Film Cameras = More Fun, More New Friends than DIGITAL?

CameraQuest

CameraQuest

Head Bartender
Staff member
Local time
7:12 PM
Joined
Mar 1, 2005
Messages
6,598
Well, its a debatable viewpoint, for sure.

But I generally have more fun shooting with a film camera.
Just as important is that I generally meet more new friends shooting film.

Why? Because film cameras are old fashioned and get a lot more attention than digital cameras getting these days.

People are much more likely to stop me on the street to talk, saying asking about whatever camera I am shooting. Comments generally run into 3 directions

1) someone I knew had a camera similar to yours
2) I had that same camera, or always wanted one
3) where can I get a film camera and get started in film photography?

Of course people don't always ask questions, but in the Los Angeles area strangers are about 1000 times more likely to ask questions about a film camera than a digital.

So, are film cameras more likely to be more fun and a better conversation starter than a digital camera?

Well for me, at least, its definitely true.

Stephen
 
Yes, film camera do bring attention and start conversations, especially from people who have used them in the past . Digicams and DSLRs are so passe.. you see everyone around with one in hand or on their shoulders.
 
Definitely so. I don't spend much time on city sidewalks or other crowded areas but having recognizable film gear on me has been a conversation starter. Including one time I was out with a Bessa-L and a Contax side by side, and was spotted by a guy wanting to talk more gear than I was up for, not to mention our respective female companions :)
 
I get stopped often enough in NYC when using the Fuji X100 or the M9. Generally speaking though... most think they are film cameras. What's funny is it is usually younger women and older men (I'm 38).
 
Agree that film cameras seem to attract more attention, at least more attention than the ubiquitous digital camera. I don't really like the attention myself, and would prefer to have conversations about photography as opposed to cameras, but can understand how more tolerant people than me may like the serendipitous encounters :)
 
People often strike up conversations with me when I'm carrying an analog camera.

One of those conversations led to a $500 discount, and another may have opened the door to a major business deal. Many others were just great, friendly interactions, often when I was thousands of miles from home.

Carrying my DSLR has never led to a single conversation.
 
It's funny how especially Leica M's lead to pleasant conversations. Especially older photographers who dropped film for digital and lost track of their former brand after switching to Canikon digitals. It's difficult to drop down in a bar after a long walk and not have someone come up to you to talk about your camera. Leica is free beers. :D
 
My department chair saw me taking shots with my Leica IIIf one evening and said "Wow! That looks like something from the 50's! Have digital cameras gone back to that style?"

I agree fully, people are in general very interested in film cameras, especially kids (meaning teens and young adults).

Film is currently "cool". Enjoy while it lasts (hopefully a long time).

Randy
 
I get laid all the time because of my Leica...

But seriously I do get stopped probably a few times a month, which gives me a kick to talk about my gear...but it isn't a factor really in why i shoot film at all.

I go to LA a lot for work and stuff and rarely am stopped when shooting. in SF though, way more often...but might be where I shoot in LA
 
I find many folks around my age appreciate film cameras and that gives me the basis to form friendships with like minded people. At most gigs I get hired, I will bring a film camera, many times a TLR such as a Rollei and it becomes a means of introduction to another stranger who is inqustive about the little contraption.

However, I remind myself of a previous famous photographer who said, "the camera doesn't make the picture. Your eyes do."

Have a wonderful rest of the week.
 
True. Not so long ago I was taking pics near a major tourist spot in Vietnam with a Zeiss-Ikon film camera and within minutes all the professional local shooters surrounded me. Big smiles all around. Most of them had been at it since the seventies and wanted to hold this precious thing of the past in their hands.
 
In Chicago there's a lot of tourists and they bring with all types of digital gizmos. My Leicas and my Nikon S2 have been mostly unnoticed when I'm around Millenium Park and other hot spots. In my town, however, people are curious about my analog gear, and I have been asked more questions about my S2 than any of my Leicas. Must add, however, that the M bodies attract more females than males, while the S2 gets the attention of more males than females...

It's fun, though... Two years ago, when I got my Nikon S2 and carried it around with me for about 2 months, I fielded questions and comments about film cameras that gave place to very nice conversations. In other words, film cameras are undeniably cool... outside big cities. :)
 
I have to say that I get into more conversations with strangers when I use my Nikon SP than with any other camera. They are just so darn good looking in a retro-cool kind of way.

My M5 seems to scare women and children with its seething masculinity. ;)
 
I walked around the local city square a couple of weeks ago one Friday evening carrying and shooting a TLR I borrowed from a friend. I got a lot of curious and inquisitive looks, even a bunch of similes. No hostile looks at all. Never had that experience with shooting around strangers before. However, I wasn't trying to shoot the crowds, but mainly just the old buildings around the square since I was trying to get used to a TLR ;)

Anyway, I ordered some more film, and next time I'm going to try to engage strangers a bit more and see what happens.

Long Live Film! (I hope!)
 
I've met people in discussion over my M8, and with my rolleiflex too. I agree that it is the look of a film camera that draws interest–people are either a) surprised that the M8 is digital, or b) they have one. Maybe an M9 sitting in their closet. That they never use :(
 
Almost every time I'm out carrying my M9, people ask me how old it is, and are surprised to find out that it's digital.
 
I've found that shooting with a TLR makes people (strangers, too) instantly relax. They think it's wonderful to be photographed with such an antiquity, and can hardly believe that such a thing still works. Conversations usually follow.
 
Stephen, I agree 100 %. Not only in LA, but also in my remote village in France and all over the world where I travel for my job as well.
Apart from when I shoot with my Samsung P&S (moslty documentary for work or macro shots for my hobbies), when I-on rare occasions-use my M8-2, poeple believe this is a film camera.
I do have fun maintaining and using my old Nikon and leica film gear and they truly are magnets for poeple. I have even been spotted several times in international airports when traveling with screwmounts.
 
A chrome M8 or M9, or a Fuji X100 will get you the same questions, at least in the beginning: just two days ago a girl who was serving me a coffee noticed my chrome M9-P and asked if I develop film. I smiled, showed her the back of the camera and said "Yeah, I do everything in my light room". Her interest vanished.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom