Silver is dead?

[Ronald M]

My nikon D700 is pretty damn good. I would say it competes with low ISO med format.

It just has no soul and the pics lack the three dimensional pop I can get from scanned Leica negs.

Surely is beats the grain of film if that is your criteria. Digi is better by a mile.

I am happy I never sold the Leicas M`s or converted any R mounts. The problem will be how long can I get film?

 

[arseniii]

Just cannot imagine myself using digital :-( To learn all over again: Photoshop, Computers, aspect ratio, pixel, e.t.c. I am very intuitive with my film Leica and I know in advance what exposure to use and how to develop the film of my choice. It took me quite some time to get this perfected... I am dreaded to give it all up for digital. If you give me M9 right now I will sell it and get an MP + Lux and the rest will go to film and chemicals 🙂

 

[maddoc]

Sure, silver is dead as a mainstream business. Digital has taken over at news, TV, movie and at the same time the quality has gone down. We got so used to see pixel-artifacts and heavily PS manipulated images that we (the big majority) doesn`t even remember what a well made silver-based print looks like. Since nobody (the mainstream) questions about the lack of quality, imaging-device producing companies can sell more and more of their "cameras" with questionable attributes regarding improved quality over the previous model.

Personally, I had "gone digitally" and after some years enjoying the benefits of convenience went back to using film, exclusively. I prefer quality over convenience so silver is the better choice for me. Also, I rarely go to cinema recently or read any magazine publishing digital images. Other`s mileage may vary. 🙂

 

[erik]

Richard Benson is a master printer, maybe the master's master. Being so is all about control, and digital printing provides the highest level of control. Offset printing went digital long ago and the quality of photo books soared. That is world Benson lives in. He could make a great print on a bathmat. That is a craft issue and there is more to photography than craft. Sometimes working more simply and directly can get you where you want to be. Too many choices, too much clutter. Silver prints haven't stopped being beautiful objects just because other methods have come along. Of course you can still shoot film even if you no longer print in silver.

 

[Trius]

I spent a lot of years learning both the craft of shooting film (35mm, MF and 4x5), the wet processes, etc., and wedding myself to the equipment.

I pretty much don't like the look of digital, but I'm not religious about it. A good photo shot with digital equipment is a good photograph, period. And a good digital print is a good print, no question.

I will admit that I just don't want to buy/learn new gear and workflow. Sorry to all the marketing and sales people who expend so much effort trying to convince me of the "superiority" of digital (whatever the hell that means) and that I am something less than a photographer if I don't embrace it. Not to mention the revenue they're not getting from me.

If I am forced to go digital due to lack of silver materials, (which I seriously doubt will happen in my lifetime -- I'll be 61 in March,) I'm not sure what I'll do. But if I make the leap, I will do so as best I can without attaching emotion to the real death of silver. But I am pretty sure it won't be all that easy for me, since I still don't see the SLR or EVIL gear being as elegant as an OM or M. I can't afford a digital M, and there's no real alternative, IMO. I suppose an m4/3 would be my choice.

 

[former member]

The M8 makes it faster to test lens collimation than the M3.

I got an M8 and an Olympus OM-1 this week, Keith should be happy.

Silver is still worth more than silicon.

 

[shadowfox]

The person who said silver is dead is not speaking for everyone.

Love it, just love it. Succint and accurate.

I am personally tired (not wanting to use stronger terms) of these so called "masters" who enjoyed switching to digital when they made statements like this without considering the impact to the next generation of photographers who listened to them.

What a travesty it would be if the younger generation never even had the chance to experience silver-based photography just because the "masters" said it's dead.

Who are they to rob others from an experience that is likely to grow into lifelong passion?

This kind of statements just make me more determined to re-introduce film photography to the next generation, not to wage anti-digital war, but to restore the silver-based photography to its rightful place, a superb visual art medium that shouldn't be written off just because some people prefer convenience.

For the record, I came from digital, still use it to this day. But I love the process, the results, and the experience that I get from using film more. Much more.

