35 mm

This is the type of camera I was given.

My wife's aunt very graciously gave me her deceased husband's 35 mm SLR camera, lenses, and other equipment.  I call myself a photographer (though I don't know at what point a person can legitimately call themselves that), but I've only done my professional (read: paid) work digitally; I've never used film other than back when I was a kid and had a 110 film camera (remember those?) and on my mission when I had a point-and-shoot 35 mm, which was just as digital cameras were barely starting to be introduced to the general public and most people didn't have them. 

Honestly, shooting with a film SLR camera is intimidating.  When using digital, I can check the image after taking it to see if it was overexposed, underexposed, blurry, etc., then correct it and take another picture.  With film, though, I can't check.  I have to get it right the first time, which is the way it was until digital came out - you had to know your stuff and get it right not only because you couldn't see the results until they were developed, but also because each picture was expensive.  Add to that the fact that this is not a point-and-shoot, but rather an SLR, which requires you to do the focusing, zooming, and adjusting for light (or the lack thereof) by changing the shutter speed and aperture to come out with a picture that isn't pure black or pure white.  In other words, this is a step up for me.  I'm gonna have to really learn how to adjust each feature to compensate for adjustments in other features instead of relying on the camera to adjust everything for me.

Since I have to do the adjustments to shutter speed and aperture myself, I need a light meter.  The camera has one built in to it, but the battery that powers the meter is dead.  The camera is old enough that the battery was a mercury battery (which has since been outlawed in the United States), so I'm in the process of obtaining a comparable alkaline, but I'll have to order it and have it shipped to me.

So until then, I wait.  Hopefully I'll learn a lot from the necessary caution and preparation that comes with shooting with film and I'll be able to share some of my results.