Michael Angelika discovered during her photography courses that traditional SLR cameras do not deliver the image quality that she envisions, ahem, ahem. In fact, there are so-called medium format cameras, whose negatives are 6 by 6 (or 6 by 7, depending on the model) centimeters in size, which is about four times the area of conventional film. This results in double the resolution are of stunning image quality -- however, the cameras for this are quite bulky and expensive. But in San Francisco, there are camera shops where you can rent such a camera for little money over the weekend, and that's what we did when we recently went down to San Luis Obispo (about halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles) for a long weekend.

First, there was a Mamiya 7, a bulky rangefinder camera that's about twice the size of a regular SLR and has a 6 by 7 centimeter negative. And on the next trip to the "Lassen Volcanic National Park," it was a Hasselblad 503, which I affectionately call "Otzen." You know, those brick-sized cameras from Sweden that you look into from above. To load the film, you have to carefully study the manual, then press various levers, turn screws, and maneuver film spools back and forth. It hardly takes less than 5 minutes. A roll of film has only 12 pictures. The film is wound after each picture with an old-fashioned crank on the side of the camera, which you turn in a circle like a barrel organ.

When you press the shutter release, the camera makes a dull sound that can be heard within a 50-meter radius and sounds like Mike Tyson punching a sandbag. Every professional has such a camera, and if you look closely next time when Karl Lagerfeld's new collection is being photographed, you will see one of these black boxes with chrome-flashing edges in the photographer's hand. An assistant will be busily occupied with loading new film and handing the photographer cameras always loaded with fresh film. Angelika tirelessly carried the heavy piece on our hikes and took photos diligently. Once, when Angelika was busily handling the separate light meter and the hefty camera in the national park, a tourist actually asked if she was a geologist. Haha! Make way for Angelika!

Angelika So, now I want to have my say as well. Michael has already mentioned my tireless efforts to find a suitable medium format camera for myself. No purchase decision has been made yet, but I'm working on it. In addition to testing cameras, I've also learned last semester how to develop and enlarge color images myself. Color and black-and-white photography are quite different. With color, in addition to the fact that the color balance must be perfect, there's the added difficulty that you can't work under red light, but only in complete darkness. After some practice, I managed to handle things in the dark quite well and proudly brought home my first color enlargements.

Yes, and I also sold my first black-and-white photo. I received a smooth $200 (including matting) for it, even though I only asked for $120. And Michael just can't understand how someone would voluntarily pay more. But the buyer simply felt that my photo was worth that much to her. Yay!!!

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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Ikea, Finally
  	Bay to Breakers
  	How To Speak American with the Pros
  	US Basket of Goods and Services
  	What Germans Do Wrong in America
  	Adventure with a Dishwasher
  	The San Francisco Rental Market