 

[MCTuomey]

i'm a practical shooter. i moved to digital for sportshooting about 5 years ago. liberating, to say the least, when you consider the volume and the time spent on a film-to-digi workflow for a typical day of shooting 10-20 rolls of superia 400 ...

i haven't shot an event with film in 4 years. but for my own pleasure i enjoy silver B&W. i've tried to go 100% digi, but have come back to film partly for the feel of using the cameras and partly because i still think silver-based B&W images look better.

if i had to try to make a living in photography, there's no doubt i'd be 98% digital.

 

[dotur]

Silver is dead by definition. It is not carbon based, it's an inorganic element. Some people still know how to animate silver, but humans are mortal.

www.ivanlozica.com

 

[btgc]

Just to note about smelly darkrooms with poisonous vapors, I can't stress enough that sitting in front of display isn't anything better. Sight, skeleton and nerve system issues are just a few things to mention. Not that digital workflow is worse, it just isn't trouble-free.

 

[Neare]

I went to digital, then went back to film. Simply because I found that every roll of film I shot I noticed my photography was getting better. Something I never found with digital.

Digital is the commercial workhorse. Most consumers are not as picky on the small details as the photographer is, so convenience wins and probably always will.

But film is still photography at its core. Even if the day does come that it dies.

 

[Pickett Wilson]

Forty of the 50 years I've been a photographer, I waged war with the limitations of film. When digital came along, it was, for me, like finding the holy grail. I finally had control over the process with digital that I never had in the darkroom. While I still shoot film, I'm almost always more satisfied with the results I get from digital. Different strokes, etc.

 

[Henk]

Please stop carrying film to its grave, on and on.
What is it to you, digital photographers, if there is film or not ?

 

[Pickett Wilson]

Folks on a forum saying film is dead isn't killing film. Those making film aren't in love with film, they are in love with profit (which they should be). And economics will determine the eventual fate of film.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Please stop carrying film to its grave, on and on.
What is it to you, digital photographers, if there is film or not ?

99% of digishooters felt they couldn't control film and wet printing as much as computer files, not to mention exposure or composition without a screen...

That's why.

Digital is also faster (jobs) and cheaper compared to pro E6 workflow.

About the original question, going digital helped me to really see how liberating and fun is expressing with film.

Film could become more and more expensive (at least color film and processing) but honestly, I think b&w and color film will live for hundreds of years if not forever, both for professional and fun times. A respected photographer can say "if you want me, it will be film."

Coming from chromes, I need just one shot -and no screen- to make the image I want with a digital camera. Not the same for people at the other side...

With digital, things were a pita with all the cables, chargers, memories, batteries, laptops, not to mention I felt I had no originals, or the risks of losing files forever...


I have my digital gear laying around, just in case. I use it for the most absurd things... The other day -in a hurry- I couldn't find a map of a zone here in Barcelona, so I went to the metro station, and snapped several parts of a big real map and came home, and with photoshop resized them and sticked everything and printed for relatives visiting the city. All in ten minutes. Photography is a permissive word these days. I use digital gear for second level things. For example, I've been shooting my baby twins having the digital hanging on my shoulder always, just in case I need it over my real cameras if there's any problem or I run out of film or there's low light, but it has not been necessary yet, not even once.

 

[kubilai]

Silver and workflow

Silver and workflow

About fun :
I have been working on IBM systems for 30 years, programming is not such a problem for me...
but resizing a picture give me pimple on my hands
When hearing about Photoshop, I fall ill. Prefer to be condemned to develop a payroll system than to have to work on it.

I keep silver because (thanks God) I am not a pro photographer, and think my management of slide and negative archives is truly efficient.

 

[emraphoto]

this is one of those moments where rff leaves me scratching my head.

in the past year i have completed 90% of my jobs on film. it has also been the best year yet for me as per recognition and success. i can buy film for cheaper than i ever have been able to in almost 10 years. i just sent of images to one of the largest magazines in North america all shot on, yes you guessed it, film and they contacted me.

for a dead option it sure had proven otherwise for me?

 

[Krzys]

When film recourses dry up to the point that it is not practical or affordable...

....then I will focus on drawing and painting.

**** digital. 🙂

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Krzys rules! 😀

 

[Pickett Wilson]

"A respected photographer can say "if you want me, it will be film."

You really think that's the way it works? 🙂