Hello

greybeard · Jan 4, 2012

I'm also from WV and as you can tell from my handle, I'm am a bit on the mature side. I started in photography back in the late 70's with a Yashica Electro 35. After a year or so, I inherited a Linholf Master Technika 4x5 press camera with all the accessories. Crazy I know, I did figure out how to actually take pictures and develop and print from the thing and I had a ton of fun with it but I eventually sold it and bought a used Hasselblad and used the rest for some home improvements. I also bought and still have a Minolta SRT201 with a 28, 50, and 135mm set of lenses. I also bought some cheap darkroom equipment and learned how to develop and print BW film. I later found a SRT 100 at a yard sale and used the pr, one with BW and the other with slide film. I was also doing some wedding and commercial photography on the side in those days and decided I needed a few more lenses for my 2 1/4 camera. The Hasselblad was just to expensive so I sold it and got a Mamiya C330 twin lens with a 55, 80, and 135mm lens. Great camera and I made a lot of money with that setup. But, as with many things I sort of lost interest with it in the late 80's and sold my 2 1/4 equipment for my 1st computer. While still keeping my Minoltas I later bought a Nikon n80 with a 28-80, and 70-300 zoom and sb-28 flash. Nice camera outfit but, digital was starting to come into its own and I also got a Sony Mavica digital. This camera uses floppy disks for storage. At it's largest setting 640x4??? (can't remember exactly) you could get like 4 pics on one disk. Lots of fun and I took a ton of pictures with it. I haven't used it in several years but I bet it will still work. About 10 years ago I bought a Sony F828 with a Zeiss 28-200mm (equivalent) and 8 mp. This was and still is a great camera. It's big downfall is low light. It isn't really usable above ISO 200. but, at ISO 200 and below it is great and the lens is an f2!!!! I recently acquired the use of a Nikon d5100 with the 18-55 kit lens. WOW.....It's low light capabilities and interchangeable lenses have made it the complete system for me now. It has the image control of my older film cameras with the digital processing that make it so much easier than darkroom work. I am falling in love with photography all over again.