The camera is an absolutely beautiful piece of fine craftsmanship
Yup. While I get more useable pictures with my Nikon N80 with it's autofocus, autoexposure, excellent flash system, etc, I get more pleasure from using older cameras like my Olympus.
I'd like to get a Leica one day because I think they're neat machines, but I'm not sure I want to sink that much cash into yet another 35mm system when medium format cameras are getting more affordable. I'm half tempted to skip MF and go straight to 4x5, but I'm not sure I'd have time for that. The nice thing about 35mm (and probably MF as well) is that it's very portable and doesn't require a lot of setup or planning to use. I'm afraid that 4x5 would require too much planning ahead of time.
I should just go out and buy a roll of BW eh?
Yes! Even Wal-Mart carries B&W. If you're not ready to develop your own and don't feel like paying extra for B&W development, check out Kodak's 400CN film. It's a B&W film designed to be developed by C41 minilabs (like those at Wal-Mart). At least when printed at Wal-Mart, the prints are nice looking with a pleasing near-sepia tone look to them. Supposedly, you can print the negatives on standard B&W equipment with standard B&W paper.
What a way to spend a romantic Valentine's Day there, fatboy
Yeah, well, I told you we were boring.
Chris