Who's shooting with film these days?

I just got my new Nikon F100 in the mail today! We'll it's not new, but used in excellent condition. Pretty excited and sure is beautiful camera.

I was wondering, is it ok for me to use my newer AF lenses from my D80?

Anyone have some film photography tips for me?

Oscar Cohen wrote: I was wondering, is it ok for me to use my newer AF lenses from my D80?

Yes if they are 35mm format. If they are for APS-C format only they will probably vignette, and may even extend far enough into the body to block the mirror.

The lenses you use with the D80 should work fine. as far as tips on film i can give you a few but I will also refer you to our resident film guru Karl Wertanen. Film will be a challenge if you haven't worked extensively with it. I prefer Fuji 800 Pro press film for action and sports. It has fine grain for the speed and it yields a decent print even with a "thin" negative. Next i use AGFA 50 or 100 for landscapes because of it's rich colors. I also shoot Fuji REALA 100 for the same situations and reasons- super fine grain and good greens and blues. Kodak films tend to be "warm" and render yellows and oranges well with less attention to greens. Kodak Royal Gold is a good overall color film. Slide film is a whole 'nother animal- extremely finicky with exposure errors and if you pick the wrong film for the lighting conditions you will have problems. Fuji VELVIA is excellent landscape film. Kodak Ektachrome Elite is also excellent but shades toward the blue range too much for some folks taste but i love the blue skies. 'nuff said for the moment . Holler back if you have any more specific questions cuz it's not often i get to share my film experiences here

Shot with Fuji Reala 100 speed print film

Shot with AGFA Ultra 50 speed print film

I miss film. I used to have my Dad's Canons but had to sell them. It came down to paying bills or taking photos.

This was shot with Fuji 800 Pro Press film

as was this

and this

all were scanned with an HP flatbed scanner in JPEG format

Those are fantastic shots! The last one is perfect!

If you can get the exposure right shooting digital you'll have no problems with film. Print film coupled with a decent lab should be effectively goof proof. It's got an exposure latitude of several stops in either direction, meaning you'd have to be way off to notice it in prints.

If you are used to shooting jpeg with your DSLR, and don't have to adjust exposure in processing, you are probably accurate enough for slide film. Depending on your choice of film and how you have your DSLR in-camera processing set you may find slide film tends to have more contrast.

I shoot film. Your new camera is newer than what I usually use, mostly older manual SLRs. I do have one film camera that needs batteries for something other than the meter (which I forget to turn off so I just run down batteries).

I mostly use 400 speed film indoors,100/125 outdoors. Have done a good bit of B&W and darkroom work, I mostly use Ilford for that. This first photo is a combo - film, enlarged and cropped in Photoshop (no other adjustments); rest are all photos originally film, scanned in.

Rob, love the photo of the Cyclones player doing his best Bobby Orr flying-thru-the-air impression - that's great. Nice scenic shots too.

And what are zombies doing on the highway on your side of the river?? LOL

Ahhhh haa! Film is like listening to the Beattles on a record player as one guy put it to me yesterday. I'm excited to put this camera to use this weekend.


Thanks for the input everyone. BTW where are you buying your film from? Who has the best prices?

Good morning- I usually buy film from B & H as they have a good selection and carry AGFA and FUJI films that I like
Sharon the usual tear up the concrete so they can get votes from the road construction guys summer work projects.

After the local, full service shops closed down I bought most of my film from B&H too. But also check out Freestyle. Sometimes they have films that are hard to find elsewhere. It's been a long time since I've bought film, but they used to carry Ilford BW films with generic labels that were an excellent bargain. With a little research you can figure out who is making their house brand labeled films. Determining what country the film is made in will tell you who is making it.

www.freestylephoto.biz/

With 35mm the best price is usually buying 100' rolls, a bulk loader & cassettes, and rolling it yourself.

HP do you use Neopan much ? are you a fan of the higher speed B & W films at all ? I mostly shot color so you seem to be a good resource on the B & W. what's your opinion ?

I have a Nikon FM2. I will use it on occassion. I buy film from B&H for the most part but if I am in a hurry, then it is just the stuff you can get at the local CVS pharmacy, Right exposure = Good Prints.

Rob pix4u2 wrote: HP do you use Neopan much ? are you a fan of the higher speed B & W films at all ? I mostly shot color so you seem to be a good resource on the B & W. what's your opinion ?

I pretty much stopped using film by 2006, so my info may be dated. Even though they keep the same name the manufacturers regularly upgrade and improve films.

I had tried all the high speed BW films available in 35mm and 120, including Fuji Neopan 1600 (I never tried any slower Fuji BW films being content with Kodak and Ilford). What I found is that no matter what big ISO numbers they put on the label none of them were significantly faster than ISO 800. In the end I was using regular old Kodak Tri-X (TX not TXP), rating it ISO 1250 to 1600, and developing in in Diafine compensating developer ( 2 bath ). I preferred that combo to Neopan 1600, T-max 3200, and Delta 3200 in any developer. It was finer grained, and the compensating developer made the contrast goof proof. Google "tri-x diafine" for hundreds of articles.

Diafine can be a good choice for the occasional home developer. It has an amazing shelf life, and doesn't really exhaust. I'd mix up a new batch once a year, and develop 100's of rolls with it. Technically it was still working when I mixed up the new batch, but eventually it gets stuff in it from the film, and can get kind of gross. For $15 (or whatever it costs) I figured I could afford a new batch once a year. Because it's a compensating developer time, temp, and agitation style don't have much effect as with typical one bath developers, so it's hard to goof up.

For C-41 I almost always shot Fuji pro films: NPS, NPH, and NPZ. Although if I saw a sale on 35mm Kodak Gold 200 I snatched it up. Good stuff for family snaps!