Guest flatfour Posted March 12, 2007 Share #1 Â Posted March 12, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) At a family party this weekend there seemed to be a general concensus that everyone had had their digital camera let them down at some time or another. Often battery run-down when it wasn't expected, but also other quirky problems some operator driven. I don't ever remember having a breakdown with my film cameras,except if I used one of my old ones for the first time for twenty years and the blades were a little sticky. They certainly haven't got the electronics foolproof yet, even the mighty Canon. Roll on film. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 12, 2007 Posted March 12, 2007 Hi Guest flatfour, Take a look here Digital inevitably dies - sometime.. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Riley Posted March 12, 2007 Share #2 Â Posted March 12, 2007 clearly you never experience running out of film ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertwright Posted March 12, 2007 Share #3 Â Posted March 12, 2007 I had my M6 shutter freeze open in a snowstorm. The cause was a poorly adjusted shutter, it is wildly out of calibration. Â Electronic shutters do not go out of calibration. In this respect the M7-8 is a boon. My Canon F1-n worked for over 20 years and never saw service. That was the most electronic camera of it's day, with numerous connections between body, winder and finder. Never once failed. Â A friend of mine went through THREE D2X's to get one that actually worked. This is new, straight out of the box. Â YMMV as they say. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wparsonsgisnet Posted March 12, 2007 Share #4 Â Posted March 12, 2007 You could always join the Always Have Two club. I am a charter member. It does take some explaining to the bride, but less since the time she mentioned that her mini-disk player was a little flakey. At that time, she used it for music to accompany her ballet classes. Â I bot a new one and she chewed me out for spening money for more toys. I urged her to carry the "spare" with her when she taught her next class. She came home and told me that the old player never woke up and she was happy to have the 'replacement." Â I still get the you-have-2-heads look, tho. It must be some kind of instinct or else is in the Bride Job Description. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sirvine Posted March 12, 2007 Share #5 Â Posted March 12, 2007 FWIW, my D-Rebel (the original 300D) has never failed, and it's supposed to be a low-end DSLR. It also spends inordinate amounts of time doing nothing but sitting in a bag, but it always fires up when I need it. Many thousands of shots on that one, and lots of travels and abuse. Pretty good for a plastic body economy "prosumer" model! Not shilling for Canon by the way, just citing an example of a digital camera that I have found to be very, very reliable. I would say something about my M8 and R-D1, but I don't want any bad luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertwright Posted March 12, 2007 Share #6 Â Posted March 12, 2007 yeah my 10D has had the odometer turn over two or three times (30,000 frames or more) and is still chugging. It would be a great backup if it were smaller. Perhaps the Rebel Xti (10mp) might be a good backup to the M8? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
morffin Posted March 13, 2007 Share #7 Â Posted March 13, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) I used to shoot with Contax RTS cameras.... broke down all the time. had to carry 3 bodies with me to insure getting through a shoot....but man those Zeiss lenses were sweeeeeeet!. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 13, 2007 Share #8 Â Posted March 13, 2007 I don't ever remember having a breakdown with my film cameras,except if I used one of my old ones for the first time for twenty years and the blades were a little sticky. They certainly haven't got the electronics foolproof yet, even the mighty Canon. Roll on film. Â At least I don't expose my roll of film twice, or all on the first frame, or have the #%$#$ i***ts at the lab lose my negatives.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted March 13, 2007 Share #9 Â Posted March 13, 2007 Well guys, quoting 'your' experience can only be that, with respect. Never can it be representative of a generality on its own. If man made it, it WILL fail, sometime. Only question is when. Â Some indicators are possible for 'let downs' rather than failures. If it uses batteries, you are increasing the probablity of trouble, but also increasing accuracy when it is working properly. Â Everything in life is a gamble, but hedging your bets, with backup, is a smart way to increase success rates. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted March 13, 2007 Share #10 Â Posted March 13, 2007 I don't ever remember having a breakdown with my film cameras,except if I used one of my old ones for the first time for twenty years and the blades were a little sticky. Never had a battery die on you and kill the meter, shutter, etc? Never had dirt on your pressure plate draw lines on your emulsion? Never had the rewind fail when the sprocket tangs jump the film holes? Never had the shutter fail because the advance lever didn't wind on far enough? Never sworn and cursed at missing a shot because you ran out of film at the 'decisive moment' and couldn't thread the unexposed film onto the take-up spool in time? Never shot a whole roll of film only to discover that the take-up spool didn't take up the film? Never had light leaks? Â If you've answered "No" to all of the above then immediately buy a lottery ticket and please buy one for me at the same time! