The Photo Bug

I think I might have been bitten – again. Yep, it’s the photo bug. I’ve been bitten before, but like most of my hobbies, this one’s somewhat cyclical. I think my recent purchase of a new digital point & shoot camera has something to do with this.

The only treatment for a bite by the photo bug is to work through it and though it can be expensive (trust me – I KNOW !), there’s no guarantee that it’ll ever go away whether you want it to or not.

My collection of working cameras is pretty well stocked, but there’s one place I think it needs to be beefed up – the 35mm SLR department.

You see, I did something pretty stupid a while back – I sold my Canon AE-1 Program. I had second thoughts and took my prized zoom lens back from the consignment shop before it went out the door too. Both the camera and the lens were cleaned, lubed, and adjusted (CLA’d) not long before they went into the consignment shop. Thankfully, one of the supervisors at work just happened to have an AE-1 Program that’s been on loan to me for quite a while now , so I’ve had something to use at airshows and such. It seems to work OK, but it’s got the “Canon shutter squeal” and I really like the sound and feel of a crisp, properly working shutter.

I decided to check out Ebay for some idea of the monetary outlay for my chosen equipment and was pleasantly surprised – right around $100.00 . Yes, I know that the AE-1 Program is an older camera and uses FILM . Many say that digital is the way to go and while I generally agree with that school of thought, the price of admission is a bit steep for the type of digital SLR I want. The cost of extra lenses for a digital SLR is also quite scary.

I’ll be looking at Ebay for some deals worth buying – prefereably freshly CLA’d – and I’ll let everyone know if I get one soon . Wish me luck !