Inspired by Ken Rockwell

[Brenton C]

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Greetings from Calgary,

 

Ive always had a camera since I was 9, some 40 years.

 

After my Cannon AE1 was stolen in a home robbery, i was given a point and shoot digital, which recently broke. I wasn't disappointed, I have to say. It never captured my imagination, my enthusiam.

 

I stumbled on Ken's site, and was inspired by his encouragement to invest in a film camera, and his enthusiastic recommendation of the M 3. My father had one of these, I remember.

 

Now imagine how defeated I felt when I went into what looked like a real camera store yesterday, only to be told "film is dead" followed by a sales pitch directing me to the latest Olympus.

 

Ive never been a great photographer, but always wanted to be decent. Now that I have time to get serious . . .

 

Can anyone offer encouraging words about the future viability of film? Is it about to disappear entirely, or can we expect it to live on?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Brenton

[Sailronin]

Hi,

Film will be around for the foreseeable future; it will get progressively more expensive as it becomes a more speciality item with fewer manufacturers.

Even instant film was brought back by the "Impossible Project" to allow the use of old Polaroid cameras so don't worry about conventional 35mm film.

Enjoy your future M3!

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[NZDavid]

Welcome, Brenton. You might also like to browse or post on the film forum. The Leica M series are beautiful cameras, but be warned, you may want to keep buying once you invest in the system! Of course, digital is more economic if you shoot lots of pictures, but film is still very satisfying, long-lasting, and has its own special character. You could try developing your own B+W, shooting color prints, try slide film (the film is also the final product), and scan to produce digital images.

 

The M series is also the ultimate digital Leica, but you might also like to look at the "Pana-Leica" series of compacts, or if you are happy with a fixed focal length and value simplicity and image quality, consider the X2.

[earleygallery]

Now imagine how defeated I felt when I went into what looked like a real camera store yesterday, only to be told "film is dead" followed by a sales pitch directing me to the latest Olympus.

 

Hi,

 

Firstly no 'real' camera store would tell you that film is dead. They clearly don't know much about photography, weren't interested in what you were asking, and were just trying to sell you a new digicam.

 

As it sounds like you're getting back into photography, I'd suggest that you consider what you want to do with your photography, what your output will be - and also see how easy it is to get film processed where you are.

 

Processing your own B&W film is very easy, which may be worth thinking about. Then you can scan the negs and work with them in Photoshop or similar, or you can make traditional prints (setting up a darkroom is cheap to do these days).

 

I process my own B&W film, and scan it. I get C41 film processed and have one of those CD scans at the same time (no prints). I use the CD as my proofs and for posting to the web, and make higher res scans of the better shots.

 

There are many workflow options you can choose if you decide to go with film.

[Brenton C]

Good morning gents. My thanks for your encouraging replies with helpful suggestions. This gives me some good things to consider.

 

I'm delighted to understand that film is far from dead.

 

I'm more delighted that I've stumbled on this forum with such help available!

[Brenton C]

So I see from further reading that Ken Rockwell is a bit of a controversial figure.

 

He did steer me toward an M3, though, and i have one on the way from Red Dot, with a Summacron 50, f2 lens.

 

I can hardly wait, though it does beat all the alternatives.

 

;-)

[xalo]

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Welcome and congratulations on the M3! It's a great camera, beautiful to use and behold, literally made for the 50mm focal length. Film as a means to produce images will stay around just as charcoal, up to us to use it and keep it a living medium.

Cheers,

Alexander

[Brenton C]

Hello Alex,

 

Thank you for your reply!

 

I am excited about returning to a fully manual camera, and one as exquisite as the Leica is something like achieving a dream. The idea of a Leica has popped up to nag me in my fantasies, on and off, since the early 80's at least.

 

Also on the way are some books on composition, so that I may apply myself in a deliberate way to building (upon) some skill (if I ever had any at all, before this).

[pannonicus]

Hi Brenton, congratulations to your decision. A few weeks ago I found my old Minolta somewhere in my cupboard and tried analog photography again. It was much fun and I purchased a Leica M6 a few days later. What can I say? It it so much more fun than shooting digitally, it's incredible. Following the possible workflows pointed out in this thread you will see that the two worlds analog and digital are easy to combine. Have lots of fun with your M3!

 

Cheers,

Günter

[farnz]

Brenton,

 

Welcome to the forum! Your father clearly had good taste and I suspect that you won't be disappointed with your M3 and Summicron.

 

I don't develop my own film, I send it to MetroColourLab near Birmingham who develop it, scan it to 18MB size files and post it back for around £7 per 36-shot roll in about 7 days.

