Why not start with Med. format?

[Derrel]

A few years ago that first 10,000 of anything was a huge topic, discussed all over the Internet. I just divided 10,000 by 36 and 10,000 pictures is around 278 rolls of film. Since he was primarily a 35 mm shooter,and I have seen some of his contact sheets, let me say that I think he's exaggerating a little bit. But, back in the day in which he lived a person who had shot 270 rolls of film would probably be considered a pretty experienced photographer. I remember buying 100 foot rolls of bulk film in the 1980s as I recall you got about 18 rolls of 36 shots per 100 foot spool. I really can't remember for certain.

As far as I can remember the biggest film assignment I have shot was about three days,maybe it was four days, at the Walla Walla,Washington balloon "stampede" in 1986, at which a friend and I each shot a brick or 20-roll pack of Kodachrome 64 Professional film. (720 Pictures ). today about 700 frames is my normal days shooting over a full day, so I guess you could say that in a target rich environment I now shoot at roughly 3 times the total output they used to.That was quite a trip and I was able to make lots of really nice balloon launch and balloon in-flight photographs. I was about 22 years of age and had about 10 years of photography experience at the time.

As I recall, having started with 35 mm adjustable lens Photography in 1975, by 1985 I was pretty competent, but I would get better over the next 20 years. in short I feel like the first five years of film learning could be condensed now into about a year, with the low-cost and the immediate feedback resulting in quicker learning. Back in the film days it was really common to shoot something and then have to wait at between four hours for E6 slide film at a high volume pro lab, to 12 days or so for a round trip to Rochester, New York and back for development of Kodachrome slide film.

I understand what HCB was trying to get at when he said that your first 10,000 photographs are your worst, but I think today with the immediate feedback people learn photographic technique,and nuances, and composition much,much more quickly than was possible back in the 1930s.

 

[weepete]

Shouldn't the question be why has the 35mm format gained so much popularity?

 

[Derrel]

Shouldn't the question be why has the 35mm format gained so much popularity?

The earliest 35mm cameras offered something that was not around at the time they were introduced. Compared to the current cameras at the time of introduction, 35mm cameras were smaller and lighter, and by 1935 Eastman Kodak's invention of the standardized 135 factory-loaded film size made it possible for manufacturers to design cameras that no longer required a special cassette,which is a user-loadable metal holder into which bulk film is loaded. It was not too long after the introduction of the 135 factory load that 35mm cameras really took off. Early Leica cameras were designed to use reloadable cassettes but the cartridge format quickly was introduced and other manufacturers got in on the game.

In 1938 Argus introduced its C3 camera,which was manufactured in the USA until about 1968, making it the longest running American Production camera. I have owned two different C3 examples over the years.

The tremendous beauty of 35mm cameras was first seen in the Leica models, and followed very soon after by the German-made Contax rangefinder camera. Both of these models offered really good lenses, fine workmanship, and first rate results. as I recall in 1936 the Exacta single lens reflex camera was premiered.

There were other much less expensive 35mm cameras as well when I was a kid I used to have a 1940 Bass Camera catalog,and I was extremely impressed with how very expensive Leica and Contax cameras were! At a time when a new Ford car could be had for $350-$500,there were Leica and Contax cameras with high-quality 50 mm lenses priced at $400 and even $425! This was a tremendous amount of money in pre-World War II America. By comparison an Argus C3 outfit, complete with the flash gun and carrying case was around $65.

Beginning around 1948 and 1950, and Canon and Nikon got into the 35 mm rangefinder market.

By the mid-1950s, the instant return mirror was invented and premiered in I believe 1954, in the Asahiflex.I have only used one 35mm single lens reflex without an instant return mirror and that was my old 1950s Zeiss Contaflex.

By 1940 there was a large number of 35mm cameras available, and it was the up-and-coming new format of choice for people who wanted picturesand who liked the idea of lots of shots per roll,easy film loading, and a relatively new and exciting type of camera. Compared to a speed graphic with 4 x 5" sheet film that had to be loaded in the dark room into a two-sided film holder, 35 mm offered 20 shots in one pre-loaded cartridge. I'm not exactly sure when the 36 exposure roll was invented. But compared to sheet film with one or two exposures and large bulky film holders, the 35mm format offered very small film size, and required no darkroom to get the film ready for loading into the camera.

Because the film was so much smaller than common at the time,Lenses did not need to be especially long,and lens designers fairly quickly came out with what were extraordinarily high speed lenses such as f/1.5 and f/2.

For the creative types, 35 mm offered a good compromise between deep depth of field at Moderate Lens apertures, and deep depth of field at small f-stops such as f/11, f/16, and f/22.basically The35mm camera was small and light and very mobile and fairly easy to shoot, even for small people, women, children, and the physically infirm . As film continued to rapidly get better and better it was less and less of a drawback to having a small negative and by the late 1950s the somewhat demeaning term of "miniature" was dropped from most photography books and magazines. In 1959 Nikon premiered its system camera the Nikon F, with a wide range of lenses and accessories. Within 10 years the Nikon would replace the Leica as the 35mm camera used by The vast majority of photojournalists worldwide. Today Leica is no longer a working professional camera in most instances

Beginning in the 1950s, 35mm Color slides became popular with many amateurs, and slide shows were popular across the world. It was during the decade of the 1950s that the 35 mm camera swept into widespread popularity with the masses, and there were many different cameras at many different price points

When we asked the question "why did the 35mm camera become so popular? " we only have to look at the ease of use,the wide range in price points, and the huge amount of offerings that industry decided to give to people, and we can see that it was a combination of demand and offerings. It's sort of a chicken and egg thing..in the post World War II era Japan started cranking out more and more cameras, and the new cameras like the Canon and Nikon rangefinder cameras began to be used by professional photo journalists. Eastman Kodak company offered relatively inexpensive 35mm cameras in the 1940s and 1950s as well as higher end offerings in the 1950s and 1960s. By the decade of the 1960s the 35mm camera was well established and for about 60 years it was one of the worlds most popular types of camera. But as we know, beginning in the late 1990s digital cameras appeared on the scene.

And now here we are some 20 years later, and film is pretty much a memory for most people, Much like the typewriter, the phonograph, and the landline telephone.

 

[weepete]

Yes mate, a very interesting history indeed. Thanks for taking the time to give us really good overview.

Pesonally I think ergonomics plays a big deal too, 35mm in modern cameras. MF and LF format cameras are pretty big and unweildly, where the 35mm formmat is big yet ergonomically probably the biggest sensor that's been extensivley designed to fit in the hand too