Young people turning to film

[Nick De Marco]

I am always happy when I see young photographers give up digital and turn to film
I remember attending Photokina 2008, wanting my first touch of the Canon 5DII, peering enviously at Leica's new S2, but being most excited by the Lomography stall which was staffed by and aimed at young people, blazing slogans like "Analogue is the future!" "Digital is dead" etc.

Since then I have noticed more and more young people, those keen on photography and not just consumers, turning to film. Today I was in a photography cafe in London and got talking to a young guy I have seen in there before with his DSLR. Now he shoots only film. Like me, he had an M8, and sold it. So he could buy an M6. He bought a GF1, and sold it, so he could buy some film. He is a totally dedicated photographer and only works in colour but only film satisfies him.

I feel the same way more and more. I'm old enough to have started out in film, but it was digital that got me back in to photography when I was able to afford it. Having had and used quite a few digital cameras I now find I increasingly only reach for them for specialist work (e.g. studio), or almost as an 'exposure meter' to check what I'm doing with a meterless Hasselblad for instance.

It is very pleasing to see young people who never grow up with film and certainly can't be termed as dinosaurs turning to the medium.

Big thanks should go to Voigtlander by the way, and our own stephen Gandy, for popularising good quality, modern film cameras and lenses which are more affordable to students

 

[gnosduh]

I just wrote a thread about this on Photo.net and it turned into a total s**t storm of arguments.

Here's some of what I posted:

If you haven't experienced the proof, check out flickr groups like I Shoot Film (over 50,000 members and 1.4 million photos at time of checking) and Film Is Not Dead (18,000 members and almost 700,000 photos). Places like the blog my friend runs, Tokyo Camera Style are rife with young people carrying around 20 year old P&S classics like the Konica Big Mini, Olympus XA, and Leica, Minolta, and Mamiya (645) rangefinders.

 

[Stuart John]

Yep and then the thread was closed. Which was somewhat dissapointing.

 

[gnuyork]

I feel much the same way. I spent a small fortune on my first and only DSLR back around 2004 (Canon 1D MkII). I have used a few before then including the Canon D30 (?), the 10D, and the original 1D. I embraced Digital pretty heavily and learned how to shoot with those cameras, edit in Photoshop, and make very nice Epson prints. Shortly before that I bought a used 4x5 filed camera and an old Kodak lens. I dabbled with that a little, but the newness of digital still had me seduced and that's what I mainly concentrated on.

After a while, this started to be less of a challenge and I found myself wanting to go back to shooting film. I have several film cameras, but wanted a rangefinder. I bought a couple of used Canonnets on Ebay. Then I purchased a couple of Diana cameras, and a modified Holga, then some pinhole cameras. Then 2 years ago I found a great deal on an M6 on Ebay, and then purchased a used Summicron 50 at KEH.

A friend of mine (my retired photo professor) gave me a freezer full of film recently, as well as two top notch enlargers - a Bessler that does 4x5, and a Leica Focomat with auto focus as well as enough paper and chemistry to last me quite a while (even Ilfochrome chemicals and paper).

So needless to say I have a lot of film, plenty of film cameras, some nice darkroom equipment and no excuses.

My goal is to get this set up in the new year and make some traditional darkroom prints. I used to do this in college and it was a pure joy for me.

Some snaps of my freezer - incidentally shot with a digital P&S...

 

[John Lawrence]

I often frequent a camera shop that deals only in film cameras and related paraphernalia and business is booming. The owner is selling more and more cameras to young people and has been requested by local colleges to supply them with film cameras for their photography courses.

John

 

[keytarjunkie]

I am 19 years old. My first camera, when I was in 1st grade, was a digital camera. I never picked up a film camera until I was 16, my dad's old pentax spotmatic F. He didn't want me wasting money on film when I had a perfectly nice Nikon digital SLR (a D50), but I preferred film to digital then. Even now, I have a very nice Nikon digital SLR and weeks go by without me using it. I'll really only pick it up for sports, concerts, and the occasional portrait. Everything else is film - I'm now using a Leica M2, a Yashica T4, and a Pentax 6x7. Couldn't be happier. Digital definitely has its uses, but I prefer working with film.

 

[pvdhaar]

I just wrote a thread about this on Photo.net and it turned into a total s**t storm of arguments.

That's why I gave up on p.net; it's no fun anymore. Hasn't been since digital made a real impact in 2005 for that matter. Some of the moderators go berserk when anyone says they like film. Well, OK, you can say you like film.. as long as you make clear in the same sentence that digital is superior 😱 I'm gravitating back towards film myself again, and I can do without the bad vibes p.net is radiating.. There's more fun to be had going out with the XA2 and snapping random stuff 😎

 

[Stuart John]

p net gets a bits messed up every now and then but most of the time it's not so bad. There are issues with p net though. Most threads about film somehow get deleted these days.

