You’re right about the AF goodies. They are excellent, widely available, and it seems like most everybody goes that way these days.
I guess I am just a nostalgic old coot, but there was something about selecting shutter speeds, F-stops, and manually focusing that made me feel involved in the process. I never will be any great wizard as a photographer, but I like playing around with the old camera.
Yes, I loved old manual photography. I even used view cameras. But it became impossible to find decent processing for film locally, and digital cameras became so good that film was no longer worthwhile. Each digital shot costs almost nothing, so I can shoot many times and increase my chances of getting a winner. That was not practical with film.
It’s a shame that nobody really came up with a digital “databack” for all those older SLRs. There was a vaporware product that would’ve fit inside like a roll of film; nothing ever came of it.