Have you given up on film due to Film prices ?

RichardC27 said:
I started with film years ago. Thought I'd try and get back into it about 5 years ago so bought a little Olympus OM-10. Quickly realised it was a very expensive and slow way of getting incredibly mediocre images so I rather quickly gave it up again.
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Anything from a low level camera with budget film (understood you didn't quote the film or lab) and scanning will produce mediocre results.
I'm currently using a Hasselblad 503cw with low speed films and the results are easily as good as a 30+ megapixel camera.
Also, if colour film becomes no longer available, I'll just buy a 50mpx (or more) digital back.

My point being, as I'm old, is that I love the whole film process/look. As above, I'll keep going until the materials are no longer available.
If I want to take "digi-pics" today, I have an iPhone for that. Who needs or wants a DSLR or Mirrorless camera when a smartphone can do just as well?
 
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soupdragon said:
Anything from a low level camera with budget film (understood you didn't quote the film or lab) and scanning will produce mediocre results.
I'm currently using a Hasselblad 503cw with low speed films and the results are easily as good as a 30+ megapixel camera.
Also, if colour film becomes no longer available, I'll just buy a 50mpx (or more) digital back.

My point being, as I'm old, is that I love the whole film process/look. As above, I'll keep going until the materials are no longer available.
If I want to take "digi-pics" today, I have an iPhone for that. Who needs or wants a DSLR or Mirrorless camera when a smartphone can do just as well?
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I tried all sorts. Superia 400, Portra 160, 400, 800, Kodak Gold 400, whatever the Ilford B&W C41 process film is called. All dev and scanned by FilmDev.

And a smartphone is nowhere near as capable as any DSLR or Mirrorless camera. There is a huge difference in sensor size, control and image quality. I've got a Fuji X-T4 now so I have lots of nice film simulations built in
 
RichardC27 said:
I tried all sorts. Superia 400, Portra 160, 400, 800, Kodak Gold 400, whatever the Ilford B&W C41 process film is called. All dev and scanned by FilmDev.

And a smartphone is nowhere near as capable as any DSLR or Mirrorless camera. There is a huge difference in sensor size, control and image quality. I've got a Fuji X-T4 now so I have lots of nice film simulations built in
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I agree. Simulations are always as good as the real thing.
 
soupdragon said:
I agree. Simulations are always as good as the real thing.
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I don't think anyone ever said they were. I tried film again and quickly realised why I moved to digital many years ago. I'm glad film still exists for those who still want to shoot it. Maybe I'll leave my X-T4 at home this weekend and try and shoot two days of motorsport using nothing but my phone, since there's no need for mirrorless cameras. The images will look the same as shooting them with a 400mm lens I'm sure.
 
Put those handbags down ladies, gently now.
Most of us can't afford Hasselblads even now they are old, and probably likewise could not shoot and produce an image even on one of them that is as good as we can achieve in a 30-50Mpx digital camera. On the other hand, many of us love shooting film not for the end results but for the process involved. Also most of us film shooters also shoot digital.

So, Tony is an accomplished film shooter and prefers it; Richard is more interested in the end-results and value for money. Both positions are entirely tenable and each to their own.
 
I haven't given up on film, not primarily because I prefer the analogue process but rather because I can't get as good results with a digital camera. Possibly this is a result of finding black and white a more expressive medium than colour. Based on my technique and (limited) abilities, the Sony a7r2 I use (cast off from Sue when she went to the a7r3) outperforms 35mm in colour, but can't outperform medium or large format in black and white. The caveat on the 35mm and colour only is because the quality of digital black and white falls short of the "look" I want.

I first took up photography in the late 1950s; my first colour film was a 36 exposure Kodachrome which, process paid admittedly, cost the equivalent in today's money of £36. Remembering that (and that the 1960s black and white films from Kodak and Ilford cost around £7 in current day terms) I just see things as film prices returning to the price of 50-60 years ago (or slightly more).

