New Photographer Hooked by Film, but looking to go Digital

[Shinden]

Hi cool peoples! I look forward to learning from and improving with all of you while I embark on my photographic journey But I do start this with a question and a bit about myself in the process. So this is an introduction and a topic at the same time, I hope that's okay. I'm not great at forums, lol. I'll get better at this as I do it. Anyway...

Figuring that a lot of people here have quite a bit of experience with digital cameras, do any of you have suggestions for high quality camera system (body + lens ecosystem) for someone coming into the 21st century from the 1980s? I may be 24yo, but I've been learning photography on my dad's 1980 Canon A-1 35mm film camera. The A-1 is great, and I'm doing some work to make it bring it back into spec by replacing the light seals and cleaning it up. The A-1 got me hooked, and I love shooting on film, I'm an Analogue Man still using a flip phone, but I'm getting kind of tired of having to wait 2-5 weeks to see the pictures that I've shot.

I'm willing to save up for a decent camera that will last me for 10 years making top computer monitor resolution images.(at least 4K, 8K preferable I think... still figuring that out) I like shooting nature, cars and airplanes as my main subjects with other stuff scattered in here and there. I like the idea of a full frame sensor so that the FOVs remain similar to what I'm used to with the A-1. I started looking into this when the Canon R3 hype train was going, but that camera is probably a bit beyond my budget and not exactly for my use case. I've been watching videos on the Gordon Laing YT channel and doing some research on my own. I like the performance stats of the Canon R5, but I feel like I would take five to ten times as long to set up a shot if I have to navigate all of those menus rather than just turning the dials on the lens for focus and rapidly changing my Av/Tv with just my index finger without taking my eye from the view finder. The mechanical nature of the A-1 is easy for me. Are their any high quality cameras that don't seem to require me to go into menus to change these settings? And I misunderstanding the R5's system based on my inability to get my mom's EOS M100 to do what I want? Any suggestions and help would be great. I don't believe in brand loyalty, just in getting the best camera for the person using it, and at this point, I'm just lost on how to do that. I just want something that will compete with the better or maybe out perform the best film rolls that I can buy if it turns out that just competing is actually not that hard. I have some friends with some of the older cropped sensor cameras from about 10 years ago and their performance is similar to low-mid end film rolls that I can get. I don't want to feel like I'm stepping down to go digital. At this point I don't know if I'm making sense, or if what I'm looking for is out there, but if anyone knows something, I'm open to suggestion. Thanks for any responses, even if your correcting me on where I should be asking this, that helps too.

Shinden

 

[Jeff15]

Hello and welcome, good luck with your camera choice.....

 

[Dave Maciak]

Hi cool peoples! I look forward to learning from and improving with all of you while I embark on my photographic journey But I do start this with a question and a bit about myself in the process. So this is an introduction and a topic at the same time, I hope that's okay. I'm not great at forums, lol. I'll get better at this as I do it. Anyway...

Figuring that a lot of people here have quite a bit of experience with digital cameras, do any of you have suggestions for high quality camera system (body + lens ecosystem) for someone coming into the 21st century from the 1980s? I may be 24yo, but I've been learning photography on my dad's 1980 Canon A-1 35mm film camera. The A-1 is great, and I'm doing some work to make it bring it back into spec by replacing the light seals and cleaning it up. The A-1 got me hooked, and I love shooting on film, I'm an Analogue Man still using a flip phone, but I'm getting kind of tired of having to wait 2-5 weeks to see the pictures that I've shot.

