Guitarhacker
I have an old Cannon 35mm professional camera with a large number of lenses. I ran lots of film through it but it seems most folks like the convenience of digital these days. I used it mainly for hobby purposes but I did a few weddings and some aerial photography with it and more then paid for it several times over....
I had considered selling it but looking on Ebay.... prices are really low for 35mm stuff...so I guess I hold it. I did remove the battery so it doesn't mess up the camera.... the battery is only used for the light meter.... the camera is 100% manual.
Moshkiae
All of the photos I took of the many bands I spent time with were done with ... a Canon AE1 ... of all things!
Herb, Pedro, up in the attic I still have my beloved Canon T90 (with dedicated 300TL Speedlight and selection of FD lenses - 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mmL, 70-210mm - and a nice range of Cokin filters) - sadly I don't use it anymore (I use a 12MP Olympus Digital 'Compact' now). It has an interchangeable back, originally designed to accept either a bulk film cartridge and/or a 'computerised' back (that saved/printed details of each shot) - if ever some bright spark comes up with a CCD back that would fit I'd buy one in an instant.
I used the T90 system (plus an A1 body I no longer have) when I was dipping a tentative foot into part-time freelance work many years ago. LOL I didn't earn a lot of dosh but the experience was absolutely invaluable.
One of these days I fully intend to ditch the Olympus and buy myself a new digital SLR system, probably based around a Canon body. To be honest, one of the major reasons I haven't done so yet is because I simply don't know enough about the current market. I've sounded out a couple of local camera shops about wanting a modern system similar to my old T90 gear, but they just try and sell you a top of the range outfit that's going to be about £1500 - £2500. For someone who just wants to be able to be fully in control of every shot I take, I don't think I can justify that sort of outlay to myself. Maybe I need to read up a bit more and see what's what.
Kenneth
Go manual, get a good spot meter and learn the zone system, best thing I ever did.
Some great advice there Kenneth.
I learned more about taking well exposed photographs using the metering system of my T90 in full manual mode (it has an 8-point spot/zone metering system built in), using a standard grey card, and using an ambient light meter than by using any number of 'automatic' modes.