Once upon a time (circa 1983?) I purchased a Canon AL-1 SLR film camera and a couple of matching lenses, but the high cost of film and processing fees kept me from using it enough to generate a genuine interest in photography. I eventually ended up selling the entire “kit” for pennies on the dollar, and at the time I didn’t regret it one bit.
Fast-forward to Christmas 2004, a joyous morning on which I found a shiny new Sony point-and-shoot digital camera waiting for me all wrapped up under the tree. After I sold the Canon, I pretty much lost all interest in photography until I began building websites in 2003. I quickly realized that a digital camera would be quite useful in helping me pursue my new hobby, so Cheria bought me one and gave it to me for Christmas.
Well, it took me less than one day to develop a sincere appreciation for the advantages of “shooting digital” over ”shooting film”! I discovered that I could take as many pictures as I wanted without having to go to the considerable expense of driving to the store and paying to have numerous rolls of film developed and printed, not to mention the inevitable several-day wait for the prints to “come back”.
My new digital camera allowed me to take picture after picture until the memory card filled up, at which point I simply downloaded the photos to my PC and started all over again. At my convenience, I could load the images into the photo editing program that came with the camera, then crop, resize and do tons of other neat things to them before printing them out on my own printer. Better yet, I didn’t have to print a picture at all if I didn’t like it or simply wanted to use it on one of my websites!
I have owned and used a number of digital cameras since the Sony, each of which was more capable than its predecessor. But that little 2.1 megapixel jewel will always be special to me since it gave me my first exposure to the amazing world of digital photography. Cheria and I still use it on occasion, and I must say that it takes some pretty darn good pictures to be so “old” (in a technological sense).
And you know what? I’d give just about anything to have that old Canon AL-1 back, just to display on a shelf in my office as a reminder of times past. I’m sure that’ll never happen, but I don’t plan on making the same mistake with my “ancient” little Sony.