Younger film users?

[jbf]

Look... you can complain all you want about people who use holgas and take photos, but at least they are getting out there and taking a photograph. Yes they may not necessarily be very good at it, but it beats half the people on here who sit around and take photographs of a flower on their front lawn or of a beer glass with a $4,000 camera. They are no different.

A camera is a camera is a camera. Who the hell cares. The fact is, film is being used in one form or another. So be happy that its being used and let people take whatever photos they want and let them think they are great. At least they are happy.

People with any real knowledge or talent and a photographic eye will be able to tell who has a genuine ability and who does not.

 

[benmacphoto]

I'm 21 and got interested in photography my freshman year of high school where we had a black and white darkroom. I learned how to develop film and make prints and all. Ive stuck with film to this day for quality. I love going out with my Leica and some Tmax100 and shooting. I get fantastic results for what I do. "Why fix it if it aint broken?"

I do however work digitally.

These shots were taken with my Nikon D50 with the PB5 bellows adapter and a 1945 101mm Wollensak lens. I made an adapter for the lens to Nikon mount. Digital allows me to experament with things such as this.

I feel that its the same idea in that you choose a lens for a specific shot. It depends on the job for what medium. They all serve a purpose in photography, it just depends on what your shooting. But film is still my main format. Oddly enough I just got an 8x10 Deardorff field view camera to do some work with. So I'm still all about film, with some digital on the side.

 

[chut]

I'm 34 now.

I started shooting with an SLR when I was 18 and started developing film when I was 21. I continued shooting film until I got my first digital camera in 1998 but I became disenchanted with the lackluster results of early digital, and my interest waned over the years.

Early this year, I rediscovered my love for photography and photographica. I am now shooting film exclusively once again and have restarted collecting, restoring and using vintage and modern film cameras.

This forum has been an invaluable source of information and support for this renewed endeavor. As well as loads of GAS!

 

[tmfabian]

haha, i'm getting a kick out of the people being upset over the jesting over holgas. I know my comment was just made in fun...i actually enjoy using a holga from time to time, and a good friend of mine did a documentary project with a holga and the images were absolutely stunning to say the least. I'm pretty sure most comments making fun of the holga were done in similar jest, but you still can't ignore the hilarity of urban outfitters selling them for $70+ USD...it's positively wonderful.

 

[robbert]

fwiw i'm 20 yo and my entire workflow is analogue.

i could do without the smell of fixer by the way

 

[usagisakana]

I'm 19 and really like the idea that with film, each image is a physical object. that and I like the look of black and white film, and enjoy developing.

 

[Xax]

I am also 24 now, started with digital 3 years ago, discovered film when I bought an old chinese seagull medium format camera at a flea market and my father told me that it uses "120" film,

it was so new to me and such a shock to discover something so big and vast in photography after lingering around with those digital cameras, and inspired by flickr and all those nice pictures by tommy oshima and co, had to dive deeper into 35mm, 120, 4x5, etc 😉

now, about 18 months later, i have 3 leicas and about 10 medium format cameras, and shoot film for myself and digital for paid gigs

i also try to do as much on film as possible in my cinematography work, which is also really really hard in the video world 🙂

 

[naruto]

I started off using a film SLR, and got caught up in the DSLR race. I used one for a year, and later sold off all the digital gear returning to film. I love using B&W film, learning about lens optics, and developer formulation. Oh yeah, I am around 30-ish. 🙂

 

[kuzano]

And speaking of young people, plastic lenses and holgas

And speaking of young people, plastic lenses and holgas

It hasn't been very long since young art photography types were intrigued (and still are when they can find the film) with Polaroid plastic lens cameras and Time Zero film. The film had a setting time that allowed manipulation with a variety of home made stylus' including popsicle sticks, other blunt objects, etc. There is a lot of work on the internet using these cameras. Most popular was the Polaroid SX-70.

Wouldn't it be great to rig up a 120 roll film back to one of the old rangefinder Auto 100 to 400+ series cameras, or even the high quality lens models like the 195. These models were even renowned for their excellent and accurate Zeiss Ikon rangefinder assemblies that folded out and sat atop the camera body.

 

[Svitantti]

Soon 24... I know many (young too) friends using mostly or only film cameras. Still the percentage idoes not seem very high at all here in Finland.

By following some camera forums in here however, I feel the interest is growing... Who knows.

