I started in photography in 1972 with a Pentax Spotmatic II and a Super Takumar 50mm f1.4. I took thousands of photos with this rig along with a Pentax 35mm wide angle and a Lentar Zoom lens. I went digital 15 years ago buying a Canon XT 8 megapixel body and some kind of zoom lens that I do not remember. Currently I have a Canon 90d with a 24-105L. I also have a couple other lenses to fill in the focal lengths before and after that lens.

Digital photography is great - instant viewing of the image to show composition, sharpness, exposure and DOF. But the thing I love most about digital photography is the ability to reset ISO on the go. In the old film days a roll of film had a given ISO (ASA in those days) and you could not change it until the roll of film was complete. And of course the film types of different ISO’s were limited - 25, 64, 100, 125 speeds were common. TriX which was B&W was 400. These limited ISO’s are the reason most cameras came with a prime lens with a large aperture, f1.4 -2.0 were very common. You could push some films to 1000 if you needed to but then you experienced lots of noise. Today you can set the ISO as high as 3000-4000 without a significant amount of noise. I’ve heard of some people using ISO 10,000 and lowering noise in post. What did we do in the old days when we had 3 exposures left on the roll and the sun was fading? We did not get the shot.

I understand 35mm film photography is making a comeback. I don’t understand that. I will never go back. How about you?

Film is making a comeback for many reasons. The best overall experience I remember is loading in a roll and snapping away not knowing what was going to be the result. It was the expectation that you thought you were a good photographer. A week later, you had one photo out of 36 that were worth showing around. But you were learning. I love my Canon 5D Mark IV so don’t get me wrong. The shots that I don’t like, just disappear with the press of a little button.
My wife picked up a Canon 1v-HS and I love it. Some days, I am out with digital and other days I’m out with film. Some days I will carry both. My back starts complaining.
I remember the TriX and the TMax and the Portra and the Ilford. I miss the BW400CN and the Siena tones. I have bought one expired roll and pushed back the ASA.

My suggestion to those crusty old coots like myself is this. Use what you love and don’t worry what other people think or say about you. What the others thought of you, you don’t know. What the others said about you weren’t heard. Photograph for yourself and those who appreciate your talents.

PS, I wish Kodak would bring back the BW400CN.

From: Scruples, one of the few hipsters still from Brooklyn.

It appears you are not very knowledgeable on the present serious photography scene. In fact many serious art photographers are producing fine work with film large format cameras. They are producing work using wet plate colloiden, platinum/palladium. Carbon and several other processes. They do not engage in machine gun photography and they sell their work for more than the typical digital photographer has invested in their bird lens.

I still use large format film. I also use digital and I try to stay informed.

Completely agree with this. To be fair you need to take this comment a step further. If you learned on a digital telephone appliance to take photos, you know nothing about aperture, depth of field, f stop, etc. Not many people learn the basics of photography and thus the reason for a hurting camera industry and the lack of interest in buying, carrying multi pound equipment. On the flip side, look at how many non photographers capture memories that they would never have gotten and think of the thousands of photos taken that would have been lost. I guess not everything photo wise is done for the art that many love but rather for the recording which is a valid flip side to all of this.

I started in photography in 1972 with a Pentax Spotmatic II and a Super Takumar 50mm f1.4. I took thousands of photos with this rig along with a Pentax 35mm wide angle and a Lentar Zoom lens. I went digital 15 years ago buying a Canon XT 8 megapixel body and some kind of zoom lens that I do not remember. Currently I have a Canon 90d with a 24-105L. I also have a couple other lenses to fill in the focal lengths before and after that lens.

Digital photography is great - instant viewing of the image to show composition, sharpness, exposure and DOF. But the thing I love most about digital photography is the ability to reset ISO on the go. In the old film days a roll of film had a given ISO (ASA in those days) and you could not change it until the roll of film was complete. And of course the film types of different ISO’s were limited - 25, 64, 100, 125 speeds were common. TriX which was B&W was 400. These limited ISO’s are the reason most cameras came with a prime lens with a large aperture, f1.4 -2.0 were very common. You could push some films to 1000 if you needed to but then you experienced lots of noise. Today you can set the ISO as high as 3000-4000 without a significant amount of noise. I’ve heard of some people using ISO 10,000 and lowering noise in post. What did we do in the old days when we had 3 exposures left on the roll and the sun was fading? We did not get the shot.

I understand 35mm film photography is making a comeback. I don’t understand that. I will never go back. How about you?

You are correct, except I would add that while many many more digital images are made today a much higher percentage of these images remain on sd cards, other storage devises, or in the digital cloud world. Film got shot, processed and images printed. Many of these images exist and will remain existing for individuals, families and others to have and enjoy. They also serve as historical documents to inform us about the era in which they were made. I collect photographs made by photographers working in my home of St Joseph, Mo. I have often found images in thrift stores, antique stores and estate auctions that are well over a hundred years old. I do not expect to be able to do that in the future. Sad to say, but too much of what is being recorded these days will never be printed and will fade into oblivion.

It appears you are not very knowledgeable on the present serious photography scene. In fact many serious art photographers are producing fine work with film large format cameras. They are producing work using wet plate colloiden, platinum/palladium. Carbon and several other processes. They do not engage in machine gun photography and they sell their work for more than the typical digital photographer has invested in their bird lens.

I still use large format film. I also use digital and I try to stay informed.