Is film right for me?

[Light Guru]

I think that most Digital shooters don't think of the continual expenses when shooting with film.

How about all the continual expenses of digital photography? Upgrading software every other year for photoshop and lightroom. Upgrading digital cameras every couple of years due to shutter life.
Buying larger and/or faster memory cards. Computer and monitor upgrades to keep up with photoshop. How long do you keep a film body compared to how long someone keeps a digital body on average? At the very least the digital body will need a shutter replacement at some point, not just a CLA.

The day to day continuous expense of film is far outweighed by the eventual expenses of digital.

I shoot film and also have the added computer expenses. I just spent 8 hours in photoshop working on a 4x5 negative scan.

 

[nycphotography]

I'd suggest STARTING w/ digital using an SLR (or MILC) in M, A and S modes.

No photoshop, no lightroom, just SOC JPGs (using the built in color and b&w modes) on a digital SLR.... with the goal being to shoot, show, learn, and repeat... over dozens of iterations until you are happy with your accomplishments.

THEN go learn to shoot, process and print b&w film.

Having that goal in mind will give direction and passion to everything you do while working to get there (learning).

The OP said their budget was $150..not going to get much of a digital camera for that... CAN get a decent film camera with lens though.

If the budget is to learn, then the film camera will require more budget... not negotiable, must spend. say 20 rolls of film at $10 / roll for a year? That would hardly last a year. Therefore, the $150 number is not a real number. It may be what he has now, but not what it takes for the first year. In that context, the smart money says to save a little longer until you have $215 ($199 plus 5 bucks for a memory card and 10 bucks for a usb card reader).

For $200 he can get a used LX5 and shoot all year w/o having to spend another penny. Is that the best thing since sliced bread? Hardly. Is it good enough to learn real photography? Absolutely.

And if he can scrape together enough for an EPL1 or a GF1 w/ a kit lens?

Don't get me wrong.. I love b&w film. I think he should do film. Eventually. I just think digital is a better way to learn the basics.

 

[pixmedic]

Then i guess we just have to hope the OP has a computer :-D

 

[nycphotography]

I think that most Digital shooters don't think of the continual expenses when shooting with film.

How about all the continual expenses of digital photography? Upgrading software every other year for photoshop and lightroom. Upgrading digital cameras every couple of years due to shutter life.
Buying larger and/or faster memory cards. Computer and monitor upgrades to keep up with photoshop. How long do you keep a film body compared to how long someone keeps a digital body on average? At the very least the digital body will need a shutter replacement at some point, not just a CLA.

The day to day continuous expense of film is far outweighed by the eventual expenses of digital.

While that may be true eventually.. he can get ANY DSLR w/ the kit lens, once $5 memory card (SD, CF maybe $20) and shoot SOC jpg for an entire year without spending another penny.

That's about the equivalent of how I learned... buy a roll of Portra or TMAX, run it through the camera, send it in and get it back, and learn from the results.

When I got my first real digital (D1), my learning pace accelerated substantially. The shorter feedback cycle had me finding problems, fixing them in the same session, rather than 2 weeks later when I got my film back (or found the energy to go in the darkroom myself).

While film may be cheaper than a $2000 slr kit... over the course of even one year, a $400 dslr or u43 or bridge camera can be cheaper than a $150 film camera.

 

[jake337]

Damn all this back and forth!


Let's just be honest.


Photography as a hobby is expensive in general with all mediums.

 

[nycphotography]

Then i guess we just have to hope the OP has a computer :-D

lol Even if not, a 4GB sd card is $5 at micro center and holds something like 700 JPGs on my LX5.

Even if he never finds the delete button... how many dollars of film is that equivalent to?

He can just keep buying $5 SD cards until Santa brings him a computer in 2017 ;-)

 

[nycphotography]

Damn all this back and forth!

Let's just be honest.

Photography as a hobby is expensive in general with all mediums.

It's as expensive as it can be... or as we let it be. But really... it doesn't have to be.

Ouch. And I have a lot of expensive gear too. Luckily I don't have to justify it to anyone but myself hehe.

 

[pixmedic]

Meh... Film is dead anyway.
;-)

 

[nycphotography]

God I hope not. The thought of losing b&w film to digital is just too depressing to bear.

But to be fair, I'll probably never shoot color film again. If I ever get the urge to shoot color film it would likely be a medium format urge... Hopefully I'll pick up a used 45mp D900 for $1000 instead.

 

[thevideographer]

Damn all this back and forth!


Let's just be honest.


Photography as a hobby is expensive in general with all mediums.

Photography is one of the cheapest hobbies there is! Most people have a computer, so all you need is a digital camera, lens and memory cards. I have those things as well as a film SLR so I can shoot a handful of rolls a year when I feel like it. Film isn't $10 a roll by the way, it's about $3. The developing is what costs you. Since photography is mostly fixed costs you can get away with a few hundred dollars every few years. That's way cheaper than golf!

 

[hearts0075]

Film is awesome! My photography professors have dark rooms that I can use! And film is still the original format of learning, it what makes it fun! Oh yeah you ask me if film or not! It rocks!

 

[Light Guru]

photography is mostly fixed costs you can get away with a few hundred dollars every few years. That's way cheaper than golf!

I've never known anyone who is interested in photography be able to only spend a few hundred dollars every few years. And I don't anyone who is active on this forum actually stays under a few hundred dollars every few years ether.

 

[thevideographer]

Well now you have. How long I stay active on this forum... depends :mrgreen:

 

[xjken99]

Go on ebay, find a decent 35mm slr with a lens or two. Then run two or three rolls of B+W and two or three rolls of color through the camera. Take the rolls to CVS, Walgreens, Costco or where ever tell them you want them processed and scanned to a disk. You can then pick which photos you want to print if any, no sense in paying for the rotten ones. This usually cost me around $6.00.

Just did a quick search on ebay and found this.
Canon 35mm T70 SLR Camera w 50mm Lense Speedlite 244T Flash Extra 75 200mm Zoom | eBay


The only way to find out is to shoot some film.

 

[timor]

I've never known anyone who is interested in photography be able to only spend a few hundred dollars every few years. And I don't anyone who is active on this forum actually stays under a few hundred dollars every few years ether.

Damn right ! Hobby is about spending money on pleasure. For most of us present here, don't count pros.