They don't make cameras like that any more...

Hi guys, I just got myself a new body... a Nikon D800, to be exact. No wonder they're practically giving these 36MP behemoths away... I've had it for a week, and it still hasn't taken a single picture! Now the old manual film bodies... they were something else. My trusted old FE2 took me up hill and down dale, in fact got me the only publishable pics ever. Would someone try and explain why these new-fangled bodies don't take pictures like the old ones used to?!

You have grown old and live in the past? ;)

Now the old manual film bodies... they were something else.

They were indeed.

Crippled by that length of gelatine-covered plastic stuck inside them!

 

The 'go' button on the D800 is on the top right front if you haven't found it yet.

Hi guys, I just got myself a new body... a Nikon D800, to be exact. No wonder they're practically giving these 36MP behemoths away... I've had it for a week, and it still hasn't taken a single picture! Now the old manual film bodies... they were something else. My trusted old FE2 took me up hill and down dale, in fact got me the only publishable pics ever. Would someone try and explain why these new-fangled bodies don't take pictures like the old ones used to?!

 

Well you can give me that D800 and I promise to use it to take pictures with it. You can have my FE2 in good condition and I am not so sure that you would continue to take pictures with the FE2.

've had it for a week, and it still hasn't taken a single picture!

 

I thought photographers took pictures. Have you checked to see whether you have a malfunctioning photographer? I hear it happens all the time. I'm not sure how to reboot one.

 

My trusted old FE2 took me up hill and down dale

 

Damn. I carried my old film cameras up hills and down, not vice versa. How did I miss this?

Did you open the back, put in a film cartridge, and close it again? You did? That's the problem. The D800 is not supposed to use film. It's like pouring gasoline into an electric automobile. You probably heard a crunching sound as you closed the back. That probably damaged the camera beyond repair.

Hi guys, I just got myself a new body... a Nikon D800, to be exact. No wonder they're practically giving these 36MP behemoths away... I've had it for a week, and it still hasn't taken a single picture! Now the old manual film bodies... they were something else. My trusted old FE2 took me up hill and down dale, in fact got me the only publishable pics ever. Would someone try and explain why these new-fangled bodies don't take pictures like the old ones used to?!

 

You'll have to buy a lens, battery, and a card in order for it to take pics.

OP, do you have the manual? Have you read it?

Cameras do what you tell them to do. Focus and exposure is more reliable than ever before, or completely manual. It's your choice. Advancing technology make it easier to do what you need and want the camera to do. Where you point it and when you push the button is a personal choice which determines the artistic (or documentary) value of the image.

 

I have unboxed many generations of cameras without a (boring) ceremony as seen on so many YouTube posts. Nor do I harbor nostalgic thoughts about cameras-past, with the possible exception of my 56 year old Leica M2. It served me through college, two years on the staff of a local newspaper, growing children, and family vacations, until my first SLR (a Nikon F3) in 1999.

 

I reflect on an acquaintance of my parents' era, who keeps a pristine 2-1/2 x 3-1/4" Speed Graphic in a display case. Bought just after WW2, before children, it was his first real camera. Not many cameras like that any more.

Hahaha, this was a tongue-in-cheek comment on the way they are pushing new bodies on the YouTube ... you would think the old cameras have to be thrown away! Agree- the best use of cameras is to have fun with what you have, it's the ideas that count. So if any of us are feeling bad because we don't have the latest, let's check whether we have exhausted the possibilities of our present gear. Even the old manual lenses! Not that one has to stick to film, that's probably not practical, though one can do it as a side activity.

PJ, I think some people put away their sense of humour on weekends. ;-) I admit that you were a bit subtle, but the last thing on my mind was to give you a lecture.

Dear Karim, not at all. Every time I have a GAS attack, I complain :) But seriously, I sincerely feel that some of the YouTubers should lower their contempt for the camera makers lest these companies fold up under the bad publicity

tongue-in-cheek comment

That wasn’t obvious to me - I saw the post before any reply had been posted, thought about some snarky comment but then decided to give it a pass altogether.