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Monday 10 August 2009

lemons, for instance



i need your help. 

see, these are lemons i shot on french markets - in normandy last year and this year in provence. one with my little digital, one with my trusty praktica. you can see which one is which, right? immediately, i mean. i do admit of course, that the comparison is slightly unfair, and i am biased. how is a compact digital to keep up with an analogue SLR? it's like comparing a crackly walkie-talkie exchange to a face-to-face conversation. kind of, anyway. so this is the thing i need your help with:

i am thinking about buying a digital SLR to keep my analogue SLR company. now, i realise there is a lot of nikon/canon loyalty issues out there. but i don't really want to buy into a club, i just don't mind. what i want is this, i think:

a camera that comes as close as possible to analogue photography (without breaking the bank, if that's possible) - say, allowing me to go all manual, to over- or underexpose to my heart's content and personal liking, doing muted, 'faded' colours, not only candy-coloured bright.

i'm not after gadgets - if i wanted to try my hand at filming, i'd rather get a decent camcorder, or a super 8 (or both...) than having a digital SLR that has an extra video function.

it would be neat to have a digital SLR that allows me to use vintage analogue lenses without much light loss and format issues.

perhaps you're starting to wonder why i want a digital SLR at all, since this all sounds as if i'd rather go out and buy a leica (i would if i could...). well, i'd like to explore both worlds (apart from the obvious reasons for having a decent digital camera: speed, availability and cost).

so if you have any thoughts on this, i'd really, really love to hear them. no matter if it's personal experiences or technical info - anything. drop me a comment right here or send me an email at twinklestar(at)gmx(dot)net

thank you so much!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi there nice blog, just came across it through simply photo. i have a nikon that i love. i have several lenses to go with it but my favorite is the 50mm F1.4. im also a fan of vintage photoghraphy and the 500mm comes close to it. its also great when taking low light pictures. im a polaroid fan. i have and alpha sx70 that im in love with. however, ive been looking into getting a film slr. i have a question, the one you have does it have a 50mm lense? i love the way it takes your pics. also, i love the pastel colors same sort of colors i get with my polaroid sx-70.thanks again for the info.
valeria

Anonymous said...

sorry i meant a 50mm lens not 500! oops. valeria

kristina - no penny for them said...

hi valeria, thanks for stopping by and your thoughts! i like the way you put it - coming close to vintage photography, that's pretty much what i'm after :)

i own a praktica LTL from the 1970s, with a pentacon 1.8:50 lens (50 mm).

which nikon do you have, a D60? do you have a blog or flickr stream?
thanks again,
kristina

Ana Cristina Abreu said...

i can almost smell them!!

happy week

Anonymous said...

Hi there Kristen, no i don't have a blog or a public flicker. i have a D80. i love it. this web site is very very helpful for nikon: kenrockwell.com he review the nikon cameras and the lenses. i think you will like it. mine was a gift from my hubby and he did extensive research before choosing between cannon and nikon. im glad he did, because i luv it.
thanks for the info on the film camera as im trying to get my hands on one on ebay. some of them say 49mm lens? thanks again
Valeria

kristina said...

as you know, I'm very happy with my nikon d80 - I think it's wonderful :-) you can shoot all manual or as automatic as you want. just a couple of weeks ago I bought a new lense, a 50mm 1:1,8D and I think with that kind of lense it feels more like analogue photography.
email me if you have any questions about it! I think you'll like to take photos with a DSLR - and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing the photos :-D

PS when's your birthday? I think it's soon?

;) said...

The two pictures are interesting... I think that the most important into a camera is the eye of the photographer... But... okay... there are cameras and cameras... I don't like to give advices... I give you my experience... I have and "old" camaera (30 years...) and use it... sometimes... Then I got a little canon (powershot 40) and a canon eos 400 D... my favorite... of course... and then... I got a lot of softwares... ;)

So... keep your eye open... it's good ;)

natsumi said...

I have less knowledge about camera... so, I don't know which one is which... but I like 2nd photo better. Love the color...

kristina - no penny for them said...

kristina: thanks for your tips - interesting to hear what you think about the new 50mm lens. maybe that's the key? -- oh, and my birthday is not that soon, early october, but i'm already excited, the big 'four-oh', i'll be officially grown-up (as if...) ;)

oetli: thanks for your thoughts, good to know! and i promise to keep my eyes open...

natsumi: thank you... i like the second better too :)

Lorenza said...

hello! I come from Lea's blog :) your photography is so interesting! I am starting to play with photography again and I am enjoying the learning curve and the outcome :) I have a Rolleiflex that was my dad's and he has now given it on to me, then I have my trusty, budget Nikon D40 which I love!! Didn't break the bank when I bought it and I can use all the old lens, completely manually (i.e. they do not 'autofocus' but I love it!) I have the standard kit lens (which comes with it) that is actually pretty good and then recently I got a 'vintage' 50mm f1.8 which again I am in love with, it comes extremely close to analogue photography if you ask me, and again was not expensive at all!

I use the D40 to learn and experiment with manual settings (exposure, aperture, speed etc) to come up with some interesting lighting and mood combination, the beauty of the DSLR is that you can take a 1000 pictures and just delete the ones you don't want, something that with the Rollei would cost me a fortune! Then I use the Rollei when I want to take specific pictures, once I have learnt the technique/settings that I am looking for :D

I hope my experience can help a little. I know what you mean about the nikon/canon conundrum.

Lorenza x

Leciawp said...

If I were buying a new digital camera and didn't already have a bunch of canon lenses, I'd get a nikon. They are doing slightly better quality-wise these days.

julochka said...

you can go a very long way with a nikon D60, and i know for a fact you can use the analog lenses on it, because i have a wide angle that i use, but if you're really going to invest, i recommend the D300 - since Nikon just came out with a new version of it that does HD video, you might be able to find good prices on the "old" one (which is what i have and love) and which lets you do all kinds of over and under-exposure. but again you can do a lot with a D60 on manual. i recommend nikon because it's what i have, tho' my SLR was a canon AE-1, but i do think that nikon is a bit better at color and they say that the nikkor lenses are a bit better than the canon ones. that's just what i read.

look lots of flickr and see which pictures you like from which cameras.

but remember, nikon rocks the color!

xox,
/j

Ida/FarEastLogbook said...

I have a Nikon D50 that has been very good to me...haha (it's a pretty basic digital slr, I think). I wish I had something helpful to contribute with but I have very little knowledge on how to operate, use the different buttons etc. on it.
I love reading all these comments though and now I'm pretty sure that I'll be buying the 50mm F1.4 lens. I sounds like the perfect lens for me!
Sorry for my confusing comment ;-)
Good luck on your camera purchase!

Mr London Street said...

Lovely blog!

I think even a great DSLR pales in comparison with film. I shoot with a D40 and a 50mm 1.4, but the film shots from my Leica CM or Hexar AF are usually much better.

Anonymous said...

My husband recently surprised me with a Nikon D60.

So far I'm loving it!

You can flip through old posts of mine to compare pictures.

photos were taken with my Blackberry Pearl, FujiFilm Finepix f17fd, and now the Nikon.

So far I must say the Nikon is BY FAR the best!! hehe

Although I'm still learning how to use it...

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