 

[Svitantti]

Oh by the way.. I got my first own camera in about 2004. It was a Polaroid camera using Sx-70 film 🙂. After that I bought a Holga and then felt I need more control and got an SLR. Now I shoot with M4, Pentax SLR and Mamiya 7, sometimes with Olympus XA... Still have Holga too.

 

[Austerby]

As an official old person here (I'm 42 don't you know) I'm pleased that I am not (as I feared) at the tail of the film using population. From these comments I believe that film usage will continue for a considerable time yet, that old cameras will continue to have value and be repaired, and that great photo's will be made across many different formats, including digital.

My observation is that it's more likely to be members of my own generation who abandon film in favour of digital because we know the difference in terms of convenience. If you don't have such baggage then I think that one approaches something like photography with a more open mind and a willingness to experiment.

 

[Ben Z]

A while back when every second thread on every forum was "death of film", I said that artists have always looked for ways to differentiate and individualize their work. In other art-forms there have always been choices of media. For example, painting has charcoal, pencil, water color, oil. Sculpture has granite, bronze, clay, paper mache, and the welding of basically anything metallic. Now photography has film and digital, and with so many going digital, it's natural that individuals might choose film as a means to express their artistic individuality. The problem is, photography developed a completely different infrastructure than other art forms. Photography is a juggernaut industry. Professional (as in, for-hire) photography is virtually completely digital now. So is non-serious amateur party/vacation snapshooting. The question still remains, will the relatively tiny amount of demand for film and processing be enough to sustain the profitable manufacture of consumables with finite storage life, at prices that those artists will be willing to pay. I hope so, even though I shoot maybe two or three rolls of film a year at most these days.

 

[kuzano]

Gotcha!!! I'm 65 and the youngest film user here

Gotcha!!! I'm 65 and the youngest film user here

As an official old person here (I'm 42 don't you know) I'm pleased that I am not (as I feared) at the tail of the film using population. From these comments I believe that film usage will continue for a considerable time yet, that old cameras will continue to have value and be repaired, and that great photo's will be made across many different formats, including digital.

My observation is that it's more likely to be members of my own generation who abandon film in favour of digital because we know the difference in terms of convenience. If you don't have such baggage then I think that one approaches something like photography with a more open mind and a willingness to experiment.

In terms of maturity.

Been using film since I was 10. I am a computer technician, so I jumped on digital when Logitech put out a simple camera that shot 640x480 max resolution, only in black and white. I have used digital quite a bit and been through a number of P&S, Prosumer and DSLR phases. In fact, I teach digital photography classes and Photoshop Elements at a local community college.

Bottom line... the more I teach, and the more I see the traps laid out by the industry on digital, the more I pick up my film cameras when I go out. The endless stream of newer and better models is in perfect synch with the economic problems that brought us to the current financial crisis. Somehow, these companies are going to have to learn that enough is enough. Give us your best camera and give us enough time to make it through the menu system at least once.

I have many 35mm and Medium Format cameras and dumped all but two of my P&S digitals. I just picked up a very nice used 4X5 monorail camera and 150 packets of QuickLoad and Readyload film (the film for $100 total).

This is the best time that I can recall in 50 years to buy film camera's and I have no fear of not being able to find film. Large format activity is actually growing.

I am encouraged to see so many young people here and otherwise taking up film, whether they shoot digital as well.

Keep it up youngsters!

 

[Roger Hicks]

This is great! Thanks everyone! Almost unremittimgly upbeat observations (no miserable old farts?); lots of interesting insights; and the important point that it's not so much age as freshness, i.e. you can discover/rediscover film at any age.

Cheers,

R.

 

[srichmond]

I got into film photography at school in the mid 1990s and loved it, but didn't really have enough cash or access to equipment to pursue it when I went to uni. Got into digital, and loved all the dSLR stuff, but quickly realised that I was taking thousands of photos, but few of any real quality. It was always about volume, not quality (I appreciate this is more a problem with me, not the digital format).

This year I wanted to resurrect my old negative folder, so bought a negative scanner (a reasonable investment), and that triggered my re-entry into film photography. I've always loved B&W, and had the confidence around developing my own film, so it's been really cool since.

Sure, people are shocked when you produce a film camera - but I see quite a number of younger people with them (esp. around certain parts of east London). I think, it's part fashion, part wanting to understand and embrace other aspects of photography. Digital is way too simple. Huge dSLRs look too bling.

