Film Cameras = More Fun, More New Friends than DIGITAL?

I get all kinds of attention when I have my Rolleiflex or Rolleicord or Rollei 35s with me for a shoot. Never get comments with DSLR or mirrorless for that matter. Usually the comments are from older women and older men that someone in their family owned one of those.
 
You can get in a lot of trouble with shooting random people on the streets :D This week there was this guy in the subway that just came towards random girls and took a picture of their faces and just walked away... They are like ''WTF???'' :D
 
Shooting movie film will definitely elicit questions! I get them with other film cameras too, but mainly from ones that do not look like DSLRs. For example, when you shoot with a Retina, people will look at you and wonder what the hell you are doing. But my favorite questions come from the many people who think film is already gone, especially older people, who seem very happy when you tell them that there is still plenty of film out there. Almost all such encounters have been enjoyable for me.
 
Having a film camera in Brooklyn makes everyone look at you like a hipster. Also the fact that I am in that age group, have an unshaven face, work in the tech industry and wear skinny jeans doesn't help ;-).

But with my GL690, I get stopped a lot. It's just really big and people always wonder why it's so big or what is that thing on the top (external viewfinder)? I like it. It gives me a chance to explain to folks about the differences between film and digital and why my MF rangefinder is better than most.
 
Was only stopped once with my chrome F on a little festival in the hillsides from a guy with a big Nikon D-something with long zoomlens & flash on it:
"Ah, the new Df in chrome!"
"No, an old F in chrome"
He couldnt believe, that there are still people out and working with "that old stuff"
 
Carrying my Leica, I rarely get stopped in London. However, in June while in Pret a Manger, Piccadilly, perched on a stool by the window with my camera over my shoulder, eating a sandwich, a suited gent took the stool next to mine:

Suited gent, unwrapping his just bought sandwich, with a knowing look and jiggle of his eyebrows: “Nice camera. German? Leica?”
Me: “Thank you. Yes, on both counts. Do you have an interest in photography?”
Suited gent, ignoring my question: “Looks expensive. Is it?”
Me: “Depends on your budget.”
Suited gent, throwing the sandwich wrapper in the bin: “Doesn’t everything, mate. Doesn’t everything.”

With that he hopped off the stool and walked off.
 
Maybe I'm now old enough to have the perspective of age, but I remember when having any odd camera would generate attention. I had an Olympus XA and a Pentax Auto 110 in the Eighties, and had lots of people asking about them both. (I still have those cameras, too.)

In the late Nineties, I had the first digital cameras, an Apple QuickTake 100 and a Kodak DC120, the first "megapixel" camera, and I had lots of people asking about them. (I don't have either of those cameras anymore.) Then came a long era when nobody asked about any camera I owned, film or digital.

Now, there are so few people using film cameras, so most of them are older, and they seem to get folks talking whenever they're used. Nobody comments about an iPhone or a Galaxy S being used as a camera, but bring out a Leica or a Konica, and folks smile and start reminiscing.

Scott
 
Last edited:
Nobody has commented on my Pentax K-3, only the digital Leicas. I don't carry film cameras any more, so no good comparison can be made.

Another tourist at Sea World asked me what kind of camera I was carrying (taped Leica S2) and I just said it was an SLR and he said "cool".

A reporter smoking out back of the newspaper office remarked on my old film camera and I showed her the back of the M9. Similarly wrapping up a medical appointment the doc said "what's with the antique camera?" I showed him the back of the M240... Nice bit of conversation in both instances.
 
I was out in the street with my Chamonix 4x5... And you should have heard all of the conversation people were getting into with me...

I had 4 different people over the course of an hour chat me up about it. Some folks even want to get their picture taken! Imagine that in the middle of Brooklyn!

Trying taking someone's photo in Brooklyn and see how happy they are about it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I like to go to the local Rennaissance Festival, and I almost always shoot film. Everyone there loves seeing my film cameras going and I"ve started tons of conversations. I've shot 35mm SLRs, rangefinders, medium format and even 4x5 and 8x10. Always a conversation starter. I refuse to shoot only digital there, now.
 
I was shooting at an event earlier this year, using my Leica M3, and a chap in his 60s came up to me and said, "That looks almost like a 'real' camera". I showed him that I was using an M3, and he was impressed and engaged me in a conversation about the vintage Voigtlander camera that his mother had owned since the late 1920s (I would imagine it was the 1929 Bessa, from the way he described it).

Another time I was in a supermarket with my Bessa R around my neck and another chap came up to me, super excited and asked to look through the viewfinder: he used a Leica M3 and M9, he said, but had been considering buying a Bessa R for a while.

My dentist, who's a keen photographer but only shoots with digital cameras, is always keen to see what 35mm camera I've brought with me to my appointments with him. (It's a long walk to my dentist's offices, and I always take a camera with me.) He usually likes to handle the camera I have on me at the time: he's interested in pursuing film photography but thinks the learning curve will be too much of a hurdle and drain on his free time.

