Did I just witness the end of film cameras and film?

Excellent point from the OP. Guess I'll have to watch for the fading LCD screens on my Zeiss Ikonta and my Voigtlander.
 
I have not shot film for years. I had no idea that they made film cameras with LCDs. Seems like putting a sound system in a horse buggy.
 
I have not shot film for years. I had no idea that they made film cameras with LCDs. Seems like putting a sound system in a horse buggy.
Seems like you just came back form a space mission. 50 years long mission and you missed all the memos about Earth history in that period.
 
OMG. Ok. I hope my posts give you guys a chuckle because yours certainly do give me a little chuckle! lol

Now, down to business:

No, I do not like cameras because they are shiny. I'd be a Canon user after they brought out all those pretty white lenses for the first time in the film days. I use the film cameras of my generation. I learned on manual advance film SLR's. Later on I moved on to my current gear. When I have spent ridiculous amounts of money on film gear that was current at the time, I'm not going to toss it out to buy a camera that was made 20 years earlier.

There are clearly quite a few hardcore traditionalists here. Posting on this forum brings me back to the 90's when I was trying to explain to Leica people why I am not buying a Leica and I am buying a Nikon. They could never understand. Truly bewildered staring at me like there was something wrong and I should see someone. lol
There are many people out there using LCD film cameras. They will eventually die. Cameras that is...errr...people too I guess but we are still talking about cameras. Not all film users are even capable of any kind of accurate metering without a multi segment meter. I can tell you this through a great deal of experience. These types of film users still using film today WILL run off to digital when the LCD's go. No doubt whatsoever.
For those of us capable of metering with a hand held or simple center weighted or spot, there are many film camera options. The question is, how many of us capable of this are there??? Is it enough to continue producing film products for what might become an incredibly small group??? I used the word minuscule remember? Time will tell. I've made many accurate predictions in the past. Even on the hand held metering aspect, I use a Variosix F even today! It has a great big LCD panel too! Gonna have to find a simpler hand held meter!

I do honestly believe 35mm film of some description should remain available for the completion of my lifetime. I do hope so. Wouldn't say the same for other types of film.
Since my original post I have looked at what I already have in the way of gear and likely have enough to see me through. My F5 would be my prime film body and this is a mint condition camera I specifically preserved virtually from new. The LCD is fading, I know this but it's only beginning. Many others LCD's are likely fading too but people haven't really noticed it yet as it's ever so slight. My LCD may work for another decade! I'll have to have a good look but I think as long as the viewfinder information works the camera will be totally usable without either of the 2 LCD's working. Only issue is setting film speed which is not possible via the viewfinder or anywhere else except the rear LCD. I can set this via Photo Secretary with the F5 plugged into a PC or laptop. So I'll likely be fine.
 
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I should say, I also find it quite amusing that in this same film dedicated forum people can argue in my other thread that digital is as tough to get results as film and personal satisfaction of either medium is the same. Then in this thread everything changes to totally hardcore traditionalists using very basic cameras and defending film.
I have spent the last week now going through a bunch of old film images and also looking at some of my recent digital stuff. My god did it take more work to get anywhere with film! I think if you can't see this the only rational and logical explanation is you simply must be shooting garbage with both mediums! I think you just like to argue.

Let me have it! lol
 
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As for scanning film: I truly believe that for the majority of amateurs and hobbyists, and most professionals as well, (except pro's who demand high-dollar drum scan type levels of quality) that the NEWEST-era digital cameras (24 to 50 megapixels on APS-C or FX), when paired with a quality flat field macro lens and a decent light source, are producing better digitized images from film than the vast majority of scanners, and are doing the work faster, easier, and with fewer bad dust and scratch effects. My admittedly limited research has turned up examples of 24-megapixel and 36-megapixel d-slr "scans" of slides and negatives that look BETTER, flat-out better, than the results of most scanners. So, I think moving forward, we'll see more and more people moving to digital camera set-ups using the equivalent of old-school "slide duplicator" set-ups as the easy and productive way to transfer film-captured images into pixel-built images!

May very well be correct. I'm going to look at duplicating with a camera and see where this method falls short. Worth some testing time anyhow.
 
If the LCD on you F5 is failing, and this a major issue for you.
Then use a film camera without a LCD. Simple straightforward solution.

Even more so, use a fully manual camera, so you do not need batteries.
That frees you from the potential of the battery becoming difficult/impossible to get, as the mercury batteries became.
 
