Anybody else still like film ?

[old mark]

Hello!
I have been interested in photos for about the last 50 years. I hava a digital, but still like older film cameras as well. ( Just bought a late 1960's Canon Canonet 35mm rangefinder)
Anyone else like this old junk?

mark

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. sure... love it

just can't afford to use it

[HamstersFromHell]

2. Thanks to digital...

going back to film is more affordable than ever!

Damned nice film cameras and manual focus lenses are just too cheap to pass up if you still like the allure of film.

I'd sold off all my film stuff when I got my D50, but in the last two weeks have bought a ton of nice gear for cheap!

Picked up a very decent condition Nikon F4s for $170 on eBay, and a Nikkor 28/3.5 for $36. A lot of very pristine N80 bodies out there you can snag for under $100.

Last night I got a Nikkor 24/2.8 for $80, and sadly passed on a almost mint Nikkor 35-80 AF-D for a $25 buy it now. :(

Also, with the economy shot to hell and folks needing cash for silly things like gas and food, the markets are getting flooded with camera gear.

Now to find a Nikon Coolscan or Minolta to replace my old HP slide scanner...

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. yeah, still processing is a hurdle

after getting spoiled on digital

[old mark]

4. Saw a pristine old Leica IIIf

go for around $300 Sunday on eBay, just like the one that was stolen from me back in 1970.
Had to settle for the Canon rangefinder, but that is a great little camera.

There is a lot of information online about battery substitutions, easy repairs, etc to old cameras. Will be fun to put it back in use.

mark

[HamstersFromHell]

6. My dad was who got me hooked on photography...

unfortunately, he didn't tell me when he decided to sell off his collection some years before he died.

I mention this because he had a Leica IIIc...not worth as much as a IIIf, but still a sweet little camera.

He had a Bell & Howell/Canon 7 with that wicked 50mm f 0.95 lens...he used it to shoot Ektachrome 160 slides of dance recitals with nothing but the spotlighting.

Also a Rolleiflex, a Hasselblad 2000F w/50, 80 and 135 lenses, sports, prism and traditional waist level finders, a Zeiss Ikontaflex, and a Linhof 5x7. I coulda put those to some serious use if he'd told me he was selling!

I've also seen a lot of items like camera repair manuals (model specific) that I never found anywhere before, now that you mention it.

[priller]

5. I'm thinking about getting a medium format camera

Mainly for portraits. I've never owned one before. They're easy to find cheaply now. There's still a great place here in Austin that will process the negatives. Excellent film scanners are very affordable. It would be learning something I've never done before -- always fun!

[lob1]

7. I do. I shoot film, but I just got a Nikon D300 digital.

There are some things you can do with film that doesn't work as well with digital. Any long exposures, a second or longer, is where digital starts to fail. I'm told that silky moving water shots don't work as well with digital. I haven't tried that one yet, but I have shot in slot canyons, and the difference is major. My exposures ran from approx 4 seconds to 30 seconds. When the sun bounces around and lights up a wall, the long exposure on film allows that color to build up and it looks like the wall glows orange. The color doesn't build up the same way on digital. The wall looks orange, but it doesn't "glow" like it does on film. That's one place where digital will get you a good picture, and film can get you a great one.

Don't get me wrong, digital has some great advantages of its own. You can fix a picture in digital that I would throw away if it was a slide. Some stock photography places don't even take film anymore. Still, nothing looks better than a slide projected on a screen in a dark room.

[DS1]

8. I liked it when I used it

but then my camera body started scratching all the rolls, so I'd have to shop out big lines. Plus, while you can scan negatives to ridiculous sizes, they'll still have grain that only film will have.

It was a great way to learn the basics, by seeing your screwups and those screwups costing you more, but there's also a benefit to the instant feedback you get with digital.

I still hold a warm place in my heart for Fuji slide film.

[lob1]

10. Velvia 50 is the best for landscapes. Colorful birds and animals, too.

I like the saturated color. I know some don't, but I sure do.

[NashVegas]

9. I Love Film - Hate the Weight of the Cameras

I still have 2 ST 801s, and when you start putting on the telephoto lenses they start to weigh more than I want to carry around all day. Still ...