chut
Luceat Lux Vestra
4 or 5 keepers in a 36 roll on average that I'd upload to my flickr. It'd be great to have 1 winner per roll, but it's more like 1 in every 3 rolls for me at this point.
projectbluebird
Film Abuser
Actually, I feel cheated if I get less than 38. For some reason when I shoot commercial 36-exp rolls with my M3, I always get a few extra. typically 38, but sometimes 39, and once 41!
As for keepers per roll, 2-3 seems to be my average. That's good enough for me.
I prefer 24-exp rolls to 36, but when I rolled my own I made 'em 30-exp. As to "keepers" per roll, I don't count, but I'm happy with whatever good ones appear, and the occasional one that is really satisfying. For some reason, though, what I think is really satisfying is often not admired by others... 
payasam
a.k.a. Mukul Dube
Film was scarce in India, and expensive, when I started out. We were told, in effect, "Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes."
sem
Registered User
five or six are looking good after developing and scanning. But mostly just one or two keeper in the end.
Sometimes I am not carefull so something went wrong or if I test a new lens and don t like the results.
So I am happy with one or two to keep and look at quite after some time.
sem
Sometimes I am not carefull so something went wrong or if I test a new lens and don t like the results.
So I am happy with one or two to keep and look at quite after some time.
sem
Aziz
Established
My standards have risen through the years. I'm happy with 1-2 per roll.
stuken
Established
Funny I have the exact opposite problem. The more I learn the more self critical I become.
ARCHIVIST
Well-known
At least 6 good (+) images per roll for the task at hand.
After 35 years behind the camera I should perhaps expect more.
Regards
Peter
After 35 years behind the camera I should perhaps expect more.
Regards
Peter
Last edited:
Steve Bellayr
Veteran
There is a big difference between perfect and keeper. I don't know what is meant by perfect but I get a good many keepers.
MaxElmar
Well-known
Most of my shots are OK technically, but if I get 3-4 photos I really like to look at on a roll - OK then. Funny thing is, this 3-4 holds for 120 - which is a pretty high pecentage. Then 4 x 5 - well I like about every other one, almost 50%. My 5 x 7 - well it's like magic, I just love most of the shots!
Yes, it's magic - the magic of self-editing and pre-visualization. I need more of that in my 35mm and digital work....
Chris L.
Yes, it's magic - the magic of self-editing and pre-visualization. I need more of that in my 35mm and digital work....
Chris L.
gns
Well-known
Quote:"There is a big difference between perfect and keeper. I don't know what is meant by perfect but I get a good many keepers."
I guess there is a big difference between keeper and keeper, depending on who you are asking.
Perfect? Can a photograph be perfect? That would be a good thread of its own...Show me a perfect photograph (yours, or that of another).
Cheers,
Gary
I guess there is a big difference between keeper and keeper, depending on who you are asking.
Perfect? Can a photograph be perfect? That would be a good thread of its own...Show me a perfect photograph (yours, or that of another).
Cheers,
Gary
dmr
Registered Abuser
It depends on what I'm shooting. If I'm just shooting for pure pleasure, if I get one great one per roll, I'm very happy, if I get two, I'm tickled pink.
If I do some special project though, like a walk-through of a neighborhood for a photo blog, I expect to get more ready-for-prime-time shots.
If I do some special project though, like a walk-through of a neighborhood for a photo blog, I expect to get more ready-for-prime-time shots.
dacaccia
M246&X100V&GFX 50R
how could one tell? this is soo much different from session to session ... depends on how I feel, how the situations are, what I am able to see today. There are films with 10-15 shots I like - and films with no shot or 1 shot. There are films which contain a "great shot", and those which contain only mediocre ones.
Cheers, dacaccia
Cheers, dacaccia
cosmonot
uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝʞ
With my manual 35mm cameras, I am happy if most of the frames are evenly exposed and I didn't forget to take the lens cap off. As long as each roll is slightly better than the previous I'm pretty happy... But at this point film and processing is cheap so I don't have any problems with shooting a lot.
le vrai rdu
Well-known
6 picture out of 36 with 35 mm
4 out of 12 with medium format
4 out of 12 with medium format
40oz
...
it depends on the event or lack thereof, for me.
