[square_one]

At the moment, I've no need to go forward into unchartered digital territory to escape "safe and boring", having just stepped backwards to the demanding O-Serie, where I must:

1> Extend and seat the lens - or get a perfect image of a 1950 Zenith TV screen.
2> Sunny-sixteen the exposure - because no exposure meter is aboard. And do it under middle-aged apertures of 3.5-4.5-6.3-9-12, coupled to shutter speeds of 2-5-10-20-50mm that can only be changed by winding forward partially to a specific point on the miniscule mechanical dial and carefully resetting a tiny pin in a tiny hole. After this fine-fingered feat you may finish the forward wind. Herr Barnack will be looking at you from the backside of the camera body the entire time and will deduct cult-points if you secretly use your Pentax Spotmeter dial to figure any of this stuff out.
3> Guess the distance to the subject - without a rangefinder...in meters.
4> Guess the negative's outer limits - somewhere within the outer bounds of the .5 viewfinder.
5> Remember to take the cap off for the shot - thankfully no big deal for M users.
6> Remember to always put the cap immediately back on - knowing if you don't and wind forward, the two shutter curtains slowly dragging by the open lens on their way back to tension will convert your hard-won, perfectly-exposed negative to pitch. I can't tell you how many times I have screwed-up on this one....well on everything the past week.

Alas, I will master these silly mechanics and return to pursuit of the IMAGE - what it's all about, digital or analog. Meantime I'm having great fun wasting drug-store Kodacolor and pulling my hair out.

PS - Any other's with an O? Think I recall a couple from the old forum.