Besides, if you want to use an RF, you get a much better pick with film. Film cameras don't go out-of-date, like all technology products. The camera I have now is for keeps. Whatever digital SLR you buy today, will be "old kit" in a few years time.

None of my comments make a compelling case for film - but they're some observations I've made since getting into it.

 

[bean_counter]

My daughter (now 12) has always liked cameras - starting with a 110 "Barbie" camera (pink, of course). She was intrigued by my IIIf, so in 4th grade, I bought her a Canonette.

She used it quite a bit - I started teaching her exposure and DOF, and she started shooting chromes. Last year, she was bitten by the digital bug (all the coooool kids had them), so we bought her a nicer Nikon P&S for Christmas.

She shot the memory card full, got her prints, and said "ugh". She's back to her Canonette, hasn't picked up the digital since. And now - she's the cool kid, for shooting "retro" film.

She's hooked on rangefinders; she loves to get her hands on my M4-P 😱 (when I let her - not often). I'm going to get her started on an old SRT soon - to distract her from the M.

 

[irq506]

Well it looks like this topic has a lot of interest.
I work in a niche camera store in Seattle, and so niche that we are probably in a minority of less than ten stores of its kind in the US. Basically we are a repairs shop with a retail annex that sells consigned film and digital cameras and darkroom equipment, but we are primarily repairs.
Since September 2006 when the Seattle times came to do an article on the "Death of Film" and how it was going to hit us hard etc, I really couldn't tell the journalist what she was expecting to hear. So the piece became a story on a steadily growing stealth market of film users as a counter-flow against the digital onslaught.
We service all the the schools and some of the colleges in the Pacific Northwest area and they are still firmly in film, and this alone is enough to keep us afloat for at least four months of the year. However, amongst that, we have a HUGE Holga crew who buy a lot of film -almost obsessively (like me). But thats not all, we also have an increasing number of people buying film for cameras that they already have, and some that they are about to buy from us. And again people comming to us from all around the area just to buy film -no we cant compete with B&H but we do our best in the face of it.
I know from our rep, that film sales internationally are up by about 15% over sales five years ago, and he tells me that film sales never really dipped as much as they were expecting in places like Australia and New Zealand, and in places like S.E Asia, Africa and S. America film sales havent been much affected, but that was predicted as these are generally lower take up on technology.

What I hear from adults is that they find it easier to use, and from the kids I hear that they are sick to death of the technology rat-race where value is nil. But something that surprised me actually was the sentiments expressed by alot of younger people that they are after some kind of permanence, a lasting legacy, a record as it were. So we might see some kind of completion of a cycle as we get older folks...

Right now in the midst of the economic strife and political flatulance we might actually see something come from the younger generations.

 

[JohnTF]

This is great! Thanks everyone! Almost unremittingly upbeat observations (no miserable old farts?); lots of interesting insights; and the important point that it's not so much age as freshness, i.e. you can discover/rediscover film at any age.

Cheers,

R.

Roger, do you see any parallel with the Renaissance and coexistence of other niche techniques such as Pinhole photography, now with commercial pinhole cameras produced, and its increased use in classes, IMO, due in large part to the efforts of Eric Renner and his books?

I was always interested in it to a degree, but a former student walked up to me years down the line, in a pub, to tell me how his experience in the camera club and my classes led to his interest and eventual PhD in Fine Arts in Photography, and a lengthy discussion of the variety of techniques he became familiar with, and he put me on to Renner.

I was pleased to find that his education included photo chemistry and in general with the overall depth of his training. He was working at time as a fine printer.

No matter what the niche, it would seem to be the case that the Internet has enabled access to necessary and relevant information, and certainly has aided in the access to needed materials to sustain film as, at the very least a viable technique available to all who choose to explore and/ or continue to use it.

As in pinhole work, it finds its proponents.

In fact, I think the types of photography commonly found here and in the majority of your articles have always been an entirely viable niche and I see no reason that it should logically be threatened, but the commonly proffered perception is some sort of war between technologies.

John

 

[Pherdinand]

I tend to believe it.
I have two friend, and a friend of a friend, who in the last few months picked up film cameras (a gsn, a minolta x-300, a horizont, an af minolta, a praktica...) ad started using film, although all have digital cameras. Moreover, two out of the three also bought BW film dev stuff and asked me to help them through the first steps.