> 9. Lower barrier to entry – digital photography can be an expensive hobby, especially if you want to turn pro. By contrast, many film cameras can be obtained cheaply second-hand, while still being able to produce excellent images… in the right hands, of course. When comparing medium and large format film cameras, the price difference to digital is especially noticeable.

The cost of quality used 35mm, and 120 format cameras continue to increase. I have searched eBay, Keh and several other websites over the last several years. A lack of supply constraints the market, and the collection keeps dwindling since no one is making new ones to replace the ones that break and become unrepairable.

It seems ludicrous to spend $1000 on a used camera that may fail at any point and become unrepairable.

Thanks for pointing out those typos, Mikki!

Many thanks

“After all, while anyone can tool around the streets with an old Nikon FM2 or Pentax 35mm camera, someone doing their street photography with the famous red circle logo on their camera is almost sure to spark attention, especially if they explain that it’s a film shooter.”

When I’m shooting candids on the street, the last thing I want is to spark attention, mate. If I owned a Leica I’d cover that damned eye-catching siren of a dot with opaque black industrial tape. There, much better, now I’m invisible in both the shadows and the highlights.

Invisible, I see a Leica photographer in front of me – red dot clear for all to see – gesticulating, animated, excited, showing off his Leica to an enthusiastic fellow. Neither of them aware of my presence. Click, click, click. Hey, I’m getting great shots of this scene. Done, I walk past the scene. Clearly they’re going to be talking for a long time. Good for them, I’ll keep on shooting more scenes in the next street.

At the end of the day it’s the shoot that counts, not that totally annoying red dot. I’d rather come home soaked to the skin, cameras battered and drenched, knowing that the photography went well that day.

For the same $5296 I can buy a complete kit, lighting and all, used and in excellent condition from a competing brand known also for their sturdiness and longevity. I’m talking a couple of bodies, two or three lenses, and a portable light or two.

Meanwhile, my films have returned to their canisters again. Normalcy has returned.

My problem is the shutter release mechanism has broken (button popped off), which renders the camera useless. Sony suggested I get a remote shutter release.

Sounds great, but as a senior, I have no idea which one and where to plug it in. I have a Sony DSC-H2, for which
the shutter assemblies are no longer available. It appears this was a recurring fault with these cameras.

Any ideas on which remote shutter release I should look for?

Many thanks

Ava

Bracketing with moving objects doesn’t really work, Eva – in this case, I’d recommend one exposure, then creating an HDR with software such as Luminar Neo.