ChrisN
Striving
And if the OP's situation is such that he doesn't need to sell anything to purchase the M9?
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
fixbones
.......sometimes i thinks
Thanks for all the support. I re-read the whole thread again and it has been very encouraging.
Gave it a little thought:
- Will stick to film for now. Called Vanbar Melbourne and the cost to process and scan a roll of C41 is AUD 22 via mail order. I shoot on average 1 roll per week or more if I go walkabout in the weekend.....so i think it'll be ok.
- I toyed with the idea of not scanning every frame with my plustek but the way I see it...... if I took the picture, then I wanna see it properly... if it is bad, then hopefully I can learn from it......I am weird that way.
- Definitely looking into the Epson V700.
- If I really need digital, then........ might get a cheaper alternative. X100, X10, LX5, RIcoh GRDIII. Just went through my collection of images and I am still very fond of my film stuff and would like to keep them as my main output.
Well...I'll see how goes
Gave it a little thought:
- Will stick to film for now. Called Vanbar Melbourne and the cost to process and scan a roll of C41 is AUD 22 via mail order. I shoot on average 1 roll per week or more if I go walkabout in the weekend.....so i think it'll be ok.
- I toyed with the idea of not scanning every frame with my plustek but the way I see it...... if I took the picture, then I wanna see it properly... if it is bad, then hopefully I can learn from it......I am weird that way.
- Definitely looking into the Epson V700.
- If I really need digital, then........ might get a cheaper alternative. X100, X10, LX5, RIcoh GRDIII. Just went through my collection of images and I am still very fond of my film stuff and would like to keep them as my main output.
Well...I'll see how goes
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
The Epson is a good way to go IMO ... being able to set up 24 frames for scanning at a time is a bonus. It's the main reason I load my cassettes from bulk with 24 exposures so I only have to go through that process once.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
What a great philosophy ... I have to remember this when scanning pi$$es me off occasionally!
kosta_g
Well-known
try melbourne film supplies - they will do it a lot cheaper... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Melbourne-Film-Processing-Supplies/192853034081634?sk=info
vanbar is great but this guy seems like he will save everyone money just to encourage use of film!
vanbar is great but this guy seems like he will save everyone money just to encourage use of film!
fixbones
.......sometimes i thinks
Kosta,
Thank you very much for the lead. He seems to provide some really great deal.
Will definitely give him a go.
Thank you very much for the lead. He seems to provide some really great deal.
Will definitely give him a go.
kosta_g
Well-known
no probs! it's who I plan to use to help process the film and scans while i'm busy throughout the weekdays!
Frontman
Well-known
I shoot a few rolls of film per week, and then wait until a rainy day to develop them. I can't really say exactly why I am so attracted to film photography, perhaps the simplicity of digital removes the challenge, or perhaps I simply prefer old metal cameras to the new placstic ones.
Due to bad weather this weekend I am catching up on developing and scanning my film, it is still a wnder to see how well the images come out.
Due to bad weather this weekend I am catching up on developing and scanning my film, it is still a wnder to see how well the images come out.
Requin
Established
In photography the camera is less important than the vision of the photographer. You don't need the most expensive or newest equipment in analog or digital. Sometimes it's better to slow down and consider well what you want to photograph.
If you buy the newest digital equipment today it will be outdated in a few month with nearly zero value but an old analog camera can take pictures in 20 years.
Have fun!
If you buy the newest digital equipment today it will be outdated in a few month with nearly zero value but an old analog camera can take pictures in 20 years.
Have fun!
__--
Well-known
It's not all in his head...
It's not all in his head...
Absolutely, Requin: it's the photography and the vision that's important, not whether one used film or digital. I'm sort of amazed at the tendency to proselytize in this thread: telling the OP that he can find time for dealing with film when he has said there there isn't, and so on ad nauseum — suggesting it's all in his head doesn't help much.
I tried to go back to film partially last December when I made the first impulse buy of a camera for the first time: I was in Paris and saw a beautiful Hasselblad 903-SWC — mint, black, beautiful: as much as I've always like my M6, the SWC is fantastic; looking through the viewfinder you see the aperture, shutter speed, focusing scale and spirit level at the same time, a beautiful design and fantastic build quality.
My intention was to have the film develop and printed (in Bangkok) by the best custom darkroom print, but, tragically, he died in a car crash and the other really good printer took off for Laos. I shoot a few rolls, had them developed and then scanned on an old Imacon Flextight Precison 3 on which it takes about 16-18min for each frame at full resolution. Then, in January, I started traveling very frequently (Manila, Paris, London, New York, Toronto. Brisbane, Beijing, Guangzhou — some of these repeated a few times). This meant that, when I was in Bangkok I didn't have time to deal with film — not to speak that the really good custom printers, who had also been affordable, were gone — which would have meant, had the custom printers still been around, driving about 45min each through heavy traffic for a distance of about 2 miles. So now, I'll be taking back the SWC to Paris to sell on consignment at the sotre where I bought it (Le Moyen Format), having failed to sell it in Bangkok. Please don't tell me that it's all in my head.
