For those that do, why do you shoot film?
Dec 22, 2020 22:01:00 #
Like a number of members, I still shoot film as well as digital. I still shoot 35mm (Canon EOS-1N) and MF (RB67) as well as develop and print or scan. For those others that do, I’m curious - why do YOU shoot film?
Dec 22, 2020 22:27:12 #
Dec 22, 2020 23:28:59 #
Film for me is just something different to be interesting. Film changes my approach down to picking a subject and a film to match. With digital I just pick a prime or zoom focal length and shoot away, as often and as much as needed to be confident I have a good result to find later.
With film, I try to make every frame count and don't take a second frame of the same subject unless I think I misfired the first one. But, I think I come away more conservative in film shooting too. I don't try a crazy angle or very artistic wide open aperture, where in digital I can walk all the settings, if desired, tossing those that don't work.
Focus for me is critical, so I've given up on manual focus lenses and film. I also will select an IS-enabled lens over the non IS lenses, if I don't bring along the tripod. But, developing the film gives me zero interest. I edit all the scans in LR where probably my 35mm film has more of a digital look than slides.
Beyond all the process / how aspects of shooting film, I like the 'look' of the results. Even very sharp film and lenses still have a 'softer' look than pure digital. Some of the new color films are as grain free as digital. I've been working with mostly expired color film recently that also give more of a 'film look' as in the consumer-grade 70s / 80s look. For B&W I'm always trying for a museum-quality or something you might find in a nice restaurant decorated with B&W prints, an example of that more conservative approach.
With film, I try to make every frame count and don't take a second frame of the same subject unless I think I misfired the first one. But, I think I come away more conservative in film shooting too. I don't try a crazy angle or very artistic wide open aperture, where in digital I can walk all the settings, if desired, tossing those that don't work.
Focus for me is critical, so I've given up on manual focus lenses and film. I also will select an IS-enabled lens over the non IS lenses, if I don't bring along the tripod. But, developing the film gives me zero interest. I edit all the scans in LR where probably my 35mm film has more of a digital look than slides.
Beyond all the process / how aspects of shooting film, I like the 'look' of the results. Even very sharp film and lenses still have a 'softer' look than pure digital. Some of the new color films are as grain free as digital. I've been working with mostly expired color film recently that also give more of a 'film look' as in the consumer-grade 70s / 80s look. For B&W I'm always trying for a museum-quality or something you might find in a nice restaurant decorated with B&W prints, an example of that more conservative approach.
Dec 22, 2020 23:34:29 #
Shooting film makes a person become a better photographer and those that develop their own film, they become more involved in the process of photography.
It's like why do some people still drive a stick shift? The person becomes more involved in the operation of the automobile. That's the best way i describe it.
It's like why do some people still drive a stick shift? The person becomes more involved in the operation of the automobile. That's the best way i describe it.
Dec 23, 2020 00:00:59 #
How so?: "Shooting film makes a person become a better photographer."
Isn't this claim something like saying that shooting with a pre-film technology makes a person become a better photographer?
Isn't this claim something like saying that shooting with a pre-film technology makes a person become a better photographer?
Ched49 wrote:
Shooting film makes a person become a better photographer and those that develop their own film, they become more involved in the process of photography.
It's like why do some people still drive a stick shift? The person becomes more involved in the operation of the automobile. That's the best way i describe it.
It's like why do some people still drive a stick shift? The person becomes more involved in the operation of the automobile. That's the best way i describe it.
Dec 23, 2020 00:18:21 #
TriX wrote:
Like a number of members, I still shoot film as well as digital. I still shoot 35mm (Canon EOS-1N) and MF (RB67) as well as develop and print or scan. For those others that do, I’m curious - why do YOU shoot film?
I am far from professional as anyone can get. I learned how to photograph in High School in 1976. I had played around with different films. Majority was black and white. In my college years I didn’t do a great deal of photography. When the turn of the century happened, I switch to Canon EOS Rebel 2000. It was light and quick. Film became more expensive to buy and develop. Even having the photographs saved to a CD-Rom was putting me in the poor house. Digital was just becoming mainstream. I couldn’t afford a digital camera at that time. I was happy with the results I would get. My images were softer and I didn’t need to post process. In 2012, I caved to buying a digital
Canon 5D Mark II. I was just learning how to work this beast. My second son took an interest. He was apprehensive at first because the camera was bulky and looked complicated. He enjoyed going out with me and spending time photographing.
