Why 24 exposures

cameramanic

cameramanic

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I am traveling to the USA on Monday, to attend a shipping convention in Miami.
My Bessa R and Rollei 35 T have decided to travel with me, so what film to take with me. Film in the USA is far cheaper to buy than in the UK, and with the $ to £ exchange rate at the moment, very cheap indeed, exept for the one problem
i have come up against in the past .
Only being able to buy 24 exposure films and not the 36 exposures that are the norm in the Uk. I suspect that if I found a Real Photography shop I may be able to get 36, but from my previous visits
I have had to buy from shopping Mall camera stores, who only seem to stock 24.
Are 24 Exposures standard for the USA and If so Why ?
 
I think americans were slow to take all 36 in due time, the film often sitting in the camera for longer than the experiation date.. I heard my grandmother swearing once that she had a 36 exposure roll of kodachrome in her 35RC. She said 'it takes forever to finish a 36!'.
The discount stores here usually have 24 exposure the camera shops both 24 and 36.
Kodak markets things that way. Except for the Ultra Color, which you may find in a three pack of 36 exposure rolls at places like Target and maybe Wal-Mart. Excellent film that, for color negative film. Also the c-41 black and white kodak is sometimes sold in 36 exposure roll three packs, so long as the word 'professional' is on the box..


I think maybe for consumer snaps, the American market got used to the few frames available on the once-universal Kodak Brownie cameras, with usually 12 exposures per roll, while the europeans maybe were more used to 35mm with more exposures. I think even half-frame was popular in europe once- 72 frames!
 
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I like 24 for the above reasons (it's easier to finish a roll 😉 ) but it's also easier to get onto a developing reel, 36 always seems to bind up on me.

Todd
 
That does depend on where you shop. It does seem that the drug stores like Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid and the supermarkets seem to sell mostly 24 exposure rolls, the real camera stores stock both 24 and 36.

I have trouble finding anything other than cheap print film in those locations, and don't even get me started on Walmart...
 
But then Walmart is lots of peoples' favorite whipping boy - a position once occupied by Sears Roebuck for one major reason: they were the largest retail store company in the U. S. Somehow that doesn't sit well with people of leftish convictions. One wonders where they buy their cars.

Maybe it was because I long lived in the Los Angeles area, but I always preferred 36-exposures and never had any trouble finding/buying them.

There was a time when at least Kodak films all came in either 20 or 36 exposure cartridges. They upped the 20 to 24 long ago, but the 36 has remained. If you're out on a shooting spree, 36 is no problem. I almost always bought slide film that way.

How long does it take you to fill up a 2-GB digital memory card?
 
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Woldwide Foto on 50th and Biscayne Blvd is one of the last old line photo stores in the area.

Most of America probably does shop at Walmart. Back in the 1960's when my mom worked at Sears & Roebuck, they had full insurance and pension benefits. I doubt that this would be the case today. The smart business model seems to be to treat employees as temps and not just at Walmart either.
 
dll927 said:
But then Walmart is lots of peoples' favorite whipping boy -...
How long does it take you to fill up a 2-GB digital memory card?
Click to expand...

I'm not anti-walmart, except that I once needed some slide film and tried Walmart. Biggest retailer in the USA, and no slide film, no B&W. Went across town, and Rite Aid had some Kodak C41 B&W, and some Elite Chrome. 24 exposure rolls, but they had them. WalMart seems to think everyone needs huge boxes of max color print film.

My largest memory card is 512k. I prefer two smaller cards to one large one. That way when I have left one in the co mputer, the other one is likely in the camera...
 