With digital I can post-process the pictures when I travel since there is always a good amount of dead time on a business trip. If I were the OP, I would start digital by getting either an X100, as Keith suggests, or a Ricoh GXR with the two APS-C modules (28 and 50 mm EFOV), depending on what focal length he wants to shoot.
BTW, an M9 is not necessarily a panacea. I had an M8.2 that I never took to, selling it after I got the M9. The M9 was a disaster, coming from the store with a cracked sensor, which Leica Service in Solms felt with promptly; but some three weeks after I got the camera it developed an intermittent problem, occasionally putting down a lighter coloured rectangle in the frame. apparently a processor fault. It was three months before I got the camera back from Solms — and in the process Solms tried to convince me that they should send the camera back to me as is because they couldn't replicate the problem, rather than sending me a new camera as I had requested and as they initially had agreed — I wanted a new camera because I was afraid that the processor fault stemmed from something Leica Service did when they replaced the sensor on the first round. Luckily, when I got the camera back, M9s were still in short supply and I was able to sell it to someone for US$200 less than I had paid — and I had spent another US$200 in handling costs sending the camera twice to Solms. In case you're wondering the buyer was informed of the problems the camera had had. There were a couple of more reasons that I sold the M9, including an overall electronic sluggishness.
I still have seven M-lenses and may big either the GXR M-Mount or the NEX-7, depending on which the manual focus system is less obtrusive: it is somewhat so on the GXR M-Mount. (I have the GXR 28mm and 50mm EFOV camera units). Or I may wait until there is a full frame NEX-7 type of camera, because I would prefer to use my M-lenses at the focal length for which they were designed.
The digital camera that I really like is the GRD3, which I also use now.
—Mitch/Bangkok
Heading for the Shade
It's not all in his head...
Absolutely, Requin: it's the photography and the vision that's important, not whether one used film or digital. I'm sort of amazed at the tendency to proselytize in this thread: telling the OP that he can find time for dealing with film when he has said there there isn't, and so on ad nauseum — suggesting it's all in his head doesn't help much.
I tried to go back to film partially last December when I made the first impulse buy of a camera for the first time: I was in Paris and saw a beautiful Hasselblad 903-SWC — mint, black, beautiful: as much as I've always like my M6, the SWC is fantastic; looking through the viewfinder you see the aperture, shutter speed, focusing scale and spirit level at the same time, a beautiful design and fantastic build quality.
My intention was to have the film develop and printed (in Bangkok) by the best custom darkroom print, but, tragically, he died in a car crash and the other really good printer took off for Laos. I shoot a few rolls, had them developed and then scanned on an old Imacon Flextight Precison 3 on which it takes about 16-18min for each frame at full resolution. Then, in January, I started traveling very frequently (Manila, Paris, London, New York, Toronto. Brisbane, Beijing, Guangzhou — some of these repeated a few times). This meant that, when I was in Bangkok I didn't have time to deal with film — not to speak that the really good custom printers, who had also been affordable, were gone — which would have meant, had the custom printers still been around, driving about 45min each through heavy traffic for a distance of about 2 miles. So now, I'll be taking back the SWC to Paris to sell on consignment at the sotre where I bought it (Le Moyen Format), having failed to sell it in Bangkok. Please don't tell me that it's all in my head.
With digital I can post-process the pictures when I travel since there is always a good amount of dead time on a business trip. If I were the OP, I would start digital by getting either an X100, as Keith suggests, or a Ricoh GXR with the two APS-C modules (28 and 50 mm EFOV), depending on what focal length he wants to shoot.
BTW, an M9 is not necessarily a panacea. I had an M8.2 that I never took to, selling it after I got the M9. The M9 was a disaster, coming from the store with a cracked sensor, which Leica Service in Solms felt with promptly; but some three weeks after I got the camera it developed an intermittent problem, occasionally putting down a lighter coloured rectangle in the frame. apparently a processor fault. It was three months before I got the camera back from Solms — and in the process Solms tried to convince me that they should send the camera back to me as is because they couldn't replicate the problem, rather than sending me a new camera as I had requested and as they initially had agreed — I wanted a new camera because I was afraid that the processor fault stemmed from something Leica Service did when they replaced the sensor on the first round. Luckily, when I got the camera back, M9s were still in short supply and I was able to sell it to someone for US$200 less than I had paid — and I had spent another US$200 in handling costs sending the camera twice to Solms. In case you're wondering the buyer was informed of the problems the camera had had. There were a couple of more reasons that I sold the M9, including an overall electronic sluggishness.
I still have seven M-lenses and may big either the GXR M-Mount or the NEX-7, depending on which the manual focus system is less obtrusive: it is somewhat so on the GXR M-Mount. (I have the GXR 28mm and 50mm EFOV camera units). Or I may wait until there is a full frame NEX-7 type of camera, because I would prefer to use my M-lenses at the focal length for which they were designed.
The digital camera that I really like is the GRD3, which I also use now.
—Mitch/Bangkok
Heading for the Shade
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