Shooting exclusively film

Thanks for that. Only just noticed the sticky at the beginning of the forum.
 
Resurrecting an old thread but found this while searching some related bits, I started out shooting film, then got heavily into digital but found my photos always lacked something. I could never get the images to look how I wanted. Started shooting more and more film, I prefer being able to pick a film to get the images I want. Been shooting film all the time recently and now my 40D is going up for sale, I've compared high res scans shot on my Eos 1 and 50mm with that of 5D MKII and the same lens. Have to say that film still has the upper hand.
 
chris_tim said:
Resurrecting an old thread but found this while searching some related bits, I started out shooting film, then got heavily into digital but found my photos always lacked something. I could never get the images to look how I wanted. Started shooting more and more film, I prefer being able to pick a film to get the images I want. Been shooting film all the time recently and now my 40D is going up for sale, I've compared high res scans shot on my Eos 1 and 50mm with that of 5D MKII and the same lens. Have to say that film still has the upper hand.
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There is something quite romantic about film compared against (the same shot) taken on a DSLR. Despite the sharpness being the obvious difference, film just seems to have so much more of an atmosphere.
 
Sectionate said:
but nothing beats waiting for a film to come back from developing.
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If I may jump in as a now purely digital user (sorry!). Surely seeing a print emerge from seemingly nowhere in the dev tray under the red light beats sitting around waiting for the postie to deliver an envelope of prints? IMO, seeing a print emerging from the slot of an inkjet after feeding a sheet of blank paper into the top beats waiting for the postie. (Please read my signature!)

When I started this game, I shot almost exclusively B&W, mainly high ASA stuff, pushing HP5 and Tri-X as far as I dared (then a bit more...). Did my own D&P in the school darkroom and even sold a few prints! Colour was always print and almost always mail order - mini labs existed but not in rural Dorset where I went to school! As all good things do, school days came to an end and I no longer had access to a well equipped darkroom and Mum objected to another generation of men making nasty chemical smells in the bathroom! (Dad was a pro at one point and also did some D&P for others.) That was the end of B&W for me, although I did shoot my last rolls and changing bagg/kitchen sinked them for possible future printing.

For a couple of years, I carried on fairly enthusiastically shooting colour print (and now I was back in civilisation, I had access to next day D&P!) but as cigarettes and whisk(e)y and wild, wild (in my dreams!) women ate into my time and wallet, I was taking fewer and fewer photographs and more snaps, so the SLRs went back to Dad and Instamatics were used instead. Eventually, the wgisky and women won out and I almost stopped snapping totally for a few years until I started going on more interesting holidays where I wanted some memories. There was far less whisky involved by now and the woman (singular) wasn't that wild any more. A few little AF compacts came and (actually, never went - they're still in a cupboard somewhere!) the snaps approached actual photographs again!

Enthusiasm had returned and even SLRs were now accurately and affordably auto focussing, so I scraped the bottom of my pockets and got parents and girlfriend to chip in towards an SLR plus a couple of lenses. Did the usual specs/budget shortlist and visited a retailer to have a feel of the contenders. A while later, I left the Devon Camera Centre (still going and still a favoured supplier) with a shiny F65 Nikon and a pair of zooms from 28-70 and 70-300. I was once again hooked! By now, APS's smaller negatives had made film makers up their game as far as emulsions went and even ISO (as it was by now) 400 was no longer golf ball grainy (lucky since the lenses I had weren't exactly fast). By now, it was possible and affordable to get films D&Ped in just 1 hour and also have a CD of the images! It was by now my next birthday, so pockets were scraped, sofas were emptied and parents/GF were again cojoled into chipping in for a computer so I could play with the CD images.

Nod's law, I soon reached the limits of 300ppi scans from 6x4 prints - I could get them up to 7 1/2 x 5 but no further, so I bought a flatbed scanner with a light hood for film scanning. Now I could scan slides as well as negs, so another body appeared one day - an F80. It didn't take too long before scanning films became a chore - luckily, the Devon Camera Centre were knocking out end of line D70 kits with £100 Nikon cashback and £50 worth of digital printing, bringing DSLR ownership down to an affordable price (I had nearly jumped ship to Canon when the ?30D dropped to under a grand but the rather low value of the film bodies as trade in made me wait) The only problem was that I missed the wide end, even though I had purchased a Cosina 19-35 to try to regain it. However, being 35mm compatible, that ended up on the film body, giving me previously unheard of width! So, I kept the film bodies for wide angle/FF shots. Then the D700 appeared and gradually dropped in price until I felt it was worth the expense - after all, a film from 7dayshop, once D&Ped on a 1 hour basis with a CD, was costing about a tenner for 36 exposures and it wouldn't take me long to shoot 170 rolls of film, so really it would save me money!

Then I heard the words "If you buy the snodding thing, will you STFU about it?" Well, that was it. I did and I did! Sorry to say that the only film I have left is in the bodies and still awaits me finishing the rolls for deving and I am now 100% digital. (Again, sorry!) I do miss film and on my occasional visits to Mifsuds, I can be seen looking slightly wistfully at 'Blads and other MF outfits, so who knows? I may return to the fold at some point, although almost certainly not exclusively. Not sure who in town does in house MF D&P, that may be a deciding factor - last film I sent away (to NotawordofaliePrint) came back with Dr Marten prints all over it and the woman on the end of the line in the customer relations department did what I'm afraid persons from her area of origin seem to do in situations like that simply hung up on me. Repeatedly. A complaint to higher up the chain was rewarded by a 24 exposure TruPrint film of indeterminate speed which lurked in the fridge alongside the other films until a recent giveaway saw it off to pastures new.

Maybe one day? Sigh!!!
 
Blimey Nod thats a big old post....

My story is a lot shorter as its very similar to yours so I won't repeat it, except that a couple of years ago I went back to using film. Basically I can't get enough of it especially medium format. There's just something about film that I can't describe which I love. Don't get me wrong I would never get rid of my D300 (unless I can afford a D800 that is) as for the wildlife stuff its a million times cheaper and easier than fillum but I love my TLR's soooo much and places like Peak Imaging get my films back in 2 days so the wait is long enough to be exciting but short enough so I don't get impatient.

Andy
 
That is a hell of a story Nod, and fascinating.

I'm sort of the opposite. Always enjoyed taking pictures all my life on a variety of compact film cameras, but never took it seriously even though everyone knew I'd always be the one to have a camera with me.

Decided to get more serious about it in the late '70s and bought a Zenith SLR. Very quickly realised I couldn't afford to explore photography in the way I wanted to. Back to holiday snaps.

Then, 6 years ago I realised digital SLRs were now decent quality and in my price range. Enter a Nikon D40

My obsession with photography really took off. I now have a D7000.

A few months ago I tried film again; only B+W for now so I can develop it myself and, to be honest, if it wasn't for my obsession with macro, I'd sell the D7000. I love the whole process of using film.

One day I might even take a decent shot.
 
to all those posting here ,,,please lurn to spill it rightly ,,,,,,its
FILLUM

phew thats better :D :) :D
 
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