I moved to a Canon 5D Mark IV. I have played with the Nikon D5. It was okay to take an occasional photograph.
Recently, I passed a small mom & pop store and saw a Canon AE-1 in the window. I just wanted to hold it in my hands. Whoosh! I was back in High School and I picked it up for $100. A great deal of film choices have dried up and changed. As for processing the first few rolls, I’ll get back to you. I remember have delightful it was to get 4 or 5 great photos out of a roll of 36 exposures.
To CHG_CANON: I don’t believe you have ever taken a bad photograph. Your photographs are always quite delightful and inspirational. Film renders photographs somewhat softer than the harsh reality of digital images.
-Scruples
Dec 23, 2020 01:45:37 #
Ched49 wrote:
Shooting film makes a person become a better photographer and those that develop their own film, they become more involved in the process of photography.
It's like why do some people still drive a stick shift? The person becomes more involved in the operation of the automobile. That's the best way i describe it.
It's like why do some people still drive a stick shift? The person becomes more involved in the operation of the automobile. That's the best way i describe it.
Developing black and white is fairly straight forward. Is developing color film or slides correctly so that the colors come out right something the average good photographer can hope to do? Or is the chemical, pH, temp control too exacting?
Dec 23, 2020 02:15:47 #
Bruce M
Loc: Northern Utah
Both have their good features. I worked for Thiokol corp. as an industrial professional photographer in the nineteen seventies. Film was the main thing used. I learned a lot and used it. Thiokol was paying for everything. when digital came on the scene it took me along time to get similar results. I seemed to get better color saturation with film but it's too expensive to process and I have to send it out for developing then resend if I want prints. Digital has come along ways and continues to get better and it's so much easier to deal with, plus quality is just as good as film. These are my two cents worth whether you agree or not.
Dec 23, 2020 02:27:45 #
sscnxy wrote:
Is developing color film or slides correctly so that the colors come out right something the average good photographer can hope to do? Or is the chemical, pH, temp control too exacting?
If you process your own B&W film, you can do C-41 color processing almost as easily. Temperature control in the C-41 process (usually 102 deg F) is a bit more critical, but if you can manage that, you shouldn’t have any trouble doing your own C-41 processing.
Dec 23, 2020 06:02:29 #
Film makes me think. It makes me slow down. It is limiting in the sense that you only have so many shots on a roll, and every shot needs to be carefully considered.
Dec 23, 2020 06:56:53 #
I enjoy the entire process. There is a feeling of magic when I open a tank and see images on the film. Though I have the necessary equipment, Jobo processors, to do color, I don't. At least I haven't until now. That could change in the future but don't bet on it.
There are things I can do with film that are impossible with digital. The opposite is true as well. So, it's an additional tool.
Oddly, I tend to shoot in blocks of 20, 24, or 36, give of take a couple exposures. No, I don't count each one. It's just a habit that's ingrained. I also plan each photo on both sides of the fence. That includes those that appear to be taken "in a hurry".
Additionally, it's not all that expensive. perhaps $0.15 per exposure with film, at the least. At the large end it's $1.50. Speaking of which, I can't find a affordable digital camera with a 4x5 inch sensor. There may be a camera with that size sensor but nothing I've found.
There is a sense of pleasure being involved in the process. My digital processing runs along the same lines. My computer work with both is about the same using Ps.
--Bob
There are things I can do with film that are impossible with digital. The opposite is true as well. So, it's an additional tool.
Oddly, I tend to shoot in blocks of 20, 24, or 36, give of take a couple exposures. No, I don't count each one. It's just a habit that's ingrained. I also plan each photo on both sides of the fence. That includes those that appear to be taken "in a hurry".
Additionally, it's not all that expensive. perhaps $0.15 per exposure with film, at the least. At the large end it's $1.50. Speaking of which, I can't find a affordable digital camera with a 4x5 inch sensor. There may be a camera with that size sensor but nothing I've found.
There is a sense of pleasure being involved in the process. My digital processing runs along the same lines. My computer work with both is about the same using Ps.
--Bob
TriX wrote:
Like a number of members, I still shoot film as well as digital. I still shoot 35mm (Canon EOS-1N) and MF (RB67) as well as develop and print or scan. For those others that do, I’m curious - why do YOU shoot film?
Dec 23, 2020 07:29:01 #
One reason my son shoots film is because he likes the anticipation of seeing the photos at a later date. Some rolls he lets sit for 6 months or more, just because he can. He also likes the more "real-ness" of knowing the images are analog, not digital. (he is 22, and basically raised where everything is digital and instant; so, I guess film helps him go counter-culture.) I shoot film because it takes me back to the good 'ol days, and I love my Signet 40 and other "real" cameras...
