I have been meaning to write this blog entry for some time now, but as I am waiting for my bread’s second to rise…
As many of you know, I have been involved with Photography for over 35 years now, and I started with a simple Canon Canonet rangefinder from my dad, which Canon introduced in early 1961.
At some point in the late 1970’s, my Dad purchased a Canon AE-1, which was the family’s first Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) camera, and slowly, I was allowed to use the camera, which opened up new avenues in terms of different lens, the elimination of parallax errors and easier and more accurate focusing.
The summer after graduating high school (St. Andrew’s School, Middletown, DE), I worked as a Life Guard, and used the money that I earned, to finally purchase my first Camera, a Canon A-1!
I had allot of fun with that camera! It went every where with me, including Ithaca college.
In the Fall of 1983, during a Photography Field Trip to Watkins Glen, I was jumping around the base of one of the Falls, when the neck strap broke, and I watched my camera slowly sink to the bottom of the river.
I was heart broken…
Fast forward to early 1984, I had left Ithaca, and was working a Freelance Photography Assistant in the Philadelphia area, and during this time, I got to work with allot of different camera, and learned what I liked and did not like, and finally earned enough money to buy a replacement.
So what did I buy?
This time, I went for the top, and got a Canon F-1!
Now I was able to really play!
Lens, Motor drives and even drop-in replaceable Focus screens!
Needless to say, I was VERY happy!
Some more fast forwarding…
One of my first jobs after college, I worked for Kodak, and during this time, I was introduced to one of the first digital cameras, which was still a prototype, and a major issue, was the “Depth of Field” when using a flash, or should I say there was none!
In the fall of 2003, just before the birth of my daughter, Madison, we bought our first digital camera, a Canon PowerShoot A70, which was mostly used to capture the first moments of Parenthood, but quickly lead to the desire for something closer to a traditional film based camera.
Finally, in the Fall of 2007, I purchased a Canon EOS Rebel XTi!
Once again I was very happy, and was burning through allot of “film”!
As I used the camera more and more, one of the first things that was beginning to drive me nuts, was the Auto Focus.
In a majority of the times, it was fine, but as I got into certain situations, the Auto Focus could easily be fooled.
One can switch to Manual Focus, but without the “split screen” focus, it is nearly impossible to really be sure that your subject is actually in focus.
This past summer, I was involved with a Flickr Forum discussion on the lack of being able to really use the manual focus on today’s camera, when a fellow Forum Member, asked if I was aware of KatzEye Optics’ replaceable focus screens.
After reading their website, I am very intrigued, but at the same time, very cautious.
These screens are nothing like the drop-ins that I have on my F-1, but are ‘semi-permanent’ replacements for your camera, which one can do themselves, but personally, when I do decide to make the switch, I am going to pay the extra cost to have them do it for me.
The bottom line is, there is an alternative to what is available, and I just wanted to let other folks know about the possibilities.
If have already make the conversion, I would really like to hear what you have to say, so please post a comment or send me an email with your experience!
