Bronica ETRS

This was my first medium format camera.  I bought it second hand many years ago from Jessops in London.  It's fairly expensive to buy new, but if you can find a decent pre-owned one, you will be very happy with the results.

Basically, medium format uses a bigger film than regular (35mm) cameras so the quality of the pictures is better (all other things being equal).  This is because when you make a print from a larger negative, you do not need to enlarge by as much as you would with a smaller negative.  The film is held in a detachable film back which allows you to change film in mid roll so you could take one picture in black and white and then switch to colour and back again.  The downside of the bigger format is that everything is bigger - the film, the lenses, the body and of course, the price.

This camera is also 100% manual which means manual focusing and manual metering - you will need to buy a light meter to determine the exposure of each photograph you take.

This is actually my 4th digital camera, but I have never really found one I was happy with until now.  Common problems included having to wait a long time between shots or for the camera to "warm up".  This one though is a winner.  It's very small, simple to use, but has a huge 5 megapixel sensor and also has some useful functions that the more advanced user will appreciate.

Unfortunately after a while the sliding cover just broke and although I can still use the camera, it's a little inconvenient so I replaced it with a Canon IXUS 40 (see below) which so far has been marvellous.

Yes, it's a digital SLR.  The price of these things finally dropped to a level I could afford and it has changed my life!  I can use ALL the old Canon EOS lenses I already have and the camera works just like a film SLR.  It has a 6 million pixel sensor which is enough for my use.  Auto-focus is easy as pie and there is a buffer so you don't have to wait between shots, just keep shooting.  It's a great camera and for me may mean the end of traditional film photography!

The only minor issue is that the sensor is smaller than a 35mm negative, which means a smaller area of the image is being recorded compared to film.  This means that a 50mm lens will act like an 80mm lens if you use it on this camera.  That's okay if you need to get closer to the subject but it's not too helpful if you need a wider angle.

Sometimes the DSLR is too big or valuable to take with me, so I use the Canon IXUS for those occasions.  It allows me to get reasonable quality images without having to carry a whole bag of lenses and accessories.  It has a 4 megapixel sensor, 2" LCD screen, 3x optical zoom and uses SD memory cards.

The 300D has been great but there are so many limitations, so as soon as the 30D came out, I put my money down and got one.  It is superior in many ways including fast start up time, huge LCD screen, 3 stop intervals for ISO ratings, spot metering and of course, the 2nd generation 8.2 megapixel DIGIC II sensor, with much better noise control.

I'm still keeping the 300D though as a spare body.  It's also useful when you need to use different focal lengths as I can have one long lens on one camera and a wide lens on the other without having to keep changing lenses between shots.