Thread for the "over the hill gang"

Msmoto

OK, just for a bit of humor, but this thread is intended for anyone born before 1950. And for those mathematically challenged, this means one is over about 65 years old.

However, not to discriminate, for sure, anyone can post here.

To begin, one camera, one lens, first good camera was a Minolta SR-3, and I think i may have had a telephoto, long was 135mm in those days. Shot thousands of photos for college year book, and newspaper, almost all available light....i.e., many on tripod with 1/8 second exposures.....candid portraits usually. Photo school in 1965, Layton School of Art, Milwaukee, by then with a Nikon F and several lenses.

But, the thinking for me in those days was one lens. And I would plan out the shoot using one lens, rarely changing. I did have several cameras, Canon 7 with 50mm f/2.0 Summicron was a great street shooter.

If there was a "progressive" thought, it may have been to shoot 35mm transparency at a studio where the rule was large sheet film. And, having the first shot in House Beautiful from a 35mm slide they ever used, this shot during an active home furnishings market in the High Point, NC area was exciting.

We learned to think a lot before we shot images, planning carefully the equipment to be used, sometimes carrying a lot of lighting equipment. Logistics were critical. Took a live goat to the North Carolina coast for a shot with a big client.

Anyway, here is the official old farts' thread.... ) )

paulr

Funny is Life

At 20 You think you know everything.

At 40 You begin to question your judgment.

At 60 You smile and wonder why people are trying to invent the wheel again.

At 80 You don’t care.

Photobug

Can't believe you started this thread. I am often amazed on how much time I put into every shot in the "film" days vs now in the digital age. That "delete button" gets lots of use. Even when color film was cheap I still planned far more than I do today. But then again, when you get older some people change how they take pictures.

framer

Brings back memories in HS using BIG flash bulbs and there costs + film + processing + printing. I'd guess 50 cents per shutter click if using flash bulbs. You do tend to plan and pick your shots. Times have changed; however, good planning still rules. I used a 6X6 Rollie 2.8C in my HS days in the mid 60's. I used the schools 35mm Canon for sports with a crap lens which I was not impressed. I then bought a Nikkormat FTN and a couple lenses, 50mm f2 and a Nikkor 200mm f4, took every dime in my bank account. I loved the focus screen on that Nikkormat. Manual Cameras and no motor drive, you figured lots in your head before that shutter was pressed.

The Old Man in the Mountain, gone, I did not see that coming. Film disappearing in my life time I believe will happen. (sad)

framer

retread

In high school I shot with a Voighander With my graduation money I got a second one and a Winchester.
Switched to Nikon in Vietnam. A Nikon F and a Nikomat F. Still have the Winchester but traded the Voighanders for another Winchester.

sevencrossing

Brings back memories in HS using BIG flash bulbs

Philips PF 60's had an ES fitting

For outside work; did you ever try taping them together. The heat of the main bulb, would fire the others taped to it?

Did you dare to replace the mains light bulbs with flash bulbs

I once tried 1 kg magnesium flash powder, to illuminate a market, very nearly killed myself. The shot was a write off, after the explosion, I forgot to put the lens cap back on

donaldejose

Started with a Nikkormat FT and 50mm f1.4 lens in the 1960s for just under $400. Still have it, still works. Shot film for family prints and slides for landscapes. Later I added a Nikkormat EL which was my first experience with an auto mode. Shot faster but thought less about which part of my composition was "middle gray" before the shot. Now I am learning and shooting a D750. I never shot a Nikon F body or any of the Dx pro bodies because I never needed the speed or ruggedness to justify the added cost. Maybe a D5 is in my future if it is a game changer in some way. Or maybe if a game changer D5 comes out the price of a used F4 will drop so low it would make sense for me.

spraynpray

@donaldejose: Do you mean D5 Donald?

donaldejose

spraynpray: yes, thanks, errors of an old mind at work, changed it in my post!