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guy_mancuso Posted March 13, 2007 Share #11 Â Posted March 13, 2007 That was just the camera . Want to talk about the labs. No Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanG Posted March 13, 2007 Share #12  Posted March 13, 2007 That was just the camera . Want to talk about the labs. No Thanks  When shooting film, I always shot extra rolls and sheets that I marked and held back from the lab until the first batch was processed. So I was wary of labs and tried to make sure they coudn't mess me up.  One day I pulled out some transparencies from my file and realized they were fading into a bizarre green mess. It turned out that many hundreds of rolls of film that I had shot over a several year period were miss-processed and not stabilized. So the pictures that once were good, now had to be rewashed and stabilized just to keep them from further fading.  The lab offered to scan and try to correct any I needed but most had already been scanned and delivered to clients so it didn't really cause that much trouble. That's why it took me so long to notice the fading - I rarely looked at my filed transparencies because I mostly relied on the digital copies. I eventually threw away all of that film and will just have to rely on the digital versions should any need arise.  So my point is, even when everything goes right and you have those beautiful transparencies, something can still ruin your day.  As for backups, we bring at least one backup of everything I need, two tripods, two laptops, 3 camera bodies, two radio synch systems, at least nine flash units, almost all lens focal lengths are duplicated, etc. etc. When I shot film, I carried two 4x5 view cameras and 12 lenses. And view cameras are really hard to break, but I wasn't taking any chances. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wparsonsgisnet Posted March 13, 2007 Share #13 Â Posted March 13, 2007 ... two laptops, 3 camera bodies, two radio synch systems ... QUOTE]Â Man, you really know how to hurt a guy. I'm just about to acquire a radio sync system, and now I have to buy 2? !! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photoskeptic Posted March 13, 2007 Share #14 Â Posted March 13, 2007 Seven digitals - no failures. Umpteen film cameras - no failures. I suppose this is the result of sheer good luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photoskeptic Posted March 13, 2007 Share #15 Â Posted March 13, 2007 ...on the other hand don't get me started on computers and televisions. Let alone stereo equipment:D Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 13, 2007 Share #16 Â Posted March 13, 2007 No to mention : changing film in the theatre, not holding the baseplate firmly enough between your teeth- dropping it - having to grope the ankles of the middleaged lady beside you - missing the best part of the show by lying upsidedown under your chair... Oops, I can do that with the M8 as well:eek: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddp Posted March 13, 2007 Share #17 Â Posted March 13, 2007 I've had cataclysmic failures of both digital & film in the field. Film I found out after the fact, obviously. Digital - meter insanity led to discover the problem. But I always have a backup. No choice there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthury Posted March 13, 2007 Share #18 Â Posted March 13, 2007 Sorry, I have to disagree. I have *never* been let down by any of my Nikon DSLRs (D100, D2H, D2X) --- not even once in any of my long out of town trips. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted March 13, 2007 Share #19 Â Posted March 13, 2007 ... As for backups, we bring at least one backup of everything I need, two tripods, two laptops, 3 camera bodies, two radio synch systems, at least nine flash units, almost all lens focal lengths are duplicated, etc. etc. When I shot film, I carried two 4x5 view cameras and 12 lenses. And view cameras are really hard to break, but I wasn't taking any chances. So you even double up on people, Alan, I'm suitably impressed! Â Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanG Posted March 14, 2007 Share #20 Â Posted March 14, 2007 So you even double up on people, Alan, I'm suitably impressed! Â Pete. Â You think I can move all of that gear myself? Always one assistant, sometimes two. (Except for simple exterior projects.) And some gear stays in the truck. Â Should I go down, my assistant will step over me and carry on. He's a good shooter and he spent 20 years in the Marine Corps, so he won't leave me injured in the field. Â The reason I wrote about all the backups is if I have clients and models on the shoot, I really can't waste time on something that isn't working properly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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