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How many Monochrom users still shoot B&W film?


jplomley

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Bought an MM three months ago and am just over the moon with it. Another one has come up for sale at a reasonable used price, but to swing it I need to sell my Coolscan 9000, which means saying goodbye to film. I like to shoot 28 Cron Asph and 50 Lux Asph and hate switching lenses, so two bodies and two lenses and I'm good for the next 5 - 10 years. But still, for some reason I'm finding it hard to let go of film completely, and the 9000 is so rare chances are I will never have a chance to purchase another one should I change my mind....so I'm curious how many monochrom users still shoot film, and if so why?

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I do, b/c I enjoy PP in a darkroom more that in front of a computer. I use my MM in low light conditions where it just isn't practical to shoot with film, I don't like the look of ilford 3200 pushed. I don't hesitate to pull 3200 and then split filter when printing to compensate but I just haven't found a proper way to print 3200 pushed that I like.

 

I have a different mind set and goal when using my MP and MM. Film is used for the very personal images with the intent to be printed and shared with a select group of people very close to me. I don't scan my negatives, if my goal is to share my image electronically I use my MM.

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I don't scan my negatives, if my goal is to share my image electronically I use my MM.

 

If you aren't going to print it seems the benefit of the MM would be mostly for the shooting experience, not the image quality, which would mostly be lost on screen IMO.

 

More importantly, how do you know in advance which photos will turn out to be "more personal" and print worthy? :confused:

 

Jeff

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I just can't get myself to let go of film. I love the MM, but the abstraction that film grain adds is something I am drawn to personally. I haven't bought an MM yet, but I use a friend's a lot. I have been back and forth about selling some of my film gear for an MM, but I am just not ready to do so.

 

It is a different aesthetic. The MM is so clean, it has an unforgiving quality to it that doesn't work all the time.

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If you aren't going to print it seems the benefit of the MM would be mostly for the shooting experience, not the image quality, which would mostly be lost on screen IMO.

 

More importantly, how do you know in advance which photos will turn out to be "more personal" and print worthy? :confused:

 

Jeff

 

You hit the nail on the head, I use leicas for the rangefinder experience. If image quality were paramount to me I'd use MF (I've been considering a Mamiya 7 for awhile now).

 

As far as more personal and print worthy, that's easy. Images of friends and family are reserved for film and traditional printing. That's not to say I haven't had prints made from my MM but those are also only friends and family, though shot under conditions that film couldn't handle. There is something deeply satisfying about handing a loved one a traditional print that you spent time in the darkroom working on. The look on their face as they feel the weight of the fiber paper and admire the grain makes the time in the darkroom worth it. For me, giving someone a traditional print is a very personal thing.

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I've had my Monochrom for about three years and used it alongside my 4x5 as the portable alternative and when high ISO would clearly be needed. But for the past eighteen months I've used film 95% of the time, either 4x5 or medium format (Fuji 'Texas Leica's' and other cameras), or 35mm.

 

I still take the Monochrom for an outing every now and again, but while the results are stunning in purely technical terms, film still rules aesthetically. In fact GAS for digital cameras has evaporated almost entirely. I recently got a Fuji GA645 Zi which is a medium format 'point and shoot' which could even start to take the place of my MP and M2 if I'm not careful. So the journey from film, to fully digital, and back to using almost all film is complete.

 

It's not that I don't enjoy the perfection of the MM, but I enjoy more the method by which a scene is interpreted using film. I was taught photography in the days when digital hadn't even been dreamed of, so I have a bias, but it's only ever been an artistic bias, not one about chasing the next best technical innovation which even in the heyday of film was still many a photographers ambition. At the moment the only thing about the majority of my photographic equipment that can go out of date is the film in the fridge, everything else is out of date, so it doesn't need to prove anything, that job is up to me.

 

Steve

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After getting my monochrom I am now considering shooting (black and white) film again for the first time in over 10 years. The monochrom has refined my vision, forced me to concentrate on content over prettiness (=colors), forced me to define and conceptualize my personal photography more.

All in all it has improved my photography more than I would think equipment could. So in fact these days I have dusted off my trusty LS-40 and spend my nights scanning old negs.

 

So now i just regret selling my M6!

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For over two years, I had something of a love affair with my M Monochrom, until I accidentally dropped it onto a concrete pavement last December. Other than an out of whack rangefinder, the camera is fine - a testament to how sturdy Leica M's are.

 

But having my main camera out of commission for a while led me to dig out my M5 and start shooting with that. I'd forgotten how gorgeous a nicely printed fibre-based print from a well-exposed negative can be. Currently I'm pretty absorbed with film and wet printing. I'm finding it more enjoyable than the digital experience. There's something satisfying about holding a beautiful print, which you made with your own hands, something which has never been near a computer.

