Why Film?

[8x10nomore]

I just like to watch the picture magically appear on the paper...lol..not to mention darkroom time is quiet time

AH! The good old days. Please enjoy! I do miss it sometimes.

 

[epatsellis]

NICE. I used to use the Jobo ATL-4 I believe-one shot-not good for the environment but beautiful quality and repeatability-

Between the nitrogen in the tanks and reasonable care with control strips, I can be spot on every batch, that was one of the reasons I went to an automated processor, the other being turnaround, with the shorter canister, I can process 2 rolls of 120 or 4 sheets of 4x5 at a time, and swap out canisters every 25 mins til I'm done.

 

[8x10nomore]

Between the nitrogen in the tanks and reasonable care with control strips, I can be spot on every batch, that was one of the reasons I went to an automated processor, the other being turnaround, with the shorter canister, I can process 2 rolls of 120 or 4 sheets of 4x5 at a time, and swap out canisters every 25 mins til I'm done.

Sounds like a nice set up!

 

[Rem]

AH! My first camera was a Pentax SP500. Anyone remember it?

Mine was a Mamiya DTL 1000 i got used in '78. It's still a great camera and I have (for a little while) about 15 cameras to play with, some fancy "semi-modern AF's like a couple of N 90 Nikons, a real neat Canon A-1 with a batch of good lenses,a Minolta 700 with a Novoflex auto bellows and Novoflexar lens...and I STILL really enjoy that old Mamiya the most. I know it so well, it's like part of me. I know that in 30+ years...it has never failed ot broken.
I got another....it's a bit cleaner..has a ding on the prism as if it had been dropped 20 ft onto a rock...a very noticable dent. It however works just fine. Probably would hold up to some further extreme abuse. I've had some point + shoot digitals,decent brands....so far it's seemed that they live about 2-3 months of VERY gentle use..then die. Batteries crap out in a couple weeks. The Maniya's little battery lasts about 3 yrs. It shoots without it.

I upgraded my scanner. When I can aford a K 10D Pentax maybe I'll get more into digital. Even then....I'm finding I don't even like autofocus much.
I Have a ZX-5 Pentax I like because it's got spotmeter and an old school shutter dial and built in diopter. I like the auto flash. I can slave my 283 bounce and not fuss with calculations. Used to avoid flash. I DO..however...use my manual lenses found the AF lenses, annoying...and too plastic.

 

[Stogie]

This is assuming that in the future there will be equipment that can READ those
CD's. The computer industry makes things obsolete very quickly. Some new
recording tecnique will eventually replace CD/DVD technology and readers
for CD/DVD's will disappear.

I am old enough to have used 8 & 5 1/4 inch floppies, and anything that was
on them is now not readable on current equipment. I recently read that some
goverenment agency has records stored on computer tape that is now obsolete
and there is no existing equipment that can read or decode it,

Properly stored film old film and even glass plates, can still be used today.
Even if it won't 'fit' into an existing enlarger, it still can be viewed with the eye!

I couldn't have said it better.....
I'm still not to a point to where I trust the advertised life of inkjet prints. I know black and white film has many years of life so thats what I use. Another point, I know what the image is going to look like when I click the shutter, I don't need a screen to see if I got it right. If I were doing this professionally, I would be digital all the way. But for my purpose, film is the only way.

 

[teneighty23]

i completely agree with both of these statements. Digital is way too beautiful and easy to get things right, i love film grain and dark mood. also Velvias cool blue tone.

Also i think that the texture of your photos off the film is alot nicer!

1. Because it's fun
2. Because I can't afford full-frame digital, so 35mm will have to do for now

 

[BrandonS]

I've never shot film other than disposables and what would be considered a 35mm P&S before digital was w/in my range. I have no idea if I'd even gain anything by trying, so I stick to digital.

 

[A louie]

Shooting film is just pure badass.

When I use my friends DSLR, I get bored. And its all to digital for me

 

[duncanp]

It is strange in my case. I started off digital, because i couldn't afford film / processing so saved up for a superzoom compact. A year later i bought a 30D and have expanded my collection of lenses for it since until i decided to buy an AE-1. What caused me to do so was starting AS photography at school and the access to a substantial darkroom. Now i find it much more rewarding shooting film, developing and printing it yourself. You get a much greater sense of pride and i feel that a good photo achieved on film is 100x better than one taken digitally. Purely because i can shoot digital all the time continously and you get lazy and lucky.

For colour though, i do prefer digital as the film i shoot is almost exclusively black and white. The grain you get is visually pleasing unlike digital noise and the tones are richer than those achieved from black and white digital.

I suppose most of al;. its taking time for that photo, composing it, shooting it, and then the anticipation of getting to see it slowly on paper. ( preferably 16x12 )

 

[blakejd]

First post here and fairly new to photography but heres my take and don't flame me too hard. If I could shoot anything it would be slides. I just enjoy them. I like not knowing what the shot will be and how much is required of me to think about what goes into that shot. I can't afford to process my own film...hell I can't afford to shoot film in any compacity so every shot counts. When it comes out good I know I produced something great and limited the number of factors that allow for error. Besides I like the hum of a slide projector and the little click that comes with the next slide. I will say that I recently bought my first digital SLR and I'm looking forward to using it as a no cost way to evaluate my technique.

 

[ksmattfish]

Why film? Freaky cameras!

Fun with time and space.

widelux - Google Search

 

[bighilt]

Hi, I am new here.
I shoot both film and digital but still consider myself a dyed-in-the wool film guy.
I subscribe to most said above so would sum my reasons as follows:

1. It's tactile.
2. I know, barring some catastrophe my negs will still be around and useable in 50 years time.
3. Scanning equipment is always improving so my negs will always be at the cutting-edge. My lab has the problem of upgrading.
4. My 50-year old cameras are still as useable as the day they were made. I am, right now looking at the back cover, Canon advert of the May 1999 National Geographic magazine. They're advertising the "new Powershot Pro70 offering pro-level quality with features such as a 1.68 million pixel CCD sensor and 2.5x power zoom lens." Sure glad I didn't take any important pics with that back then.
5. I have worked as a photojournalist for over 30 years and can access all of my negs -- gotta be honest I have lost quite a few digital images along the way.
6. When traveling I like the fact I don't have to lug around a laptop, power supply, card-reader, batteries etc.
7. I like the fact that my cheap point-and-shoot Olympus Stylus Epic produces results equal to or better than those produced by a digital camera costing 10 to 20 times as much.
8. I love the anticipation of waiting to see the results on the film.
9. When using my Rolleiflex I enjoy the fact I have only twelve images on a roll. There's something satisfying about carefully setting up everything, taking a single image and saying "okay that's fine, got it."
I have published a couple of articles about film on my blog if interested.