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08-03-2014, 03:13 PM - 3 Likes   #91
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I spend 8 hours a day staring at a computer (not including smartphone time and watching shows on the internet) and... after a while, my eyes, mind and soul need a break. Film photography let's me rest by not having to stare at any screens anymore. I get pulled back to reality.
This is even more present in the darkroom where, if no music is playing, all I have is the sound of my internal voice talking. It's an oddly ... hmm.... spiritual experience...

Shooting film is a discipline in and of itself too. 24-36 shots (less with medium format) really forces you to *think* about your shots and what you want to photograph. Once you're done the roll and you develop the roll and get negatives back, you realize you have something #tangible in your hands. I've tried holding up an SD card to the light and it isn't quite the same I've shot 36 frames and realized that I didn't load it properly only after I opened the back... like life, we all make mistakes. I learn from them, as in life, and make myself better because of it. I now load with a lot more precision and have mental checks and balances to ensure the film is actually winding!

I love the technology of digital that we have today as it's allowed me to experiment and also expand the potential of film photography ironically! In the end, it's a very personal choice and why one does digital or film or whatever else will come out can vary from a variety of different reasons. The important thing is to know your own vision, to own it and then use the media that portrays it best ... within your economic means of course.

08-03-2014, 03:44 PM   #92
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QuoteOriginally posted by ChrisPlatt Quote
Rather than mourn the loss of our local labs, many mediocre, better to explore our many mail-order options, some excellent. IMO we should have a sticky for photo lab reviews.
Concur.
08-04-2014, 07:14 AM   #93
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I completely lucked into a Jobo cpe2 for $3. Just like my darkroom setup, sometimes the world just shoves in your face what path to take! It had a paper printing drum on it, just got a film drum today. I've already done c41/e6/bnw dev but now with this (assuming it works for a full cycle) I think I'll step up my film shooting! Getting one of these was a kind of unrealistic goal for me. Now thats shifted to an ra-4 printing setup. Never say never!
08-19-2014, 06:08 PM   #94
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I never left film, as a matter of fact, I do not own a digital camera. Every time I have the opportunity to play with a digital one, while I am at one of the big stores that sells them, I get disappointed with their viewfinder, so small, no too bright in comparison to my film cameras, plus they feel too bulky.

I have not hold one digital camera that would make me feel like it belongs with me. Ironically, the only ones I have not play with are the Pentax ones, since big retail chains do not carry Pentax D-SLRs. By the look of it, the K-3 looks ergonomically like a possible match for me, but I would have to find a store in South Florida that sells it to try it.

08-20-2014, 07:40 PM - 1 Like   #95
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QuoteOriginally posted by Robert_1 Quote
I get disappointed with their viewfinder, so small, no too bright in comparison to my film cameras, plus they feel too bulky.
Yep.

That is one reason why I shoot with my 35mm film SLRs. I get arguably better quality from my K-3, but most of my film bodies are much more pleasant to use.


Steve
09-08-2014, 08:24 AM   #96
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QuoteOriginally posted by jrpower10 Quote
I just started shooting film again because I wanted to try medium format and didn't want to spend $10k kitting up. Bought a Pentax 6x7. We'll see if the bug holds
Art photography is JUST film photography IMO.

The tons of horrible "selfies" that overpopulate (anti)social media like Facebook prove that...even pros are forgetting what taking pictures is about.
09-08-2014, 10:57 AM   #97
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QuoteOriginally posted by ChrisPlatt Quote
Rather than mourn the loss of our local labs, many mediocre,
better to explore our many mail-order options, some excellent.

IMO we should have a sticky for photo lab reviews.

Chris
Hear hear! (Luckily however I still have a couple very good labs at my disposal here in Seattle and try to send them as much work as I can)

---------- Post added 09-08-14 at 11:00 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by Robert_1 Quote
I have not hold one digital camera that would make me feel like it belongs with me. Ironically, the only ones I have not play with are the Pentax ones, since big retail chains do not carry Pentax D-SLRs. By the look of it, the K-3 looks ergonomically like a possible match for me, but I would have to find a store in South Florida that sells it to try it.
It was the feel, layout and ergonomics of Pentax DSLR bodies that first led me back to them with the K100D Super a number of years back now. Lately though, I simply feel bad for my shiny K-3 because I spend almost no time using it anymore (using my MX bodies and GR1s almost exclusively and if I do pick up a digital it's usually the GR). It's likely the last DSLR I will buy for a very very long time.

