burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Well, you can still buy a brand new re-release of the Leica M6 for $5700... (That might well be considered "unobtanium" by most people.)

A few big used equipment dealers have repair technicians who still work on film bodies, although parts availability is extremely limited. Most repair people can replace light seals and mirror dampening foam, and do simple cleaning, lubrication, and shutter speed adjustments. Beyond that, you may need to supply a "parts body" they can scavenge to make a whole working camera out of two non-functional ones.

Plenty of good films are available from many national sources. In fact, there are more film brands now than ever before. Alas, Kodachrome died well over a decade ago, and it's often hard to find Fujifilm stocks, but the major old standards from Kodak and Ilford are still with us.

Most labs will use a general purpose developer such as HC-110 for B&W, and yes, they will use a middle-of-the-road combination of agitation, time, and temperature. If you find a lab that uses a dip-and-dunk processor, they *may* do special runs at different development times. Some custom labs will have a choice of B&W developers and push/pull development services. A few boutique labs will do small tank processing, although that's expensive if available!

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

and now Pentax has said they will be producing several new CAMERAs {using new parts} this Spring.

I am using my old film cameras again; a manual focus Pentax SLR which I last used around 1995, and an Olympus pocket film camera that I last used around 2006. I also have an old film Spotmatic, because I felt every ‘Pentaxian’ should have one. All three cameras have proven to still be light-tight.

BandeauRouge Loc: usa

ive been using a 100' roll of delta 400 this year and it blows.. it does fine if the scene in the view finder is extremely well light up and bright.. put the meter on the bright spot and it works great. but put the meter on a shadow or dark surface, and your suddenly under exposed horribly, often times into as if the negative was dipped into thin blak paint.

ive used DD-x and rodinal and rodinal gives better results and for a whole lot less, but the light issue is still there.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Please consider that your camera meter is designed to be accurate only on scenes of about 18% reflectance. Meter an appropriate gray balance target such as a Delta-1 Gray Card or a One Shot Digital Calibration Target (surprise, it works for film exposure, too!) or use an ExpoDisc "filter" over your lens to average the light falling on the scene (by pointing at the light SOURCE).

Pointing a camera meter at white will underexpose by more than two stops. Pointing it at black will overexpose by more than two stops. Pointing it at 18% gray (or an average day-lit scene containing blue sky, green grass, and other foliage) will yield good exposures.

Use a developer designed for tabular-grain films when processing Delta 400 or T-Max films.

Follow the manufacturer's recommendations for developer, time, temp, and agitation styles. Otherwise: https://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php?mobile

With B&W negative films, expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights. This is the opposite of digital exposure strategy! Film has much better highlight latitude. With digital, once you saturate the sensor with photons, there is no recoverable detail in the highlights. With film, highlight overexposure by almost three stops is often recoverable. It's a pain with more than a stop and a half overexposure, and results are less than optimal, but it can be done.

If print highlights are plugging up (negatives are too dense) when your exposure is spot on according to a gray card or incident meter, then reduce film development time slightly. Alternatively, try a "compensating" developer.

If you really want to "get jiggy wid it", study the zone system. Otherwise, a gray reference is mighty handy!

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

How many exposures are in 100’?
I tend to use 36 exp ‘cans’, and sometimes it seems to take ‘forever’ to finish a roll.

BandeauRouge Loc: usa

Alot of the cameras cannot be repaired... Its like the EOS line with mandatory battery, so many parts on them cant be replaced. At least, i had an Elan 2 have the main mode dial break off,, it would have needed a parts body, and a person willing to take both cameras apart, hope that nothing else broke, and then hope that things went back together.

And dont forget, a cracked lens becomes "near mint condition" on ebay when your interested in buying it..

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

That is why Pentax will release new cameras {therefore with warranty} made of new {therefore available} parts starting this Spring.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

18 hand-cranked 36 exposure rolls, plus a short “clip test” roll.

If you have never rolled your own, you need a bulk film loader, some snap cap or screw-on cap 35 mm film cassettes, and masking tape. You also need a “dark bag,” or film changing bag, or a 100% dark room where you can load the loader with the 100’ roll. See YouTube for demonstrations.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

He began that post

I don’t believe I would continue to use that film if “it blows”.

BandeauRouge Loc: usa

Its all i gots in 35mm.. im able to hedge the bets as to how a shot will turn out.. but the mathematics is really really crappy when one spends time doing bird shots...


Inside, it seems to come out 1 stop underexposed no matter how i meter, camera or sekonic. And its not that hard to hash out with the enlarger..

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Basically, any B&W film has ‘latitude’{and any film can be adjusted during printing/scanning} and I can get all kinds via mail.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

The film mindset {deliberate} is different from the digital mindset {frenetic - very burst oriented}. Now that I think about it, film photography leads to the same end(s) that digital photography does, but I believe some kind of title having the word “splitting” would be more appropriate than your “End of an Era”.

BebuLamar

I have to shoot a roll of film in my Yashica Lynx 14 this week. The shutter speeds are not accurate and they are slow but I know what they are so it would be no problem.

Bill 45

I have a Yashica Lynx 14E. When I found it, camera need some work done to it. Send it out to be repaired. It came back like it had been just made.

Bill 45

What?