Shooting film - does the novelty wear off?

[Terao]

Since getting a Mamiya 7 and getting set up to process B&W at home I'm conscious I haven't touched my R-D1 (almost a month its sat on the shelf now 😱)

Completely enthralled by shoot/dev/scan/print and I'm not sure its any slower than digital for small batches. I also love the results and the challenge of learning a new craft. For B&W I simply don't get the results I'm looking for in digital and I've always liked the romance of film.

I assume that this novelty will wear off eventually? Or can we expect to see my R-D1 in the RFF classifieds soon? 😱

 

[david b]

The novelty did not wear off for me.

My love for film has increased so much that I built a home darkroom and had a custom 9 foot stainless steel sink made. I have 5 enlargers. About 6 different cameras.

And now I am shooting large format.

I love this stuff.

 

[pdx138]

The novelty of film has never worn off for me. I've only made brief forays into digital but keep coming back to film.

 

[Max Power]

Nope,
It just gets better as your abilities to manipulate film and paper grow.

K

 

[bmattock]

Novelty? I ran my first roll of Panatomic X through D76 before you were born, most of you.

Yeah; novelty. MTV is a novelty. Cable TV. Microwave ovens. Cruise Control. Personal Computers. The Internet.

Film is not a novelty. Digital is the novelty.

I like 'em both.

 

[jky]

It wore off a little when I was around 30 rolls behind - just wasn't patient enough really. I'm sure 30 rolls is nothing to some people, but trying to find the time to dev & scan is sometimes difficult especially when you're dying to see the results. However, when time is plentiful, I find it relaxing.

 

[RHaroldP]

Novelty? I ran my first roll of Panatomic X through D76 before you were born, most of you.

Yeah; novelty. MTV is a novelty. Cable TV. Microwave ovens. Cruise Control. Personal Computers. The Internet.

Film is not a novelty. Digital is the novelty.

I like 'em both.

I agree totally. But would add, film is not a novelty it is magic. The more I use digital, the more I gravitate back to film.

 

[bmattock]

I agree totally. But would add, film is not a novelty it is magic. The more I use digital, the more I gravitate back to film.

It was magic when I was ten years old and watching my dad soup prints in the basement of our house under a safelight. It was magic in high school when I ran my first negs and hung them up to dry.

Now it is a process, and a boring one at that. It can be fun, but the magic has long since gone away. If I could wave a magic wand and have my negs processed for me, but without the dust, scratches, and streaks I get from commercial processors, I would.

I am not a darkroom artist, I am a photographer. Developing is like doing PM on my car - something that must be done if the car is to continue to run well. I process film so I can shoot, I don't shoot so I can process film.

Since it is a chore for me, you can be sure that when I shoot film, I have a good reason for it. When it is the appropriate tool for me, I use it. Otherwise, digital.

 

[dmr]

Film will be a novelty only to those who go post-digital.

I've never gone digital, so I don't know of this novelty. 🙂

Yeah, I've played around with friends' digitals, and more often than not they remind me of things like programming the VCR to record something and hoping it works, or trying to reset the car clock to DST. Just not something I want to do.

And no, I'm not a technophobe at all, I'm quite computer literate.

 

[Terao]

Should add that I resisted the move to digital for a relatively long time (particularly for someone who is a gadget freak in other arenas) so I've always loved film. Looking back at my early shots I can see that my technique has improved but the quality of the image has not. I don't have a single print from digital on the wall. Shooting a DSLR killed the whole process of taking photos for me and I stopped for almost a year. Came back with the R-D1 and now I've taken the plunge with film it positvely encourages me to shoot 🙂

 

[Terao]

This week I've shot three cameras side by side at a couple of work events: Mamiya 7ii, an Agfa Ambi Silette, and my R-D1. Being in a retro mood the R-D1 got the Canon 50mm f/1.2 to play with 🙂

For B&W high ISO the film cameras win hands-down - shooting Neopan 1600 in 35mm pushed a stop and a bit (perhaps) and Ilford 3200 in MF. The R-D1 did a great job in colour for snapshots of lunch yesterday, churned out some shots that I really like and of course got the instant reaction of my subjects, which is always great when you're taking photos of a load of friends.

I loved the downright unscientificness(?) of shooting the Ambi Silette. First time I'd used this particular body, shutter seemed a bit temperamental, had no light meter, and shooting in low light. Wasn't sure how to develop and for how long, but of course neg has great latitude and I still got good shots out of a highly uncontrolled situation.

The reaction of your subjects is interesting of course, particularly when they're all kids of the digital age with 3mp phone cameras. Old cameras are definitely cool at the moment, no idea why. They look at you as a bit of a weirdo but are intrigued and actually want to have their photo taken on film. I know they're going to prefer the results.

In my work life I'm an IT geek so I'm really enjoying removing digital steps from my leisure time at the moment - of course I need to scan and adjust and upload but the workflow is simple enough for it not to be a pain. Certainly more enjoyable than sitting in a RAW workflow processing R-D1 shots.

 

[Trawlerman]

The urge to shoot film is as strong now as ever. It was never a novelty as when I started shooting film there wasn't any alternative.

Most of my 135 stuff is shot with my Pentax bodies (*ist, K1000 and MZ-S) and i'm loving shooting film more than ever. Perhaps this is because the bodie sthat I have are more flexible than ever and my range of lenses is much wider (16mm upto 500mm) but whatever the reason I don't see shooting film over digital as and either/or decision, to me it's a whore other world from digital and the two complement each other.

Film is dead, long live film!

 

[Terao]

Yeah, its not an either/or for me either, each has its place. Will be shooting both next weekend and I'll be interested to see which runs out first - batteries for the R-D1 or film 🙂

Nice avatar by the way...

 

[Ken Ford]

Shooting film - does the novelty wear off?

No. 😀 😀

 

[MCTuomey]

I shoot youth sports, mostly soccer, with digi gear. And for the (very) few paying gigs I fall into here and there. But for myself? I raid the 'fridge, pull out a couple rolls, and grab my M7. The anticipation does not wear off.

 

[shadowfox]

Digital is handy, clean, and fast. I got bored.
Film is fun, unexpected, and slow. I got rewarded (now and then).

Wear off? no, occasionally in the dump, yes.

 

[oscroft]

I assume that this novelty will wear off eventually?

Well, I started shooting and developing film in 1966 and the novelty hasn't worn off yet.