An Italian auto show I attended recently resulted in almost all hits, meaning I captured on film pretty much exactly what I envisioned.
A music/art/photography outdoor event I attended last summer resulted in a couple halfway decent shots out of ~48 shots/two rolls.
A Bastille Day street festival last summer yielded a complete roll of personal accomplishments
A trip to the corner coffee shop or local bar generally yields a shot or two per day/(1/2 roll), but that's the place I go to experiment with hip shots, timer shots, over- & under-exposure, etc.
A once-in-a-lifetime trip to NYC, Europe, etc. yields very few wasted film out of perhaps three rolls/72 frames.
I think alot depends on how I feel about the scene. If it's nothing special really, I am finding the limits of what works and what I can and cannot do. If it is something I am excited about and have limited film, I make every shot count, using all I learned from the coffee shop experiments and bar shots.
There's times I am experimenting and times I am playing for real. I experiment so I can get the shot when it counts. I guess I don't really consider "keeper ratios" in the sense most of you seem to.
An Italian auto show I attended recently resulted in almost all hits, meaning I captured on film pretty much exactly what I envisioned.
A music/art/photography outdoor event I attended last summer resulted in a couple halfway decent shots out of ~48 shots/two rolls.
A Bastille Day street festival last summer yielded a complete roll of personal accomplishments
A trip to the corner coffee shop or local bar generally yields a shot or two per day/(1/2 roll), but that's the place I go to experiment with hip shots, timer shots, over- & under-exposure, etc.
A once-in-a-lifetime trip to NYC, Europe, etc. yields very few wasted film out of perhaps three rolls/72 frames.
I think alot depends on how I feel about the scene. If it's nothing special really, I am finding the limits of what works and what I can and cannot do. If it is something I am excited about and have limited film, I make every shot count, using all I learned from the coffee shop experiments and bar shots.
There's times I am experimenting and times I am playing for real. I experiment so I can get the shot when it counts. I guess I don't really consider "keeper ratios" in the sense most of you seem to.
Last edited:
jky
Well-known
On a trip last year, I used approx 25 rolls (36 exposures each) and thought that about 25 shots were decent. So the math indicates about 3% hit rate. I'm happy with that.
Merkinz
Member
I used to think if I didn't get at least 10 on a 36 roll that I really liked that I wasn't doing well. This was quite detrimental to my hobby and it became more like work... and work that I was failing at. I ended up having a hiatus for a couple of months and ever since I came back to it I have a totally different mind set.
I voted 1 because its nice to that 1 good one from a roll that you can pin up. But my feeling is that if I ENJOYED shooting the roll then it was a success, even if there are no good photos.
I enjoy photography alot more now
I voted 1 because its nice to that 1 good one from a roll that you can pin up. But my feeling is that if I ENJOYED shooting the roll then it was a success, even if there are no good photos.
I enjoy photography alot more now
J. Borger
Well-known
My WOW pictures from 5 years ago are throw-aways today.
Ansel Adams was satisfied with one realy good picture a year.
Winogrand shot several 100.000 frames while the iconic pictures we know from all those years of hard labour is probably less than 0.001% he shot.
How many Kertesz pictures do we know about 200-300 -400 ....... from 50 years photography!
Yes when asked to shoot a wedding or some portraits of friends with a fixed goal i would want at least 6 good frames from a role. But no way near that for personal work that realy counts. I think for that kind of work 1 out of 35 is far to ambitious.
Ansel Adams was satisfied with one realy good picture a year.
Winogrand shot several 100.000 frames while the iconic pictures we know from all those years of hard labour is probably less than 0.001% he shot.
How many Kertesz pictures do we know about 200-300 -400 ....... from 50 years photography!
Yes when asked to shoot a wedding or some portraits of friends with a fixed goal i would want at least 6 good frames from a role. But no way near that for personal work that realy counts. I think for that kind of work 1 out of 35 is far to ambitious.
FifthLeaf
amateur
I think a better question is "how many rolls per keeper?"
I haven't been photographing terribly long and have only shot a couple hundred rolls of film, but I have yet to have one I'm truly satisfied with yet.
I haven't been photographing terribly long and have only shot a couple hundred rolls of film, but I have yet to have one I'm truly satisfied with yet.