Dec 23, 2020 07:43:38 #
whfowle
Loc: Tampa first, now Albuquerque
Since the digital age of photography is only about 20 years old, I imagine that nearly all of the members of UHH started out with film. While I did make a few images in my teen years using my Dad's Brownie box 616, I really started in 1966 when I was stationed in Okinawa with the Air Force. The BX offered a number of choices but I decided on a Nikon FTn with a 50mmF1.4 and leather carry case. I realized that I might be in a war zone at some point and Nikon had a reputation then of being a tough camera used by many photojournalists during the war. And the price was right. That camera sure lived up to it's reputation as I still use it today even though it is banged up from rough handling. I never have cared for the development process so I let the pros do that and now digitize all my film. I didn't get into digital until 2006 when I was in Alaska and wanted a small compact camera I could put in my parka. Now, late in life, I have returned to film and even bought a Mamiya 645 to try medium format. I always liked the very sharp contact prints I made with the 616. It was the most amazing $5.00 camera you could have. Too bad, I can't get film for it anymore or I would use it. As to why film, well, in the beginning, it was all there was. Now, I just like the look I get from film. I really like to match the subject with the particular film I use for that scene. Sometimes B&W and sometimes color. I think we have a wider choice of films today that we did during the film era. It reminds me of the different color science used by Nikon, Canon, and Fuji when shooting jpg. Post processing digital seems to remove these characteristics but also allows us to create our own color science for the look that we want. In some ways, it is like what Ansel Adams was able to do in the dark room.
Dec 23, 2020 07:59:23 #
If I had the space to set up a darkroom, I might very well be shooting film instead of digital today.
My Dad was a professional photographer. From about my age of 5 I was allowed to sit on a stool beside him in the darkroom, and very well remember the wonder of seeing the photo on a white "piece of paper" and then it was gone (in the enlarger). Then Dad took that plain piece of paper and dunked it in a tray of "water" - that's when the miracle began: the same picture I had seen on that piece of paper now came back in that tray. Dad kept a close eye on it and when he judged it dark enough, he took it out of that tray with a pair of tongs and put it in another tray of "water". If I remember correctly there was a third tray as well.
Years later, in my early teens, it became my task to put Dad's rubber stamp on the back of the photos and to sort them into numerical order, and if they were for different people, to sort them into stacks as well.
Not as much fun as seeing the photo develop, but still work that needed to be done.
While my boys were growing up, I just wouldn't have had the time to develop and print film, now that they're grown up and we have moved to a tiny apartment, I don't have the space!
Nor do I have a film camera now... But it's great to have all those memories.
My Dad was a professional photographer. From about my age of 5 I was allowed to sit on a stool beside him in the darkroom, and very well remember the wonder of seeing the photo on a white "piece of paper" and then it was gone (in the enlarger). Then Dad took that plain piece of paper and dunked it in a tray of "water" - that's when the miracle began: the same picture I had seen on that piece of paper now came back in that tray. Dad kept a close eye on it and when he judged it dark enough, he took it out of that tray with a pair of tongs and put it in another tray of "water". If I remember correctly there was a third tray as well.
Years later, in my early teens, it became my task to put Dad's rubber stamp on the back of the photos and to sort them into numerical order, and if they were for different people, to sort them into stacks as well.
Not as much fun as seeing the photo develop, but still work that needed to be done.
While my boys were growing up, I just wouldn't have had the time to develop and print film, now that they're grown up and we have moved to a tiny apartment, I don't have the space!
Nor do I have a film camera now... But it's great to have all those memories.
Dec 23, 2020 08:18:06 #
sscnxy wrote:
Developing black and white is fairly straight forward. Is developing color film or slides correctly so that the colors come out right something the average good photographer can hope to do? Or is the chemical, pH, temp control too exacting?
Color is very doable, and the chemicals are available and not complicated to mix (I have never worried about the pH, which is fairly constant here), but you do need good temperature control for consistent results. There are simple ways to accomplish this, one of the simplest being a plastic/Rubbermaid type tub with heated water that you simply place the roll tank or graduates with the chemicals in. You can get good, inexpensive temperature control plus water circulation with a sous vide heater (and you can use it to cook meat as well 😎). I use a surplus medical water bath widely used in labs and just immerse the plastic graduated cylinders or roll tanks in it.
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