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My grandma tried to teach me zone focusing with a disposable camera
Last summer at a family cookout in Phoenix, my 80 year old grandma handed me a Kodak FunSaver and said I was overcomplicating things with my Nikon FM2. She showed me how she used to set her old camera to f/8 and just shoot from the hip because it always kept everything sharp from 6 feet out. Have any of you ever had a non-photographer explain a film trick better than someone with all the gear?
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the_lisa1mo ago
Oh man that's brilliant. Your grandma basically reinvented the snapshot aesthetic before it was cool. Makes me wonder how many "hacks" we've lost because nobody wrote them down in a manual.
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jason_stone121mo ago
You know, the "nobody wrote them down" part really hits home. My dad had a trick for keeping his camera strap from slipping off his shoulder - he'd twist it twice before putting it on. Never saw that in any manual, and I didn't think to ask about it until after he passed. Now I just retwist mine every time I grab it, hoping I'm doing it right. Makes me wonder what kind of simple fixes my grandkids will be trying to guess about me someday.
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