I went with "Not long" myself. I've "enjoyed" photography for decades, but could never really pursue it "seriously" until I got my D80 this past spring. Prior to that I couldn't really justify the film processing costs in order to actually learn photography. Plus, the automated processing services never really seemed to do more that a servicable job at developement. Prior to getting the D80 I really couldn't put the entire exposure thing into place. F-stops, apperature, ISO, DoF, hyperfocal distances, etc. were just numbers in manuals and my 1hr-service processed photos never seemed to be significantly different regardless of camera settings I used. I realized that I would have to develop my film myself to really start to understand the process, but that was something I just didn't have the room, money, or time for.
I think the best thing going digital has done for consumers, at least for this consumer, is taking the chemical darkroom out of the equation and making photographic "development" much more accessible to the average person. It is so much easier, and cheaper, to learn how exposure settings and camera setting impact the photograph.
So, I started trying photography back in the late 70s and 80s. It wasn't until spring of 2007 that I was finally able to take it "seriously".
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