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03-29-2011, 11:34 AM   #1
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Got Film

How many of you started with digital are now using film? Black & White or color and what film camera are you using? What challenges, while learning film, did you overcome? Does using film help you with digital photography and will you continue with film?

03-29-2011, 01:27 PM   #2
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i have been shooting digital for over a year and just recently started shooting and developing film. the biggest challenge i faced with film is patient. slowing down when composing the image and making sure my exposure is correct. also the developing process is time comsuming. i do feel that working with film i have learned to compose my images better as well as i have a better understanding of tonal ranges and contrast. i appreciate the smaller details lost in the dark the blacks and white whites.
03-29-2011, 01:35 PM   #3
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I started with film SLR years and years ago, then finally plunged into DSLR only 2 years ago, then went back to film again this year.
I just miss it and besides, it instills discipline since you can't just go shooting off shots that you don't need or shots that you might just botch up.
For every roll, you just have 24 or 36 shots that you should make count.
I was better in film before knowing that I had to make every shot count.
..then there is the suspense of, "how did I do", when you have developed and printed the photos.
03-29-2011, 03:30 PM   #4
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It seams we get trigger-happy with our digital auto everything cameras. I’m a little guilty of the ‘spray & pray’. I know one method that will break this habit. Shooting nothing but prime lenses this will make us pay attention to the job at hand. Use only two lenses wide angle and a 50mm; well ok you can add a 70-210 to the mix only to take close-ups of alligators. I think using this method will teach us to properly expose and compose each frame we take. Why waist materials and time developing rolls of junk pictures, which we normally delete from memory. I enjoy film maybe it’s the nostalgia.

03-29-2011, 06:28 PM   #5
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I started with film in the '60s with my first SLR coming in the early 70s, so film is my first love. I got my first DSLR four years ago, but I'm back in love with film. Yes, it does make me a better photographer to pay per click, and I like the look.
03-29-2011, 07:52 PM   #6
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Yup. Shoot color and B&W, everything from 645 medium format to 4x5 LF. Hasselblads, Rolleiflexes, Mamiyas, Pentaxes, Kievs, and a Norita :-)

I don't know if shooting film has, specifically, made me a better "digital" photographer.. I'd tend to think so, but basically, any kind of shooting should make you a better photographer in general. I know for a fact that I've become a better "film" photographer (very different approach to digital), but my main reason for shooting film is to shoot larger formats. If somebody gave me a full size digital sensor for all the formats I have (645, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9, and 4x5), I'd probably quit film. For better or for worse, that's not going to hapeen for a loooooooong time
03-29-2011, 08:23 PM   #7
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I am a long-time film user (since about 1968) and have owned digital cameras since about 2005. While my original digicam (Canon G2) is basically a full-featured P&S, it was not until my K10D purchase in 2007 that I was able to use digital for serious work.

Wow! What a tool! I can honestly say that I learned more about photography in the first two years with the K10D than in the many years of film work that came before. That being said, my experience with B&W film and traditional darkroom work provided a solid foundation for that growth. Experience with one medium fed progress with the other.

In 2009, I started shooting film again and was delighted to find that the synergy flowed back the other direction as well. The lighter 35mm gear allowed for a much freer style and I found myself shooting very different subjects than in the past.

Short story? The more options you explore, the broader your palette for creation!


Steve

03-29-2011, 09:54 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by stevebrot Quote
I am a long-time film user (since about 1968) and have owned digital cameras since about 2005. While my original digicam (Canon G2) is basically a full-featured P&S, it was not until my K10D purchase in 2007 that I was able to use digital for serious work.

Wow! What a tool! I can honestly say that I learned more about photography in the first two years with the K10D than in the many years of film work that came before. That being said, my experience with B&W film and traditional darkroom work provided a solid foundation for that growth. Experience with one medium fed progress with the other.

In 2009, I started shooting film again and was delighted to find that the synergy flowed back the other direction as well. The lighter 35mm gear allowed for a much freer style and I found myself shooting very different subjects than in the past.

Short story? The more options you explore, the broader your palette for creation!


Steve
Now I'm into macro and that would never happen with film. I would never shoot 5 rolls to get one pic of a bug. Call me cheap. B&W film has a special look that I never see in digital. The lightweight gear - so true I have several old cameras and lately been shooting a MZ-50 w/50mm weighs less than my ME Super and K200d. Been shooting B&W dev. and scan. What a great hobby!
03-29-2011, 10:38 PM   #9
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My first serious camera was a DSLR. I never got anywhere with it. The camera was stolen on a trip and with the insurance money, I purchased a manual film camera. I got along with it very well as it simplified everything for me - I just needed to worry about three things: shutter-speed, aperture and focus. I feel that a manual film camera helped my photography immensely. In fact, if I had continued with a digital camera, I'm certain that I wouldn't have been photographing any longer. At this point, I have no desire to go back to digital.
03-30-2011, 05:54 AM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by stevebrot Quote
I am a long-time film user (since about 1968) and have owned digital cameras since about 2005. While my original digicam (Canon G2) is basically a full-featured P&S, it was not until my K10D purchase in 2007 that I was able to use digital for serious work.

Wow! What a tool! I can honestly say that I learned more about photography in the first two years with the K10D than in the many years of film work that came before. That being said, my experience with B&W film and traditional darkroom work provided a solid foundation for that growth. Experience with one medium fed progress with the other.

In 2009, I started shooting film again and was delighted to find that the synergy flowed back the other direction as well. The lighter 35mm gear allowed for a much freer style and I found myself shooting very different subjects than in the past.

Short story? The more options you explore, the broader your palette for creation!


Steve
Very similar to my story. I also learned a lot from the K10d, and I learned a lot from the Coolpix P&S and XA which I had used for several years before it. Taking a hiatus from LBA and equipment fetishes before buying the K10d was very good for me.
03-31-2011, 03:36 AM   #11
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I started with film in 1982 and shot slides, almost exclusively (apart from a short time with BW at college when I learnt to use a darkroom). As I wanted slides for lectures (on history and archaeology) I became a competent but dull technical photographer: usually good exposure, good focus, used a tripod more often than not etc. When I got my K10D in 2007 I started to play, to take pictures at night, close-ups, all sorts of things. My photography really took off. But then I found that I really enjoyed still using film. I shot more black and white, I started playing with medium and large format, I discovered Ektar, I discovered Takumars, I was given a Lubitel 2... Now I mix and match digital and film. Some things I would always use digital: macros, night shots, anything for work and lectures. Many other things I shoot film, especially BW, street shots for example. My 'keep' rate is certainly higher for film than digital!

K.
03-31-2011, 06:17 AM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by womble Quote
I started with film in 1982 and shot slides, almost exclusively (apart from a short time with BW at college when I learnt to use a darkroom). As I wanted slides for lectures (on history and archaeology) I became a competent but dull technical photographer: usually good exposure, good focus, used a tripod more often than not etc. When I got my K10D in 2007 I started to play, to take pictures at night, close-ups, all sorts of things. My photography really took off. But then I found that I really enjoyed still using film. I shot more black and white, I started playing with medium and large format, I discovered Ektar, I discovered Takumars, I was given a Lubitel 2... Now I mix and match digital and film. Some things I would always use digital: macros, night shots, anything for work and lectures. Many other things I shoot film, especially BW, street shots for example. My 'keep' rate is certainly higher for film than digital!

K.
From 1975 on, I was mainly shooting slides and B&W in my SLR as well. In the '80s, with the compact K mount bodies, they each got their own bodies.

The keep rate, even with my Olympus XA/2 bodies is much higher for me as well.
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