Why do you use film:

I tried to like digital, I really did, and with a Sigma SD15, I almost succeeded.

I enjoy the process of shooting and developing, especially medium format, those big negs have an appeal that an SD card can never match.

I also have a confidence in MF film, if I get a great shot, and want to make a massive print, I can, unless I spend a fortune on digital MF, I can't.

Cost is also a factor, I can get a wonderful film camera like a Rolleiflex, for under £500, in digital world, I get a plasticky piece of c**p.

I could buy an m9 I guess, but for that kind of money I can thing of 10 other things I would rather buy.
 
It is what my cameras need to take photos......I can't put an SD card in my Leicas (that's a joke)........

I like the look of film and I do not find it difficult to use at all....I develop my own black and white film and make prints in my darkroom and I enjoy that process a lot......for color, I just drop off my kodak pro image 100 rolls at my local lab to get them developed and scanned....

cheers, michael
 
For me digital cameras seem like an extension of computing, which is my other hobby, and also my job. That means digital seems old hat to me, and also I just see all the silly design problems and gimmicks that are so common in computing now.

Also, I don't like chimping, not just from me, but others, who want to take a look at the back of the camera after each shot, film solves that.

I like the look and feel of film, I like the great colours compared to digital. Sure, you can achieve great colours on digital in post, but I spend enough time on computers as it is.

I find it easy to get all the film/equipment I need buying online, it's vastly easier to get unusual stuff now that it was 15 years ago.

Film camera tend to be so much better designed than digital, I mean, it's common now to have cameras which don't even have a finder! Simplicity of operation came before gimmicks/modes.

I like the slight unpredictability, sometimes I'll take a shot and be surprised/pleased with the results on film. Digital can surprise too of course, but it's short lived, not drawn out over days. Bluntly, I like the delayed gratification.

Medium format. If I had to only shoot one format, it would be 120. You've got to spend $10,000+ to rival a $600 film system in MF, even then you're plagued with noise in long exposure.

The benefit of digital is low ongoing cost (with the downside of high initial cost), and convenience. Neither of those things appeal to me greatly, so I won't bother with digital for the moment.
 
I love tech gadgets.. really.. and i love my digital gear..

but film cameras, they have a certain something.. they have soul... not comparing costs per picture.. but film has character.. it's a way to slow yourself down.. I have my gel pens and my ballpens but i am very in love with my fountain pens and for me.. film cameras are the same..

pros and cons.. it doesnt matter.. it's just different.. and irreplaceable!
 
My reasons have all been stated, but here goes anyway:
I still use film because
(a) I'm just too dense to ge the same kind of b/w rendering out of digital.
(b) I just immensely prefer using my Zeiss Ikon to using my Nex. The simplicity of operation is just soothing to my soul. And my heart sings when I look through that finder.
(c) I find that I value each shot much more than with digital, and this makes me compose more carefully.
 
I think there is something tangible using the analogue systems. Loading your film, pressing the shutter of a fine mechanical camera and winding on to the next frame is a very satisfying experience that no digital camera has ever come close to.

Waiting to see your results is another factor that has already been mentioned here. I find it a big advantage, it allows you to stand back so to speak and put some distance between the taking stage and viewing stage.

Getting out an old contact sheet and viewing negatives on a light box is another experience I really enjoy.

And my four year old daughter is fascinated by her daddy's old cameras "that don't need batteries to work", as she rightly puts it. That's as good a reason as any. Now she wants me to give her a camera she can use with film. Not sure which one it will be.
 
My knowledge in Photography was based on learning through Film cameras. It is very sensible to say I was grown into a photographer through films and

I owe a M8 camera and M6 and a Hasselblad system and other analog cameras. So I am a die hard negative user because......when using negatives..it soothes me in to the process and the discipline of photography .

I like the process and the concept when using Film cameras than the Digital cameras as it slows down you to think and work more precisely on composing , control , visualise carefully and accurately.

Though the using films are becoming more expensive due to disappearance of it availability of the facilities like scanning and developing etc. But due to the fact of it quality and the long term archiving is more secured , the film is still having it's level of popularity in photography.

I like the smell of negatives the true tones and grainy look of B&W films and feel of the film cameras in my hand.

It is feels funny when you load the m8 with the SD card and when you load the M6 with a film opening the bottom plate and use both cameras the same way.

I Prefer of course the smell of my Film when I do it on the M6
 
The Nikon D800 has pretty much decided for many people the technical advantages of digital capture. I've even heard a boast that the sensor will exceed the capabilities of most lenses or it is the equivalent of a medium format negative.

After this it is pretty much anyone's guess what comes after. Bigger, smaller, faster, more pixels, better batteries, more tonal range........all that.

I'm at the age where I'm not really too interested in upgrading every time technology changes, unless I have to.

I feel a certain confidence with, say, my 50+ year old Leica M2 because of it's inherent simplicity and the fact that after all these years of using it I understand what I can do with it.

When I buy a 1/4 inch drill bit the intent is pretty much to drill 1/4 inch holes. Until I break it, or loose it, I may not need another. When I buy a camera the intent might be to take photographs.
 
I still shoot B&w film. The tones I get from using the zone system, rating Fuji Acros at ISO 6 gives me F 1.4 at 1/1000 which allows me to use my fast lenses in broad daylight (check the ZoneSimple section of my website for the details and free downloads of instructions for how to do this) .When I scan the negatives I immerse myself in the enlarged grain in a way that I never coukd in the darkoom. The tomes are so rich and the little particles make me feel like I am visceraliy manimulating the stuff of creation when I spot the dust and imperfections with the clone stamp in Photoshop. After a few minutes of this I get to know every inch of the image in a much more intimate way than I ever could in a darkroom. I think I was a decent wet printer, but in Photoshop, I can select anything and control everything and have become so much better at realizing the potential of my images.

I know this hybrid approach is not for everyone, but it was made for me. Film is the esential part. When I shoot digital, it's mostly on cloudy days for b+w or when I shoot color. it costs next to nothing to store film and i can always rescan it to take advantag of improved technology in the future, unlike digital, which will always be of it's time.
 
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Charlie Lemay said:
The tones I get from using the zone system, rating Fuji Acros at ISO 6 gives me F 1.4 at 1/1000 which allows me to use my fast lenses in broad daylight (check the ZoneSimple section of my website for the details and free downloads of instructions for how to do this).
Click to expand...

Charlie,

I'd love to know more about this. Could you please provide a link to your website?

Thanks
 
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