I was a bit of a Luddite (US: machine-breaker? Look it up!) where digital photography was concerned, but I started using Paint Shop Pro about 18 months ago and I've been converted. (PSP is almost as powerful as Photoshop, but much less expensive, and earlier versions 7 & 8 are available 2nd hand very cheap.)

I learned techniques in a few weeks or even days that would have taken years and a great deal of money to learn in a wet darkroom. I'm still scanning negs, since I can't afford a digital SLR, but 16 bit mono gives you over 65,000 levels of tone, and a good up-to-date scanner will give you as much resolution as you want.

Still, in the end it's what's in the camera that counts, whatever you do with it afterwards. After years of having to wait a fortnight for my prints to come back from the chemist's, it's second nature for me to try and make every shot a Work of Art (and it often works).

You know Kodak have stopped making film cameras altogether? And they've shut down one of their British film factories too. We might not have much choice in a few years.

Steve