JANUARY 2003 – Two Canon AE-1 Program cameras and eight Canon FD lenses presented on a white background. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
My First Love
I grew up with analog cameras. My mother owned an Agfa Silette Kodak Retinette 1B 35 mm point-and-shoot camera that was protected by a nice brown leather pocket. I remember taking my first shots with that camera. In 1982 she upgraded to a Canon AE-1 Program, and this move really got me hooked to photography.
It was my first love, and it became a deep one.
As I matured further I realized that – despite positioned as a consumer camera – it was a really good camera IF you used original Canon lenses. These were sharper, the colors seemed to be more precise, and they were sturdy and super reliable. So I extended my lens portfolio over the years with original Canon lenses.
This photo shows my gear as of January 2003:
- 2 x Canon AE-1 Program (silver)
- Canon FD Macro 35-105mm f/3.5
- Canon FD 70-210mm f/4
- Canon FD 300mm f/4
- Canon Reflex FD 500mm f/8
- Canon FD 17mm f/4
- Canon FD 28mm f/2.8
- Canon FD 50mm f/1.4
- Canon FD 135mm f/3.5
For more than two decades I kept shooting with the Canon AE-1 Program. I knew the camera, I liked the camera, and I could get the results I wanted with the camera.
This lens lineup enabled me to do everything I ever wanted, photography wise, from wide angle (17 mm) to tele (500 mm). Of course, any situations requiring super fast tele lenses were out of the question, but I had not crossed many occasions anyway.
I brought this equipment plus plenty of films for our trips to Canada (2002), the USA (2003), South Africa (2004), Rome and Scotland (both 2005).
During our trip to Scotland I realized that the analog times were really coming to an end. As a consequence, I switched to a Canon EOS 1Ds mark II in September 2005 with just two zoom lenses in the beginning, a 24-70mm and a 70-200mm. Money was not really tight, but the new body plus two L lenses were hurting my budget, and so I separated from my first deep love and sold off the complete analog equipment to recover a portion of the investment.
Truth is, as much as I loved the AE-1 Program from 1982 to 2005, I have never looked back at analog photography after 2005, ever. I have to admit that I sometimes do a search on eBay to see the current prices of my former FD portfolio, and I am always surprised to see that the lenses seem to not lose value. At the time of writing, the 300mm f/4 sets you back around 190 Euro, the 50mm f/1.4 (a superb lens!) costs around 80 Euros. These are about the price levels I achieved in 2005.
Today, after more than two decades experience with digital photography, I still appreciate the fact that I started photography with analog cameras. This helped me understanding exposure settings as well as efficiency in photography. You know, today one can fire away happily (and even I do it sometimes!) and then sort the mess in Lightroom later on. Back then, you couldn’t do that because it was simply too expensive. You had to carefully think about your image, compose it and then shoot one, two, maybe three or four frames if you wanted some variants. This experience is still useful today.
Do I recommend beginners to switch (back) to analog photography then? No. It is too expensive, and you can easily emulate an old analog camera on any decent digital camera today. Just nail a low standard ISO (100, 200, or 400 – no auto ISO allowed!) and set yourself a hard limit of 37 exposures that have to use this ISO. Once those 37 frames are used up you’ll have to put in a break of at least three minutes (to “change the film”) before adjusting the ISO for the next batch of 37 images. You may also think about handing over 5 Euros to your S.O. for each of these virtual film rolls. This way, you’ll quickly consider a hard limit of two (maybe three) virtual rolls of film per day. You still have to review 100+ images from that day, which is still a lot. Oh, and please do not forget to put the focus to manual (no AF allowed.) 🙂
Finally, here’s a very detailed site containing instructions on how to actually shoot with a Canon AE-1 Program. Reading it sends shivers down my spine because it feels like meeting your ex on the street and remembering all the good times you had together – but well knowing that the times have changed, and there’s absolutely no future for you as a couple. 😉
The high resolution image
| Capture Date & Time | 06-JAN-2003, 14:16 |
| Location | Munich, Germany |
| Camera | Kodak DC4800 Zoom Digital |
| ISO | 100 |
| Exposure | 1/45 sec at f/10 (flash fired) |
| Digital Image Source Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 2160 x 1440 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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