Amusing misconceptions about film cameras

Pál_K

Pál_K

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For those of us who were born in and lived through many decades where film was the only photographic medium, it’s sometimes amusing to hear a question or remark from someone where film and film cameras are a totally foreign concept.

While browsing through the comments and questions on one seller’s website, I saw this question (name omitted):

”So last night I just bought a mini 75 camera. I put it together, and it works just fine, but I need to know does the cameras film only go up to 10 pics or does it just refill over night or do I need to keep buying more film after ten”
 
Is this for real? :troll:
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:
 
santino said:
Is this for real? :troll:
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:
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Try showing one of them a rotary phone. Or ask them to drive a standard. But let's be charitable; I'm a total (Boomer) fool around most current digital technology. And the millenials are as amused by me as I am by them, so I guess we're even.
I'm putting my Instax under my pillow tonight. Free film, YES!!!!
 
Some other jewels we've all encountered...

--- "DO THEY STILL MAKE FILM FOR THAT?"
No, I just hiked 3 miles up this trail to the overlook at 12,000 feet with a 6x9 field camera and a monster Gitzo because I needed the workout. Film is dead and gone.

--- "PEOPLE WITH FILM CAMERAS WHO ASK FOR YOUR PICTURE ARE TRYING TO MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE ONE OF DIANE ARBUS' FREAKS!"
No, I'm trying to do exactly the opposite. But I could. Remember that.

--- "WHY SHOOT WITH A FILM CAMERA WHEN YOU COULD MAKE JUST AS GOOD A PICTURE WITH A CELL PHONE?"
Not even deserving of a response. We all know that's untrue, right? Don't we? Yes?

The truth is, we film shooters are at this point a pretty odd bunch, by most conventional standards. Being misunderstood is part of the game. Let your freak flag fly.
 
santino said:
Is this for real? :troll:
…
Click to expand...

It was a real question on the site of a well-known NYC retailer. It was answered politely.

Some other comments I’ve heard over the years about film cameras:

”That’s really heavy” (said of my M3 - same comment said about a mechanical watch)

“It has a lot of numbers on it” (said about some SLR & lens)

”How do you know how the photo will come out?” (my answer: “experience”

”My dad used to shoot those”

”Can you make color photos with that?”
 
I could point out that some of those posted aren't misconceptions but merely a lack of knowledge, this lack is then adjusted by being given the answers to those questions, which is what questions are for.

I'm hoping one day to find someone who thinks a "fully automatic camera" goes on holiday for you, takes the photos, comes back and gets them printed for you, but I don't hold out much hope.
 
Not so long ago I was showing an album of slides. Young guy had never seen anything like that. Question: What special camera do you need to shoot this?
 
On occasions when I've given someone an instant print straight out of the camera, their usual response is to shake it and wave it about vigorously to make it develop.
 
"Is it micro four-thirds?". No, it's a ******* Leica IIIg.

And slightly off script "Is it a Zorki 4?". No, it's a Leica IIIa.

Both above asked by gentlemen well old enough to remember what film is..
 
Malcolm M said:
Both above asked by gentlemen well old enough to remember what film is..
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I'll back this up... I do tend to get the most confusing nonsense from folks in their 60s instead of kids in their 20s, usually people who only ever owned something crappy like an Instamatic back in the day, but their oversized all-auto DSLR kits make them feel like a photography expert.

My favourite is the "that thing's too slow to use" response to old rangefinders or TLRs. I always quite enjoy proving that one wrong.
 
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.
 
I'm working at a lab at the moment and the amount of younger people that come in for film developing, and proceed to open the back of the camera, film unwound and in in the spool, rip the film out, and hand it to me over the counter is pretty amazing.

In their defence, most of them learn pretty quickly and nearly all are teenagers.

The other one I hear a lot is "I'm looking for Kodak Gold film' to which I often have to respond - "We don't have any Gold but we gave portra. colorplus or c200" and they come back with "Oh, no I'm looking for gold - I don't think the other ones work in my camera". Kodak is doing something right with their marketing I think.
 
I’ll add my own bit of silliness: as a teenager about ready to buy my first SLR, I went to the library to read about 35mm cameras. The first book I looked at was about the Leica and there was a diagram showing how to trim the leader. Of course, on something like a III, you need to trim the leader in the manner shown so that you can easily slip the film sprocket hole onto the lower cylinder sprocket and not have to worry about immediately aligning the film on the upper sprocket (I can load a IIIf in 20 seconds reliably this way). Anyway, at the time I just thought that’s how all 35mm film needed to be loaded. So, for maybe 20+ years I’d always trim the leader in that manner regardless of camera.
 
davidde1000 said:
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.
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You mean to tell me that there is more to researching than asking Siri?
 
David Murphy said:
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!
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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? I ran into a local politician recently with dozens of people all around snapping smartphone photos. I had my RTS II on me. Of everyone taking photos, the politician's staff member comes up to me, and me only, to ask me what I was taking pictures for. Ugh.
 
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