Advancements in film and film cameras?
I always liked shooting with Tri-X. But I also am not anti-film, but I am now pro digital. For me the processing is so much simpler that you could not pay me enough to ever use film again. I too have given up being on the wheel when it comes to buying the next great camera. I have decided to use the one I have till it dies, and then move up. Digital much like film is leveling off some on the improvement front. Every new model only has incremental improvements, and most of those seem to be focused on video, which just shows that they are at a bottleneck. So I am happy with what I have, and that is all that counts.
There are some very interesting things that I've noticed the last couple of years since I've been shooting mostly film. One is that the number of people asking me to shoot their events for cheap or free (not that I ever did them for cheap or free) has gone to less than zero. I think it is because people remember the cost associated with film photography and when they want a portrait or a print they come with cash in hand.
It is also kinda fun to see the look on some peoples faces when I load up a roll of medium format film in my old Voigtlander folding camera and put it on the tripod, I then pull out my little Kodak series VI filter kit and put it together with the hood and place it on the camera, then screw in the cable release and set the focus...by this time, people are starting to ask about the camera, how it works, asking to take a pic of the camera or me and the camera. I've sold a small number of prints just from the curiosity that is generated when they see the old camera being used. I have also had one fella try to tell me that I could take better pics if I got a Nikon V1 mirrorless camera like his, I didn't have time to explain how big a 6x9 negative really is, lol.
It is what it is.
RobWood wrote: I would say that I'm a tiny bit nostalgic when I think of all of the print film I shot over my lifetime, and I still have all of my analog gear - just can't seem to let it go.
What I'm not nostalgic about is the cost. Going on an assignment, especially covering an event, often required shooting 10 - 15 rolls of 36-exposure film every day. That's only 360 - 540 shots per day: modest by digital standards. But the cost? Film + processing into slides = roughly $30 per roll.
Then finding out if I got the shots the magazine needed could not wait until I got back, because there's no re-doing an event. So, rushing to the nearest film processor to drop off the film, then rushing back to the event, then sweating the results, then rushing back to the processor...that is a world I happily say farewell to.
Rob
I'm with you Rob, if I did your type of work I would be all digital. But since I have a decent day job I do photography only as a hobby, or maybe even my therapy, lol. I do an event once in a while where I'll use my D200, but that type of shooting is appealing to me less and less lately.
It is what it is.
Don Fischer wrote: I was just thinking. With the cost involved in film photography, how much less expensive can you sell an 8x10 for by doing it with digital? How about a 16x20?
Well there has been quite a learning curve learning to shoot and develop my own film, but that is starting to taper off now. So lots of time invested.
Printing however is a different discussion because it really isn't comparing apples to apples. I'm gearing up to do true optical silver gelatin prints, until that time I'm having Blue Moon Camera and Machine in PDX do my printing (THEY'RE AWESOME!) I've discovered something, they're are people out there that are looking to buy traditional silver gelatin prints, and usually they have been looking for quite a while, when they find something that they like they will always pay more than a scanned print. I always figure 2x the printing cost just to keep the math easy.
http://www.bluemooncamera.com/CustomDarkroom.php
It is what it is.
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