Is anyone still using film ?

[stewie]

I recently sold my Nikon D60 plus lenses and still have left my old Nikon F90 minus the lens, anyway I still enjoy using film cameras even though its really old fashioned now and was wondering who else is still using film ?

[garynortheast]

I've still got a nice old Praktica camera and about a dozen boxes of film for it. I should make use of them before they become useless.

[stewie]

Yeah, ive got a load of fuji Reala to get through as well, I think as long as its not too hot where you store your film you should be ok for a bit and if you do get any colour shift on your pics you can just tell people its art ;)

[blankers]

I do. I love using film, I did a photography course at college about 8 years ago and that was just before digital was becoming affordable. I really enjoyed all the dark room stuff. I've got an Olympus SLR and a zorki rangefinder which needs mending before I can get out taking some soviet style images.

[stewie]

Yeah me too, I did a course at st helens tech and the darkroom stuff was defo the best part of the course, seeing an image coming to life before your very eyes was magical plus all the smells of the various chemicals etc, I recently picked up a Kiev 4b form a guy who got it on a stag weekend in the Ukraine, not sure if it works or not tbh will have to do some investigating I reckon.

[tactcom7]

I have an old contax 139 quartz up for grabs if anyone's interested?

[stewie]

Contax eh ? tempting, does it come with lenses etc ?

[tactcom7]

it has the kit lens, i will try and upload a few pics tonight after work if you like Stewie

[stewie]

Yeah I'd like to have a look if you done mind mate, might be something I'm interested in,cheers :)

[bikeramy]

I still use film, still have my old darkroom kit, such a good medium :). Really should get back into it. The medium formats such as the Bronica are especially nice.

[stewie]

I still use film, still have my old darkroom kit, such a good medium :). Really should get back into it. The medium formats such as the Bronica are especially nice.
True, but the bronica's were never that good, I'm cutting me throat you understand but I'll give you £20 for the bronica ;)...... actually, always loved the bronicas, wish I had the money to go med format, and film, or should I say, analogue or traditional photography isnt as dead as the digi companies would have you beleive, check it out http://istillshootfilm.org/ :)

[anna]

yes,.... and if someone wants to throw any dark room kit out please let me know first ;)

[stewie]

yes,.... and if someone wants to throw any dark room kit out please let me know first ;)
I was at a local charity shop this evening seeing if they had any old cameras, and they had a darkroom kit in there, it was an enlarger plus one or two other bits an bobs, would you like me too check it out it for you ?
Stew

[jambo]

I would really like to shoot more film this summer (I have some Ilford black & white, and some IR film, together with a Canon A1)

The problem in my house is this "dark room" thing. I think I might need to just do my processing elsewhere, as none of my rooms are windowless, and most of the windows are tricky to cover too!

Jambo

[stewie]

How about the loft ? unless its like mine with no height to it at all, IR film eh ? thats a bugger to load up, you're supposed to use one of those black bags that use for transferring undeveloped films but I gather most bods do it in subdued light and dont worry too much about the first few shots on the roll, it can be tricky stuff anyway, good luck with it though, Ive gone and bought another Nikon this morning, its an F50 but it came with a nikkor 28-80 f3.5 lens all for the princely sum of £25 and I only wanted the lens :D

[jambo]

How about the loft ?
The Loft has 2 skylights, and a window at one end. It's one of the lighter spaces in my house :D

Jambo

[anna]

I was at a local charity shop this evening seeing if they had any old cameras, and they had a darkroom kit in there, it was an enlarger plus one or two other bits an bobs, would you like me too check it out it for you ?
Stew

yes please.

[stewie]

yes please.
I'll see what i can do :)

[GowerSV]

Use to shoot weddings and portraits on a Hasselblad - 12 to a roll! Would do a wedding on just 48 shots and everyone printed to 8"x8" so had to be careful that's why I worked on a tripod. Mamiya C330 before that and Yashicamat before that - all 6x6. When I went digital - weddings often went up to 700 images - mainly hand held with iso 6400 in the church on a Nikon D300 and 2.8 17-55 lens. The main difference professionally between film and digital is the speed of work. Did I miss the film cameras ? - not at all. But I do remember with affection hundreds of hours spent in the darkroom on B/W years ago. I had a studio with a cellar which was great for a darkroom but at home I worked after dark in the kitchen or bathroom and once built a darkroom in the loft but it was intolerably hot in the summer (40 degrees!!). The value of film gear has plumetted (apart from some collectors' classics like Leica) so good bargains are to be had if you are so inclined. You'd be hard pushed to tell between a digital print and a bromide mind. Modern mega pixel images are vastly sharper than even 5x4 film and have transformed commercial work. In the 60's my dad use to retouch giant images for Top of the Pops but they were pretty grainy compared with your average supermarket mural of today - time moves on! The advent of the digital darkroom (Photoshop) removed the mistique for millions. For me digital is light years ahead professionally but I can see the pure pleasure to be got from low volume high quality film d+p (developing and printing). Have fun!

