Life is Busy. Finding hard to find time for film......Any advice?

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fixbones

.......sometimes i thinks
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Hi people,

Haven't really been around much lately. Life has been so busy.
My weekends have been occupied by courses and conferences. Have 2 research projects ongoing at the moment and with me taking up a job at a bigger hospital next year...who knows...

Weekends has always been the time when I slow down, process and scan but recently..... don't have the luxury of spending so much time on photography.

I love film black and white. In fact I hired a darkroom for a whole week earlier this year and did wet printing for the first time. It was GREAT!!!. Even bought some equipments to hopefully set up my darkroom one day.

As much as I love film...... I love photography first. Unfortunately, film photography is kind of limiting the amount of photography that I am doing......... sigh...

What to do?

Am thinking of going digital, that way, photography is more instant. Considering a leica M9. Expensive but I know i will make full use of it.

Maybe time to sell some gear...........
 
I can relate...

I can relate...

... i know how it feels. Took up a new (much more satisfying) job recently, but now I have less time for developing and printing.

My solution:
1. Bought a Nex.
2. Took some films to the lab.
3. Taking less pictures.

Just my 2 cents, but I wouldn't do anything that forces me away from film altogether, so no M9 for me...
 
RobVinc, I do have smaller cameras..... MJU, XA, GR1v. My issue is not bringing the camera......... but the processing and scanning bit. Takes a good day to process and scan 4 - 6 rolls of film........ which I don't mind if i have time to spare.
 
I can certainly relate to your 'dilemma'... I've 'stuck' with film for probably similar reasons to yourself. I love film; the aesthetic, the cameras, the process and I admit to even like scanning (but prefer wet printing). Time however is always an issue ;-)

For me wet printing was the first to 'go'. I still do it but it's something I do once a month at most (a kind of special treat). I feel as though I have my film workflow worked out though in a hybrid sense. I shoot Acros 100 and 400 and have a pretty simple developing regime. Scanning has become a background task whilst I do other work and I have a good 'system'. I have developed good profiles and my post-processing is negligible.

I really believe my film to digital workflow is now only marginally slower than digital (overall) and I will only get faster. It's taken me a while but my overall time spent on 'film' is pretty efficient.

Anyway, just a thought. You are obviously very experienced but it takes time to develop an efficient workflow... once you have, I don't believe it's that much more time intensive.
 
Drop your film at the best lab you can find for processing and scans. Fast, easy, NOT cheap, gets the results you want.

The M9 costs, what, $7,000?
$7,000 / $20 per roll = 350 rolls, scanned and processed
350 rolls x 36 shots per roll = 12,600 shots on real silver black and white film.
How many shots did you take in the past year?
 
One always finds time to do what he/she wants. 12 years of digital workflow left me with a hatred for it and nerve damage in my arm. Things are different now.

I spend my time shooting. Just finished a documentary (all film) and had Precision Camera develop and scan and add the price into the book, DVDs and individual prints. Cost problem solved. Time? minimal...

Having said that, I have a lot of extra time these days, so I will learn to process my own film just because...:angel:

IMO, just do what I did...go hybrid and you will find the percentage of film/digital will vary over time.
 
davey, not sure if I can be considered experienced but I have done my fair share of processing and developing for the past 2 years.

Problem is I am scanning with a Plustek scanner which requires me to feed it frame by frame manually. Takes me about 40 mins for a 36exp roll of film
 
I can empathize with you... I love my B&W film, however, since my twins turned up last year time has not been something I have had a lot of. Couple that with more pressure and hours with work and time reduces even more.

I've been shooting color film lately to avoid the developing but still scanning myself. It satisfies to an extent but still isn't giving the satisfaction that B&W film provides. Actually I find nothing satisfies for B&W like B&W film.

Moving forward I think I will start shooting B&W again and get around to developing it in batches a couple of times a year. Still need to see how that approach works out...

Im actually more surprised to see someone else from Tassy on the forum 😀
 
fixbones said:
davey, not sure if I can be considered experienced but I have done my fair share of processing and developing for the past 2 years.

Problem is I am scanning with a Plustek scanner which requires me to feed it frame by frame manually. Takes me about 40 mins for a 36exp roll of film
Click to expand...

Yes, I understand the time required for scanning and that is why I have had Precision Camera do everything.

If you enjoy photography more than processing and scanning, and I am exactly that way, just send the rolls to Precision Camera or someone else who may be as good or better. They are hard to find though...

In the meantime, go after the M9 and enjoy shooting both film and digital.🙂
 
dave lackey said:
One always finds time to do what he/she wants. ...
Click to expand...

That's probably true for most of us: perhaps harder for people in the medical profession, depending on the stage their career is at.

While I find film and wet darkroom practice the most satisfying (most of the time) sometimes I'll take a break and shoot digital, for a number of reasons which are sufficient for me. It's certainly better than not shooting at all. I'm starting to get better with B&W conversions from RAW files. And it did take me 35 years before I got my darkroom!

If you can stretch to the M9 that would be great. Even if that's not within reach one of the better SLRs would meet the requirements for a while, with a couple of suitable prime lenses. (And I can particularly recommend the Pentax prime lenses. 🙂 )

All the best - keep shooting!
 
Consider the X100 ... seriously!

It's not an M9 but it also doesn't cost $7000.00 and learning to master this quirky little gem and cope with the restriction of one focal length has been a real eye opener for me.

If you hate it, it shouldn't be too hard to sell and then you can make the decision to step up to the M9, or just stay with film and learn to live with your time limitations until you reach a point where they aren't so oppressive.
 
fixbones said:
Craig, Tassie is a great place for photographers.... been here for 4 years and still enchants me. Having said that... the photography services here is rather poor.
Click to expand...

I was never really into photography growing up or living there but I understand what you mean. Haven't actually lived there since 1990 and haven't even been back since 2005. Big plans to get back this November if all goes well...
 
fixbones said:
Keith, I take it that you are happy with what you are getting from the X100?
Click to expand...


Very ... the files it produces are not far shy of my D700's and I would imagine not far behind the M9's in IQ.

I was just looking at your blog and can't help but feel that an X100 would 'fit' with you ... judging by what I saw of the way you take photographs.

I don't know what your experience is with digital post processing but it's not the 'bogey man' that some people claim it is IMO. Digital raw files possess a world of potential and though it may not be as much fun as messing around in a darkroom (depending on your point of view), getting a quality result from a 'digital negative' is very satisfying in it's own right.
 
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