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Message:: [QUOTE="afantiques, post: 152353, member: 25"]What you have illustrated are three different classes of equipment. The first is a 19th C. mahogany and brass field camera that uses glass plates and can be pretty expensive depending on maker and exact period. The second example is the typical early roll film camera, which is the only practically still usable type, roll film is available from specialists and may cost more per roll than the camera, as this camera type is plentiful and cheap, even in good condition. It is vital that the bellows is still light tight. The folds wear and develop pinholes. The last is a fairly modern field camera or view camera, a large format professional camera with rising front, very expensive, very specialised. I have used the common type as an experiment. The results were quite good since the film format is larger, the picture, assuming the same film grain, is higher resolution than a 35mm camera, but usually the lenses let it down. Learning the elements of photography with a film camera will be a good grounding for more modern types, as there is a chance you will have some idea what you are doing when you use a digital camera.With everything automated, present day users are  rather like that monkey that took a self portrait. It really does help to understand about light and things like depth of focus to get good results.[/QUOTE]