Digital got me curious about film

So far I've strictly shot digital. Film just seems, well, tedious. However, over the last couple of weeks I've been curious enough about the difference between 1.6 and true 35mm that I've wanted to buy an EOS film camera.

Before I bought one a friend had a yashica fx-d quartz with lenses and all the accessories. It's been sitting for years so he's letting me use it.

I've just seen a lot of questions about film vs. digital and every where in between. Has anyone else been interested in true 35mm photography? Since going full-frame digital is expensive has the idea of shooting film come after shooting all digitally?

That's what's happened to me and I'm excited to get back some of the shots I've taken to see how they've turned out.

Actually, it has. I shot 35mm film when I was younger but lost interest when work started getting in the way. After getting back into photography with digital I've dug out my old film gear. First thing I rediscovered is how nice it is to do a long exposure night shot with no digital noise.

Until last weekend I had done far more shooting with film than with digital so far this year and I've been enjoying it enough that I've sold several of my less used Canon lenses to fund a small Mamiya 645 kit.

One thing that helps in my case though is that I already have an Epson 750 scanner that has trays to hold film negatives.

I cut my teeth on 35mm and medium format film many years ago. Although all I shoot now is digital, film has always intrigued me. I may just get back to it in a few months. There are some good deals to be had on film equipment.

I think two of my film cameras have film in them at the moment. Really need to get out with them more and finish the rolls off.

I shot film as a kid, although not well. Had no one to teach me and no internet to learn from. Bought a film SLR in the late 90s and suffered the same problems and add to that the fact that I had no money to buy proper equipment.

Been shooting digital for a while and have been itching to pick up a film camera to throw in my bag. I also have a friend who is primarily a film photographer to this day.

He handed me an old film camera a couple of weeks ago with a 50mm prime and an auto winder, 2 rolls of Kodak Chrome color film and a roll of Kodak 3200 B&W and told me to shoot it and he would process the B&W for me.

I have been "learning" the camera for a couple of weeks now and am about to throw my first roll of film in. I can't wait. I am going to stick it in my bag and use it sparingly.

If I like the shots I have I'll think about getting a scanner. That would just be ideal and I probably wouldn't even buy a 5d. I'd keep my 1.6 crops and just shoot with film and then digitally re-do them to the processing that I like.

And the yashica I have has an auto winder. I set the aperture and it picks the shutter speed. I use av most of the time to set the DOF. It's all MF but the focusing system is pretty neat. 2 different ways to do it too.

Sorarse wrote in post #9950993
I think two of my film cameras have film in them at the moment. Really need to get out with them more and finish the rolls off.

When i sold my Minolta film camera a couple of years ago there was exposed film in there. Still havent gotten it developed.

The lack of an affordable rangefinder was one of the reasons I picked up a film camera after initially starting photography as a serious hobby using a DSLR.

I had intended to use the rangefinder with my 350D, but after scanning my first roll of film, I put away the digital for good.

tfizzle wrote in post #9951047
If I like the shots I have I'll think about getting a scanner. That would just be ideal and I probably wouldn't even buy a 5d. I'd keep my 1.6 crops and just shoot with film and then digitally re-do them to the processing that I like.

That's where I am. I had planned to get a 5D mk II this spring but after deciding that I was enjoying film I spent the money on a Mamiya camera, 2 nice lenses, a pair of film backs and a good supply of film with plenty of money left over. This is for auto focus lenses and a fairly new model camera. If you don't mind manual focus and a more simple camera then you can go much cheaper.

I've still got the 7D for the things it is good at. For anything I shoot where the 5D would be better than the 7D, the medium format camera is even better.

I've shot film for decades. I've moved to all digital and never looked back. The difference between 35mm and 1.6 crop is mostly in your head. It's not that magical. I frame a shot with what I see in the VF and pay little attention to what numbers are on the lens and I rarely shoot below f/2.8 and am usually trying to increase DOF. The only film body I would still conciser is a medium or large format just because to get the same results digitally is still the cost of a house.

It might be in my head but it just seems the files are different for when I look at them. The DOF, the perspective is just different.

I'm sure other people have seen the difference between full size and 1.6. I do agree that it could be in my head but it sure doesn't seem so. lol

gjl711 wrote in post #9951293
...The difference between 35mm and 1.6 crop is mostly in your head. It's not that magical...

If wide to standard lenses are what one uses most, if not exclusively, then it makes a substantial difference as to what lenses are currently available, especially if zooms are not an option.

The thing is, if you want to experiment with film--35mm anyway--there's all kinds of great film bodies that will fit right in with the rest of your Canon gear, for a song.

I picked up an old EOS 620 recently to shoot some B&W film for fun. It's certainly a different experience .

e-k

If your interest is piqued for film, I'd suggest looking into medium or large format, because there are just so many interesting, different sorts of cameras and you get huge negatives.

In general, 35mm film isn't going to be a hugely different experience for you than digital photography unless 1) you get really into darkroom stuff, i.e. B&W printing (which is a whole art unto itself), or 2) you're using a different sort of camera like a rangefinder, widelux, panoramic, etc.

krb wrote in post #9951277
I've still got the 7D for the things it is good at. For anything I shoot where the 5D would be better than the 7D, the medium format camera is even better.

That's exactly my philosophy.