Does your collection currently include a digital camera? While the consumer-grade ones don't have the quality you're used to, this seems an ideal application for such a thing -- shots that are pretty but not compelling (to spend the money) and that require a lot of trial and error to get.
No digital yet, and yes that does seem like a good use for one. The problem with doing things that involve a lot of trial-and-error with an inexpensive point-and-shoot is the lack of control more than any deficiency in quality; either the camera does the right thing or it doesn't, but there's not much room for tweaking things to deal with unusual situations. (Though I do get the impression that the amount of control available on low-end digital cameras is slowly creeping upward ... either that or I'm just seeing more people show up with mid-range digitals and fewer buying cheap ones.)
I've got reasons for not buying a cheap digital (starting with not having enough money to spare at once for even a cheap one lately, and ending with having trouble justifying spending money on it when I'd still be reaching for a film camera every time I want full control -- so it wouldn't save me much in film costs (that is, most of the digital P↦S pics would be in addition to, rather than instead of, film shots)), but I've got a couple of things in mind for which I'm thinking I should try to borrow one for a weekend.
Hmph. Should've hit the "preview" button. That "P↦S" is supposed to be "P&S". Sorry. (Guess this means that in LJ comments I don't need to escape the ampersands like I've been doing after all?)
You do need to escape the ampersands, but it's &, and you had "map" (and I was wondering what ↦ was supposed to be until I got to this comment).
Ah, but improperly escaping the ampersand meant that it was essentially an unescaped ampersand, and it still displayed as an ampersand, which was what surprised me. So I'm guessing that I only need to escape them when they precede something which could be a valid &-code.
(Urk. Experiments: "this&that" "foo & bar" In a moment I'll find out whether those display the way I wrote them.)
For what it's worth, my several-years-old not-very-expensive-as-these-things-go digital camera allows for some adjustments -- F stop, color of light, and a few other things I don't understand 'cause I'm mostly a point-and-shoot kind of person (being uneducated in the ways of real photography). Ask me at Pennsic if you wnat to play with it. I don't know what it cost because it was a gift, but I don't think it was very high-end. (It does not, for example, take external lenses and stuff like that, and it's a no-name brand. My rough guess would be about $200, about 4 years ago (or maybe 3?).)
By the way, I'm not trying to encourage you to spend your limited resources on a digital camera -- just pointing out that something you would consider servicable might be cheaper than you think should you decide to go looking in the future.
*nod* You came across as saying something more helpful than "here's how you should spend your money" (which I'm rather sensitive to). And yes, I'm interested in checking out your camera at Pennsic.
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Does your collection currently include a digital camera? While the consumer-grade ones don't have the quality you're used to, this seems an ideal application for such a thing -- shots that are pretty but not compelling (to spend the money) and that require a lot of trial and error to get.
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I've got reasons for not buying a cheap digital (starting with not having enough money to spare at once for even a cheap one lately, and ending with having trouble justifying spending money on it when I'd still be reaching for a film camera every time I want full control -- so it wouldn't save me much in film costs (that is, most of the digital P↦S pics would be in addition to, rather than instead of, film shots)), but I've got a couple of things in mind for which I'm thinking I should try to borrow one for a weekend.
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(Urk. Experiments: "this&that" "foo & bar" In a moment I'll find out whether those display the way I wrote them.)
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