Anybody else still using film cameras?

[Andy in Sig]

I've always been moderately keen on photography while not thinking that I'm good enough to claim to be a photographer. A couple of years ago I bought a digital camera, thought it was crap and gave it away. Then I thought it must have been just me and bought another which I know is a good one (Olympus EP1) and I still think it is boring, disposable, digital age crap.

As far as film goes, I've gone more and more mechanical: I now have two 35 mm rangefinder cameras and a couple of large format cameras (the latter being blanket over the head jobs) and I've recently started developing my own black and white film. It's just so much more satisfying and I like the cameras as little mechanical wonders in much the same way as I like bikes.

I do hope I'm not alone in this.

 

[Night Train]

My Old Olympus OM1 stopped working. Dad has a collection of old cameras and he occasionally tinkers with them but doesn't take photos anymore.

Can you still get 35mm film developed?

I found a bag full of old films that I had used years ago. I know they might not be any good but didn't know if you can still get them developed as a reasonable cost.

 

[Bigsharn]

I still shoot on a 1957 Lomo Smena 8M

The best bit is the sticker on the lens "Made in the USSR"

 

[Andy in Sig]

Night Train,

indeed you can. If a phot shop sells film, it will do or send off for, development.

However, B&W has become very expensive and given that it is so easy to dev yourself in the living room, that is probably the better option. Colour print and slide is another matter of course.

 

[PapaZita]

You're not alone. Pentax 6x7, Mamiya C330, and Pentax LXes. Mostly B&W, developed in the kitchen sink. No darkroom yet, so I scan the negs. I've got digital cameras too - I keep buying them, hoping to find something that excites me like the film gear does, but it hasn't happened yet. The best bit is the thrill of opening the tank, hanging up the negs, and seeing what you've got. There's nothing else like it.

PZ.

 

[danphoto]

Gosh, we dismantled our home darkroom in 2006 and literally couldn't give the contents away. Two enlargers (Durst pro 120 and Leitz 35mm) went in the skip, along with two Rodenstock, one Schneider and one Nikon enlarging lens and loads of other clutter.

At that time, the Lady Wife and I had both been shooting 100% digital professionally for two years, and I was only using the film gear for personal stuff. We did manage to get a good price for two of our four Canon 1VHS bodies as well as the Mamiya RB67 kit (body, four film backs plus paranoid, plus 4 lenses in custom flightcase), but we held on to the other two Canon bodies for a year or so and in the end got very little for them.

When we retired from professional wedding photography in January this year, we'd clocked up 78 years of film photography between us and 17 years digital, and I can truthfully say that neither of us would ever want to shoot film again (unless it was large format and somebody else was paying for the processing!)

Film undoubtedly has a different "look" to it, it's easy to get all starry-eyed and metaphysical about it, and I can well understand why those new to it can feel the magic. But I do feel obliged to point out one fact. The difference between consumer digital cameras shooting JPEG and pro digital cameras shooting RAW is as night and day - assuming of course that one is totally up to speed on digital processing and colour management.

 

[classic33]

Why whats wrong with film cameras?

Mine, mainly Minolta SLR's, including the 8000i & 9xi.

As for getting it(35mm) developed Jacob & Jessops still do it.

 

[LosingFocus]

Oh God yes. Most of my stuff is either 135, 120, Polaroid Integral or Polaroid packfilm.

Love film

Check Flickr in my sig

 

[Red Light]

Still love occasionally use my OM1 and used it to do my neice's wedding photos. One of the best things about it though is the amount of physically connected manual control it gives you over everything. Its a right faff on digital SLRs of pushing buttons and turning rings that drive stepping motors to set the aperture and focus and speed. The nearest I've got to the OM1 is the not expensive Olympus E400 series which, unlike most digital SLRs has a small compact body not unlike the OM series rather than those big bulky things the Nikons and Canons and the rest have which is what I use most of the time along with a compact digital to slip in the pocket. Film is getting increasingly difficult to buy and get processed now though. Most of the local labs have closed

 

[PapaZita]

I can truthfully say that neither of us would ever want to shoot film again

That's completely understandable. There's no question that digital is better in so many ways, particularly for a professional. I'm an electronics engineer working on digital image processing systems, so I like to have hobbies that are a bit less digital. For me, photography is a good excuse to spend a day out in the woods in the rain. I might only come home with 10 exposures, and if none of them have quite nailed it, that's fine, because it means I'll have to do it all over again next weekend.

PZ.

 

[danphoto]

I'm an electronics engineer working on digital image processing systems

In which case, sir, I earnestly recommend the purchase of a 120 Holga and limiting yourself to see-saw processing the fillum in two casserole dishes, a washing-up bowl and the kitchen sink, using ID-11 dev, malt vinegar for stop, and the cheapest fixer you can buy, then printing only contact prints using nothing more sophisticated than a piece of window glass.

 

[Basil.B]

Got a Nikon FM2, will never get rid of it!

 

[LosingFocus]

In which case, sir, I earnestly recommend the purchase of a 120 Holga

Despite the rest of the reply, this bit I can whole heartedly agree with. Love my Holga, a breath of fresh air.

 

[DTD]

A Smena 8 was my first 35mm camera.
Still own a couple of film cameras: Ricoh GR-1 and Leica M6, very rarely use them. Got rid of an OM1 system a couple of years ago.


I'm quite a serious photographer (do books and exhibitions etc) and everything needs to be digitised at some stage, so make it easier by starting out with a digital image. Can't say I'm attached to any of the digital cameras I use, but to be honest, not interested in cameras as objects (unlike bikes).

 

[danphoto]

Despite the rest of the reply, this bit I can whole heartedly agree with. Love my Holga, a breath of fresh air.

Just FWIW, I wasn't being facetious there about the processing. If you're enthusiastic about film and you haven't tried D&P from first principles (and first principles is not a daylight tank!), you've definitely missed something out.