Amusing misconceptions about film cameras

[Pál_K]

The ultimate irony. People take high quality, immediately shareable with the entire world iphone photos, no one bats an eyelid. You try to take the same photo with a film camera, people are like, what are you going to use that for?.

Sure, because someone with a Real Camera (whether film or digital) is SeRiOuS and a possible Threat!

Same thing happened to me at an LPGA tournament with my F2 vs everyone with smartphones making photos. However, it was my fault not knowing the rules that only officially approved photographers (e.g. press) could photograph the game.

 

[Out to Lunch]

The ultimate boomer thread.

 

[Godfrey]

So what is the point of this thread? To belittle people who are simply ignorant?

I dunno ... As Arthur C Clarke once said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Camera ... film or digital ... are certainly highly advanced technology. I teach a lot of people, old and young, how their cameras work all the time. No one understands until taught by someone, whether that someone is a person who is kind enough to do so, or a book that someone wrote.

I don't like this notion that everyone who doesn't know everything you do ought to be made fun of.

G

 

[Retro-Grouch]

The ultimate boomer thread.

Um, Dude, read the room...

 

[nickthetasmaniac]

I think there is a grain of truth that „millennials“ are not super smart but on the other hand they don‘t have to be. :angel:

I think that the monthly RFF 'lets give millennials a kicking' thread should perhaps remember that millennials are now 40+. As least get the terminology right...

I'm with Godfrey on this. There is a tendency towards gatekeeping in the film community that is simply unpleasant.

 

[Richard G]

Look up "The word words in photography thread" from years ago here. It is hilarious.

I have always liked this one. "So you've got this film camera, with film in it, which you can still get, and which gives you prints from the film. I get that. But then somehow you get that same picture on the computer there and even on flickr, which is basically like the internet... So how does that work?"

 

[Richard G]

And just when they think they've got it you whip out the M9-P in silver. "Got it! Another old Leica right? Black and white film again?" "Nope. This one is actually digital."

 

[santino]

What's really scary is that a lot of 20 y/o somethings (security guards for instance), for whatever reason, regard the use of film cameras in public as a security threat. iPhones - no problem!

Because „millennials“ are smarter than we all think. They know that film is considered a much more solid evidence than digital and therefore is harder to manipulate

 

[leicapixie]

We, who are the banner carrying (not cards) survivors have heard most of these words! The Sad part is trying to explain " sunsets" of exposed leader beginnings are not photos! Sorry.
My gripe with digital is the Book, one needs to download. to sort of understand the Digital camera. And the updates. And the newer Updates. The phone-camera is not a threat to film users! It is to all Digital DSLR and Mirrorless.

 

[Richard G]

I also find that the most puzzlement is in my contemporaries, in their 60s. When I gave my daughter a 17th birthday present of a Nikon F3, I downloaded a pdf of the manual and emailed it to her from work. (Not beyond my skill level.) I got home to find she had loaded the film and had taken four shots. So you read the instructions already? No, I watched a YouTube video of how to load film in a Nikon SLR.

 

[ptpdprinter]

We, who are the banner carrying (not cards) survivors have heard most of these words!

Survivors? Do you really identify as a survivor?

 

[Richard G]

Where I buy film there seem to be twice as many young women as young men buying film. Young men (not only young men) like technology. Before cars were affordable in Britain it was stereo equipment, so many young people steeped in popular music, which included most particularly, jazz. The Sony Walkman of the early ‘80s started the decline of the equipment choice to just whatever portable was going, with the ultimate perversity to some eyes (ears) a connection for playing your iPod through your Yamaha R5 to your Wharfdale speakers. Fast forward 70 years from the stereo hay days and many guys aren’t into film because they’re into vinyl. For the young women, much as it is obvious many of them love their particular camera, it seems from what you can see on the internet that it is really photography that they are interested in, photographs. Not saying that there aren’t men with the same inclinations but it seems to me that young women have a purer intent.

They’ve seen the magic and mystery and particularity of film.

 

[Pál_K]

So what is the point of this thread? To belittle people who are simply ignorant?
…

It is about amusing misconceptions - no more, no less. In this case, I thought the concept of a film cassette refilling overnight was pretty funny. Such a thing has no paradigm in either the analog or digital world. I also deliberately left it anonymous.

It is no more belittling than any other amusing situation that occurs in life. We all make mistakes, we all are ignorant about one thing or another. That is true of all ages. Sometimes what we do is amusing and people would laugh with the understanding that humans sometimes do or say silly things. But the West in recent decades has lost its sense of humor. I keep forgetting that.

 

[Godfrey]

To write about an amusing comment/moment when another person who had a funny brain fade or odd misconception is often a delightful tale. For one person to tell that tale, and then have thirty other tales along with judgements how "those millenials are stupid" and "young people are clueless" is not a delightful little bit of humor. It makes us all look judgmental and sanctimonious, unwelcoming of "ignorant people who are not as smart as we are." I really don't like that at all.

My rule is: Only tell tales of mistakes that I make. It's much more humorous to tell a silly tale about yourself than about other people, and it doesn't tend to bring out the absurd judgements and generalizations about "other people." I make plenty of mistakes myself... I'm always amused and happy to share my own follies with friends and forum buddies.

G

 

[Pál_K]

I understand that viewpoint and don’t disagree with it. However, once the thread has begun it follows whatever the responders wish to write about - sometimes it does devolve into the extremely tired analog vs digital, sometimes it does devolve into generational sniping (whether millennials or boomers). That can quickly become depressing and exasperating.

But sometimes there can be amusement without malice. There was a YouTube channel where elementary school kids were presented with rotary phones, a typewriter, and a few other 1960’s household objects and it was amusing to watch, but also admiration in seeing how they examined the objects and reasoned about how they worked. In the end, reading the comments, I believe there was great respect for the kids. There may have been a similar channel where seniors are presented with something like Microsoft Word, or whatever, I think that would be funny too.

 

[seany65]

I don't think this thread is actually about 'bashing' anyone, just telling of amusing tales about the misconceptions that people have about cameras. Of course, the idea of 'misconception', is widely open to interpretation, and so there's a lot of differences of opinion in a thread like this.

 

[Capt. E]

I'm am regularly amazed when someone remarks about how an old photograph is "so sharp and detailed!"

 

[KoNickon]

I think that at least a small set of people asking what would appear to be dumb questions are actually just looking a little attention from the internet. For instance, folks on Leica social media and forums like to ask the same questions over and over and over, without obviously searching to see that the question had been answered 5 times before in extensive discussions.

Ahem -- that sounds like a lot of the threads on this forum....

 

[KoNickon]

Look up "The word words in photography thread" from years ago here. It is hilarious.

I have always liked this one. "So you've got this film camera, with film in it, which you can still get, and which gives you prints from the film. I get that. But then somehow you get that same picture on the computer there and even on flickr, which is basically like the internet... So how does that work?"

This one hits close to home. I daresay it does for a lot of others here, given the problems folks seem to have uploading pictures to this forum (which I've never even tried).

 

[Pál_K]

I'm am regularly amazed when someone remarks about how an old photograph is "so sharp and detailed!"

A few restaurants and businesses around here have large photos of the city and waterways - these are 4 x 5 feet or larger and made with large format cameras in the early 1900’s through 1960’s. The detail is amazing. I’ve never noticed anyone actually looking at the photos with interest though.