I'm willing to save up for a decent camera that will last me for 10 years making top computer monitor resolution images.(at least 4K, 8K preferable I think... still figuring that out) I like shooting nature, cars and airplanes as my main subjects with other stuff scattered in here and there. I like the idea of a full frame sensor so that the FOVs remain similar to what I'm used to with the A-1. I started looking into this when the Canon R3 hype train was going, but that camera is probably a bit beyond my budget and not exactly for my use case. I've been watching videos on the Gordon Laing YT channel and doing some research on my own. I like the performance stats of the Canon R5, but I feel like I would take five to ten times as long to set up a shot if I have to navigate all of those menus rather than just turning the dials on the lens for focus and rapidly changing my Av/Tv with just my index finger without taking my eye from the view finder. The mechanical nature of the A-1 is easy for me. Are their any high quality cameras that don't seem to require me to go into menus to change these settings? And I misunderstanding the R5's system based on my inability to get my mom's EOS M100 to do what I want? Any suggestions and help would be great. I don't believe in brand loyalty, just in getting the best camera for the person using it, and at this point, I'm just lost on how to do that. I just want something that will compete with the better or maybe out perform the best film rolls that I can buy if it turns out that just competing is actually not that hard. I have some friends with some of the older cropped sensor cameras from about 10 years ago and their performance is similar to low-mid end film rolls that I can get. I don't want to feel like I'm stepping down to go digital. At this point I don't know if I'm making sense, or if what I'm looking for is out there, but if anyone knows something, I'm open to suggestion. Thanks for any responses, even if your correcting me on where I should be asking this, that helps too.

Shinden

I'm a Nikon guy but have great respect for the Fuji line up. Check out both, and hang in there and many, many,
"wall hangers" to you!

 

[terri]

Welcome to TPF!

I would suggest that you open a new thread for a discussion about what to buy. Try the Digital Discussion or Beyond the Basics, either of these forums will get you lots of ideas and suggestions.

I hope you also check out our Photo Galleries and share your work with us!

Keep posting and enjoy the forum!

 

[AlanKlein]

CAll B&H Photo. Tell them what you're looking for. They'll give you some recommendations. Have a budget handy of what you want to spend for camera and lenses.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/

Here's a camera guide from another site. Good luck.

Best cameras and lenses: 2024 DPReview Buying Guides

Find our comprehensive collection of camera and lens buying guides, arranged both by price, and by use-case. Whatever kind of photography you enjoy, we'll help you find something to suit your needs — and your budget.

www.dpreview.com

 

[weepete]

DSLRs and mirrorless cameras at the mid and top teir do tend to have more complex menu systems, with some bells and whistles, though one of the first things I do is turn most of them off. Normally it's pretty easy to find a how to guide on the internet for the major brands on how to do this.

The big difference you'll find in the higher teir cameras is the autofocus system. Going digital means that you won't have that split prism viewfinder, which makes manul focus with digital a lot harder. Digital cameras are designed with these autofocus systems, so it's worth investing a bit of time learning how they work.

With digital sensors, it's more common to use megapixels for size, 2k, 4k, 8k is more used for monitors and televisions. 4k is about 8mp, and 8k is about 33mp, as a very rough comparison. Most fairly modern cameras are between 18-45mp depending on the exact model, so should be there or there abouts.

For adujsting exposure I like to make sure I have two control wheels (one at my index finger, and one for my thumb). Combined with a button to change ISO this gives me full control over exposure settings when my eye is at the viewfinder.

To get the best out of digital, doing some post processing is usually needed as well, so worth bearing in mind, though it is possible to leave the processing to the camera, should you wish.

What genres do you normally shoot?

 

[Shinden]

DSLRs and mirrorless cameras at the mid and top teir do tend to have more complex menu systems, with some bells and whistles, though one of the first things I do is turn most of them off. Normally it's pretty easy to find a how to guide on the internet for the major brands on how to do this.

The big difference you'll find in the higher teir cameras is the autofocus system. Going digital means that you won't have that split prism viewfinder, which makes manul focus with digital a lot harder. Digital cameras are designed with these autofocus systems, so it's worth investing a bit of time learning how they work.

With digital sensors, it's more common to use megapixels for size, 2k, 4k, 8k is more used for monitors and televisions. 4k is about 8mp, and 8k is about 33mp, as a very rough comparison. Most fairly modern cameras are between 18-45mp depending on the exact model, so should be there or there abouts.

For adujsting exposure I like to make sure I have two control wheels (one at my index finger, and one for my thumb). Combined with a button to change ISO this gives me full control over exposure settings when my eye is at the viewfinder.

To get the best out of digital, doing some post processing is usually needed as well, so worth bearing in mind, though it is possible to leave the processing to the camera, should you wish.

