How Can Analog Photography Be Saved?

[A miller]

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The title of this thread should be "How Can Digital Photography Be Saved"...

[Peter H]

The title of this thread should be "How Can Digital Photography Be Saved"...

 

 

Why?

 

Photography is probably healthier now than it's ever been. Don't you love the fact that so many people now use pictures at least as easily and freely as they use words?

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[earleygallery]

Can you explain what you mean by "not all photography is recording stuff"? I was not intending to imply that the sole purpose of photography was to create an exact record.

 

Yes, I mean that we can use a camera to simply 'record' what we see or we can create an image that is more of a representation of a scene. B&W photography for example, isn't a direct record of a scene. The lens we use, the medium, filters/post processing etc. will all of course influence the end result and how it is perceived.

 

I can make a record with a photo, a sketch or painting, or a detailed description in writing, as well as lots of other mediums.

[LocalHero1953]

Yes, I mean that we can use a camera to simply 'record' what we see or we can create an image that is more of a representation of a scene. B&W photography for example, isn't a direct record of a scene. The lens we use, the medium, filters/post processing etc. will all of course influence the end result and how it is perceived.

 

I can make a record with a photo, a sketch or painting, or a detailed description in writing, as well as lots of other mediums.

Yes, I agree.

[A miller]

Why?

 

Photography is probably healthier now than it's ever been. Don't you love the fact that so many people now use pictures at least as easily and freely as they use words?

Interesting point but i think snappy real time pictures and "photography" are mutually exclusive comcepts.

[myscanpix]

Hi, don't worry about it, you can save it in a long life..

[SilentShutter]

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Why worry? Today we can buy all the film and paper we are likely to use for the rest of our lives.

 

Can I get back my Agfa APX25 ? Kodachrome 64 ? Neopan 400 ?

 

Please ?

[LocalHero1953]

I spent some time yesterday guiding the son of a friend through eBay, he is taking a photographic class in college and part of that requires film. The Minolta XD-7 he was using died so I was helping him select a replacement. 

 

Sadly, his knowledge of basic photographic terminology and equipment was severely lacking, when I asked if he had to have an SLR or if other options were possibilities his answer was "I don't know what you mean".

 

Happily though we selected a Mamiya/Sekor 500 DTL which his Professor pronounced "perfect".

I get the impression most academic photography courses require and train skills in analogue photography and darkroom techniques. I suspect these have some real benefits in getting students to think about light and exposure in a considered way, and it probably explains why one sees a lot of students using film cameras. I wonder how many of those that become professionals working on commissions or in employment (i.e. where client demands predominate) continue to use film.

Edited April 20, 2017 by LocalHero1953

[Ko.Fe.]

Why?

 

Photography is probably healthier now than it's ever been. Don't you love the fact that so many people now use pictures at least as easily and freely as they use words?

 

I agree. IMO, equaling exposure on light sensitive emulsion to photography is as correct as calling masochism as the act of love. At least this is what I'm often telling to myself after looking at my darkroom prints.

[erl]

I agree. IMO, equaling exposure on light sensitive emulsion to photography is as correct as calling masochism as the act of love. At least this is what I'm often telling to myself after looking at my darkroom prints.

You would probably make a good golfer!

[LorenzoLandini]

I get the impression most academic photography courses require and train skills in analogue photography and darkroom techniques. I suspect these have some real benefits in getting students to think about light and exposure in a considered way, and it probably explains why one sees a lot of students using film cameras. I wonder how many of those that become professionals working on commissions or in employment (i.e. where client demands predominate) continue to use film.

 

Paul - you certainly have a good point here. However, among all those students there should be some students who will not be reportage photographers - for instance - but rather fine art photographers or artist where analogue photography still has a role. 

 

With respect to the broader conversation, if we're talking about images there is probably no difference between digital and film or, in other words, it's about the image, the message conveyed with it and the use of such images within a broader context of communication. If we're talking about prints, then analogue has its own space and will ever have one. Some collectors value and pay more for an analogue print or a platinum print and a digital one. It becomes a technique that in an artistic context has its own virtue and value. It's like a watercolor paint vs an oil paint, etc. 

[Martin B]

I find most of the links which want to give an impression that analog film photography has to be "saved" just a way to advertise for a specific company and their products. Pretty much to lure viewers interested in film photography on the specified website. Sugar on the cake is to ask for donations.....

 

The opposite indeed is true - film experiences a renaissance, and more amateur and also professional photographers go back to film for different reasons, one is to stand out of the crowd of digital shooters where often photos become very indistinguishable. Prints from film still have something special - even some grain effects are very different from digital noise or from film effect simulation filters.  It was posted here in several other threads that companies start making formerly stopped films, polaroid film and cameras have a comeback, also we can see increased prices for some analog camera gear on the market due to higher demand.

[EddieJ]

Analog photography is alive and well at RMIT.

 

We still insist on teaching film *albeit at the start of their training, 1st semester - film *tranny 4x5,  2nd semester digital studio *tethered, by the end of 3rd semester, the students are wanting to shoot more film, 4th semester its all over and we let them go.

 

Some links to our work.

