That sounds fairly weird, doesn't it? But I don't have a digital. I have a Nikon N55 and I only use it as a point and shoot. Terrible, isn't it? I had the best intentions of learning how to work an SLR, but never got around to it. I have no idea why I didn't buy a digital when I spent $300+ on my Nikon! Oh yeah, I think I remember - I was confused about digitals - and I still AM!

So, do you think it's feasible to use my 35mm camera and then scan the pics I want to use in my digital scrapbooking? I have the money to buy a digital - if it's less than $300 or so. I just can't justify it, when I have this expensive monster of a camera in the house, and especially since I don't know how to use it well.

Thoughts?

Sure - scanning pics and scrapping them is great! There's no law that says you must have a digital camera to scrap digitally. Remember, pictures have been around for a much longer time than digital cameras so I'm sure almost everyone has hard copy prints from some point in their lives that they scan and scrap.

Doesn't matter how they get into your computer - just matters what you do with them when they're in there!

__________________
Andy
MY GALLERY



(avatar photo from stock.xchng)

Another option would be to have your film processor put the pictures on CD when you have your film developed. You may decide you don't even need them to do actual prints--just the CD!

I don't know how much it costs to do that; but, I've seen it offered at places like Costco.

When I first started digi scrapping I had a few years of catch up to do with film pictures. I just scanned them in.

Good luck!

P.S. There's nothing wrong with using your N55 as a point and shoot. I have an N60 that I used the same way. It takes great pictures that way!

By all means use your film camera and scan in the photos. IMO, you're better off using the film SLR than getting a point and shoot digital camera. Just do me a favor and try experimenting in AV (aperture priority) mode. It's not hard, I promise!

Do you have any good links to show a beginner how to use a SLR?

That, and how to use PSP 9?

I can't think of any online resources off the top of my head (though I sure you could dig something up with a google search), but I had a good experience with a community ed class, and, of course, there's always the public library.

But just to get you started, here are the very basic basics:

I find myself shooting in AV mode the most, because I usually approach a picture by thinking of what kind of depth of field I want. Do I want everything in the photo to be sharp and in focus? Or do I want to draw attention to one specific thing by keeping it in focus and making the background blurry? Occasionally I'll want to stop motion or capture motion blur, in which case I'd use shutter-priority setting.

If you shoot with a large aperture (say around f3.5 -- just remember the lower the number, the larger the aperture), you will have a narrow depth of field and the background will be blurry (make sure you've focused right on the area you want to be crisp). If you want everything crisp, you need a smaller aperture, like f11+. Since this doesn't let as much light into the camera, you need bright light if you want to stop motion or if you're hand holding the camera.

Once you flip your camera's dial over to AV and choose your f-stop, it will automatically meter how much light it's letting in and set the shutter speed accordingly. Shutter priority (TV) mode is just the opposite -- you set the shutter speed and the camera will automatically set the aperture necessary for proper exposure. Go outside and pick a subject and try shooting it at f2.8 (or however low you can go with your lens), f5.8, f8, f11, etc. You might want to write down what settings you use with each shot so you can compare it to your results.

Note: This will all be easier if you're outdoors with good light, otherwise you get in to flash or long exposures which just complicates things at this point. Have fun experimenting. You'll learn the most by getting out there and trying for yourself.

I would also highly recommend that when you go to have your next roll of film developed choose the option that includes a CD of your photos with your processing. I have found that the quality of the photos that are on the CD are much better than if you scan the prints themselves. Besides, it will only cost you a dollar or two more to get a CD of your photos with the prints. Believe me, it's really worth it!
Sincerely, Natalie

Well.. depends on how you are scanning them.. Most places like CVS scan at the lowest quality setting.. the resulting photos are often only 400 K files which is equiv to 2mp type photo. I find the pictures are very grainy and do not crop or blow up well... CVS, etc do this because they are porcessing huge numbers of photos daily and cannot scan at a higher resolution because burning the CD's would take too long..

If you scan the photos yourself.. you can scan with a resolution up to 3600dpi... granted, the resulting file will be about 10MB in size... and will take about 10 minutes per picture to scan.. but the results are breathtaking.. Taking this down to a logical 300 dpi is much much better than CVS/Kodak CD's.. and much cheaper given the prices of CD processing these days.