On the other hand, the only time conversations have been sparked when I've had a digital camera with me have been when they've been mistaken for film cameras: carrying my Fuji X-E1 on a work-related trip, one of my managers cooed delightedly, 'Ooh, is that a Leica?', until I explained to her that it wasn't; and recently, an external visitor was fascinated by my Fuji X-Pro1, but only after initially believing it to be a 35mm Leica.

I must admit, when I'm out and about I'm more interested in seeing what someone's shooting with when I realise they're using a film camera: when I see someone using a film camera I've owned or used myself in the past, I find I'm much more inspired to talk to them than if I see someone using a generic DSLR - but then, I guess, they're more likely to be like-minded enthusiasts if they're using a 35mm camera, and maybe that's part of it.
 
Me too, there is something cool about film camera, even for the new generation who never saw a film camera, or used one.
The folklore of film and a century before us is encapsuled in every person still using it.
I get smiles and friendly stares when I use a TLR, and I get attentions of camera geeks when I use my Leica ^^

When digital came along, we all thought it was going to replace film, but now that I had tenth of super good digital cameras, I am back to film and it's magical.



41192314802_deeefed67b_z.jpg
 
Diametrically opposite experiences with film cameras in public

Diametrically opposite experiences with film cameras in public

Yesterday, I went to a dinner at a medical charitable society. They were handing out scholarship checks to high school graduates, to help with college. The mayor of the town was there to hand out the checks. Some checks were also going to the police and fire departments, so their representatives were there. Overall, a staid affair. As the high schoolers were getting their scholarship checks, photographs were taken, all with cell phones. Not one camera in sight. I had brought along my camera to take pictures of my friends later that evening, so I just kept it quiet under my seat.

I had with me what would be considered standard stuff here on RFF: Leica M2 with 50mm SC Nikkor 1.4. I was using Adox CMS 20, shot at EI 12, with a yellow filter, giving an effective EI of 5. So, in order to have enough light, I bought along my CEYOO flash unit, and a box of M3 flash bulbs. In order not to be doing guide number mental math or using the calculator on my phone all the time, I brought along a Norwood Flashrite. This is a rangefinder calibrated for various flash bulb types. It reads distances, then on the dial you see the f/stop for your ASA film speed and the bulb type you are using. For a distance of about 7 - 10 feet I was using f/5.6 or f/4, respectively. Shutter speed kept on 1/30, and using the M flash synchronization port. I use the Leica flash cable, because it is far more secure than the PC type connection. It's too bad the M3 and M2 flash ports didn't catch on. They don't fall out inadvertently.

In the evening, when it was the social hour, I unpacked my kit. As soon as I unfurled the fan reflector of the CEYOO, women literally flocked to me. It was unreal! They had to take pictures OF THE CAMERA. It was so alien to them, and "so incredibly cool". The husbands and fathers had questions, so the usual responses: "Yes, its a Leica, from 1965...Yes, film is still available...No, flash bulbs are no longer made (don't know if Meggaflash is still in business), but millions were made every year for decades, so there are plenty to be found on ebay..."

People were literally begging me to take their picture. The pile of used flash bulbs building up on the table was visible proof that something had been sacrificed for the picture. I must say that if you want instant attention, unfurl a CEYOO reflector in public. You'll be an instant chick magnet.

Back in 2004, I was in Dublin, Ireland. I went to visit Kilmainham Gaol - a big jail in the middle of town. It's now a museum. The suffering of the prisoners was appalling. Children as young as 7 were imprisoned for petty theft. I'm sure they took food because they were starving. The story of the Irish revolutionary Joseph Plunkett who married his sweetheart Grace Gifford in jail, the night before his execution the next morning - all very poignant. While I was in the midst of absorbing these sombre events, a man comes rushing up to me. He had spotted my Nikon F3 hanging around my neck.

"I just got this Nikon D100, and it's incredible. Digital is wiping the floor of film. You'd better sell that camera (F3) before it is worth nothing. This has an incredible 6 megapixels of resolution. Can you imagine it - 6 megapixels? That's better than 35mm film, better than medium format. Almost as good as 4x5 film. I sold all my film cameras once I got this ....."

While he was trying to proselytize this benighted pagan film user to the true new way of digital, I just wanted him to go away and leave me alone. When we got to the prison yard where the firing squads did their dirty work, his camera battery died. HAH! Thankfully, I've not had such a vigorous attempt at digital messianic conversion since then. Digital in the form of the cell phone has taken over, and anyone using a film camera clearly does so because he or she wants to use it. I still use my F3. I wonder if that man is still using his fabulous D100 with the awesome 6 megapixels? Somehow, I doubt it.
 
This thread has been most entertaining, especially the disproportionate amount of stories of cameras attracting young ladies.. All true or just wishful thinking guys? :rolleyes:

As to my own experiences; no one has ever commented/asked about my camera in a decade of shooting digital. Yesterday, after shooting film for only a few weeks, the Postmaster (when i was sending my film off to be developed) was beside himself over the fact that people still used film*.
"You mean a real film you put in a camera?" He asked at least twice, before quizzing me about buying and developing film. As I walked away I heard him turn to his colleague and say "I can't believe people are still using film cameras, my phone is good enough for me"

*don't know how common this is, but here in the UK it is common practice for the Post Office to ask (as a safety measure) what is in your package
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top