Question for camera people - Pics in post #40

[Catlady711]

Great!!!

And THAT'S why I get so ticked at camera sales people and marketing hype making people believe the camera is somehow sub-standard and you need a 'better' camera to take good pix.

NOPE not really true. Just a good understanding of the camera you have, good photo techniques, and a good eye for composition/lighting/exposure and basically even a polaroid (and I mean a real polaroid that spits out pix you have to wait for them to develope) can take good pictures.

Isn't it a great feeling to find out what you thought wasn't good enough turns out to do more than you thought?

Like I said before, I love photography probably as much as pets. lol

[Catlady711]

BTW I'll be looking for you to be posting those pix soon!

[jennielynn1970]

Well, they're nothing like what you or Kirsten post, or Kay for that matter (bows to Kirsten, you and Kay for your awesome pics), but I was amazed that I could take close ups, and that my camera had those settings. This is what I get for NOT reading the manuals.

I still want to take my mom and dad's camera to the shop and see what they say. Maybe it's a lost cause and I can get something else to play with as well (like a cam corder or something), or get something better and donate what I have. OOORRRR... maybe it's not worth anything at all, and it will just be a nostalgia piece, lol.

I have nostalgia pieces for different things around here. Anyone collect old toasters, like the ones where the sides flipped down, and you had to turn your toast to get it colored on both sides??? It's an OLDIE!! I'll take some pics of that too, lol!!

[Catlady711]

Thank you very much for the compliments. *blushes*

NEVER EVER think your photography is 'bad' just because it isn't as good as someone else's!!!!!

You have to remember even the people who you admire their shots the most, have people who they also look up to as having 'better' shots and yet even those people have people who they look up to......etc etc.

We all started somewhere, no one is just born with all the knowledge to make perfect pictures, it's a learning process that requires practice, and with that LOTS and LOTS of 'bad' shots.

If you think some of the stuff I post are 'great' pix, you should have seen some of the stuff I shot a few months ago while learning off camera lighting (still learning but getting better), or even the stuff I shot back in the early 90's when I got my first SLR. Some of those are so bad I had to circle the subject in some shots write a caption in the photo albums so people would know what I took pix of! No joke!

About the only time I ever get riled up about 'bad' shots is when the person is billing themselves as a 'professional' or an 'expert' in a certain area and from the pix they certainly have ALOT to learn. Not so great shots from someone learning is one thing, but not so great shots from a paid wedding/portrait photographer is quite another.

Nope never seen a toaster like that. I've spent years as a packrat and am now trying to declutter from under all that 'stuff' so I'm downsizing my stuff.

Let us know what the camera shop says about that old camera. I'd be curious as I don't know anything to speak of about that brand.

If you sell that old camera for any amount of money, maybe you'd want one of these?
http://www.lumiquest.com/products/softscreen.htm
I have one I keep in my camera bag for quick shots when I don't have time/energy to drag out the big flashes.

[Husky_mom]

looking forward for thosepics too!!

one more input about the camera you asked before...

quoted from another friend on a photography forum

"Ricoh made two model of this camera XR-M and XR-X with the XR-X being the european model. This was the height of Ricoh;s technical achievement with 35mm cameras and usually came with a Rikenon f/2.0 50mm lens, this model did have the option of a Sigma zoom lens.

I used to own the model prior to this the XR-7 with a f/1.7 50mm lens and it produced superb results - as for value Adorama are pushing a body only for $54 so there is a little value in it still. As for the lens it was a K mount which I don't think would work on any D-SLR.

Your friends decision is if she needs the money then sell else she may want to delve into the world of film - in that case keep it."

[jennielynn1970]

Well, I went to the camera shop today. Let's just say I received some very disapproving looks for the state that the camera is in! I can't help it my father decided to let it in a box, open in the basement. I tried to explain, but they all looked at me like it was me making excuses, lol. Oh well.

So, from what they said, as they tsk-tsk'd at the camera and the one pro came over to look at it, was that it's basically shot. There are pieces breaking off on the camera itself. Not sure what or why, but there are little thingies that are coming off. Then the mirror on the camera (mirror??) is scratched all to heck. The lens is next to destroyed as well. Scratches on the outside, crap on the inside. He doesn't know how the stuff got in there, but it's pretty much destroyed.

They can TRY to repair it, but we'd be looking at over $500 to do that, if they can. So... I guess it can sit on a shelf to be looked at for another few decades. They don't take trade ins normally, and especially not in the shape that it's in.

Oh well.

At least I found out things about my own camera that I didn't know on here, lol. I'll have to dig out the downloading stuff and do that with the pics tonight. Right now I'm beat from running around the city all afternoon and dealing with traffic and mobs of people (went to the mall to have my cell checked out... what a mistake!).

[Catlady711]

It's a bummer they can't even take it as a trade in for a couple bucks.

The mirror is what you would basically look at when shooting the pix, when you take the pix it flips up out of the way to expose the film. Mirrors are kinda expensive to replace and a pain in the rear to look at if they're scratched. If the camera was in the basement then it probably has some mold or something inside the camera, which is expensive and darn near impossible to completely remove. Yup sounds like a souvenier to me.

Don't be surprised that cameras decrease alot in value. They're kinda like computers as far as resale value goes, only goes down.

Yesterday I was at my camera store and in the used dept. they had the first SLR camera body I ever bought. I originally bought it for $400, they were selling it for $149! Right next to it was the Elan, the one I drooled over that I couldn't afford when I got mine. It was only selling for a measly $20 more, and I know at the time I got mine the price difference was more like $8-900. That's why you always buy the best you can afford that will do basically what you need it to do, and just enjoy it as long as you want to, regardless of how much/little it cost or what it's resale value is/was.