...
As for scanning film: I truly believe that for the majority of amateurs and hobbyists, and most professionals as well, (except pro's who demand high-dollar drum scan type levels of quality) that the NEWEST-era digital cameras (24 to 50 megapixels on APS-C or FX), when paired with a quality flat field macro lens and a decent light source, are producing better digitized images from film than the vast majority of scanners, and are doing the work faster, easier, and with fewer bad dust and scratch effects. My admittedly limited research has turned up examples of 24-megapixel and 36-megapixel d-slr "scans" of slides and negatives that look BETTER, flat-out better, than the results of most scanners. So, I think moving forward, we'll see more and more people moving to digital camera set-ups using the equivalent of old-school "slide duplicator" set-ups as the easy and productive way to transfer film-captured images into pixel-built images!
Digital scanning opened up an entirely different perspective of my film, both negatives and transparencies.

For years, I'd get great transparencies in several formats, but the resultant prints, using internegs, was a bit disappointing, and even when I provided detailed instructions to the labs, prints were sometimes too contrasty, with some details burned out or lost in the shadows, but that's the nature of the interneg. I did get a few Cibachrome prints made, and their colors were almost too vivid.

Enter my Epson V850, and the world changed. I've now scanned in around 3K transparencies and negatives. No, it's not a drum scanner, but I get far better results than I ever did with internegs.

I also found that I didn't have to do nearly as much editing as I thought. The transparencies were stored cool, dark, and dry, so color shifting of Ektachrome and Fujichrome was minimal. Negatives were also amazingly simple to convert.

Even with minimal editing, I get images which are far better than I hoped. And 4x5 transparencies are stunning when converted.

I'm still considering an attachment for my Nikkor 105 f/2.8.
 
If the LCD on you F5 is failing, and this a major issue for you.
Then use a film camera without a LCD. Simple straightforward solution.

Even more so, use a fully manual camera, so you do not need batteries.
That frees you from the potential of the battery becoming difficult/impossible to get, as the mercury batteries became.
Good advice, but not for people who don't like "old hard core".
 
Good advice, but not for people who don't like "old hard core".

Film is film, with or without LCD. I don't know but maybe film isn't for you if a small LCD screen is so critical that you can't shoot film without it.
 
Good advice, but not for people who don't like "old hard core".

It's not even the hardcore aspect. It has sentimental significance using the F5. It's the camera I want to use. It's the camera that I did the most important things with in my photographic film life. If I am going to return to film, it is the camera I wish to use again. I deliberately saved this particular body for just this type of period way back when most of the world had not even heard of digital photography. I can't control the camera is not simpler and from an earlier time period. Photography played no part in my life back then. In saying all this, I don't just shoot in multi segment mode using autofocus lenses 100% of the time. In fact, I've never had a lens on a F5 that has used a focus motor. This will be a new experience for me.
 
Film is film, with or without LCD. I don't know but maybe film isn't for you if a small LCD screen is so critical that you can't shoot film without it.

LCD is not critical but the joy of using a specific camera and film is what makes film still an attractive option. This along with the challenge of creating high quality images without any of the aids a digital camera provides. I also have no intention on post processing anything digitally I shoot with film. Defeats the purpose of using film at all. Who here processes their film pics? Why? Might as well shoot digital.
 
LCD is not critical but the joy of using a specific camera and film is what makes film still an attractive option. This along with the challenge of creating high quality images without any of the aids a digital camera provides. I also have no intention on post processing anything digitally I shoot with film. Defeats the purpose of using film at all. Who here processes their film pics? Why? Might as well shoot digital.

I think a more accurate title for this thread is "Did I just witness the end of me going back to film using my Nikon F5 because I can't use that camera without the LCD screen".
 
I think a more accurate title for this thread is "Did I just witness the end of me going back to film using my Nikon F5 because I can't use that camera without the LCD screen".

I would love to see some of your and other film users negs and slides! They would tell the story, the comments in this particular thread don't. lol
 
If the LCD on you F5 is failing, and this a major issue for you.
Then use a film camera without a LCD. Simple straightforward solution.

Even more so, use a fully manual camera, so you do not need batteries.
That frees you from the potential of the battery becoming difficult/impossible to get, as the mercury batteries became.
Good advice, but not for people who don't like "old hard core".

Then go up 1 step to a match needle meter.
You can still fall back to full manual.
 

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