Have you tried returning to film photography?

kdlanejr wrote in post #9490566
Film is only harder than digital if you don't understand your film equipment... much like many new photo enthusiasts don't understand their digital equipment.

If you take the time to set your exposure properly with film, your results should consistently be better than shooting digital for no other reason than film possessing a larger dynamic range than digital sensors currently do.

Things that make film "harder" ==> Perceived cost. Buy film, develop film, pay for prints, pay for enlargements... repeat, repeat, repeat... If you develop your own and print your own, you add another level of re-occurring expense to your process. While developing and printing your own film can be very enjoyable, chemical waste management and disposal will slowly become an issue adding additional costs to the process.

I still have a number of film bodies. All except one is ready to use at any given moment. I also still have undeveloped rolls of film for which developing has no immediate priority, the age of which I couldn't even begin to tell you.

That's a good point, I'm sure a good photographer could make the same images from a film camera to a digital camera. My experience in the past with film is my photography didn't take as many chances, or guesses when trying something new, just based upon each shot costs x amount. On my digital camera, I'll try new ideas, until I get the shot right, because I'm not held to how much film I'm carrying or amount it will cost to devleop.

Also with digital, I feel like the workflow is easier to get a great shot. When I did the entire film workflow myself from taking the photo, to developing film, printing the prints in the darkroom, the biggest battle was with the enlarger. Of course it could be the equipment, but just getting a nice 5x7 was sometimes difficult. Using filters to add or decrease contrast, or dodge and burning areas to fix the print.

My plan this year to to take a few rolls a month, even thinking of bringing along a small SLR or range finder to throw in my bag with my digital gear.

Haven't shot film since about 1995. Don't miss it, especially color negative/slides. Since I did b/w developing and printing, and really liked the hands on process from beginning to end, the digital age is like a god send.

HappySnapper90 wrote in post #9490016
Most of what I shoot now is film. Velvia, kodachrome, b+w TMX100, Ektar 100. Except for wildlife or conditions that are not suitable for slow film speeds as 50 or 100.

Kodachrome? Not for much longer - I think not only is it not being produced, but I think they said the last lab to process it would stop in 2010. Are you still getting it processed?

I miss it from my when I was a kid with a Canon rangefinder (actually my Dad's rangefinder...)

I never touched a camera before I picked up a 10D in early 2007. I used it for about a year before I received my first 35mm SLR, a Petri FTEE. Since that time my 10D has gotten much less use, and I have no desire to replace it when it dies. I started dev-ing my own film in July of 08, started making darkroom prints in 09. Im seriously thinking about plumbing a sink into my computer/darkroom for a more permanent solution.

I dont think my film images are any better than what someone else produces with a DSLR. I just enjoy the entire analog method. I want to try everything, Ive been looking at purchasing an 8x10 camera and perhaps doing some wet or dry plate stuff. It just looks and sounds like alot of fun to me.

yogestee wrote in post #9490759
I shot film from 1975 until 2004 but started shooting with a DSLR in 1999..

The only film I miss is shooting 4x5.. There is just something special about large format..

35mm,,nah.. I'll never go back..

Roughly the same history here, but I've never been a large format shooter, so it has been even easier for me to put film behind me. It will be a long time before digital equals Kodachrome 25 in good light, but digital has so many other advantages, I just can't justify NOT going that way.

Used to shoot BW 35mm film, but I don't see myself doing it again or returning to the darkroom....maybe if I tried out some medium format.

I became a much better photographer with digital. I can get instant feedback, change settings right there - basically bends the learning curve in a good direction!

I haven't touched film since I started shooting digital more then four years ago - and I have no plans to go back. To each their own

I still shoot film, but not as much as I'd like because I develop in batches when I get time. I have quite a nice collection of cameras I've bought from junk shops, so I'm glad some people are ditching film altogether!

There's something about film cameras I like - I've got a bunch of OMs and my OM4Ti just feels fantastic to shoot with. Feels like it's carved from a solid block of titanium and isn't covered with distracting buttons! And the shutter sounds nice too. That said, I get better results from my DSLR nowadays.

No desire whatsoever to go back to film. I guess I'm just not "old school" like that. My Minolta X-700 35mm kit (bought in 1984) has sat up in a closet for several years, and that's where it will stay.

Veemac wrote in post #9509246
No desire whatsoever to go back to film. I guess I'm just not "old school" like that.

Man, spend some time looking through the ground glass of an 8x10" view camera and you might change your mind

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The great thing is, there's some killer deals on film gear. I've recently bought several nice Canon 35mm--ElanII, Elan7, and an EOS3. I got the ElanII's for around 40 bucks, the 7 for less than a hundred, and the 3 for under a hundred and a half with a decent lens.

I also bought a Mamiya M645 1000S with several lenses and the big Vivitar 285 flash for a good price.

Unfortunately I haven't had time to really get out, with my health troubles.

DrPablo wrote in post #9490664
Film is easier in some ways. The shutters for all my different film camera lenses have fewer variables and fewer intermediate steps -- under daylight conditions, I know that 1/125 at f/11 will properly expose ISO 100 slide film. I've done it enough. So if I want a shallower DOF I know I can do an equivalent EV like 1/500 at f/5.6 (fine for shallow DOF on medium format). And I know that I need to open up a stop for ISO 50 film, and I recognize when lighting conditions are 1 or 2 stops darker than sunlight (or brighter, like for very bright beach or snow scenes).

So often times I don't even use a light meter.

Isn't that true as well with digital SLR cameras? The only difference between film and digital is the medium used to capture and store the images (film vs image sensor and memory card).

Yes I miss film. Their are things I could get with VPS or Reala that I will not see is digital (well not currently). But with the cost factors, having to wait till the rolls up, and now getting film developed locally is a hassle and quality of the developer is gone. Film also has a higher latitude but I guess that where PP comes in.

Other than a 80's kodak Ive never shot film because I dont know how to process it. I wonder if you can still take classes to learn? I think it would be awesome

PacAce wrote in post #9511263
Isn't that true as well with digital SLR cameras? The only difference between film and digital is the medium used to capture and store the images (film vs image sensor and memory card).

Yes and no -- it's not just about the variables themselves. There are lots of camera designs other than SLRs, I mean I own 6 different kinds of camera (view camera, rotating lens panoramic camera, twin lens reflex, rangefinder, small format SLR, Hasselblad SLR, and compact P&S) and the mechanics and approach to these things can really vary. While in the end the variables are similar, the way you interface with them is very different. I have a totally different mindset using an 8x10 camera, when I think deeply and heavily about the camera, versus the Hasselblad when I think only about the subject. With my 7D it's somewhere in between, but I also have the "shoot until I get it right" approach -- with film I have the "get it right before I shoot" approach. One wonderful thing about Hasselblad V-series lenses is that the aperture and shutter speed dials are linked, so you basically have Av and Tv modes intrinsically built into the lens -- it's easier and quicker and more intuitive than on any DSLR I've ever used. You set your exposure, and then if you want the aperture to be stopped down by one, the speed also changes reciprocally by 1 stop.