We didn't have film when I started.
I had to coat and process my own glass plates in a darkroom style tent that was in the rear compartment of my horseless carriage.
Dry plate photography was a Godsend.
You guys with roll film don't know how lucky you are.

I started with a daguerreotype and that's all I shoot. You guys with glass plate technology don't know how lucky you are. What's roll film?

[Wheatfield]

I started with a daguerreotype and that's all I shoot. You guys with glass plate technology don't know how lucky you are. What's roll film?

Oh Yeah?
Well, I started with charcoal sticks and a camera obscura pinhole tent.
Competely skipped the whole Daguerreotype thing because the imaging was no better than what I could do and they didn't improve focusing over pinhole technology.

Daguerreotypes are slower too.

[J.Scott]

It's fun to watch these two dinosaurs duke it out to see whom is the longest in the tooth.

Personally I've shot film since I was a teenager and I find the digital to be an interesting diversion. My film cameras out number my digital 4:1 but I play with the digital more often these days.

[Lowell Goudge]

Over time (since 1981) I have shot about 12000 frames of film, split 1/3 - 2/3 slides - print usig Ricoh XR2s, Pentax KX and Pentax PZ-1

I have shot since the end of 2003, and additional 23000 digiral images with my DSLRs. Pentax *istD aned K10D

I will ignore P&S which also accounts for about 6000 images

I have always shot film, although since I got my 10-20 in early 2007 I have only shot 2 rolls of film

[PDL]

I started shooting 45 years ago (Mom's Brownie Box - which I have sitting in the Family room now). So yes, I have used film - 620, 120, 35mm, Polaroid and real soon now 4x5. I have been using digital since the early 2000's.

Had my own darkroom, bought B&W film in 100 foot rolls and "rolled" my own (still have the machines and empty cassettes to do it again), shot 8mm super 8 movies. My darkroom was used for B&W prints, color prints (Beseller 23C - with color head - still have it) and Cibachrome prints from Kodachrome, Ektachrome and Fujichrome slides (I love slide film and still have 8 rolls in the fridge)

My first 35mm rangefinder was the result of my first job - hauling rocks for a landscaper (cleaning out small stones getting ready for a new lawn). My three 35mm SLR's were stolen, returned and stolen again.

I love film "I love the smell of Kodachrome in the morning". I love digital, my issues is not having a good place to show my images - film based or digital.

Will I still shoot both - yup - and I am going to enjoy it, despite what anyone else thinks.

The Elitist - formerly known as PDL

[Mike Cash]

I started shooting 45 years ago (Mom's Brownie Box - which I have sitting in the Family room now).

Please tell us you still take it out and run a roll through for old time's sake every now and then.

[PDL]

Please tell us you still take it out and run a roll through for old time's sake every now and then.

It was late last summer that I "retrieved" the camera from my Mom's closet (she died in 2006). Kodak - or anyone else as far as I know - no longer makes 620 format film (2" x 3.5"). I should go get a roll of 120 and see if I can run it through - but I do not know of a lab that will even develop roll film. Most of the good pro developers have disappeared from the Puget Sound.

Bummer.

However it is sitting next to the Kodak bellows camera that was my fathers. After he had his stroke he basically "took things apart to 'fix' them" - with vise grips. On this particular camera he took the lens elements off and they are gone - but the thing is a "hanger". I have his working 2.5x3.5 speed graphic (one film carrier) and his Calumet 4x5 monorail (4 4x5 film carriers). One of these days I will use the Ilford B&W I have in the fridge.

I would develop the film myself (I got the 4x5 tank from my cousin - the 120 stuff too (still have my 35mm - 620 Peterson tanks - three rolls of 35mm at once)) but I live with a septic system that drains into a Salmon breeding stream. Heavy metals make Salmon taste really bad - and way to glossy.

Anyway - no I have not run a roll of film through the Brownie - and the last roll of film was most likely the last one I took when I was in my mid teen's just before I bought my first 35mm rangefinder (Petri Delux - broke early on but a great 45mm lens - still have it - still broken). When I brought the Brownie home, my son "corrected" me on its functions - seems he sat down and figured out how to use the thing. There is still hope for the upcoming generation - automation is not the only default.

The Elitist - formerly known as PDL

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Last edited by PDL; 04-07-2009 at 08:49 PM. Reason: just some clarification stuff

[-=JoN=-]

been using film since '98 (SLR, but shot film w/ p/s before that...)...adopted digital at the release of the K10..tho now..I rarely use my *ist

[OregonJim]

i need to read better ... still i'm sure there are some crazies using plates

Indeed there are.

[geauxpez]

It was late last summer that I "retrieved" the camera from my Mom's closet (she died in 2006). Kodak - or anyone else as far as I know - no longer makes 620 format film (2" x 3.5"). I should go get a roll of 120 and see if I can run it through - but I do not know of a lab that will even develop roll film...

The Elitist - formerly known as PDL

There are several posts on the web with instruction on re-spooling 120 film onto 620 spindles to resurrect those old Kodaks (another here). If no one in town processes 120 film and you don't want to do it yourself, there are mailorder places.

[Brad_Olson]

I have been using film for 35+ years, and have no interest in digital.
I may be the exception rather than the rule here, but I am not alone.

You are not, sir. My first exposure (pun intended) was via B&W in an Instamatic sometime in the early 1970s.

I see a few references to 620. The other day a coworker gave me a roll of 620 that she found among her late mother's belongings: Kodacolor-X with a process-by date of October, 1972 and still sealed in the foil.

Friends don't let friends go digital.

Brad

[Ira]

I stopped shooting film when I was called upon to capture the scene of General Lee signing the surrender documents to Grant after the Civil War.

I didn't shoot anything after that for more than 90 years, waiting for digital to arrive, but it didn't. So I started buying old Spotties and never looked at digital when it finally made its entrance onto the scene.

By the way:

All of the Union officers there really goofed on Lee the entire time, calling him a redneck loser and such. It made my job difficult, since I had to make everyone stay perfectly still for 7 minutes in order to capture each shot in proper focus.

I even made Lee sign those surrender documents like 37 times until I was SURE I got the perfect image.

As a side note, I was shooting Tri-X. And even though it wasn't invented yet, I figured out a way how to.

[jgredline]

I stopped shooting film when I was called upon to capture the scene of General Lee signing the surrender documents to Grant after the Civil War.

I didn't shoot anything after that for more than 90 years, waiting for digital to arrive, but it didn't. So I started buying old Spotties and never looked at digital when it finally made its entrance onto the scene.

By the way:

All of the Union officers there really goofed on Lee the entire time, calling him a redneck loser and such. It made my job difficult, since I had to make everyone stay perfectly still for 7 minutes in order to capture each shot in proper focus.

I even made Lee sign those surrender documents like 37 times until I was SURE I got the perfect image.

As a side note, I was shooting Tri-X.

I love it..Did you happen to shoot Daisy dukes?

[Ira]

Which side was she on?

[jgredline]

Which side was she on?

She was on the side of the confederates. From time to time she drove the ''general lee''