new generation of RF users

[dadsm3]

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed the relatively large number of youngsters (18-25 year olds) that have recently become members and are either already using RFs or asking advice on purchasing a kit?
Is this the start of the resurgence of film, or simply an anti-digital backlash by a small group of Luddites?
Regardless, it's very encouraging and great to see....

 

[FrankS]

It could just be a Lemming phenomenon. We old-timers are unwittingly leading a part of the new generation across the meadow, over the edge of the cliff, and into the ocean. 🙂

 

[benjaminlr]

I think I am pretty much part of this generation. I confirm I have had a very difficult way to find my tool;

Pentax Spotmatic II (2)
Minolta 7000
Fuji S1 Pro
Nikon D70
Nikon F801s (2)
Canon EOS 5
Minolta XD7+X700

and finally Bessa R2 and M4-P

without mentioning lenses

All of these in 4 years ...

I have just been disappointed by digital, too flat for my taste

 

[SteveM(PA)]

I like to think that maybe some of the Deviant people found us, somehow 😀 and discovered that they actually like us.

 

[back alley]

I like to think that maybe some of the Deviant people found us, somehow 😀 and discovered that they actually like us.

we can be deviant...just gentler.

 

[Didier]

It could just be a Lemming phenomenon. We old-timers are unwittingly leading a part of the new generation across the meadow, over the edge of the cliff, and into the ocean. 🙂

[ROFL]
...and where, after a long and breathless dive, we find a hidden treasure chest containing M8's for everybody....

Didier

 

[rover]

Perhaps there is something to the notion that photography is art. While there will always be a group of family snap shooters about happily capturing the events of their lives, there also will always be a group of folks pursuing something a little different. Looking to produce results a little differently, not taking the easiest path, finding joy from control, pursuing an art of some personal sort which will keep renewing the rolls of RF users.

 

[dadsm3]

we can be deviant...just gentler.

I don't know about gentler, but certainly 'not as often'...😀

 

[thelovecollect]

i dunno if i qualify as a new generation user..
i started actively shooting 2 years ago (i'm 30)...
first experienced my mom's yashica gsn when i was in my teens...
then switched to a dslr when i went back to college and kept thinking how much mom's camera was so much better..

i wouldn't say i'm hooked on rangefinders, i can't shoot everything with it..
but i'm definitely hooked on film..

 

[dadsm3]

Well expressed, Rover.

 

[Jocko]

we can be deviant...just gentler.

I don't know about gentler, but certainly 'not as often'...😀

Frequently and painfully for me, thankyou!

I was a deviant before the internet was even invented!

Kids today. No stamina. Pah!


Ian

 

[FrankS]

we can be deviant...just gentler.

I don't know about gentler, but certainly 'not as often'...

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, or...
the spirit is willing but the spouse says no.

 

[pstevenin]

Perhaps there is something to the notion that photography is art. While there will always be a group of family snap shooters about happily capturing the events of their lives, there also will always be a group of folks pursuing something a little different. Looking to produce results a little differently, not taking the easiest path, finding joy from control, pursuing an art of some personal sort which will keep renewing the rolls of RF users.

Ahem, there are also dudes like me trying to capture family snap the best they can and IMHO, I can do this mucho mucho better with a RF film camera rather than with digi-auto-focus-I handle everyrthing for you- type of camera (which produces mainly crap the way I use it:bang: ).

 

[foolproof]

i love streetwork, i love light equipment, but never even thought of / never shot with a rangefinder before finding rff about 2 months ago. just used an f3 and fm2 (which i still love and constantly use) but a rangefinder is another essential tool for a genre i love shooting, and im glad i recently got one.

 

[Chaser]

It could just be a Lemming phenomenon. We old-timers are unwittingly leading a part of the new generation across the meadow, over the edge of the cliff, and into the ocean. 🙂

There may be some truth to this...
my first Rf was a canonet that my local camerastore owner let me play with in his shope...
After 5seconds or so I was hooked .. I bought it
A couple months later I joind here and tracked down a new bessa from cameraquest with a I22 from ebay.
all the while film sales took a dive and the local store shut down
and now I have to order online...

 

[kaiyen]

My b-day is coming up, so I feel sad that I'm actually going to be 3 years _older_ than the "young generation." Sigh.

People still take photography 101 at colleges all over the place. These are still, by and large, traditional B&W classes. If 10% of those go onto advanced classes, and 5% of them go onto identifying RFs as their preferred shooting system (as I did for a particular set of purposes - I use all kinds of systems for different purposes), then you get an influx of new users.

So it's more that people are discovering RFF, I think.

allan

 

[FrankS]

I just had a vision of us RF and film users busily rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. 🙂

 

[sockeyed]

As a 35 year-old, am I part of the Lost Rangefinder Generation?

We're the ones who cut our teeth on film, AE and manual focus. Most of us have 'gone digital' it seems, but some of us still cling to film. It's probably a function of growing up with vinyl records but experiencing the shift to CDs at a critical age.

 

[SteveM(PA)]

The M8 is about to cause a media stir. And whether or not people are stirred by the pricetag, or just general bewilderment over what exactly a rangefinger camera is, many, many more people are about to discover RFF. And there will be another trickle down effect similar to when the R-D1 came out.

 

[telenous]

I think film and film cameras are becoming hip in a countercultural kind of way. I believe there's a trend in Japan to use film cameras with the same passion we use them here. Younger photographers first may take notice by simply registering the hipness factor but they are also by nature inquisitive and probably end up wanting to explore this alternative to digital medium. And then it is impossible not to notice the different results you get with rangefinders due to their intrinsic properties - results that still impress but which most people have relinquished in favour of other practicalities. Once you have used a rangefinder it is difficult not to appreciate it's particular strengths.

Another less convoluted reason may be that entry rangefinders cost next to nothing, so there's no harming in trying one.