Why I still shoot film

I have said in another thread that I enjoyed shooting film a bit more than I like shooting with my 4 month old M8.2. Some of the more insignificant reasons are: I like the look of 10 or 20 new rolls of film sitting on the table. It's a bit exciting to think of the possibilities. I like the feel of it of the film as I load it. I love the exposure latitude. I like the look of film. I even like some grain showing in prints. - Jim
 
dcsang said:
Most folks I know who have digital cameras almost NEVER print off any of the images they've shot. There's a handful of folks who do so - and I'm talking non-pro folks. They love to show their work off via looking at their computer screen.

"oh oh oh!! You have to come OVER HERE to see this !!"




Cheers,
Dave
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I have a friend who loaded pretty much all of his photos on his iphone. He now has the iPad. They do look great on that large screen.

Me? I will soon have a bunch of B&W negatives hanging in my darkroom if I don't get around to cutting , printing or scanning ... etc.

I think I like shooting and processing the most.
 
sojournerphoto said:
With that I completely agree. Prints are more likely to survive than either digital files for negs. Your children will look at them and remember their childhood with you and know what made them who they are then.

They won't do that with negs or your dying HDD

Mike

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My girls found old photos of themselves and had them placed in their HS yearbook. Those pics went back 14-15 years ago when you had all your film printed (remember double prints) by the lab. They then went into a shoebox for safekeeping.
 
barnwulf said:
I have said in another thread that I enjoyed shooting film a bit more than I like shooting with my 4 month old M8.2. Some of the more insignificant reasons are: I like the look of 10 or 20 new rolls of film sitting on the table. It's a bit exciting to think of the possibilities. I like the feel of it of the film as I load it. I love the exposure latitude. I like the look of film. I even like some grain showing in prints. - Jim
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I agree... And beautiful quote, barnwulf!

Cheers,

Juan
 
I enjoyed the movie "Surrogates". It seems like a reasonably likely future. My use of a number of Canon DSLRs over the last many years had progressively moved me into the keep pushing the button syndrome. I finally ended up with a camera that allowed me to hold the button down and then shoots at a rate of 10fps. Any part of the process that had much to do with creativity was left to my time in front of the computer. My sense of composition, lighting, exposure and my ability to pick a moment was gone. My photographic life was being lived almost second hand. The DSLR was my camera surrogate. Film, once again has forced me to understand the process and has restored the discipline. I also like the look of some film vs. digital. I will buy another digital camera when I find one that pulls me in. I hope that I will apply some level of self-discipline and not loose what I have regained by shooting film.
 
I use film because my digital camera is covered with 2 inches of dust. That dust is going to continue to 'pile up' whilst im shooting my M4 for the next 50 years.
 
Hard to say why, it is a pain to develop film in the Japanese summer, or winter, but something about the process of using my old mechanical film cameras and developing the film, and the results from the old lenses like Zeiss Ikon Tessars and Sonnars, and the old 50mm Nikkor, guess that's what keeps me going with film. That and the self indulgent thrill of looking at slides with a loop.
 
paparazzi mano said:
I have been wondering why I have resisted upgrading my kit to digital. I have a PnS 8m Canon digital but the majority of my work is still in film. FYI 99% of the time I shoot TriX 400 and the remainder Velvia 50.

Its like music, for convenience I have my iphone but when I want to listen to real music I take out my LPs. With analog I can hear the timber and nuances but on my iphone I can only hear the melody and the majority of the arrangement.
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I love shooting film, but I think it is problematic to compare a nice film setup (I assume you are using something of reasonably high quality) with a digital point and shoot. Or comparing a nice turntable setup with an iPhone. This is not giving digital a chance.
 
dcsang said:
Photographs, especially those that move YOUR heart (and often these are of loved family members), are meant to be viewed !!!

Cheers,
Dave
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To add to this sentiment,

"I don't regret the numerous pictures of Brigitte Bardot, but I'd rather have a good photograph of my father." Raymond Depardon
 
Someone earlier in this thread mentioned that they prefer using film film because they like to shoot with old mechanical cameras.

Leica took an old mechanical camera and put a digital sensor in it and still you're not satisfied ... sheesh! :p
 
We have obligation to shoot the rest of the film in the world.

We can always go to digital, and even later is better = more improved technology.

Full-frames are still very expensive, so why we would shoot with some stupid crop digitals when we have 35mm/medium (etc.) format film cameras?

:)
 
Keith said:
Someone earlier in this thread mentioned that they prefer using film film because they like to shoot with old mechanical cameras.

Leica took an old mechanical camera and put a digital sensor in it and still you're not satisfied ... sheesh! :p
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Keith, if I'm not advancing the film myself it ain't mechanical enough!
 



"Broken Record"

Nikon F3T MD-4 and 45 2.8 ED PC-E Ektapress 160 ASA film





Nikkor 800 5.6 IF-ED AIS on F3T MD-4 and Ektapress 160 film.

To me, these two pictures epitomize my feelings about the modern world. And it's an attitude about analog media, visually and auditory wise. The world is analog but for some reason, we have been hooked on the digital filter. In the first picture you have a broken record, discarded and lying prostrate on the ground. The label on the record is of the dog staring at the record player with the huge cone speaker. A throwback from another era.

The second shot, taken from my balcony, is of several kids huddled around a "little electronic device" on their balcony. I watched them for some time. They never talked to one another. Instead, they were glued to the little screen.


Gregory
 
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i live in a small town on a small island and there are just few labs here that can process neg c-41, non of them can process slide. the quiality is always awful, overexposed or underexposed, film is scratched all over. i quit shooting film. my leica is now staying in the closet. i hate this island. i hate my digi canon :bang:
 
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