommate's canon powershot for a while and found the quality unbearable when compared to my film pictures. I took a look some of the other high-end digicams and they were in the price range of $500-$800. And being a poor college kid, I have to eat...

 

[ThatCameraThingy]

Peter , just BTW

you can probably have that canon repaired.

If you open the back and look athe shutter try and see if you can see some black sticky stuff (usually not a lot) if you can then the shuuter stop block has porbably broken. Basically it is a bag filled with silicon that stops the shutter after it has moved the length of the film. like a cushion for somebofy falling from height.

When this bag gets old it breaks and leaks a silicon like gel. this then makes the shutter drag and stick. The repair guys that my company uses have replaced those with a solid solicon block and the cleans up the shutter. end of problem.

unless of course you only get the black part when you are shooting flash. That is a shutter sync problem. Shutter speed is higher than 125th .

Any way , to answer the real question. If you can get your hands on a DSLR , man go for it !!!! Personal recommendation is the Canon EOS 350D or 20D.

let us know what happend

Hanno

 

[Pkboi24]

Holy crap Hanno,

You're amazing. That's exactly what's on the shutter of my camera. I noticed some black sticky stuff but mistakenly decided to ignore it. I guess I should probably get it fixed. Hopefully the repair bill isn't as much as a new camera. It's a shame, I saw the sticky stuff and decided to insert a new B&W roll of film anyways. I guess that's 24 pictures wasted...

Anyone know of a way to salvage a roll of already loaded film?

Also, the Canon digicam I used had 4.0 Mp and the picture was very grainy? Is this just a problem with insufficient Mp? If so, at what number of Mp does the digital picture become indistinguishable from the film?

Thanks a lot guys, the people on this forum are so helpful. I have a feeling I'll be coming back for a long time.

--Peter

 

[ThatCameraThingy]

Peter, not sure how to relate the repair bill into dollars/pounds whatever.

Let's try this way.

To have the camera replaced , you would probably buy a Canon EOS 300x

in SA that is R3999.00

the smaller 3000v is about R2499.00

The repair bill on the previous two cameras we had was about R 580.00

hope that helps.

As far as the 'grain' , stay away from fast ISO levels. on the compacts with their small CCD's this is a major problem. the 400 ISO settign will be very noisy .

to fix this , try to locate a porgram called Noise Ninja. it find it really helps. On the DSLR camera's the noise thing seems to be far less pronounced than on Compacts.

Please send your camera to a reputable repair agent. ASK around if you have to. There is a lot of backyard mechanics out there.

Hope this helps.


Hanno

 

[ThatCameraThingy]

Anyone know of a way to salvage a roll of already loaded film?

Also, the Canon digicam I used had 4.0 Mp and the picture was very grainy? Is this just a problem with insufficient Mp? If so, at what number of Mp does the digital picture become indistinguishable from the film?


--Peter

Oh , I forgot to comment.

Rewind the film and take to your nearest photo lab and just ask them to extract the film tip for you again.

On some Cannon's the film is advanced all the way and then rewound back into the cartridge as you shoot, If this is the case and you can not find a rewind button , do the following.

slelect manual focus.
select smallest aperture (in M mode)
Select fastest shutter speed
put lens cap on lens

now let rip with the shutter button untill film is all 'used'

then ask dealer to estract tip. Or buy something called a Filmpicker.


on the Noise - Noise is more prevalent in under exposed Photo's , espesially if you try to correct the underexposure in PS.

do yourself a favour, take the same pic at different ISO settings and compare the noise. may be interresting to note the noise difference

Cheers


Hanno

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome,

You should be able to rewind the film into the canister. You will then need a film leader tool to extract the end so that you can use the film. Or just ask at a lab, the can do it for you.

As fas as getting a digital, the number of mega pixels is not the only determining factor in image quality. One of the biggest factors is the size of the image sensor. In just about every non-SLR digital camera, the sensor is very small. Even if the sensor is 8MP, it won't be as good as a bigger sensor.

The Canon D300, D350, 20D etc have much bigger sensors. Not quite as big as a 35mm negative, but still many times larger than the typical digi-cam. They will give you outstanding image quality. Tests have shown that it's still not up to par with the resolution of film but it's pretty darn close. I read an article in Popular Photography where they compared the $8000 US, Canon 1Ds mark II...to 35mm film. The camera just barely beat out 100 ISO film. So the image quality of most every other camera is still below that of 35mm film...but it's really close.

There are many other reasons that a digital SLR is much better than a digi-cam. Shutter lag is a big one. Mose digi-cams take a much longer time to 'snap' the photo when you press the button. A DSLR is much more like the film camera you are using.

From what I've read so far, it sounds like you would be disappointed with a digi-cam that is similar to your friend's camera. You would be much happier with a DSLR. However, they are more expensive, there is no getting around that. Weigh your options and see if a DSLR, like the D350 is in your budget.

 

[dundee6]

I'm surprised no one suggested how to rewind a new roll of film with out
having to recover the leader. As you rewind, listen to the leader releasing
from the spool and at the same time, you will notice the pressure required to rewind is much less.
This is common practice.
dundee6

 

[Big Mike]

you will notice the pressure required to rewind is much less.

That's a good plan if it's a manual rewind camera but we are dealing with an auto rewind camera. I suppose you could listen for when the end of the film comes off of the take up spool and open the battery door. You might loose the first frame though.