 

That said, the M Monochrom is sensational after dark. I think it's nice to have the option of both film and digital. Each medium has its own strengths. Especially if the digital option is an M Monochrom.

 

Best wishes,

 

Colin

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I love my MM. It remains my favorite camera, by far, of all time.

 

But I still love and shoot film. Mostly medium format. But also 35mm through my M6 and M7. Like others have said, film exhibits a different look. Not better or worse. But different.

 

More importantly, shooting film inevitably slows one down and that leads to a somewhat more thoughtful, deliberative approach. I never contemplate light and exposure so much as when using an old film camera that does not have a meter.

 

I actually doubled-down on film a couple weeks ago and bought a Hasselblad/Imacon Flextight X1 so I could get everything I could out of my negatives.

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Wouldn't that have been an enlarger instead? :)

 

Jeff

 

In a different time, in a different place... ;)

 

Jeff (whose "darkroom" lives in a box, and gets done in the kitchen. Alas)

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After shooting over 11K actuations with my MM over a year period and then selling it (and my M9) and going entirely to film (at about 4 rolls/week average), I view the MM as producing a very good breat augmentation job (pick your perfect size, shape and density) and film as producing the "real thing(s)." :p

 

[Pardon the disgusting chauvinistic remark....]

 

And I don't think that nowadays that darkroom has much to do with the decision as to what to shoot or the phoographer's primary workflow. What once was an exclusively manual intensive get-your-hands-dirty darkroom workflow now is much more of a white-collar scanning and Lightroom/PS workflow. Time in the darkroom is still relevant to some degree, but only for those final prints which nowadays with the evolution of the manner in which photographs are viewied and shared will generally not be a central part of a film photographer's primary workflow.

 

Would you want to take you best photograph with your favorite 35mm or MF (or LF) film, or with your MM (or other digital camera)?? I have answered the question and have switched my workflow accordingly.

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Would you want to take you best photograph with your favorite 35mm or MF (or LF) film, or with your MM (or other digital camera)?? I have answered the question and have switched my workflow accordingly.

 

I'm having a hard time with this one myself. My heart says dump every bit of kit except for the film Leica's and my Hasselblad.

The downside is it can take ages before I find time to develop some rolls.

That's actually one of the few reasons I have an M240. I absolutely love most results with it, but it I somehow prefer shooting film.

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I was just looking for some color negative film, and I was shocked to see how much a roll of film costs these days. I think that what is happening is that digital cameras have become so good that pictures look hyper-real. Let's face it, most Leica users shoot as a hobby. We have the luxury of picking when we take pictures. If you have to document every minute of a wedding, high ISO capabilities are a huge safety net, but when you shoot for fun, I guess you sometimes want the results to be different from what everyone else is getting.

 

Shooting with a new film stock can give you the same satisfaction as figuring out a new camera.

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Hey Jeff, I haven't used film in years. Love my MM. Printing on canson baryta is as satisfying as silver gelatin for me. If I had all the time in the world I'd still use film at times, but my MM would remain my primary tool. for you Jeff...you have one MM...undecided about film...then no hurry to get a second body. The price will only drop. Probably sooner than later.

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I'm having a hard time with this one myself. My heart says dump every bit of kit except for the film Leica's and my Hasselblad.

The downside is it can take ages before I find time to develop some rolls.

That's actually one of the few reasons I have an M240. I absolutely love most results with it, but it I somehow prefer shooting film.

 

I understand about finding darkroom time. Far too many hours of my working life were spent in a darkroom but I seldom found the time to print my personal work. I was the happiest man on the planet when digital imaging matured. No moe hours spent dunking sheets in an E6 line or taping chromes to a drum. B&W was always a big part of the professional mix but mostly editorial work.

However, I just sold my studio and bought a Monochrom as a retirement present to myself. The camera has renewed my joy of photography. Now when I pass my old enlarger wrapped in plastic on my way to my wood shop, I think about dusting the beast off and putting it back to "work". Maybe get a M6 or a good old Hasselblad. It is great to change from having to do photography to pay the bills and now to make images for their own sale. It is like it is 1968 all over again.

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Jeff, I'm a Monochrom user that still shoots film, but no longer shoots the Monochrom ! But you know that, Ha.

 

It's still widely accepted that B&W film has a significant edge over digital B&W, so don't assume that you'll accept second best in the longer term. :D

 

I'm really, really glad that I've kept my scanner through all my experiments with digital. It's possibly the piece of kit that would be the most difficult to replace and once disposed of may never return; just like a wet darkroom.

 

So as Virgil, I recommend that you struggle with one Monochrom for the next 15 years whilst you make your mind up. :D

 

Gary

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