 

[sepiareverb]

Since pretty much everyone has a computer, and setting up a darkroom is not within most people's means I don't see a huge rush to film. I teach photo at a college, and while my classes are always full I only get one student a year who dives into film beyond that semester or two.

 

[pobe]

I'm closing in on 30, do I still count as being young? Anyway, while I still shoot digital I love using film. Partly because I like to use old cameras, but it's also about the smell of chemicals, the wait-to-see-if-I-nailed-it instead of the instant-gratification-lcd and the great feeling when you pull out a roll from the tank and watch the pictures that have magically appeared. I might be wrong, but something tells me that feeling even though it might fade will never go away.

I haven't been long in the rangefinder game, but I've fallen in love with it. If I could afford an M9 I'd probably get one. I've been toying with the idea to save for a cheaper digital RF (I think I'd be annoyed by the crop), but even if I got one I'm quite sure I'd still shoot the odd roll of film...

 

[unixrevolution]

I grew up in the film era (I'm 28 and 4 days, happy birthday to me!), but I didn't get into photography until the digital era had already been going. I bought a used K1000 to learn on before I got a DSLR. I still have and love my K10D Digital, and it's very, very useful for many things, but I adore film and film cameras. I'm glad I'm not alone.

 

[shadowfox]

Now *that* is a healthy film-freezer 😀 🙂

 

[user237428934]

It's always about being cool for younger people. When all people still had film cameras then the first digital users were cool. The first DSLR was cool. The first FF DSLR was cool. Now everybody has a DSLR or FF DSLR. What's cool now... going back to film.

 

[Mikeds80]

I got into film because it was the cheapest way to get a FF SLR and wide angle lenses. My 35mm nikon ended up being far more enjoyable to use than my canon DSLR and has pretty much usurped the throne. With that said, I also think film is just really neat in general and have a FSU RF on the way (fingers crossed that it actually works!)

 

[daveleo]

and (some) old people are re-turning to film

and (some) old people are re-turning to film

i love the convenience of digital photography as much as anyone, and will continue to use my Nikon, Leica and Panasonic digitals, but i have rediscovered film photography and have been using my film cameras and even bought a "new" Fuji GS645.
this rediscovered world of taking care BEFORE your hit that shutter button is just like the "good old days" and i am loving it.

i'm also setting up a basement darkroom (a totally new experience for me ! )

film is dead . . . . like acoustic music and painting and writing are dead 🙄

 

[dave lackey]

I agree with the observation of young people back into film. I sold my Bessa-R with 35mm f2.5 Color Skopar to a local photography student (I wanted to buy an M-mount body) and she told me that it was the trend now for students in art colleges to be only shooting film. If they need digital, they've got their phones.

Ah-ha!

Now there it is, the death of the digital SLR is nigh... all due to the cellphone revolution! Film is alive, it is alive, IT IS ALIVE! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,.... only the Shadow knows and he is not talking...😀

Seriously, this is really a cool turn of events, the younger folks in art schools shooting film and only needing digital when they use their cell phones...🙂

Silver is better!

 

[dtcls100]

Now *that* is a healthy film-freezer 😀 🙂

Better use up that Kodachrome 64 quick! Dwayne's Photo -- the only place in the world still processing Kodachrome -- is going to stop processing the stuff by year end. So if you wait much longer, you won't have any way of processing the film. Kodachrome processing is very involved and cannot be done at home BTW.

 

[pobe]

I currently work as a music teacher at a school. Today a kid looked at my Canon P and said "Is that a REAL camera? Cool!". 🙂

 

[gnuyork]

Better use up that Kodachrome 64 quick! Dwayne's Photo -- the only place in the world still processing Kodachrome -- is going to stop processing the stuff by year end. So if you wait much longer, you won't have any way of processing the film. Kodachrome processing is very involved and cannot be done at home BTW.

Yes, I know. Kodachrome is all I've been shooting lately. Once Kodak made the announcement, I scrambled to find some, this was actually not very easy, but then when I did (at freestyle) I ordered a bunch to save for special projects. Well then Dwayne's made their announcement and so bottom line that's all I've been shooting lately, and unfortunately I am not shooting anything special with it. Just trying to use it up.

 

[ElectroWNED]

As a 24 year old film-only user, I can't help but feel a little guilty or ashamed that this film-resurgence is simply the result of people doing something because it is trendy.