Are you still shooting 35mm film?

[Cindy Flood]

There's one more absolutely great thing shooting film:
There won't be another, cooler, better, must-have-now model at the camera shop in six months. Except for the odd Voigtländer or Fuji model, what is available now, is what you'll get next year as well. Good for whatever is left of my peace of mind

Oh, yes, but then there is that grey Baby Rollei that you would love to have again...and all of those delicious M's out there...and maybe a Contax G... and what about a Mamiya 7????

 

[ReeRay]

Never left film and never will. Both 35mm and 120. Current arsenal comprises Contax G2, Contax ST, Hasselblad 500 and Rollei 6002. All scanned through a Minolta Multi Pro.

Why?

I shoot for stock - I need to be a little different to compete with 20 mio other images.

75% of my sales are film!

My case rests!

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Oh, yes, but then there is that grey Baby Rollei that you would love to have again...and all of those delicious M's out there...and maybe a Contax G... and what about a Mamiya 7????

Shhhhhh... don't tell my brain. The G is out of the question, do you hear? Out of the question :lecture:
As for the 7... never heard of it. For all I know, it never existed

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Never left film and never will. Both 35mm and 120. Current arsenal comprises Contax G2, Contax ST, Hasselblad 500 and Rollei 6002. All scanned through a Minolta Multi Pro.

Why?

I shoot for stock - I need to be a little different to compete with 20 mio other images.

75% of my sales are film!

My case rests!

That's an interesting thought. Where did you find the Multi Pro btw.? I've given up finding a Coolscan for a reasonable price in this country.

 

[ReeRay]

That's an interesting thought. Where did you find the Multi Pro btw.? I've given up finding a Coolscan for a reasonable price in this country.

Bought mine off the Multi Pro Yahoo user group. I do believe there's a couple for sale currently, one with a few spare bulbs.

 

[GrahamWelland]

Not shooting 35mm any more. I figured that if I was going to shoot anything then it may as well be bigger so I sold off my MP and now my only film shooting is with my Mamiya 7II.

 

[Godfrey]

Re: ... since I just moved ... film for sale

... I have loose 35mm film from my freezer available for anyone who wants it. It's a film shooter's grab bag, some types no longer available: ...

That's been sold, thanks!

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Time to buy Christmas presents, isn't it? I started today, with one for myself
A mint Contax RX with a likewise mint Zeiss 50mm f/1.4, plus some film and batteries. Insanely cheap. I've also managed to track down a Coolscan 5000 for a reasonable price.

GH1 with Zuiko 50mm f/2.0 macro @ f/2.0

 

[monza]

Excellent choice.

 

[Godfrey]

Lovely camera, Jorgen. Enjoy it.

 

[tokengirl]

Time to buy Christmas presents, isn't it? I started today, with one for myself

Ooooh, nice! Congratulations! My first camera was a Yashica FX3 with exactly that lens.

I just completed my birthday shopping. Six rolls of Kodachrome 64 and a Fuji Klasse W.

Maybe for Christmas I can get that nice Mamiya 7ii & 43mm lens that Monza has for sale.

 

[Leicadoc]

You betcha.
I shoot a LeicaMP to go with my M8.
I also play with a re-built Pentax Spotmatic SP2 with its wonderful 50/1.4 and an assortment of fine glass I found for almost nothing. The camera was a gift from a dear friend, I had it re-built by LeZot in Burlington,VT, and have added a 135/3.5, 200/4.0 and 300/6.3 .
Would prefer the nice 300/4.0, but they are bringing a good bit.
I also use the 35/3.5, about the size of the Summicron 35. Really great glass, all manual.
Mostly shoot Fuji Pro 800 or 400, but in the Leica it's Ektar, Kodak 160 Portra, and Plus X.

 

[M5-Guy]

Yes, Here is my rig

 

[Jason Muelver]

I have recently started shooting film again. My dad was a commercial photographer in the 60's- early 90's. He dropped off a mess of stuff, and I've been shooting a Mamiya 645 1000s and a meter less Canon F-1.