A few years ago you could buy 12 exposure rolls in 35mm. We forget how cheap things are these days. A couple of my older cameras have built in knives so you could remove and process the four or five frames you'd exposed, implying just how precious one roll could be. I just bought 20 rolls of APX 100 for £22. In real terms, they are almost giving the stuff away compared to when I started photography.
 
cameramanic said:
I am traveling to the USA on Monday, to attend a shipping convention in Miami.
My Bessa R and Rollei 35 T have decided to travel with me, so what film to take with me. Film in the USA is far cheaper to buy than in the UK, and with the $ to £ exchange rate at the moment, very cheap indeed, exept for the one problem
i have come up against in the past .
Only being able to buy 24 exposure films and not the 36 exposures that are the norm in the Uk. I suspect that if I found a Real Photography shop I may be able to get 36, but from my previous visits
I have had to buy from shopping Mall camera stores, who only seem to stock 24.
Are 24 Exposures standard for the USA and If so Why ?
Click to expand...

Consider buying your film online and having it express shipped to your hotel. Try B&H or Adorama as a start.

Bob

PS...24 exposure rolls are aimed at the "consumer" market. Most casual film shooters prefer to shoot 24 frames as it is cheaper to have it processed and prints made. Yeah, I know....

Bob
 
lushd said:
A few years ago you could buy 12 exposure rolls in 35mm. We forget how cheap things are these days. A couple of my older cameras have built in knives so you could remove and process the four or five frames you'd exposed,

Ah, so you have Exaktas. So do I but I have never used the knives.
Kurt M.
Click to expand...
 
rpsawin said:
Consider buying your film online and having it express shipped to your hotel. Try B&H or Adorama as a start.
Click to expand...
Exactly Bob. If you order today it will be at your hotel when you get there. No need to go hunting in malls. Know that many of the NYC discount stores are observant and today is their Sabbath so they may be closed now but will reopen this evening NYC time. I've found B&H to be faster on deliveries than Adorama.
 
Some comments to replies:

1) Yes, slide film does seem to be hard to obtain at most stores. They probably don't get much call for it. But I've always (at least up until digital) been primarily a color-slide shooter. Since I moved out of the L. A. area, I've bought my film from B&H.

2) Someone beat me to the mention of "knives", and I also immediately thought of the old classic Exaktas - the only example I know of. I'm not sure they ever got used much. I have three of the old babies that I bought largely for old-times sake through evil-Bay. At least without the eye-level finder, they are rather klutzy by today's standards, and only the VX1000 had an instant return mirror. Even their "automatic" system for the aperture diaphram is pretty primitive.

The story goes that two developments caused the switch from RF to SLR cameras: automatic diaphram, and instant-return mirrors. According to what I've read Honeywell (Pentax or earlier name brands) were the company that came up with them first. But thatmay be dubious.
 
They sell 24 exposure rolls now?

A couple more Christmas trees and I will finally finish
that 20 exposure roll of Kodacolor II in my camera... 😉

Chris
 
Hi cameramanic: To be honest, your best bet is to buy a bulk roll of your favorite film from a proper Miami camera shop, a bulk loader, and a changing bag. Roll up as many 10 exposure rolls as you like.

If you look on ebay, there are a lot of people selling lightly-used bulk loaders, mostly full of Tri-X or Plus-X for quite cheap.

I'm selling a vintage Lloyd's bulk loader, but film isn't included. Most ebayers would happily ship to your hotel. Heck, buy the bulk film there too!

As for what film, if this is an American trip, you may as well do it right & shoot Kodak. I like T-Max 400, personally. (T-Max 400 in the Rollei, and 100 in the Bessa)

I'm surprised more folks here don't bulk-load. They seem to already have their preference of film, so why not do it in bulk and open up your options?
 
I live in the States, and except for emergencies, buy all my film at Adorama. I live in the middle of nowhere, so it's the only place I can always depend on for film.

I don't understand why American consumers never picked up on 36 exposures. We like everything else super-sized.

And to whip on Walmart some more, the one in my area doesn't sell 100 iso film anymore. When I asked why, they responded with The Mantra, "No one shoots film anymore. Everyone has switched to digital." (They still carry 200 and 400, plus disposable cameras.)

Hooray all around for internal inconsistency!
 
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