Selling out or being practical?

madNbad

madNbad

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Just returned from a 10 day guided tour of Italy which started in Stressa, moved on to Orta, traveled around Tuscany and finished in Venice. Our group was small (14 people) and our schedule was busy but with a fair amount of free time in the afternoons. Prior to leaving I made the decision to leave the(film) Leica home and use the iPhone 7 but unlike one of our tour group members who had some 13,000 images halfway through the trip, I treated the iPhone like a film camera and came back with just under 1200 images equating to about 3 rolls of 36 exposures a day. Two trips through airport security on the way over and three on the way back, waiting while each and every time my wife had her cary on searched due to a medical device. Not having to answer why I couldn't "turn my camera on" or having my film X-rayed numerous times were also a bonus.
My informal survey of other tourist was about 80 percent used a smart phone for photos, about 20 percent were using digital cameras with a bulk of those being point and shoots. I spotted five Leicas, one being the new instant film, the others were digitals but there may had been an M5 mixed in. The iPhone also offered the panorama feature which was nice to have. Over all, I am pleased with the images but did miss the interaction of using a film camera.
If we had been touring on our own at a more leisurely pace the Leica certainly would had come along but never having traveled in a group before, I tried to keep it simple. Traveling with just the phone gave me better insight as to both how and why the migration of photography to the smart phone is so appealing. It's always with you, it tells you exactly when and where the photo was taken and in many cases, it's not as intrusive as a traditional camera. I am a film guy at heart, believing the negative is the key to any archive. I mourn the loss of a generation who will never have a box of old prints to look through to follow their family history. For this one trip, the phone made it easier to understand it's siren call.
 
madNbad said:
If we had been touring on our own at a more leisurely pace the Leica certainly would had come along but never having traveled in a group before, I tried to keep it simple. Traveling with just the phone gave me better insight as to both how and why the migration of photography to the smart phone is so appealing. It's always with you, it tells you exactly when and where the photo was taken and in many cases, it's not as intrusive as a traditional camera. I am a film guy at heart, believing the negative is the key to any archive. I mourn the loss of a generation who will never have a box of old prints to look through to follow their family history. For this one trip, the phone made it easier to understand it's siren call.
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I've found that the combination of Film (Medium format) and phone are a nice balanced choice. Former takes the thoughful photography and the latter is a visual journal.

I am from this generation and have taken a global view on all the tools available. Prefer film, digital with camera is practical but it's also rather cumbersome to share, phone is instantaneous and fast.
If, if someone would put a bigger sensor in the phones it would be great. Anyways I have decent 8x10 prints from it and its ethos is not that much of postprocessing and having a very dedicated flow. I did find some editing quite entretaining while commuting.

Its ethos for visual diary is excellent and would say that 95% good enough for everything (8x10" again). Consider too that people view just 1920x1080 pixels, or less after heavy compression and downsizing of that input.

It's a small slab that does a little bit of everything. My iPhone 6 has begun to show its battery shortcomings (decreasing battery life with age and malicious updates) however, it's a bit of a nuisance having to reduce snap taking and losing the communication abilities at the same time.
 
A friend had all of his images stored on Yahoo's cloud. The storage program vanished along with his account. There was no notice given by Yahoo. He lives in Silicon Valley, Yahoo is just a few miles from him. Maybe he'll knock on their door and ask what happened?

Print your best pictures!
 
Giving up? I see no point in shooting digital as long as there's film, unless you're doing it for business. Digital sucks.
 
My next trip to eastern Europe this summer the choice will be digital P&S and either my Leica or Crown Graphic 6X9 or maybe both. I want something new to hang on my wall here in the States.
 
There is Ricoh GR in every bag I carry so I never have to worry about what to take :).
 
You have a film Leica and decided to leave it because it was inconvenient? On a 10 day guided tour of Italy?

Not only do film images look better (nothing to do with sharpness, it's about the look), the whole experience is something to savour. The gentle wind of the film advance. The caress of the chrome on your cheek. The rotation of the focus ring as your image comes together in the viewfinder. The soft snick of the shutter. The anticipation of the developed film.
All gone because you used your phone.

Sell your Leica. You do not deserve it.
 
Ranchu said:
Giving up? I see no point in shooting digital as long as there's film, unless you're doing it for business. Digital sucks.
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Yep, film for me, digital for others..

It's not likely to change unless a client who knows I still work with film wants a special project done on film. So far, no one has suggested it.

I have some non photographer friends who think its odd.. The photographers I know, don't subscribe to the practice but understand it. Digital photography is pretty easy for the average Joe today. Nothing is printed but, they are PUBLISHED.. on social media.
 
kudos for testing the water...

Sounds like you had a great experience and I am guessing that it's not the end of days between you and film ; )
 
For me, black & white capture is with film. I have an analog darkroom to make prints. Not my way of thinking capturing photographs using film then scanning the negatives or transparencies.

Recently bought a C41 kit from Freestyle and some Ilford XP-2 from B & H. Try my hand with this film and see what happens. A really nice feature of photography is I can try different things and you can as well. Lots of stuff to try out. Each has features and benefits. And each of us can have different opinions and all be correct!

Color I'm 100% digital. I capture with Canon stuff, process with iMac using CS-4 and view with various media.
 
You're not selling out, you're opening up a new chapter in the journey.

I look at it like using 4x5 rather than a 35mm rangefinder. Some time's it's the right tool for the job.

B2 (;->
 
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