What genres do you normally shoot?

Thanks for the suggestions. I hadn't realized that 4k was so little mp, I thought that it would have been way more. That's good to know.
As for what genres I normally shoot, I've been shooting landscapes recently because it's what I've had available. In the summer I do a lot of car shows and in the autumn I was shooting airplanes which was a lot of fun. I like the moving target. I'm looking forward to the weather worming up in the next couple of months. I would like to get back to the car shows and maybe go to some airports and racetracks. So I'm a bit all over the place, but not doing much of anything with portraits.
Someone suggested Fijifilm's X-T4 to me, that seems like decent one, but since I still have a while before I'll have money saved up, I will still be doing research on it, and since I have plenty of time to decide, maybe there is something better out there for me, but the X-T4 does look good.
I'm fine with DSLR or Mirrorless. I am not quite sure what the advantages and disadvantages are. The DSLR's seem to have similarly fast shutter speeds to the mirrorless. Before I started looking at spec-sheets, I thought that mirrorless would be way faster.
It's good to know that I can turn off a lot of the features that I won't want to use very often. (at least I don't think I'll be using them at first) Do those unlabeled wheels near the shutter button tend to be programable, or are they usually a set function?

Thanks, this is helping me understand the landscape of digital cameras a lot better.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Maybe try used? See if you can find something that can work with manual/mechanical lenses. I've done well with Used Cameras, Lenses & Gear For Sale | Buy & Sell at KEH Camera .

I went from being a longtime film photographer to buying a digital camera. See what you can find in a camera that would give you options you want/need. I use vintage lenses and have one lens that's from the 1940's-50's that mostly lives on the camera since I bought it.

And if you shoot RAW you wouldn't have to diddle with settings so much; at least I don't find that I do. My camera is DNG so for me, shooting RAW is more comparable to shooting with a manual/mechanical set up (it's the ISO I mostly had to get used to adjusting and my starting point is often the same as what I'd use if I was shooting film).

Maybe take a look at Home - The Film Photography Project .

 

[AlanKlein]

If you're going to shoot landscapes, especially, you ought to consider budgeting a good tripod.

 

[Dave Maciak]

Thanks for the suggestions. I hadn't realized that 4k was so little mp, I thought that it would have been way more. That's good to know.
As for what genres I normally shoot, I've been shooting landscapes recently because it's what I've had available. In the summer I do a lot of car shows and in the autumn I was shooting airplanes which was a lot of fun. I like the moving target. I'm looking forward to the weather worming up in the next couple of months. I would like to get back to the car shows and maybe go to some airports and racetracks. So I'm a bit all over the place, but not doing much of anything with portraits.
Someone suggested Fijifilm's X-T4 to me, that seems like decent one, but since I still have a while before I'll have money saved up, I will still be doing research on it, and since I have plenty of time to decide, maybe there is something better out there for me, but the X-T4 does look good.
I'm fine with DSLR or Mirrorless. I am not quite sure what the advantages and disadvantages are. The DSLR's seem to have similarly fast shutter speeds to the mirrorless. Before I started looking at spec-sheets, I thought that mirrorless would be way faster.
It's good to know that I can turn off a lot of the features that I won't want to use very often. (at least I don't think I'll be using them at first) Do those unlabeled wheels near the shutter button tend to be programable, or are they usually a set function?

Thanks, this is helping me understand the landscape of digital cameras a lot better.

Landscapes; be advised different cameras render colors different. I'm a Nikon vivid #4 shooter, beautiful colors and this is jpeg which I use exclusively. Having said that, my 2 Fuji (XT-2, X pro3) render the best colors including flesh tones, with no additional adjustments, also jpeg. Not here to start an argument, but it's the way I see it as I look at an image. Your eyes will interpret, not a spec sheet or a poster's opinion Check them both out and you will find the one that pleases you best.
Also, as one poster suggested, used gear by KEH or B&H is a munch less expensive proposition.
And don't forget your PC screen--it could be misleading. My moto as always "the proof is in the print".

 

[RacePhoto]

Some other things that I see from your questions in the first post.