I should add ... even if a D5 is a game changer (for example new autofocus system) the new features surely will trickle down to lower cost models in the next few years.

wmscyclone

I'm almost twenty years younger than Msmoto's pre-1950 cutoff, but I started taking pictures in the 70's with instamatics and my father's Pentax SLR with a threaded 50mm lens instead of a bayonet mount. In high school I upgraded to a Minolta x-700 with 28mm, 50mm, and 70-210 zoom/macro lenses, shooting almost exclusively in Manual mode, with the occasional Program mode for fill flash. I shot lots of photos on negative or positive film and was more thoughtful about the cost of developing back then than now.

I am more of a landscape photographer and try not to spray and pray, but it's great to have the option sometimes in changing light or when animals or action gives me the opportunity, I'll keep taking photos and delete later.

I love photography and enjoy working to get better. My D600 is so much more capable than my Minolta X-700, but not really much different in action.

Msmoto

Love it all!

ggbutcher

Gee, AARP keeps bothering me but I don't qualify for this thread...

Anyhow, started with my father's Argus C3 in the late '60s, talked him into getting me a Minolta SRT-102 in the early '70s. Didn't own multiple lenses until I got the F2 Photomic in 1974; eventually collected a 28mm and a 105mm to go with the 500mm f1.4 prime. The 28mm became my normal lens, and I bayonetted on the 105mm for occasional portraits. Did all my own b&w processing and printing.

I joined the Air Force in 1975 to be a photographer, but those planets never aligned. My best shooting experiences then were in Arizona, black and whites of desert and mountain landscapes and ghost towns - nothing like rotted wood backdropped by puffy cumulus clouds punched out of a black sky by a red filter. Got to know a couple of Arizona Highways photos; dreamed of slinging a 4x5 around the desert on a cold morn, but never amassed the funds to do so. Still have the F2and lenses...

Pistnbroke

Over the Hill ?? Speak for yourself ..comments like that degrade older people .Why would I be mathematically chalenged because I am old ???.Maybe my Integration and Differentation is a bit rusty but I dont use it much
..Started with an EXA 500 in about 68 then to a pair of Mirandas ( the real ones ) ,Processed slide film, photographed the moon and satalites all that night stuff then a bit of a lull until went Mamyia/Hasselblad in the 80s. 2000 was a bad year for Wedding photogrpahy so went to australia to retire ...oh yes until Freddy May and Fanny Mack stuffed the world and I had to get back to UK quick as the value of money fell ....Re stared my business on internet in November and shot 60 weddings in the following year....then put the prices up to control it ..
So missed the digital evolution years D1/D2 D40/D50 ..D7000 for 12 months then on to the D7100/D800
Just want me 56MP D8xx now please ...true FX DX compatiable camera

paulr

With Age comes Experience, and there's never a substitute for that.

ThomasHorton

I am old enough to remember Indigo being a colour.

Msmoto

Ah, yes, experience......must be why I shoot almost everything with available light.

And, this is a Fun & Weird thread.....

Maybe my love for prime lenses comes from the days before we had any zooms......

Anyway, I am grateful for still being around, grateful to be able to shoot Nikon....or any high quality camera.....grateful for all the great folks on NRF

heartyfisher

I am old enough to remember Indigo being a colour.

in our rainbow thread indigo is part of a 3 colours merge (Violet, indigo, purple) :-)

Talking abut the modern cultures I recently finished reading some books from the Princess of mars (John Carter) series by Edgar Rice Burroughs .. amazing literary style.. such a refreshing read brings back a lot of the joy i had when I read his other books when I was young "Tarzan" etc .. (and R.Kipling too .. sigh ..) Its was great reading the words in their original context like Fag and Gay :-)

PS: I dont quite qualify here but I am close :-)

framer

I never used zooms until I my 1st digital D2h I feel I'm going retro going back to primes with the D810.

Brings back memories in HS using BIG flash bulbs

Philips PF 60's had an ES fitting

For outside work; did you ever try taping them together. The heat of the main bulb, would fire the others taped to it?

Did you dare to replace the mains light bulbs with flash bulbs

I once tried 1 kg magnesium flash powder, to illuminate a market, very nearly killed myself. The shot was a write off, after the explosion, I forgot to put the lens cap back on

I could barely pay for 1 bulb per photo. When I started with the a studio in 68 and doing 2nd shooter for weddings I was told every click of the shutter cost them $1.00, they expected a high keeper rate. I swear a buck back then worth about $10.00 today.

framer

Msmoto

As one who qualifies well for this thread, I am attempting to exercise my brain....KM4LPO....will go to the General exam in a couple months and on to the Extra soon after.