I might start offering film shot packages for portraits, but I don't think I could shoot a wedding with film.

That being said, I figured out last night that I can use my Pocketwizards and Nikon strobes with my Mamiya. Blasted throu a roll of Portia 400NC last night just giggling and blinding thenpoor mutts.

Back to the 35mm question, I think I will shoot even more film. I really would like a film Leica kit. What's a good first Leica set up?

 

[mathomas]

...

Back to the 35mm question, I think I will shoot even more film. I really would like a film Leica kit. What's a good first Leica set up?

I found my Leica M2 and a Voigtlander 35/1.4 to be a great start (I didn't buy them together, but they make a great team). Less than $1000 invested, and luscious black & white results. I'm sure you could find a similar setup that works for you for under $1000.

 

[wblynch]

I went back to film over a year ago. It allows me to use these wonderful old cameras. Now I have a bunch that I've picked up cheap, from Minolta and Yashica TLRs, adding to my old Olympus OM stuff, rangefinders and even some Kodak Instamatics and a Brownie Hawkeye.

It's a lot of fun. The 127 and 126 cameras are extra challenging since I typically re-roll my own film.

I even started developing my own black and white and C41 color because finding convenient labs is not easy.

Instead of shooting 4,000 digital pictures a year, I'm now using about 80 rolls of film. Lots of fun, very interesting and more satisfying.

Oh yeah, I've now got 6 scanners too!

One day there will be no more film but I will be happy having used it till the bitter end.

 

[Texsport]

Shooting less 35mm and more MF, but still use 35 for X-Pan and specialty shoots-sports multiple images, telephoto wildlife images, some portraiture when smaller prints are O.K., etc.

Don't appreciate digital much because every month new, better cameras are released. When the technology reaches a stable point, I'll be more interested.

Mostly shoot panoramic MF(Linhof 617, Noblex 150) and environmental portraits (Fujica G690BL.)

Texsport

 

[wblynch]

Reading back thought this thread I am thinking about what the wedding photographers above said about abandoning film.

Last year my younger daughter got married and we hired the same photographer that shot my first daughter's wedding in 1997. The first was on film, of course, and the second on digital.

Looking at the results, the film pictures were far superior to the digital. And one would have thought that 12 years advance experience from the photographer would have given much better pictures in 2009.

I mean the digipics just look like junk.

Yes, we got 350 digital pictures versus 150 film. But most of the digitals were just dupes and throwaways. Out of the 350 we only liked 3 well enough to get portraits printed. 100 of the rest went into one of those online 'books' you order that ends up in the cupboard.

When my first daughter gets remarried, I will insist on film to be used.

 

[Godfrey]

Sounds like that photographer didn't make the jump from film to digital very expertly to me. Which is not uncommon ... I know a lot of photographers who are still struggling to learn digital photography.

It's a different set of skills from doing film photography.

 

[dougpeterson]

Reading back thought this thread I am thinking about what the wedding photographers above said about abandoning film.

Last year my younger daughter got married and we hired the same photographer that shot my first daughter's wedding in 1997. The first was on film, of course, and the second on digital.

Looking at the results, the film pictures were far superior to the digital. And one would have thought that 12 years advance experience from the photographer would have given much better pictures in 2009.

I mean the digipics just look like junk.

Yes, we got 350 digital pictures versus 150 film. But most of the digitals were just dupes and throwaways. Out of the 350 we only liked 3 well enough to get portraits printed. 100 of the rest went into one of those online 'books' you order that ends up in the cupboard.

When my first daughter gets remarried, I will insist on film to be used.

Sounds like the first photographer was not as good as the second photographer.

Decent Film Camera + Good Photographer = Good Photos
Decent Digital Camera + Good Photographer = Good Photos
Decent Film Camera + Bad Photographer = Bad Photos
Decent Digital Camera + Bad Photographer = Bad Photos

The only difference is that there are more bad photographers and more bad digital cameras and more bad photographers since the popularization of digital photography. The good photographers are still producing great work.

The best digital cameras far out perform the best film cameras - but only in the hands of a good photographer.

Doug Peterson (e-mail Me)
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