So, for me, I'll continue to use film until either:
a) it's not longer made (in which case I can make my own dry plates or switch to wet plate, chemicals permitting)
b) I can't afford it (but who really needs food...?)
c) I can't handle the cameras due to increasing age and infirmity (I've noticed the former but not yet the latter)

Or possibly I give up and take up bee keeping on the South Downs like Sherlock Holmes :)
 
StephenM said:
I haven't given up on film, not primarily because I prefer the analogue process but rather because I can't get as good results with a digital camera. Possibly this is a result of finding black and white a more expressive medium than colour. Based on my technique and (limited) abilities, the Sony a7r2 I use (cast off from Sue when she went to the a7r3) outperforms 35mm in colour, but can't outperform medium or large format in black and white. The caveat on the 35mm and colour only is because the quality of digital black and white falls short of the "look" I want.

I first took up photography in the late 1950s; my first colour film was a 36 exposure Kodachrome which, process paid admittedly, cost the equivalent in today's money of £36. Remembering that (and that the 1960s black and white films from Kodak and Ilford cost around £7 in current day terms) I just see things as film prices returning to the price of 50-60 years ago (or slightly more).

So, for me, I'll continue to use film until either:
a) it's not longer made (in which case I can make my own dry plates or switch to wet plate, chemicals permitting)
b) I can't afford it (but who really needs food...?)
c) I can't handle the cameras due to increasing age and infirmity (I've noticed the former but not yet the latter)

Or possibly I give up and take up bee keeping on the South Downs like Sherlock Holmes :)
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I live in the south downs. Do you know the area?
 
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lindsay said:
Put those handbags down ladies, gently now.
Most of us can't afford Hasselblads even now they are old, and probably likewise could not shoot and produce an image even on one of them that is as good as we can achieve in a 30-50Mpx digital camera. On the other hand, many of us love shooting film not for the end results but for the process involved. Also most of us film shooters also shoot digital.

So, Tony is an accomplished film shooter and prefers it; Richard is more interested in the end-results and value for money. Both positions are entirely tenable and each to their own.
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No need to be condescending or patronising for that matter, or, even insulting (quote "handbags dawn ladies").
Also, I can scan and produce images in excess 50 mpx from a 6X6 slide.
More to the point, why do people think Hasselblad film cameras are expensive? (Admittedly you did not say that) Check out the price of a Canon L series lens these days. A Canon eos R 85mm 1.2 L lens costs more than a mint condition complete Hasselblad 503cw.
 
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soupdragon said:
By all accounts large format professionals still use drum scanning labs.
Granted the facilities are not common these days but they remain the best option for digitising film.
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Very few large format professionals around these days. They have largely gone the way of the dodo...
The drums scanners that remain must be getting toward the end of their service life most will be over 30 years old. With very old computer tech inside.

I do not know what will happen after they and their operators have passed on.
 
Sky said:
If I had to pay for developing and printing, I would have given up using film years ago.

I dev/scan/print b&w at home and if I had a bit more space I would do the same with colour.

I only buy film in bulk (mostly HP5) when it's on offer and once my current stock of DD-X has run out will be changing to Rodinal as it's a lot cheaper.
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As you probably know DDX and Rodinal are at the very opposite extreme in the look they give, I keep both developers DDX for every day and Rodinal stand @ 1:100 for a hour on the days when in retrospect 'Sunny f/16' looks to have been a bad idea.
 
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These days most of my photography is digital or on the phone but I still like the process of shooting B&W film. I think buying a very cheap (comparatively) brassed up Leica M240 did more to reduce my 35mm use than cost of film did. I get a very similar user experience to that of my (film) Leica M2 and still have a film like hit rate, taking the equivalent of one or two rolls of film on a day out.
DSLRs or mirror less have always occupied a different space in my photography, which I take depends on where I am going and what I expect to see.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
Very few large format professionals around these days. They have largely gone the way of the dodo...
The drums scanners that remain must be getting toward the end of their service life most will be over 30 years old. With very old computer tech inside.

I do not know what will happen after they and their operators have passed on.
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I cannot dispute the wisdom of years.
 
My apologies to everyone who contributed to this thread.
I am hugely biased towards film thus I am blinkered to other mediums.

Sorry.
 
Still have a bunch of old film and not a clue what new prices are. Shoot what stalls meis where toget it processed!
 
Kodaks a mess right now but the cheap film is out there

Film Shop — Poly Film Labs

www.polyfilmlabs.co.uk www.polyfilmlabs.co.uk

These guys selling 250d motion picture film film for £6! You need to remove the remjet but its around or the dev only £13 for film and dev is a relatively great price
 
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