No camera is going to be state of the art for ten years. Sorry technology changes much faster now than in the film days.

EOS-M are nice cameras but there's a high probability that the M system is obsolete. Replaced by R. No new EF lenses will be developed. If you want Canon (and I like Canon personally) you'll want an R or wait for the APS-C/crop R to come out. The #D models, EF cameras, except for maybe entry level, will be likely to be discontinued and replaced with R mount models.

Nikon is good, Fuji has some nice cameras and Sony seems to be running in front on many innovations. I shoot Canon because that's where I started, FT-QL in the 60s, and I stuck with them. Canon isn't the only one dropping old DSLR, Nikon has also. Mirrorless is the future.

For you to adjust from an AE-1 to a new camera, may look like a different world but it's not. If you understand the camera you use now, you'll adapt very quickly to digital. Besides all the benefits, and choices, the biggest difference is, you don't chose the ISO by the film, you spin a wheel. You now have the triangle of exposure on your camera, at you choice. Sensitivity, Speed and Light.

For general photography, you can get wonderful photos without shooting raw. Get it right in the camera and do minor editing. Sorry but I'm not an advocate of shoot everything RAW because you can fix it better later. The camera does some of the processing, and you can still make all kinds of Photoshop adjustments. If you are doing precise fine art photos, then yes, you'll want to only shoot RAW. But for general image capture, JPG is just fine.

If you think mounts and systems, you'll want to buy the camera you can afford, just for example, not leading only to Canon, a R-6 (do you really need 45MP?) And then because you have a nice camera, buy the best lenses you can afford, one at a time. By the time the R-26 comes out in 2026 you'll still have the top of the line lenses. Lenses last for a long, long time if cared for and they are the eye of your camera.

As you might see my point is, lenses are more important than the camera in my opinion. If you have a great camera and a kit lens or something with flaws and aberrations, you'll get weaker images. Shooting RAW can't fix that. The less expensive lenses usually mean, lighter parts, less weather sealing, plastic gear and bodies, even mounts. Buy the best lens you can afford, that meets what you usually shoot.

The mode dial on digital is hardly different from film cameras. P for Program. AV, TV, M there you are? I more often shoot Manual for exposure because I'm still a throwback to spot metering and I pick my exposure. P works fine too for a quick shot. TV the setting is retained, so I can just spin and win, knowing that my TV is always set to something appropriate for that event or shoot. AV aperture, is also set, and should I need to do a quick adjust, I've got it at F/8. ISO manual...

Here's the mode wheel decoded:

Good news, if all the menus and choices and settings are too much, the Letter M is your old friend, because it's most like your old film camera? Start at default settings and move forward, step by step, as you learn. Don't be intimidated by so many choices and options.

Most of everything from a pinhole camera to a 2022 Gigapixel Monster Pro, is all about the same basic physics of light. Like I wrote, except you get to chose the ISO now. In fact, everything is much easier most of the time, because of the electronic aids.

 

[Shinden]

Some other things that I see from your questions in the first post.

No camera is going to be state of the art for ten years. Sorry technology changes much faster now than in the film days.

EOS-M are nice cameras but there's a high probability that the M system is obsolete. Replaced by R. No new EF lenses will be developed. If you want Canon (and I like Canon personally) you'll want an R or wait for the APS-C/crop R to come out. The #D models, EF cameras, except for maybe entry level, will be likely to be discontinued and replaced with R mount models.

Nikon is good, Fuji has some nice cameras and Sony seems to be running in front on many innovations. I shoot Canon because that's where I started, FT-QL in the 60s, and I stuck with them. Canon isn't the only one dropping old DSLR, Nikon has also. Mirrorless is the future.

For you to adjust from an AE-1 to a new camera, may look like a different world but it's not. If you understand the camera you use now, you'll adapt very quickly to digital. Besides all the benefits, and choices, the biggest difference is, you don't chose the ISO by the film, you spin a wheel. You now have the triangle of exposure on your camera, at you choice. Sensitivity, Speed and Light.