[stewie]

yes please.
Ok, just popped up the BHF charity shop and the enlarger is still in, its a Jobo C6600 colour enlarger like this one http://www.novadarkroom.com/product/820/SH_JOBO_C6600_Colour_Enlarger.html
it comes with what looks the power supply/transformer, a nikon enlarging lens, colour analyser and various bits and bobs, sorry I cant be more specific, its going for £40 all in and if you fancy it I can pick it up for you, it looks in not bad nick tbh, if you want to contact them direct to get some more info the the no,s below

Warrington Furniture & Electrical Store (1.07 miles)More info (http://javascript<b></b>:__doPostBack('Template$ctl14$ctl00$rptResults$ctl 03$lnkResult','')) <a id="Template_ctl14_ctl00_rptResults_ctl03_lnkNoScriptR esult" title="More info" href="/about-us/where-we-are/the-bhf-map.aspx?ulid=282061&lctn=wa5 8qf">More info</a>
Unit 7, Westbrook Shopping Centre, Warrington, Cheshire, WA5 8UG
0844 248 9125


:D

[stewie]

Use to shoot weddings and portraits on a Hasselblad - 12 to a roll! Would do a wedding on just 48 shots and everyone printed to 8"x8" so had to be careful that's why I worked on a tripod. Mamiya C330 before that and Yashicamat before that - all 6x6. When I went digital - weddings often went up to 700 images - mainly hand held with iso 6400 in the church on a Nikon D300 and 2.8 17-55 lens. The main difference professionally between film and digital is the speed of work. Did I miss the film cameras ? - not at all. But I do remember with affection hundreds of hours spent in the darkroom on B/W years ago. I had a studio with a cellar which was great for a darkroom but at home I worked after dark in the kitchen or bathroom and once built a darkroom in the loft but it was intolerably hot in the summer (40 degrees!!). The value of film gear has plumetted (apart from some collectors' classics like Leica) so good bargains are to be had if you are so inclined. You'd be hard pushed to tell between a digital print and a bromide mind. Modern mega pixel images are vastly sharper than even 5x4 film and have transformed commercial work. In the 60's my dad use to retouch giant images for Top of the Pops but they were pretty grainy compared with your average supermarket mural of today - time moves on! The advent of the digital darkroom (Photoshop) removed the mistique for millions. For me digital is light years ahead professionally but I can see the pure pleasure to be got from low volume high quality film d+p (developing and printing). Have fun!
Hi Mate, the problem I have with digital is twofold, firstly since digital has appeared there seems to be this attitude of ' I'll just keep blasting away, I'm bound to get one decent shot eventually' kind of mentality and so I think the quality of photographis skills isnt what it once was and secondly the constant need to upgrade, Ive got a Nikon F90 and loaded with velvia and correctly exposed etc theres not a digi camera in the world that can still touch it, which is kinda ironic to think of all the plug ins you can get for photoshop that will give you an authentic Velvia, tri x, IR look, btw I'm not knocking your comments mate, I think I'm just a bit of a dinosaur at heart :)

[GowerSV]

Glad you are still flying the film flag - the old skills will soon be lost. Shooting a lot more cheaply means being cost effective. If anything the standard of amateur photography is far higher than it was 30 years ago. The average family snapshotter is more likely to produce a masterpiece of the kids purely because he always has a good camera ready. But combine this with a serious interest in photography and the current high standards are not surprising. The current Nikon cameras are vastly superior to their film counterparts. Optical quality, breathtakingly accurate focus and exposure modes, auto bracketing and colour manipulation are just a few areas where great strides have been made. In the right hands far more is possible. Agreed it is easier to take auto shots with expensive cameras nowadays but if you know what you are doing, there is a lot further to go creatively with digital than ever there was with film. Film was harder and you had to be good to excel. In my opinion modern photography has improved with age. If the likes of Bill Brandt and Ansel Adams were here with us now, they would be drooling over modern technology. I am not belittling an interest in 'old fashioned photography', merely pointing out that nostalgia can sometimes cloud the issue. The old bikes were wonderful in their day but the new ones have moved on. I'm retired now and try not to look back. Tecnology moves on and human excellence should move with it.

[anna]

Ive got a Nikon F90 and loaded with velvia and correctly exposed etc theres not a digi camera in the world that can still touch it, which is kinda ironic to think of all the plug ins you can get for photoshop that will give you an authentic Velvia, tri x, IR look, btw I'm not knocking your comments mate, I think I'm just a bit of a dinosaur at heart :)

Indeed Velvia is amazing to work with.

Thanks for the looky in the shop for me, sadly though I think it would be more expensive for us to bring the enlarger over here, if it had been more of the developing stuff then I would have done it.

I think the digital age has brought about accessibility to the general public, which in turn obviously means a bit more "point and shoot" but, I think it has also made amazing things happen as well.

I love my digital camera and I love the results that I get from it, I love the fact that more and more information about how to operate it, and how to get the best out of it is out there from beginner to pro level.. and over the years I have taken full advantage of the free learning opportunities provided, because it has become so widely accessible.

I think it is an over generalisation to say that "film is better"; cinematography would never have developed to the amazing extent that it has without the use of making it available to the masses.

As with all technological advances there are always arguments for, and against, what people tend to forget is that with all these "tools" out there it is merely a case of picking the right one for the job.

[bikeramy]

eBay for developing kits, I got mine for a bargain of £50, jacobs and Jessica sell the chemicals, quite easy to set up :), I used black bags to cover the windows up, but I'm sure there are better ways.

[stewie]

Thanks for the looky in the shop for me, sadly though I think it would be more expensive for us to bring the enlarger over here, if it had been more of the developing stuff then I would have done it.

No problem Anna, my pleasure :D and you're perfectly right about digital technology and the advances made, I'll be picking up a digital camera towards the back end the year tbh, quite fancy one of the new Olympus prosumer compacts and I may just keep the film cameras for B+W stuff.