I miss Shooting Film

bottley1 said:
shoot film then, its a free country..... and " I like to take my own pictures, and old film cameras let a person do that" I can't for the the life of me see how digital is any different!
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The cameras I enjoy using, (my little anachronistic mind) are my Nikon F2, Leica M4-P, Leica M2 and various ancient folding cameras. These cameras allow me to set shutter speed, aperture and focus all by myself.

Not many digital cameras will allow this. For the most you get to point the camera and adjust menus.

Does my work look any better than work done on a digital camera? Of course not (good grief!). In fact I've seen work done on digicams that knock my eyes out.

To my simple mind, many film cameras are more virtuous in that they put less stuff in the way of how I capture an image. I really like that.
 
My feeling is that digital is fine for snaps and utility purposes. I
use it all the time in my business.

But, for photography that means something to me, it's gotta be
film.

Digital puts too much distance between me and the craft. I have
much less to do with the finished product when I shoot digital. I
just can't take as much personal pride in a digital photo as I can
when using film.
 
Ray Nalley said:
So if you are some day unable to shoot film, would you give up photography?
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I no longer photograph for a living. I take pictures to express myself only. The image is the important thing, I realize, but the way I get the image is part of my process.

If film were not available (not even B&W), I'd take up painting and I think I'd be in the company of many.
 
Double Negative said:
LOL... Y'know, I often wonder about that myself. 😛

I actually chose computers (specifically I'm a Unix Systems Manager) over photography as a profession. But when I'm not doing my day job thing, I'm obsessed with my true passion... I make time to go out and shoot every chance I get (lunch, before/after work, weekends, etc.). Even my vacations are filled with photography, heh.

But I'm entertaining notions of moving from semi-pro to pro. The problem is matching my current salary. 😉
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Yeah... 'Take what you want, and pay for it, saieth the Lord'.

I chose to read law at university instead of going to art school for a BA Fine Art in photography (I was offered places at both). My logic was that I could teach myself photography, but that an LL.B. is a degree and master class in bullsh*t.

My income now is literally a fraction of what it would be if I had pursued the law. Or accountancy (that lasted 3 months). Or even schoolteaching (I taught for a few years). But equally, I don't have to work as hard, and most of the work I do, I love.

Cheers,

R.
 
When I ran a roll of Acros through my K-1000 it was all over for digital. I wondered why I wasted my time with digital for so long.
 
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I started with film, then when i went to digital, i loved the 'instant' gratification aspect of it. Esp. how quick i could upload and post my pix to my family and freinds around the world. The instant feedback of digital also helped me learn photography at a rate not possible with film (i'm completely self taught). For a while I thought I was done with film.

Then by 'accident' I started shooting film again. Wow...i forgot how lovely the tones/grain/beauty of different film. Getting my local lab to develop & scan my pix means I get to share my pix easily without having to spend hours in front of a PC 'post processing'. Film is not cheap these days (esp in UK). It makes me think 10x more before i press the shutter - which in turn mean I now get far better results. A film/RF is also smaller and easier to take everywhere vs my big D-SLR.

Then again, I recently needed to shoot a wedding...my D-SLR was my only choice.

Conclusion? I like both and I prefer RF for film/leisure play, I prefer D-SLR for my baby, weddings, portraits. I love the choice available to me!
 
Wow! I thought I was a freak, at least all my cohorts at the magazines thought I was crazy for deciding to put the digital in a support role and making my film cameras my primary. I am oh so glad I am not alone. After just being another contributor my pictures are now being used and I have an assignment for a cover shot..
 
I, like many, have gone flim ---> digital ---> film. I like how shooting with film and an all manual RF makes me think about my shots more than I do with digital. With digital I would take so many shots that it was a bit like letting the monkeys loose on the typewriters and waiting for some Shakespeare. When I get a good result with a RF and film I feel like I have earned it.

I also prefer the experience of using a RF with film. Unlike digital, it is physics and chemistry that I can (almost) understand and developing my own negs feels so much more satisfying than pluging a camera into a USB port. It is a form of alchemy.

I will never need to earn a living from my photography so I have the freedom to do it the way I want.
 
It's interesting in these threads to see how many people say they went back to film because they didn't have the discipline not to use a digital camera like a machine gun. Neither camera takes a photo until you push the shutter. So I have a (tongue-in-cheek) suggestion. As soon as you get the digital, just go out and spend all day, every day, the first week and snap 10,000 photos. That will get it out of your system, and according to Ansel with make you a good photographer. 😉
 
Nothing like an MP loaded with K200 or HP-5. Picked up a Saunders/LPL 670 enlarger and bolted on a 50mm/2.8 Nikon lens to run some fiber-based paper.

I have digital capability but if its really worth shooting, then it goes on film here.
 
literiter said:
The cameras I enjoy using, (my little anachronistic mind) are my Nikon F2, Leica M4-P, Leica M2 and various ancient folding cameras. These cameras allow me to set shutter speed, aperture and focus all by myself.

Not many digital cameras will allow this. For the most you get to point the camera and adjust menus.
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Oh come on now. Have you ever used a DSLR or do you equate digital with point and shoots? Just like with film cameras an inexpensive point and shoot will do a lot of the "thinking" for you, but pretty much any DSLR will give you all the ability you might need.

For instance, my K20D has the TAv mode which lets me set shutter speed and aperture via two dials, then tells me what ISO will be used for proper exposure. Or I can set it to a given ISO and let it figure out the rest. Or use shutter priority, or aperture priority, or manual focus... heck, a bunch of their new lenses are auto focus but let you manually adjust focus via the ring without pushing any buttons or changing any modes.

I love film (and have a bunch of film gear that I use), but digital cameras aren't inferior as far as your ability to control things. Heck, being able to adjust ISO on the fly gives you MORE control than you'd normally have with film. 🙂

As for the noise/grain, it depends on the camera and on personal opinion. But this for instance is a high ISO digital shot (under less than ideal conditions), and I don't think the noise looks any worse than grain would:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=90867&ppuser=14541
 
Ah

Ah

Ah, the old fashioned analog versus digital.

Analog crowd shouting : Burn the witch (=digital)! Burn the witch !
Digital crowd shouting : She's not a witch ! She's not a witch !
Analog crowd shouting : Burn her anyway !


Long Live Film
 
Very funny Henk! How do you know she is a witch?

Since I got my R-D1, I probably shoot 80% digital, 20% film, but every time I get a roll back (I don't do my own developing right now) I want to flip those numbers. I just got a roll of the new tmax back, and it's so beautiful, so smooth. One problem I have is that in scanning the negs (with an epson flatbed, negative carrier), I feel like something is definitely lost. If I'm going to shoot more film, I need a dedicated film scanner.
 
Littel mistake morgan

Littel mistake morgan

Hey morgan,

You don't need a dedicated filmscanner, you need an enlarger.

Joking...
 
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