So, what does this have to do with photography? Well, as I become more familiar with HAM radios, I will more likely than not have some more interesting venues to capture and enjoy. Also, in areas of no cell phone coverage, I will most likely be connected by one of the amateur radio bands.

ggbutcher

As one who qualifies well for this thread, I am attempting to exercise my brain....KM4LPO....will go to the General exam in a couple months and on to the Extra soon after.

So, what does this have to do with photography? Well, as I become more familiar with HAM radios, I will more likely than not have some more interesting venues to capture and enjoy. Also, in areas of no cell phone coverage, I will most likely be connected by one of the amateur radio bands.

Got my novice amateur radio license back in the '80's, with the same objective in mind. Funny, work turned in a similar direction, and I lost my interest to do it on the side. Now, my hobbies are about resurrecting the interests of my youth - photography, model railroading, sailing... hey, I'll trade a Drake T/R-4 HF rig for a Laser

Photography connection: sailboats are very photogenic, especially under sail. There's nothing like a well-heeled sloop on a reach to fill the frame with two major lines, hull and sail/mast. I think I have a couple of good examples, but I'll have to find the negatives...

DaveyJ

Thanks to MsMoto.......here on her white horse, hopefully to save us all!

At "something" over 70 and living in the mountains where cell phone reception just does not happen, and my grandsons are way better known as photographers than I am. I started with a Kodak Instamatic......then won a National teaching award for science excellence in slideshows that were thought to have greatly motivated students.....and they gave me 2 projectors and a Minolta SRT 101 camera...that was in the 60s. My brother up til that time had been the photography buff and owned a whole fleet of medium format gear.

For years I was referred to as Kodachrome and later Velvia......

I have always believed in encouraging others to tell their own life stories and use photos to share their work and interests. It is a Beautiful Planet and Thank God I have been allowed to live on it for some wonderful years.

DaveyJ

Indigo...the color between blue and purple......a tropical plant of the pea family and it makes a dye of that color....still on my list of important things....

FreezeAction

My first camera was a Canon AE-1 recommended to me by a friend who was a Nikon shooter doing portrait and weddings. Back then I wanted to freeze things in motion and he explained to me the difference shutter and aperture priority. This was a giant leap up from a Brownie.. I had a 50mm only for a long time and finally got a 70-210mm which I didn't use a lot. Not sure where that camera when but wish I had kept it for a paper weight. After the AE-1 came the silent shutter model Elan. Loved that camera until in 2003 it ruined a rare vacation to Rocky Mountain National Park. Enter the Canon 10D followed by the then top of the action kingdom with the Canon 1D MII which for some things is a great camera still. No low light means the most and the D810 is my pride and joy. The nifty D5300 will see action making some soccer moms smile doing what their cell phones can't reach. The D810, well I'm immersed in the owner's manual now. Less than a month before off to the mountains and water falls, etc. I don't say a lot on this forum but I'm blessed by all I get to read here.

ThomasHorton

I still have my AE-1 and I bet it works just as well now as it was new 35 years ago. That was a good shootin camera!

vtc2002

I started out with a used Nikon S Chrome 35 mm and moved to a Wisner 8 x 10 view camera. I have used various medium format and large format cameras over the years. I bought a Nikon D80 as a impulse purchase when it came out and liked alot of what it had to offer. My wife used it more than I did as I continued to shoot film. The D800 really peaked my interest in digital cameras but my camera had several issues. I recently moved to the 810 and it is one of the best cameras I have ever used. Nikon got it right in this model. I still love film but it is getting harder and harder to do your own development or find places that will process the film for you. After 40 years of photography I am definitely qualify for as over the hill or at least from the looks I get using my large format gear.

framer

Last weekend I had a yard sale. Put the whole darkroom out on a table. Trust me it was great stuff and I got zero interest in it. Not even a question about price or any part of it. I did sell my dads old Canon AE1 for $10.00. I'd put pictures of it on Craigslist so I hoped to see some interest.

Back to storage...

framer