 

I hope that when you feel ready you'll post some photos in the photo sub-forums here because we'd love to see them.

 

Pete.

[stack62]

Hey Brenton: Welcome to the forum. You'll love your M3 and Summicron, I got mine about four years ago and love using it.

btw the Camera Store here in Calgary sells lots of film, both B&W and colour.

[Brenton C]

Pete and Paul,

 

Thanks for your welcomes, you encouragement and you information.

 

I also,have some books on composition coming, so when I get some photos back I'll certainly post up with a view to getting pointers. I won't wait for perfection or it'll never happen.

 

I'm glad to hear from a local, by the way! All my friends shoot digital, and I'm sure they won't understand what the heck has come over me!

[hamey]

Hello Brenton.

 

Welcome to the forum, I also on occasions check out Ken's Rockwell site and it's good of him to push

Film's attributes, but where he and I differ is he doesn't think much of the Leica R system.

 

Back to Film and Leicas, this is what Leica is renown for, it's FILM CAMERAS.

 

I have been using Leica Cameras since 1973 and simply love them, I am still shooting slide film with Provia 100F and It's sheer magic.

No other medium looks like it, as long as Fuji manufacture film I will never give it up.

 

Buy Film and enjoy the real world, Electronic imaging is convenient but nothing beats the REAL THING.

 

As for cost, If I spend around 600$ per year on slide Film and processing, that will equate to 7,200$

Over 12 years or around 5184 slides, I doub't if most of todays Digital cameras will still be operable

in 12 years, so save your money and but more lenses.

 

I do use a Digital Camera with my Leica R lenses and thats a Canon 600D for my secondary shots, I

Will eventually replace it but for the time being I will continue with slide film as my main primary filming.

 

Good Luck on you future endeavour

 

Long live FILM.

 

Ken.

[LucisPictor]

Welcome to the wonderful world of "M".

[tomlianza]

If you want to get a sense of what is really available in film, I would recommend that you check out Traditional Black & White Film, Paper, Chemicals, Holgas and ULF | Freestyle Photographic Supplies . They are a US company, so it may not be convenient for folks on the other side of the ponds. They do carry nearly everything.

 

I have an M6 and an M2 that are going to get some use this summer. I can still develop my on slide and negative films. I have an old JOBO processor. For B&W I just use the stainless steel tanks that I have had for 45 years. I don't think that I will ever make a photographic print again, Ink jet has just gotten too good and too convenient.

[Brenton C]

Its beginning to look like ink jet pronts can be a pretty good way to pront from digitized slides or negatives. In the event i get some really good results, i imagine going to a photograhic enlargement.

 

Its been some years since i develpoed a roll of B&W, but it was straight forward. I can easily see doing so again. My father did a roll of colour once, and claimed it was too fiddly, so my hats off to you for doing colour developing!

[Michael Hiles]

Film is unlikely to disappear for a long time, if ever. It will just become more expensive and a little less available outside a specialty photo shop.

 

The cost-per-shot argument for digital is a two edged sword. Yes- the incremental cost of blasting away is nice, but sometimes constraints are a good thing. Knowing that wasting film has a cost is an incentive to shoot carefully, and to think. And thinking is highly recommended.

 

You will surely love your M3 and Summicron. The combination is one of the great icons of industrial design - ever. The viewfinder has never been bettered, and any Summicron will produce wonderful pictures. I think I will just get mine and find a picture that needs making.

[Brenton C]

Well the update from Red Dot is that my M3 has shipped out today.

[Brenton C]

In anticipation of the camera arriving, and contemplating that first roll of film, I'm wondering a couple of things.

 

Some labs offer scanning -- (something old Ken Rockwell recommends). Would I be better scanning my own slides / negatives? Scanner recommendations? I see where a model 8100 and 8200 type scanner (forget the brand) has been discussed quite a bit on the forum.

 

If I'm going to scan my own, I guess I'll need (Mac) software.

 

And a printer that gives good results. I wouldn't envision printing larger than 8x10 at home.

 

Recommendations?

 

Thanks in advance.

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[xalo]

Hi Brenton,

 

The latest thread on 35mm scanners seems to be here. I just started scanning again, using a Minolta 5400 (version I) and Vuescan software. Works quite nicely so far for b&w, but takes a bit of time (low quality: about 30min/roll).

 

Lab scans depend so much on the place that it's impossible to say generically whether it's worth the money. Also, scans useful for an overview on screen differ so much from scans for prints that you may well want to re-scan what you got back from a lab. High quality scans are expensive and (in my case at least) definitely no-go for an entire roll.

 

Alexander