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

If attention is what you want carry a full frame camera and flash to a rodeo. The women will follow you home.
I do just as good with a full rig as everyone is expecting me to be a photographer and most often think I am the event photographer and at times people ask me to take their pictures.
Try it.

CameraQuest said:
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
Click to expand...
 
Maybe it depends on place... Here in Tokyo shooting with old fashioned cameras seems to be totally normal. I use odd cameras like my Rolle 35, and nobody pays attention. I suppose attention goes to the big and bulky cameras😱...
 
Same for me Stephen, I get a lot of comments when I'm out and about with the Rolleiflex or Rolleicord especially. My Rollei 35s get some comments like "can it actually take pictures with film?"or I used to have a Yashica 124 and it was similar. The M2 gets a lot of attention mostly from young women.
 
I don't have a Rollei, but I have a Mamiya TLR and I can second that there is something about a TLR that is completely disarming. You're no longer a potentially dangerous individual hiding behind a camera... just a quirky individual playing with a harmless old camera. It's like you become a novelty.

I think there's a documentary on Joel Meyerowitz on youtube where he's shooting on the street with a 4x5 or 8x10. That's the ultimate. You're officially completely harmless with a large format camera! Only problem is you've gotta wait for the shot to come to you.

I recently bought my 2nd M6, and I bought a silver one. My original one was black because I thought it'd be less noticeable. I chose silver this time because it's MORE noticeable. Everybody's hiding behind black DSLR's. I want to be the harmless guy with the silver old camera. (Because I *am* the harmless guy with the silver old camera.)
 
It's true that TLRs have a particular charm. I didn't take my Mamiya out on the streets (it's a bit big, and I used it mainly for copying work), but my Rolleicord and Microcord went out for a wander regularly. I felt really self-conscious going from a Minox 35 to a TLR, but folk were keen and interested, and I even got a few people wanting to pose for me.

I got most interest when I used my Ikonta. Funnily enough, twenty years on, I've used my Nettar for street photography, and haven't had a single comment. Odd, really.
 
Slow Down said:
I don't have a Rollei, but I have a
I recently bought my 2nd M6, and I bought a silver one. My original one was black because I thought it'd be less noticeable. I chose silver this time because it's MORE noticeable. Everybody's hiding behind black DSLR's. I want to be the harmless guy with the silver old camera. (Because I *am* the harmless guy with the silver old camera.)
Click to expand...

That's a very good point. I'm not normally susceptible to advertising, but, in the 80s, all cameras were black. And those that weren't black were just totally out of date, grandad! 😀

So I taped up every logo and LED on my Minox for stealth, and got worried about my very silver OM-1. I bought a black SLR, which, ironically, had a very loud mirror clack, so was worse than the OM-1 for candid work.

Now, I appreciate the silver aesthetic. In fact, when I had a chance of buying one of the highly desirable black 35SPs, I passed.

That said, I'm hoping hard that a black Pen Wide on ebay slips under the radar and I get it for a bargain price!

I like the retro looks of some digital cameras, so I hope that, even when I've got a digital in my hands, I'll still be the harmless old bloke with a curious old camera. 🙂
 
Interesting that of the two cameras I carry, the X100 gets all of the attention. After I've brought the VF to my eye and taken a shot, invariably someone will come and ask if it's an old film Leica. Last Monday while eating in a downtown cafe, the manager came over to tell me she had a camera exactly like that back in the '80s.

The odd thing about my Monochrom...no one ever notices or comments. Must be its stealthiness. Well that's not entirely true, I had an old Asian gentleman, a tourist I think, come up to me pointing at my camera, saying "mo-no-crom," followed by a thumbs up sign.
 
once a japanese tourist group noticed me when I was taking pictures with my Contax Rts classic - a gentleman of the group came over to me and said "ah.. Contaaax" 🙂
btw he had a Nikon Df
 
I took my Hasselblad 501 to a very touristy state park a few weeks ago and got tons of questions from everyone else in my group. Mostly along the "can you still buy film?" and "do you have to develop it yourself?" lines. A guy with a 5D Mark III and two of the largest L lenses I've ever seen said he missed film and wished he hadn't sold his Hasselblad. Then he went and shot 6fps at everything in sight 😀
 
When I was in some busier part of San Francisco a younger man with a DSLR around his neck recognized my slow photo taking with a Mamiya 7 and diverted to me just to get a closer look. "Film?" he asked, "Yes" I replied. Then he gave me a thumbs up, we both smiled and he was gone.
 
I was at a carnival with my family and took my OM2n with me. While I was photographing our kids, I got asked by 2 guys about the camera. The thing that surprised them most was that film was still available. One guy asked me if I was not missing any fun by not seeing an instant image of my kids on the camera. I told him I was having double fun; one by using a film camera and second by processing that film myself. He didn't get the second point. 😀
 
They love the oldies

They love the oldies

Me and my cameras, that is. Lots of favorable comments on the Mamiya TLR and the Retina IIc, but my 'new' ETRS will actually draw people who've never seen old cameras. I will admit that the X-E1 also gets some looks and questions.
 
Darshan said:
I was at a carnival with my family and took my OM2n with me. While I was photographing our kids, I got asked by 2 guys about the camera. The thing that surprised them most was that film was still available. One guy asked me if I was not missing any fun by not seeing an instant image of my kids on the camera. I told him I was having double fun; one by using a film camera and second by processing that film myself. He didn't get the second point. 😀
Click to expand...

Actually, it's triple the fun.
3rd being the moment when you scan your images a couple of days/weeks after taking those shots.

I find film shooters easier to approach with as we seem to value more the experience of shooting and capturing the moment more than discussing about the latest gear.
 
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