I think I’m film-phobic

T

texchappy

Well-known
Local time
5:24 PM
Joined
Jun 22, 2012
Messages
316
View My Gallery
I’ve been contemplating film versus digital workflow. Even though I have an F2 and an FTn, I only use them occasionally. As I’ve thought about film I have a deep reservation.

Part of it stems from my checkered experience with film. I lost a lot of good shots of our honeymoon because a cheap Minolta P & S didn’t load correctly. Then I brought out my F2 for the birth of my second son. Film loaded correctly but got lost in the mail on the way to the developer so I lost those as well.

When I was shooting my F2 this morning, I had about 8 shots to go and was going to try to take pictures of the kids to use it up. I was caught in the conundrum of not ‘wasting’ shots but wanting to get the film to the developer.

Not sure I want to deal with the chemicals involved in B & W and finding good developers is hard.

Going to run film through my Zorki but the more I contemplate film the more I dread it.
 
texchappy said:
Part of it stems from my checkered experience with film. I lost a lot of good shots of our honeymoon because a cheap Minolta P & S didn’t load correctly. Then I brought out my F2 for the birth of my second son. Film loaded correctly but got lost in the mail on the way to the developer so I lost those as well.
Click to expand...

The same happens with digital, just as frequently - plenty of people complain that their memory cards got corrupted in-camera or at the print kiosk in the mall.

texchappy said:
Not sure I want to deal with the chemicals involved in B & W
Click to expand...

You are American, I assume? A irrational fear of "developer fumes" is quite common among US contributors to all the photo forums I frequent. I sometimes wonder why - perhaps the mental imprint of decades of "you push the button, we do the rest" subliminally anti-DIY darkroom advertising by Kodak?

In any case modern ready mix photo chemistry is in the same toxicity class as any household cleaner or hair dye, and the environmentally far more conscious (and sometimes panicky) Germans have much less fear of photo chemistry.
 
@Sevo: Guess I’ve been lucky with my cards (knock wood) and haven’t had those problems. As to the chemicals, not really afraid of fumes as much as I was thinking about setting up and learning something else new right now. (last part sounds kinda silly and close minded but I’m going through a lot personally and physically and it reflects reality).
 
B&W film development is easy and fun to learn, but if you are too loaded up with other issues right now, perhaps best to put it off. That is, unless you need a good diversion to take your mind off other things.

Film development requires little in the way of equipment and chemicals. Everything you need to develop 35mm film can be stored in a drawer or small box somewhere. It doesn't require a darkroom, just a light proof dark bag for loading the film onto a reel.

B&W printing, on the other hand, is a lot more work to setup and learn, and it requires more equipment (principally an enlarger) and supplies (paper), plus a darkroom. While a dedicated darkroom is nice, you can setup a temporary one as needed pretty easily.

So to get into B&W without the complexity of printing, just concentrate on the much easier process of developing film. Then you can use a hybrid workflow to scan your negs rather than enlarge them.

Another idea to get over your film-phobia is to buy inexpensive color C-41 film, shoot it, and then have it processed and sleeved, with or without scanning. Omit the prints. If you have a scanner, doing your own scanning can save you a bit of money. Someone in another thread mentioned a chain of 99 cent stores that sell color negative film for 99 cents a roll, so check to see if you have anything like that in your area. Costco and Walmart do really cheap C-41 processing.

The idea of buying cheap film is just to get you over your phobia. Once you aren't so worried about wasting shots, you can buy any film you like.

Just some ideas. Film doesn't have to be terribly expensive, and whether you do your own processing or not, it can be both fun and rewarding.
 
Personally I think you should never miss a once in a lifetime event. I shoot both. Nice quality digital cameras are cheap enough. Why do you have to chose between one or the other?
 
texchappy said:
I

When I was shooting my F2 this morning, I had about 8 shots to go and was going to try to take pictures of the kids to use it up. I was caught in the conundrum of not ‘wasting’ shots but wanting to get the film to the developer.
Click to expand...

This is the strangest thing I've ever seen posted, let me get this straight:

You were shooting film and wanted to finish the roll, yet you didn't want to waste shots?
Couldn't you just carry more than one film? If you rarely use film buy cheap 24 exp films if you shoot say 15 shots and the shots on the roll are needed quickly just re-wind mid roll and take them to the processor.
Or when you finish the session do the same, send them to a lab that charges on a per print basis. Film is still cheap enough to do that.

Or if you can't wait just use digital you get the shot straight away–and there's nothing wrong with admitting you're impatient.

What I do is carry several films, if I'm having an inspired day I might shoot them all, there are also days when I go out and shoot nothing, either the light isn't right or I have the wrong frame of mind.

Nothing wrong with keeping a film in a camera for a week or so in that case, I feel that I'm a better judge of my images if there is a gap between shooting and viewing anyhow.
But if you can't wait use use a DSLR...
 
sevo said:
In any case modern ready mix photo chemistry is in the same toxicity class as any household cleaner or hair dye, and the environmentally far more conscious (and sometimes panicky) Germans have much less fear of photo chemistry.
Click to expand...

Well, from what I hear, household cleaners and other chemicals used at home by countless families are actually more dangerous than the current, ready mix photo chemicals mentioend by sevo...
 
Photo_Smith said:
This is the strangest thing I've ever seen posted, let me get this straight:

You were shooting film and wanted to finish the roll, yet you didn't want to waste shots?
Couldn't you just carry more than one film? If you rarely use film buy cheap 24 exp films if you shoot say 15 shots and the shots on the roll are needed quickly just re-wind mid roll and take them to the processor.
Or when you finish the session do the same, send them to a lab that charges on a per print basis. Film is still cheap enough to do that.

Or if you can't wait just use digital you get the shot straight away–and there's nothing wrong with admitting you're impatient.

What I do is carry several films, if I'm having an inspired day I might shoot them all, there are also days when I go out and shoot nothing, either the light isn't right or I have the wrong frame of mind.

Nothing wrong with keeping a film in a camera for a week or so in that case, I feel that I'm a better judge of my images if there is a gap between shooting and viewing anyhow.
But if you can't wait use use a DSLR...
Click to expand...

Do I get a prize for the strangest!?! I guess I should explain that I’m not mobile right now with being down with a bad neck and back. I have to wait for my wife to be taking me somewhere or going somewhere myself. I was trying to use the last few shots on the roll because I’m too cheap to just rewind.
 
I am as film-centric as nearly anyone else here, but I think you should stick with digital. Just the very thought of fearing what might go wrong with film means you will be subconsciously prone to errors, sabotaging yourself, etc., when it comes to film.

A critical component of photography is confidence and being at ease, even in situations where things are tense, there is a base level of being comfortable with your tools and methods.
 
Trius said:
I am as film-centric as nearly anyone else here, but I think you should stick with digital. Just the very thought of fearing what might go wrong with film means you will be subconsciously prone to errors, sabotaging yourself, etc., when it comes to film.

A critical component of photography is confidence and being at ease, even in situations where things are tense, there is a base level of being comfortable with your tools and methods.
Click to expand...


Noooooooo. 🙂 Don't discourage him. He just posted this other thread: Film to make me say ‘wow” film
 
I'm still playing around with both. We'll see how the XP2 I have in my F2 works out. BTW, stupid me I thought I was nearing the end but was thinking 24 rather than 36. I also have some fresh Fuji Pro 400H ready to go into the Zorki when I finally get it.
 
I'm with Trius.
If a man has that many reservations on using film, digital is the way to go.
Nothing wrong with that at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom