tokek
Member
hhhhu!......they use digital in NZ😛 ??????
I'm just glad to see youngsters getting interested in photography!, recently for old tmes sake - I shot a roll in a camera from my fifty plus year collection, sent it away for dev. then scanned and printed a few images, afterwards I sat down and said to my self - 'what the f#*k am I doing this again - for!', then I got my wife to give my ass a good kick, and get my DSLR out of the cabinet!.....your mileage not only may vary, of course! - but vehemently will!, but this old codger's in the twentyfirst century😀😉
Going to Japan is what got me into photography. I went on a family vacation and prior to leaving, I wanted to buy a nice camera so I could take some nice pictures. Long story short, I bought a Nikon D60.
Now that I look back, I get depressed when I think of the tons of camera shops that I didn't walk into. I was impressed by all the new stuff at the big electronic stores, but none of that matters to me now. I wonder what kind of gems I could have found at the smaller places, used places. 🙁
Even the electronics giant Yodobashi has a HUGE selection of films readily available.

Here's Yodobashi in Yokohama 🙂
...
I feel much the same way. I spent a small fortune on my first and only DSLR back around 2004 (Canon 1D MkII). I have used a few before then including the Canon D30 (?), the 10D, and the original 1D. I embraced Digital pretty heavily and learned how to shoot with those cameras, edit in Photoshop, and make very nice Epson prints. Shortly before that I bought a used 4x5 filed camera and an old Kodak lens. I dabbled with that a little, but the newness of digital still had me seduced and that's what I mainly concentrated on.
After a while, this started to be less of a challenge and I found myself wanting to go back to shooting film. I have several film cameras, but wanted a rangefinder. I bought a couple of used Canonnets on Ebay. Then I purchased a couple of Diana cameras, and a modified Holga, then some pinhole cameras. Then 2 years ago I found a great deal on an M6 on Ebay, and then purchased a used Summicron 50 at KEH.
A friend of mine (my retired photo professor) gave me a freezer full of film recently, as well as two top notch enlargers - a Bessler that does 4x5, and a Leica Focomat with auto focus as well as enough paper and chemistry to last me quite a while (even Ilfochrome chemicals and paper).
So needless to say I have a lot of film, plenty of film cameras, some nice darkroom equipment and no excuses.
My goal is to get this set up in the new year and make some traditional darkroom prints. I used to do this in college and it was a pure joy for me.
Some snaps of my freezer - incidentally shot with a digital P&S...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
countless gems.. I'm in Osaka now and totally gobsmacked by these second hand camera stores. Even the electronics giant Yodobashi has a HUGE selection of films readily available. My wallet has been emptied.
End of the day, film photography is something that is physical, Digital is not.