I remember when we used film in cameras

Cameras were once too expensive for the average person and the expertise in photography limited to a few.

Mahfooz NR, a self-taught photographer who has more than 40 years experience with cameras of various models, tells Chandra Devi Renganayar how cameras have evolved to the point-and-shoot digital cameras of today.

Photo studio owners were once the only people who had some knowledge of photography.

Even then, most of them were mechanical users, in that they inherited the business without actually having knowledge about cameras or photography.

Studio operators used big view cameras which were made up of a light-tight box with lens at one end and a slot for film on the other.

The cameraman would put his head under a dark cloth attached to the box to take a photograph.

In that era, circa 1960, not many people were keen on photography because of the high price of cameras and the difficulty in using one.

I remember purchasing my first camera, the Diana, a box camera that used film.

It had a spring loaded shutter and a plastic viewfinder.

It was only RM5 (S$2), but at that time it was a huge amount for a schoolboy like me.

Cameras of that era required film rolls which we had to wind into the cameras. The rolls of film enabled us to take 12, 24 or 36 pictures.

Cameras did not have storage devices but instead captured the image on film.

Once you completed the roll, you had to take it to photo studio operators who had the facility to develop the films.

With digital cameras today, you can instantly preview the photographs that you have taken on the LCD screens but in the old days, it would usually take about a week or two before you could actually view your photographs.

Film-based cameras became widely known in the early 20th century when Eastman Kodak introduced low-cost photography via its Brownie series of cameras.

It was a simple cardboard box camera with meniscus lens.

Later in the 1950s and 1960s, the company's Brownie 127, which was made from plastic with meniscus lens and a curved film plane, became very popular.

A trend in the 1970s and early 1980s were half-frame cameras.

Actually, the half-frame camera became popular with the introduction of the Olympus Pen.

This was basically a very compact camera which allowed users to take twice as many pictures with a standard roll of film.

For instance, if you put in a 36 exposure film roll, you could get 72 exposures, and a 24 roll will give you 48 exposures.

This camera was a hit among students.

Another camera brand name that was popular was Mamiya.

Studio photographers mostly used Mamiya's medium format professional single-lens reflex (SLR) camera, the RB67.

Prior to SLRs, rangefinder cameras which had much improved lens technology to allow for better focusing was popular in the market.

The camera had a focusing mechanism which used a dual-image range finding device. The cameras were smaller, lighter and produced better quality pictures.

Manufacturers like Nikon, Leica and Mamiya made available rangefinder models at various price ranges and quality.

Some of these models continue to be used by many photographers today.

Most photographs were taken in black and white as colour films, which were made commercially available in the 1940s, were too expensive. It was not only costly to buy the film but also to develop them.

Old cameras were mechanical and complex and as such, not many took a liking to photography. Most people were intimidated by the learning curve required to use a camera.

You had to adjust manually things like shutter speed, aperture value and lighting.

Also at that time, we did not have the direct presence of camera companies in the country.

Camera's were brought in by distributors. Models from Nikon, Mamiya, and Hasselblad were brought in by Shriro China Ltd.

Guthrie was the distributor for Canon cameras.

Photography in the 1960s and 1970s was primarily self-taught.

I can only remember photography courses being offered by Pusat Latihan Belia Negara or Pertak. Those who passed out from there usually opened photo studios.

One well known expert in the field back then was Eric Peris, journalist and news photo editor with the New Straits Times.

He had a weekly column that taught newbies about photography.