To my shame this beautiful 1970s Canonet QL17 compact rangefinder by Canon has been sitting in a drawer for almost a year now. In a fit of 'I must learn how to properly use a film camera' (that I can't is quite embarrassing; but a rather unsuccessful stint with a mini Diana convinced me of my ineptitude) I sought for and purchased this model on eBay. It's quite heavy (for me) but has a wonderful rangefinder view where you line up two images to focus. The aperture at its widest is 1.7 and hopefully with this should produce some lovely looking photos if I can work things ok with light. Anyway, I'm going to load it up with some black and white film and make sure I use it then develop the pictures and try not to get too discouraged. I think in the end I will always love digital more – the immediate results, the delete button and the instant gratification of uploading and sharing. But some beautiful film shots by a friend have convinced me it's time to try again. What about you? Do you prefer film or digital? Have you had good results with a film camera? What model do you use? I'd love to know your experiences!
