I have been taking photographs for about 60 years, earning a substantial part of my living from, or around, photography.

As I contributed to photo magazines from time to time, I have used just about every type of camera there is, and most of the famous makes have passed through my hands at one time or another.

Currently I shoot both digital and film, mostly with Nikon equipment (but I have a collection of about 60 cameras most of which is used from time to time). None of them current. The digital camera is a D100 and the film Nikons are an S2 rangefinder, two Nikon Fs and a F601. Hardly state of the art.

Lenses too, are a mix of modernish and old, both auto focus and manual. I use a manual focus f1.4 50mm and a f4 200 manual focus a lot on the D100. That means an exposure meter (choice of a Gossen Lunasix, Minolta Flash Meter II or a Sekonic Spot ... also all old) and use of the D100's screen to confirm exposure.

I'd like a Nikon D700 purely for its extended low light capability, as I find that I seldom over extend the possibilities of the D100's 6MP resolution. I've printed images out to 100cm x 60cm with satisfactory results, as long as they are viewed at the proper distance.

I live on a 25 acre block relying on rainwater and the water truck to survive and that eliminates most darkroom work, although I still develop black and white film. So all of my prints are made on an Epson Stylus 7600 24" wide printer from both film and digital originals. Film is scanned on either a Nikon LS-1000 (35mm) or a Canon D2400U (everything else), both are fine for the web and for A4 prints, which is the size I print most.

It's not the way the latest gear pixel peepers of the in-line forums think photography should be done, but it works for me.