Film?

kshapero said:
… I can not give up that visceral feeling of shooting film.:cool:
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The enjoyment you get is from being personally involved and engaged with the process of making a photo. Even though I’m a 98% film photographer, I was astounded when I discovered pack film (sadly only after its discontinuation).

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process: flipping the tabs to endure they align correctly before closing the back, pulling the dark slide sheet out, pulling a tab after making the photo, and separating the negative afterwards. That FP-3000B and. FP-100C gave spectacular results made this experience wonderful.

Using a 4x5 Grafmatic back is equally enjoyable.

Personal involvement and engagement is why many people also like mechanical watches and manual transmissions.
 
It reminds me of what happened in the 80's with CD's, they said it was going to kill record's with it's "perfect sound forever" slogan, well it's 2022
and records and turntables are still here and they sound better than ever. It's a niche for sure (I kept mine) but film and film camera's are here to
stay there will alway's be people (I'm included) that still use film and will most likely keep using it, and now I've seen Kodak releasing 120 film in
Kodakcolor 200 it is good news.
 
Range-rover said:
It reminds me of what happened in the 80's with CD's, they said it was going to kill record's with it's "perfect sound forever" slogan, well it's 2022
and records and turntables are still here and they sound better than ever. It's a niche for sure (I kept mine) but film and film camera's are here to
stay there will alway's be people (I'm included) that still use film and will most likely keep using it, and now I've seen Kodak releasing 120 film in
Kodakcolor 200 it is good news.
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Agreed, but records are much cheaper to manufacture and operate ;)
 
For myself at least the reason to continue with film, (but I have a small mirrorless) is that the cameras that I like, that appeal to my mechanical nature are….well mechanical. It is obviously not practically possible to have a ‘all mechanical’ digital camera. I like cameras that have a direct mechanical link to shutter speed, aperture, (half stop detents please) and focus. And please, no high priced half solutions such as a digital back for a mechanical Hasselblad. Stratospheric prices for my income demographic. And a camera without a built in meter? That is a plus feature for me.
Yep, I know, I’m a camera fondling type, and certainly not an artist, not a creative bone in my body.

But we all find out own level you see, and that is mine.
 
I never made the switch to digital really. I started back in the late 80s and I got a digital Nikon 8400 in 2006. Shot million of pictures for a year, backed them up on CDs and then my computer went bust. I can't read those CDs either. Went back to film eventually, easier for me to archive and I don't shoot an overwhelming amount of pictures either. Developing it, scanning it, archiving it makes more sense to me as a physical medium.

I will be shooting film with the cameras I have for as long as I can and as long as I can afford it. There always comes time that certain things run their circle and it is time to move on. Until then I will make sure I focus on taking pictures on film.
 
p.giannakis said:
I never made the switch to digital really. I started back in the late 80s and I got a digital Nikon 8400 in 2006. Shot million of pictures for a year, backed them up on CDs and then my computer went bust. I can't read those CDs either. Went back to film eventually, easier for me to archive and I don't shoot an overwhelming amount of pictures either. Developing it, scanning it, archiving it makes more sense to me as a physical medium.
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If you would like to look at or transfer the digital images you saved on CD, you can buy a USB CD player on Amazon for $20.

How are you archiving your film scans? Perhaps on an external hard drive or to the cloud?
 
Range-rover said:
It reminds me of what happened in the 80's with CD's, they said it was going to kill record's with it's "perfect sound forever" slogan, well it's 2022
and records and turntables are still here and they sound better than ever. It's a niche for sure (I kept mine) but film and film camera's are here to
stay there will alway's be people (I'm included) that still use film and will most likely keep using it, and now I've seen Kodak releasing 120 film in
Kodakcolor 200 it is good news.
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Well Bob, there are plenty of CD collectors out there…believe it or not. Look at a done of the Facebook groups… it’s only a matter of time before they come back too. Nostalgia always wins.
 
Everyone has their own reasons for using film. For me it's the enduring nature of the physical images. I just resurrected a series of memories from my high school days that have been patiently waiting in their negatives for more than half a century.

Nine years ago, the future of film photography looked so dim that I bought an old Graflex 4x5, took a series of courses at the George Eastman Museum, and learned how to make simple B&W emulsions so that I might coat my own glass plates or AZO-type printing paper. It now appears that I was ahead of the curve by a decade or two, but the writing is still on the wall for most commercially manufactured analog photo products and processes, especially color.

We must accept the fact that the photographic technologies of the 20th century that most of us have known for a lifetime were all enabled by a worldwide mass market that no longer exists.

There will always be small numbers of faithful devotees who hunt with black powder muskets, paint with water colors, play mechanical pianos, farm with horses, write with fountain pens or record images with silver halide. The key word here is "small". Commercial films or products for photochemical fans will be limited and expensive, while all else will have to be home-brewed. Cameras will either be carefully preserved antiques, hand-crafted luxuries or plastic simulcra. Lenses will be treasured originals, adapted from digital devices or even manually shaped and polished.

Life will go on though. Mechanical shutters will click and prints will be made. Hobbyists and artists will get to do their thing just like before, except that it will all be increasingly slow, laborious and costly. Ironically, the results will surely be much more valued and appreciated because of the effort involved, and the process more enjoyable without any worries about keeping up with the latest gear and gadgets.
 
One limitation on film photography will be finding techs to repair old cameras that don't have a waiting list measured in years. Cost of film isn't that bad, especially if you bulk load and process yourself.
 
I like the look of film especially in larger formats. But film should be printed traditionally in the dark. If I digitalise it then I should just shoot digital.

Rolleiflex 3.5f TMax 400 Vietnam somewhere

Nam12 by Ray T, on Flickr
 
Erik van Straten said:
Have you ever seen a gelatin silver print that wasn't made in the dark?

Erik.
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Getting beyond the surreal nature of this interaction, salt printing can indeed be done in the light. The digital negatives that I mentioned earlier can be printed on normal paper that has been treated with silver halides.
 
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