620max Posted March 21, 2014 Share #1 Posted March 21, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) hello can you tell us what are your reasons still shooting with film today? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 21, 2014 Posted March 21, 2014 Hi 620max, Take a look here what are the reasons we shoot film today?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Guest Posted March 21, 2014 Share #2 Posted March 21, 2014 ... What should we do otherwise, as gorgeous older Leica film cameras do not accept any memory cards? By the way, after film development and scanning the following work steps still remain the same. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattMaber Posted March 21, 2014 Share #3 Posted March 21, 2014 I have grown a love of using film cameras of late because I enjoy the process of using them, the feel of the metal and plastic parts, the clunk of the moving pieces, the tactile feel in general and that it forces me to slow, making the action of taking photos more of an almost substance than merely *click* *click* *click* Oh, and the wait for the results (Im not self processing yet) 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
semi-ambivalent Posted March 21, 2014 Share #4 Posted March 21, 2014 I shoot film because I'm a hoary, stubborn old man with no imagination. I'm smart enough to realize I'm not smart enough to manage the fabulous technology the world offers today so I continue to plod along with my miserable high ASA performance and my child and nature-endangering chemicals. Leica sees me as easy pickings so they humor me with an archaic line of over-priced cameras that I've bought. Cameras that will never, ever produce a decent HDR photograph, and often lack even the colors of the rainbow. I'll be out of your way soon enough, thanks for giving me a little room to work here before I shoot and breathe my last. You're too kind. Thanks Leica for helping me delude myself about my abilities. Maybe I'll take up painting. 16 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post earleygallery Posted March 21, 2014 Popular Post Share #5 Posted March 21, 2014 Because I like the results from film. Because I own a lot of film gear. Because I have a lot of film. Because I can. Because I ultimately prefer film to digital for most purposes (although I use digital too). 21 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bill Posted March 21, 2014 Popular Post Share #6 Posted March 21, 2014 It is a more tactile, engaging experience than digital. It is alchemy. It demands more of me as a photographer; more forethought, more consideration, more involvement. As a result the results contain more of me than a digital file. I enjoy the tactile pleasure of a manual camera. I enjoy the process of loading, winding on, assessing the light, focussing, composing, releasing the shutter at the right moment, winding on... Every step is enjoyable. I enjoy the wait, and the result. I enjoy being part of a select band who "get it" I enjoy life. 20 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
xalo Posted March 21, 2014 Share #7 Posted March 21, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) All of the above and some. Because I still find it magic to transform light into shaped matter. It allows me to behold the reflection of something I've seen without an electronic prothesis. Besides, it doesn't make sense to me to run after ever more technology "for better pictures" (I already wasted too much time on that) when I'm unable to match what has been created without it. Film photography is a craft that has not lost its validity, even if other processes exists. I like to be part of carrying on a heritage. Alexander P.S.: Btw, I dislike the term "shoot", since what we do is letting light in to expose a sensitve surface. I know, language conventions don't necessarily go with logic. I just feel that the aggressive term is detrimental to the process I wish to achieve. 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB_tx Posted March 21, 2014 Share #8 Posted March 21, 2014 As with the others, I enjoy the process as much as the results. Manual film camera use and darkroom work are a relaxing break from the tedium of working on computers, which is what design engineering became after we left slide rules and drawing boards behind (which were also more satisfying). Much the same reasons I do woodworking (acoustic musical instruments and furniture). The Leica M9 at least uses the front-end of my preferred process. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spydrxx Posted March 21, 2014 Share #9 Posted March 21, 2014 I would probably be a pure digital shooter if: 1) I didn't have a store of film in my freezer and development chemicals on hand; and 2) there was a digital solution to using my old film bodies with a digital capture device. So, these days it is mostly film for those quiet contemplative moments,or when I want to feel the heft and mechanical precision of a "real" camera (my personal perspective) in my hands, and digital for everything else. Sort of like enjoying the leisurely country roads in my sports car with the top down, or cruising along the highway in a cushy modern car. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted March 21, 2014 Share #10 Posted March 21, 2014 ....and I should have commented on the title of this thread. It's not a case of 'still' using film. That's rather like asking why someone still makes fresh coffee or why someone still rides a horse, or still uses a pen etc., etc. Digital is a different medium. 8 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lenicolas Posted March 21, 2014 Share #11 Posted March 21, 2014 Because film smells better. 7 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipus Posted March 21, 2014 Share #12 Posted March 21, 2014 Because I love the smell of fixer in the morning. It smells like...photography. /Philip 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJH Posted March 21, 2014 Share #13 Posted March 21, 2014 ....and I should have commented on the title of this thread. It's not a case of 'still' using film. That's rather like asking why someone still makes fresh coffee or why someone still rides a horse, or still uses a pen etc., etc. Digital is a different medium. Exactly, I started burning film again over Christmas after buying an M6. I had been a digital only photographer prior to that and since the only digital images I have taken have been with a phone. The M8 and X100 will be going up for sale soon. 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattMaber Posted March 21, 2014 Share #14 Posted March 21, 2014 I'm keeping my x100 and wouldn't ever want a digital leica. Mattmaber.com 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJH Posted March 21, 2014 Share #15 Posted March 21, 2014 Its a modern classic Matt but I know it will just sit on the shelf and not get used, I might as well sell it and free up some cash. This last weekend was a case in point, I had my car on show over in Poole and elected to shot 2 rolls of film in the M6 and for some quick shots to share on the net I used mrs NJH's Nokia 1020. The images from the phone are on Pistonheads and Facebook, the film images will be more for my personal enjoyment and any arty or particularly interesting ones may eventually end up on flickr. As one only needs at most 2 Mp for the internet sharing, phones like the 1020 are indistinguishably good from any other digital image taking device. Some of the images here: The what are you racing this year thread - PistonHeads The full quality out of the phone produces images similar to enthusiast camera systems from several years ago. A better question is why does anyone who isn't taking photographs for professional purposes bother wasting money on new digital cameras. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalArts 99 Posted March 21, 2014 Share #16 Posted March 21, 2014 People don't "still use" film. They use film. And they use film (and/or digital) as a conscious choice between two different media which have different aesthetics. What would you ask a young photography student who grew up on digital and yet now prefers to primarily use film? (Personally, I've never heard anyone asking someone who uses digital as their preference as to why they are "still using digital.") 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berth Posted March 21, 2014 Share #17 Posted March 21, 2014 It is a more tactile, engaging experience than digital. ..... I enjoy the tactile pleasure of a manual camera. I enjoy the process of loading, winding on, assessing the light, focussing, composing, releasing the shutter at the right moment, winding on... Every step is enjoyable. I enjoy the wait, and the result. .... I enjoy life. Yes, adding film back into my photography does provide that. But digital has an important place too. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madNbad Posted March 21, 2014 Share #18 Posted March 21, 2014 Hey, it's hard to duplicate dust and scratches! Oh, wait, it's why we like film... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
essvaun Posted March 22, 2014 Share #19 Posted March 22, 2014 I like the way real grain looks more than the way lightroom grain looks so I cut out the middle man. And playing with a mechanical camera is like having a toy it's okay to play with at 42. 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevesurf Posted March 22, 2014 Share #20 Posted March 22, 2014 Because film smells better. What a great thread and a very true comment. Occasionally I find myself sneaking a sniff of a freshly opened film canister I just thoroughly enjoy not having to artificially add grain and, in the case of the wonderful Cinestill film, to experience things like unpredictable red halos and green hues. Once I was in mainland China and asked a couple of young ladies if I could capture them in a pose ~ they had such a puzzled look when I didn't have an "instant" image to show them how they looked: 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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