End of a Era: The time has come to say good by to film and film cameras. Early this month I was at a car show and old farm equipment show. I was using a digital camera ( Fujifilm...

Bill 45

The time has come to say good by to film and film cameras. Early this month I was at a car show and old farm equipment show. I was using a digital camera ( Fujifilm Finepix S) For me that all I need for a camera. The total cost of pictures from the two show was $11.27. That cost of 84 pictures. With film the cost would be 2X the cost of digital pictures. Now add in the cost of buying film and shipping it out and have the film ship back as pictures. It all add up to the point that cost of using film camera is too much. I don't like what I just wrote, but that the way the world is today. Well one would ask how about setting up dark room, forget that idea, it would not work out for me. Ok, what about the film cameras I have? I put some of my cameras in a second hand store to be sold. See how that works out. If that works out, I may put more cameras in the second hand store. I not selling off all of my cameras, some I want to keep like the Pentax K 1000 I purchased back in 1982. It was second hand when I got it, It still works great today.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Bill 45 wrote:

The time has come to say good by to film and film ... (show quote)

There is a lot of sanity in this - for MOST people - but, not everyone !

elee950021 Loc: New York, NY

Bill 45 wrote:

The time has come to say good by to film and film cameras...

Bill45!

Very often I have a hankering for film photography and want to try out or test some of my stored, frozen b/w
and/or color transparency film. I just drop it off at my favorite lab, get the film processed only and a medium-resolution CD.

Granted, there are still at least half a dozen labs around NYC that still have a wet lab and can also scan the images.
Later, for a better scan of decent images, I can use my 4000 dpi Nikon scanner. Some flatbed scanners can do a whole roll of film in strips of 5 or 6 frames across for a "proofsheet" and quick viewing.

Best of both worlds! Be well!

Ed

ken_stern Loc: Yorba Linda, Ca

I stopped shooting film in 2009 for the simple reason I could no longer afford to do so.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Not for me. Admittedly, if I'm shooting to produce a color photograph, I'll use digital.

Shooting black and white film is not all that expensive.
--Bob

Bill 45 wrote:

The time has come to say good by to film and film ... (show quote)

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Bill 45 wrote:

The time has come to say good by to film and film ... (show quote)

If you are only concerned about the MARGINAL cost of using film, digital wins, hands down.

However, digital photography can be a VERY expensive hobby!

Computer
Monitor
Monitor calibration and profiling kit
Software for post processing raw files (and JPEGs)
Home photo printer
Internet ISP monthly fee
Digital camera

...and the list goes on and on.

Many still use film, especially young folks who "grew up digital" and think film is cool because it's retro (just like they listen to '60s and '70s music!).

Bill 45

burkphoto wrote:

If you are only concerned about the MARGINAL cost ... (show quote)

What are you talking about with all this equipment you have listed? All I need is a digital camera, which I have. Chip or what every it call take it to Walmart and have pictures made that it, have a good day.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Bill 45 wrote:

What are you talking about with all this equipment you have listed? All I need is a digital camera, which I have. Chip or what every it call take it to Walmart and have pictures made that it, have a good day.

That only works for folks who just replace a film camera. If you have an advanced darkroom to replace, you need those other things. Many advanced hobbyists had in-home darkrooms. Some still do.

Bill 45

burkphoto wrote:

That only works for folks who just replace a film camera. If you have an advanced darkroom to replace, you need those other things. Many advanced hobbyists had in-home darkrooms. Some still do.

I don't care about advanced darkroom, if someone has one more power to them. My name is not everyone, it Bill 45 and I don't give damn what other people want or have. Remember I only replace a film camera with digital camera.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

If you do not want to use a film camera for whatever reason, that's great. If someone else wants to use a film camera for whatever reason that's also great. Either way it's no skin off my arse.

BebuLamar

rmalarz wrote:

Not for me. Admittedly, if I'm shooting to produce a color photograph, I'll use digital.

Shooting black and white film is not all that expensive.
--Bob

Tell me again what do you use for B&W. I think I may want to try to do some B&W. I won't do any prints because I no longer have my enlarger but I still have the changing bag, the Jobo film drum, thermometer etc..

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I use Ilford Delta 400 for 35mm and FP4+ for 120 and 4x5.
I develop both using Ilfotec-DDX, being very cognizant of developing times and temps. I then use Kodak Fixer to finish the processing.
--Bob

BebuLamar wrote:

Tell me again what do you use for B&W. I think I may want to try to do some B&W. I won't do any prints because I no longer have my enlarger but I still have the changing bag, the Jobo film drum, thermometer etc..

misterzee Loc: N'Georgia Mountains

For the last couple of years I have been using Cine Still DF96 one step BW developer, and scanning, for my “fun” BW film shooting. Works well, and isn’t too expensive.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

ken_stern wrote:

I stopped shooting film in 2009 for the simple reason I could no longer afford to do so.

I’ve gone back to shooting film - at least for B&W. Expense has nothing to do with my decision; I go thru maybe a roll/month.

Several companies are ‘pushing’ film. KEH made a point of listing film cameras - perhaps they had a closet-full of them. Robert’s was specifically selling film. Pentax is looking into manufacturing film cameras again and may organize film sellers and developers.

BandeauRouge Loc: usa

the true cost of film photography is CAMERAS, were playing with cameras that are at the very least 17 years old,, last film cameras rolled off the assembly line at vivitar production in 2008.

The film is bad, but you have to choose what you want. If you get cheap and hit foma and arista, youll really lose out on things. Go expensive and you loose on the pocket book.

Developing at home is easy for black and white, and i havent found a mail order lab that can develop multiple iso films in one order. I mean, they simply take my bag of 4 100 iso films, 10 400 iso films, and 3 200 iso films, and develop the whole kitten as 200 iso