Isn't waiting the nicest thing?

When film was all I had to work with, I'd go out on a session and process the negatives as soon as I returned home. Every time, unless I was traveling. Because seeing what you did, immediately after doing it, is the most effective way to learn what you did right or wrong.

I do the same thing with digital capture. I do my session, then review what I did immediately. I may not finish rendering everything for months, but I always want to know what I did right and wrong while the session is still clear in my memory.

The notion of savoring the time between when I did the session and process the negs, trying to remember what I did, makes no sense to me. I'm busy when I'm not making photographs, with other things, and will forget what I did. There's nothing like having immediate feedback.

G

:: Yes, the M-D typ 262 remains my favorite Leica M of all. :D
 
Hi LynnB,
All is not lost with Kodachrome.
Wiki has a nice brief run down of the steps needed to process it yourself.
You can also develop it to black and white as the first developer is a normal PQ developer.
Just like Cibachrome really.
Or again you could leave it on the shelf with all the other historic processes.
I have a roll too but not even exposed.
I figure that after the digital wave dies down we will all return to film and Kodak will enjoy a revival.
Pigs fly all over Sydney too.
Cheers
Philip
 
robert blu said:
...
Maybe yes, maybe not. But I had forgotten this waiting time between the shot and the results...and I like it!

...
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Well, don't chimp and store the M10's memory card in a safe place for 1-3 weeks before transferring the images, and, or files to your computer.
 
I feel very strongly both ways. With traditional B&W films, I think the wait encourages me to look upon the finished prints (when I finally do develop and print the negatives) in a fresh way, as if I'm seeing the scene for the very first time. It keeps me surprised and not in a rut.


And there is always the Fuji Instax system for those times I don't have time for the wait!
 
I don't mind the wait. They drilled that into us in the military. But I do tend to forget when and where I took certain photos, so I've been taking notes as I shoot, just not recording the exposure data though.


Even when I'm using my digital cams, after first setting it up, and getting a test shot, I don't look at the captured image unless I think I made a composition mistake, or I've had to make a setting change.


Now that I have to send off the film for developing, I tend to forget to do that in a timely fashion, so it's even longer before I see the finished output.


PF
 
"Unlearning" digital photography-related habits is the first hurdle of getting back to film photography and what has held me back from doing much of it.

The last few weeks I finally started shooting a lot of it again, primarily because the lab I found that has a great processing and scanning protocol as I have even less patience or desire to keep the needed chemicals on-hand (or expose myself to them for that matter) and scanning is a time intensive PITA to be perfectly honest. The best case scenario for me is to send the rolls (color and B&W) to the lab (I'm in Texas, the lab is in California) and receive a zip file with all the DNG scans several days later that I can then open in Adobe camera raw and process to my heart's desire.

Chimping while out shooting, rushing home to get the card plugged in and files downloaded and spending the next 2-4 hours processing everything, that all stops when shooting film. It's actually kinda nice just thinking about the process, pressing the shutter release and going on to the next shot without trying to get that perfect capture in the moment, and when I got home, instead of spending the next several hours in front of the screen looking at and processing what I just shot, I did some other things I needed to be doing.

There's now a stream of work going on between me and the lab. Some stuff there, some in the process of getting there, the shooting I am actually doing, and then there's the enjoyment of the cameras I'm using to do all the shooting, an M4 and M6 with all the lenses I've been using with the digital bodies, and the various films I am now in the process of learning the best way to shoot.
 
I guess my problem, if you want to call it that, is that I always do all my own processing. I don't send anything out, ever. So I process my negatives immediately and am sure that I got what I wanted. I might not do anything with those negatives for a while, but I read negatives very well and don't need to finish a rendering immediately to know what I have.

I do the same thing with my digital work: I check the images immediately and am thus certain I have what I wanted. I might then not actually render them to finished form for some time, often months or even years.

G
 
Robert,

Thanks for starting this thread. I cherished that aspect of shooting film as well when I have gone back to shooting film. It changes the way I think or at least feel about the whole process.

As recently as this week, I pulled files off of a camera only to discovered that I had some un-examined ones on the card to play with and this reminded me of finding an exposed but unprocessed roll.

David
 
Many interesting answers, thank you all!

Indeed it is one of the nice things of RFF, different ideas and opinions live together under the same roof respecting each other, great.

Of course I understand when someone works on a project desires, in some cases needs to see and evaluate soon his work. In order to improve it or change if something is going wrong. And waiting is not the nicest thing!

As it's logic we have other things to do in our lives than waiting and thinking about our photos :)

I sometimes, as someone here suggested do not download my cards soon (usually because busy/lazy) and wait a few days to do it.

And even when I shoot Polaroid/Impossible that few minutes during which the photo develops are...the nicest ;)

We all have different habits, needs, expectations in way to use our camera and this multiplicity is one of the nice things in photography.

robert
 
It is fun when you find that how lazy you are about processing, waiting until a goodly number of rolls were stacking up, and family asking "when?" is really a discipline, something to be proud of.
Since I only process B&W but shoot c41 occasionally, rolls of color really stack up, since I have to spend real money getting them processed.
So when I got back 13 rolls processed & scanned (thanks Precision) myself and the family were really happily surprised at the forgotten "Kodak Moments"
 
I like to operate like Winogrand. No developing/processing images (film or digital) right after they are shot. I'm able to have a much better critical eye when I am separated from the time of shooting. Fortunately, I'm not as prolific a shooter so I can fit all of my undeveloped film in a few small ziplock bags instead of taking up the whole deep freezer.
 
Glenn2 said:
That’s nothing, shoot film for a lifetime and only print the easiest ones that don’t take a lot of darkroom magic. Now fast forward up to half a century when you have the ability via scanning and software to get a decent image from the ones you skipped. I’m finding some gems that were beyond my printing ability using old school graded paper techniques.
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I've had the exact same experience. My wet printing skills are basic.
But I've found some negs that were transformed when I scanned them as I was able to pull out the detail and tones that I wanted.
 
dave lackey said:
Robert,

Waiting here patiently, to see your latest film results!:):):)
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My lab should give me film stripes and contacts next friday. But than I have to look, select and scan the ones I think are valid...more waiting, Dave you need to be patient be patient :) :):)

robert
 
Robert,
I like the waiting too. Film is fascinating in many ways!
But there are also other differences pro and con
For example another pro is the simplicity of film cameras
However, once the waiting is over I have experienced some nice surprises but more often delusions with my results. I prefer the possibility of checking (and possibly trying again) right away.
Another syndrome: sometimes inspiration dries and I leave the same roll in the camera for many months. Other times I have experienced just the opposite: being in fantastic place and getting out of film, thus loosing the best opportunities. This in unlikely to happen to me with digital (with some spare batteries and cards)
Finally there is the pain of the trip to a lab.
Overall now that I am aged, I fell more relaxed shooting digital
Cheers
Paolo
 
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