09-12-2014, 01:27 PM   #98
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I miss it...It's as simple as that. That's why I still shoot film. I fought digital for a long time, and when I finally caved in I started to love it. Too much, I think. It allowed me to get sloppy and say to myself "Oh, I can fix that later". I always seem to be in a hurry when I have a digital camera in my hand. I take my time more with a film camera. A hobby shouldn't be stressful.
09-14-2014, 03:54 PM - 1 Like   #99
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why I still shoot film

I shoot film because I enjoy the process. It slows me down in the field and makes me think twice about exposing the shot because each shot has a $ cost to it. Digital is fine, but invites you to shoot too many exposures. I enjoy developing my own black and white. Just discovered DIAFINE developer after all these years (I've been developing b&w for 40 years), and it's wonderful! I have an extensive camera collection ranging from Pentax Spotmatics to K-5 digital. I also have a twin lens Mamiya C-220 with 3 lenses, a Pentax 645 with 2 lenses, a Rapid Omega 100, a Bronica ETR with 5 lenses, bellows, ext tubes, etc., and just bought a Pentax 67 system with 4 lenses, extension tubes and 2x converter. Have not shot with this yet since I just got it. 120 film is still available, especially in black and white, and is affordable. Then, there is the Nikon system. 13 bodies and 24 lenses. A Rollei 35, and miscellaneous other cameras round out my collection. See some of my stuff on flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/heydavemyers. I have enough 35mm film in the freezer to last the rest of my lifetime. I still listen to records and reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes. I see no reason to bury this stuff when it's perfectly good. And, I sort of enjoy the ridicule that comes along with being a dinosaur.
09-14-2014, 10:56 PM - 1 Like   #100
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I haven't been shooting film long. I'm only 20 years old, and prior to me owning this Yashica rangefinder I haven't shot any film outside of some disposable cameras when I was a kid, I was raised on digital. Shooting with the Yashica is such a different experience, knowing I can actually make a mistake that will cost me money is such a strange feeling when it comes to photography. In fact my first roll of film I loaded it in wrong and had to destroy my film just to get it out of the camera.

It really slows down the photographic process for me, and forces me to stop and think about every step of the way. It has been allowing me to appreciate the medium in a different light so to speak

It's a bit too expensive for me to do it all the time, but I'll most certainly be shooting a roll of film here and there to remember the roots of photography.
09-15-2014, 12:40 PM   #101
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This thread is an excellent example why I don't wanna go digital:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/41-photo-critique/272969-misc-work.html

In short, it appears that in the digital era the photographer's job I not to learn how to shoot straight but how to fake pictures with photoshop...it reminds me the story of Keira Knightley's boobs faked in King Arthur's poster!
09-15-2014, 12:44 PM   #102
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QuoteOriginally posted by Cuthbert Quote
This thread is an excellent example why I don't wanna go digital:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/41-photo-critique/272969-misc-work.html

In short, it appears that in the digital era the photographer's job I not to learn how to shoot straight but how to fake pictures with photoshop...it reminds me the story of Keira Knightley's boobs faked in King Arthur's poster!
But post processing was a significant part of film as well wasn't it? Lots of the adjustments in lightroom are the same things you could do in wet darkrooms, or so I hear.
09-15-2014, 01:01 PM   #103
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QuoteOriginally posted by ZombieArmy Quote
But post processing was a significant part of film as well wasn't it? Lots of the adjustments in lightroom are the same things you could do in wet darkrooms, or so I hear.
Yes the Soviet photographers were quite good at making people "disappear" post mortem in official pictures (see wikipedia) but at least they never had the forma mentis of "whatever let's shoot, if we make mistakes we'll fix it later".

BTW I'm not much older than you and I grew up in the digital era too, but it appears to me that a lot of people are stopping thinking with their own brains and let the technology do it for them.

Also, the way they photoshop beautiful women that don't conform today's stereotypes (Keira is one example, the other that comes to my mind is the young actress who play Mistyque in the X men prequels and what they've done T her face in the last poster of the series) is kinda scary...in the 60s no photographer would have dared to retouch Jane Fonda or Brigitte Bardout.
09-15-2014, 02:40 PM   #104
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I'm visiting New York right now shooting 645 & 6x9 B&W of old buildings. This evening I will be shooting color slide film of the video billboards in Times Square. I could take the K-3 and a wide angle and just shoot until the card is full, or I can take my 6x9 loaded with Velvia and take 8 shots. The thought and commitment to perfection that goes into those 8 frames with a 70 year old camera and hand-held light meter makes the five good ones (I hope I get five) into treasures I will be proud of for the rest of my life. If I shoot 600 shots on a 32Gb card, I will have a folder full of pictures of Times Square.
09-15-2014, 04:17 PM   #105
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QuoteOriginally posted by Cuthbert Quote
no photographer would have dared to retouch Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda?


Steve
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