How many keepers per roll of film

[sevo]

One in a hundred rolls, maybe, when it comes to works I'd put into a retrospective exhibition...

 

[tlitody]

One in a hundred rolls, maybe, when it comes to works I'd put into a retrospective exhibition...

so it would be pretty unrepresentative of your work then😕

Sounds more like you want an exhibition of your best pictures ever.

 

[DNG]

1-8 on a 36x
Because I may shoot up to 3 of the same capture, if time allows

 

[dmr]

my dad told me when i started photography that one really good one per roll was a perfectly fine target.

If I get one really good one per 24/36 exp roll, I'm very happy. 🙂

 

[Mcary]

If someone believes their getting 5 keeps per roll and that if by shooting a 100 rolls they'll get 500 keepers they're either kidding themselves or they've decided that mediocre is good enough for them. The question we as photographers need to ask ourselves is mediocre good enough? If the answer is no, then one needs to judge their work on an ever increasing critical scale.

 

[robert blu]

It's difficult to give an exact answer for me. Sometimes I shoot just to have a visual record of what interest me (a place or an event or a moment which makes me happy and I desire to remember in future ) and in this case I dare to say that 8-12 shots from a 36 film are good.
But when I shoot for a personal project, when I desire to develop an idea that I have most of cases the "real" good one are between 1 and 3 each 36.
And in some cases it does not always happen in every film I shoot.
Experienced teachers say that editing 3/36 id a good starting point.
robert

 

[emraphoto]

i'd say a conservative rate, based on images i will print/file/sell, would be 1 image for every 3 rolls.

 

[Brian Legge]

So for those at the 1 in 36 shots is worth keeping, what didn't work in the other 35 pictures?

My standards are evidently on the extremely low end. When it comes to shots I feel are worth scanning, touching up and sharing, I probably average around 6 per roll. I've had a few rolls of 0 and a few where a large number of the pictures - 20+ - were keepers. The lower count rolls are often rolls where I'm trying to get inspired again or where the moments are more than I can figure out how to capture with a photograph.

If the keeper means 'pictures that sell' or 'pictures you print', I haven't shot a keeper in 12 years.

 

[akremer]

39 keepers per roll of 35mm.

 

[igi]

Usually 5 keepers🙂

 

[januaryman]

By "keeper" I'm using a definition other than my own "keeper" screening process that accepts all in focus, non-insipid shots that were nearly or perfectly exposed. I keep all these to examine and look back on, deleting those hopeless cases I discover after much futzing with

- but by KEEPER standards here, I mean those shots I find that have a "Wow" factor or are good enough to print and/or display proudly, I picked the first, 1-8/36. Sometimes I get zip, sometimes I get a handful. It all depends on subject, weather, locale and my mood. Sometimes even an accidental shutter press gives me an image I like. Not necessarily enjoyed by anyone else, but a happy accident.

 

[ChrisPlatt]

39 keepers per roll of 35mm.

Same here, and 78 when I order double prints! 😉

Chris

 

[Hammerklavier]

I would say 0-3 per roll and I am happy if there is at least one per roll.

I think this keeper rate really depends on your competency, what you are shooting, the definition of "keeper" as others had mentioned and perhaps, your personal expectation of what qualifies as a keeper.

I love to shoot street and a lot goes to the bin due to my own inanticipation of the scene and undeveloped photographic eye.

 

[RichC]

Depends on what I shoot - I tend to shoot still lifes for personal projects, and then it's a 100% hit rate - I usually take half a dozen shots to be on the safe side but usually the first shot suffices. Ditto for my commercial work - again. usually set up.

If it involves random moving stuff over which I have no control - passers by, for example - then my hit rate can go down to 1-2 per 36 (a guess - I've never used film).

 

[andreios]

Curiously enough, more keepers from a roll of 120 than from a roll of 35mm... And when shooting 4x5 about 2-4 from one "session" (or standing) using 4 or 5 film holders.

 

[ChipMcD]

Well, one the basis of a so-far ridiculously small sample, the results line up with the opinion of some photography teacher - expert, long forgotten (or never committed to memory) who said that on 35mm, experienced photographers get 3 good shots... and on 120 experienced photographers get... guess what... 3 good shots.

This is exactly my thought. I think it may be true. That's probably because most of us have to slow up considerably when using 120. I started off with an old TLR in high school and was parsimonious with shots because of the cost/shot. It inadvertently taught me to slow up and think before letting fly.

 

[Trooper]

Nearly everything I shoot is a keeper--but I have incredibly low standards.

 

[redisburning]

5-10?

I like to take pictures of tall buildings that Ive scoped out beforehand in golden hour with a lens that is a known quantity to me. It artificially pushes things up. While Im there I have time to walk around, pick my angles beforehand and then take some shots.

When I take pictures of people (the other thing I like) then it tends to be much lower.

To me a shot that is a keeper is one that I can look at and say, "well, it's not horrible". my cut off for horrible is probably higher than most people's good though.

 

[kshapero]

I'll take 2 real keepers per roll any day.

 

[Contarama]

Well I got a camera with a much better bigger viewfinder and a less complicated focusing screen and my keeper count seems to be on the rise! 🙂