Originally Posted by
brentley
Now if you just want to shoot film, a medium format film scanner can be had cheap and medium format film gear is not expensive in the used space at all.
you will learn far more about being a good technical photographer shoot 100 manual focus, manual exposure slides, than filling a digital card with 10x those images.
I agree with you on the first part - if you want to shoot MF, just get a good quality film scanner and a decent used body and lens system. If you think you might go digital, get a body that can accept a 3rd-party back in the future.
To the second point, though, I think you can learn from shooting digital just as much - you just need to force yourself to be disciplined - try to get it right in the camera. With digital, you get the benefit of instant feedback - with MF, you're waiting to get your rolls developed.
For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure I've never taken a single frame on my DSLR in Auto or Program modes. Most of the time, I shoot aperture priority, periodically manual. Unless you've either got a real bright viewfinder or a split-prism focusing screen (I've got neither on my D70, sadly), manual focus is more trouble than it's worth. As long as you know what your depth-of-field is and how to use that to your advantage, I don't think it really matters whether you turn the AF dial yourself or let the camera handle it.