For general photography, you can get wonderful photos without shooting raw. Get it right in the camera and do minor editing. Sorry but I'm not an advocate of shoot everything RAW because you can fix it better later. The camera does some of the processing, and you can still make all kinds of Photoshop adjustments. If you are doing precise fine art photos, then yes, you'll want to only shoot RAW. But for general image capture, JPG is just fine.

If you think mounts and systems, you'll want to buy the camera you can afford, just for example, not leading only to Canon, a R-6 (do you really need 45MP?) And then because you have a nice camera, buy the best lenses you can afford, one at a time. By the time the R-26 comes out in 2026 you'll still have the top of the line lenses. Lenses last for a long, long time if cared for and they are the eye of your camera.

As you might see my point is, lenses are more important than the camera in my opinion. If you have a great camera and a kit lens or something with flaws and aberrations, you'll get weaker images. Shooting RAW can't fix that. The less expensive lenses usually mean, lighter parts, less weather sealing, plastic gear and bodies, even mounts. Buy the best lens you can afford, that meets what you usually shoot.

The mode dial on digital is hardly different from film cameras. P for Program. AV, TV, M there you are? I more often shoot Manual for exposure because I'm still a throwback to spot metering and I pick my exposure. P works fine too for a quick shot. TV the setting is retained, so I can just spin and win, knowing that my TV is always set to something appropriate for that event or shoot. AV aperture, is also set, and should I need to do a quick adjust, I've got it at F/8. ISO manual...

Here's the mode wheel decoded:

Good news, if all the menus and choices and settings are too much, the Letter M is your old friend, because it's most like your old film camera? Start at default settings and move forward, step by step, as you learn. Don't be intimidated by so many choices and options.

Most of everything from a pinhole camera to a 2022 Gigapixel Monster Pro, is all about the same basic physics of light. Like I wrote, except you get to chose the ISO now. In fact, everything is much easier most of the time, because of the electronic aids.

Thankyou, that makes me much more confident. Good to know that lenses last longer than bodies. I mostly shoot in Av or Tv modes with the A-1, but I sometimes use Manual if I'm chasing a particular exposure style. I only ever used the Program mode the A-1 has just to see how it worked and test it out. Program seemed fine, but not how I want to shoot all the time.
Thanks for the input and advice.

 

[weepete]

There are very little downsides with the new mirrorless technology. The only two issues that really spring to mind is that the sensor is always exposed, so they can be more prone to sensor spots, and the electronic view finders. I much prefer optical viewfinders, so whatever you choose try and get to a shop and try the model out.

I'd suggest an enthusiast level full frame along the lines of the Canon EOS R, R6 or whatever the equivalent cameras are from Nikon or Sony.

Just bear in mind that you'll be buying into a new lens selection, and some manfufacturers have developed their lineup more than others. So have a good look at what's on offer and if will align with the lenses you want, as it can take years to develop new lenses.

I still think the mirrorless market is not as streamlined as the old DSLR market, with manufacturers not wanting to undercut their existing lineup and then making some strange decisions to place certain models in between. So take your time and do your research, figure out where your main priorities lie, be prepared to compromise in some areas.

 

[Soocom1]

OK.. First as a Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Minolta, Mamiya shooter....

The cameras can render diff. colors. Canon has a tendency to be warmer, Nikon cooler.

Mirrorless would be the best bet at this time, but also consider that many higher end DSLRs from 5 years ago are selling relatively cheap.
A Nikon D3 will most likely set you back around 350-600 USD.

Compare that to a Z series where used right now is still hitting 1K, you have alot of camera with alot of capabilities.

Mirrorless has the distinct advantage of being able to use practically any lens made with the proper adapter.

The real core once you figure the camera is the lenses. That's where the heavy lifting is at. And that can be a heavy drain on the wallet either in newer high quality lenses or GAS. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)

The big key is to go to a store, pick up cameras and play with them to see what YOU feel is comfortable.
All the top brands are doable, but what fits YOU!?

 

[vintagesnaps]

I agree that nice sharp lenses make a big difference. Maybe try used, just watch for gunky funky looking crud inside it, you don't want that.

I don't do modes, lol I shoot manual. But it's a matter of figuring out what works best for you.