 

https://issuu.com/rmitphotoimaging/docs/rmit_dipphotoimaging_2014

https://issuu.com/rmitphotoimaging/docs/rmit_photo_imaging_cat_2015

https://issuu.com/rmitphotoimaging/docs/rmit_photo_imaging_cat_2016

[SilentShutter]

I still think its only a question of time film will disappear

Not because people are less interrested

more because less people know how to repair analog cameras

and there is no market to restart building new ones

[Martin B]

I still think its only a question of time film will disappear

Not because people are less interrested

more because less people know how to repair analog cameras

and there is no market to restart building new ones

 

Doesn't Leica still produce the M7 and the Leica MP? Polaroid just release new Polaroid film cameras, too. I would not be surprised to see some analog models coming back as released new versions in the future also from other brands. The trend is definitely there, just that it is still a small margin compared to digital, also the photo industry as whole is not doing too well which will rather delay new releases of all kind of cameras. 

 

The link below is from 2013, so not the latest - but it still shows that there are film cameras manufactured:

http://istillshootfilm.org/post/68284060176/which-film-cameras-are-still-being-made-today-a

Edited April 24, 2017 by Martin B

[plasticman]

I still think its only a question of time film will disappear

Not because people are less interrested

more because less people know how to repair analog cameras

and there is no market to restart building new ones

These discussions go around and around. The same points were being made ten years ago, but then the estimated death of film was deemed to be much closer than it is now.

 

I was actually put off from trying film for many years, as the general consensus was that the whole medium would be totally gone within five or at the most ten years. These days it's getting stronger and stronger instead - and I get angry at the continued negativity that I see on forums because it's probably actively discouraging other new users (as I was) and they will be unnecessarily missing out (as I did).

 

The reasons you put forward here are absurd - they're very simply due to market forces: right now there is a massive abundance of working film cameras on the used market. If I want to buy a Hasselblad or a Leica or a Holga or a 70s point-and-shoot, then the cameras are plentiful and relatively cheap (though gradually getting more expensive these days, as demand pushes up the price). Naturally there's not much of a market for newly-manufactured film cameras.

 

But as the used cameras become less available over time, then manufacturing new film cameras will become economically attractive again. Five years ago it would have been unthinkable that a daylight lab-box would raise three-quarters of a million dollars on Kickstarter, but this year it cruised to that figure.

In the same way, a film camera isn't rocket science to manufacture - long before film 'dies' because of the lack of film cameras, many more manufacturers would be either stepping-up their existing production, or building new models. It's pretty much just a box with a timed shutter of some sort. A Kickstarter building new cameras at some undefined time in the future when in some mysterious way 'all analog cameras' have somehow ceased to function, would explode with demand.

 

There's no doubt in my mind that film photography has a much more assured future than the current model for dedicated digital photography: the technology is more durable and far less dependent on fickle market shifts. The vast mass of hobby digital photographers are going to be left high and dry by the economic failure of more and more manufacturers. As fewer people buy a dedicated digital camera, the choices will become narrower and more expensive, the spiral downwards in choice being matched by an upward spiral in price.

 

So it's digital users that should be worried (and to an extent this includes me as well). Film is looking after itself just fine these days.

 

[LorenzoLandini]

I think everything is relative: if I am not mistaken sales of film were down 98% from its peak and then from there they started increasing at a 20-30% a year, a resurgence indeed...but only in relative terms. Digital has nothing to be worry from film and there is no way back.

 

That being said, that steady increase of sales is promising because it's making producing film in low volume economical and therefore we can still find films (which is expensive by comparison to few years ago). For the small population of photographers who continue to shoot film (perhaps in addition to digital) there is plenty of film cameras out there at very reasonable prices. The challenge will be to have knowledgeable technicians to repair and service them as well as to have spare parts as for many cameras spare parts are no longer available from the manufactures and repairs often require and donor body. Unfortunately this is a business that is dying with fewer and fewer people are still doing it (be comparison to a few years ago). 

 

Cheers,

Lorenzo

[Martin B]

Serious hobby photographers might want to do the simple calculation: steadily increasing prices for higher end digital cameras (due to lower demand in general and replacement of DSLR and mirrorless cameras with cellphone cameras) might need an initial investment cost of $2000 to $2500 (not going to higher potential cost in this example). A used well maintained Leica M6 costs about $1100-1500 - for the difference you can shoot a lot of film! The difference of course even increases when getting a lower priced SLR body for 35 mm film. I highly recommend to learn to develop film on your own which is a huge cost saver in the long run, and it provides having control over the whole process.

 

I was on the edge two years ago if I should upgrade my digital camera or getting back to film with a really good mechanical camera. I ended up deciding for the latter with a M6, and I never looked back. Turns out that I am now shooting 50:50 digital and film - both complement each other perfectly in my workflow and in the results. 

[oldwino]

I highly recommend to learn to develop film on your own which is a huge cost saver in the long run, and it provides having control over the whole process.

 

Yes! It is super easy to do, and there is nothing in the digital world that can compare to the moment when you open your development tank and see the negatives for the first time. It still thrills me, each and every time.

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[earleygallery]

I still think its only a question of time film will disappear

Not because people are less interrested

more because less people know how to repair analog cameras

and there is no market to restart building new ones

How do you know that less people will understand?

 

The Lomo people are always releasing new film cameras. OK low end stuff but its still new and I'm sure if there wasn't a ready supply of used film gear others would be filling a gap in the market.