Film camera lust

[Nikkormat]

I never really gave up film. Even when I started with digital, I kept a Nikkormat FTn, a Nikon FM2 and a few lenses. About four years ago I realised that I could afford the gear I lusted after when I was a 17 year old A level Photography student, and set about buying it. Actually, not quite: in 1997, I wanted a Nikon F5 and set of f/2.8 zooms, but my affections switched to an F3 and set of primes, equally out of reach in those days. The F2AS I wanted because my dad had one; mine has been fitted with a new resistor in the meter, so should last a good few years. I sold the FM2 (viewfinder too small, the camera's one flaw) and replaced the Nikkormat FTn with an FT2. The Autocord I have because Hasselblads are still pricey.

I shoot both film and digital now, probably 50/50, but get far more satisfaction from using film.

 

[Pickman's model]

View attachment 260813

I never really gave up film. Even when I started with digital, I kept a Nikkormat FTn, a Nikon FM2 and a few lenses. About four years ago I realised that I could afford the gear I lusted after when I was a 17 year old A level Photography student, and set about buying it. Actually, not quite: in 1997, I wanted a Nikon F5 and set of f/2.8 zooms, but my affections switched to an F3 and set of primes, equally out of reach in those days. The F2AS I wanted because my dad had one; mine has been fitted with a new resistor in the meter, so should last a good few years. I sold the FM2 (viewfinder too small, the camera's one flaw) and replaced the Nikkormat FTn with an FT2. The Autocord I have because Hasselblads are still pricey.

I shoot both film and digital now, probably 50/50, but get far more satisfaction from using film.

i wish i was as attached as you are to film. for me, digital cameras offer pretty much everything i need and with the great convenience of being able to take many hundreds of pictures without any thought for either the price of film or the cost of developing the images.

however - and it's a very big however - most digital images can only be enlarged a certain extent before becoming pixillated. many film images can be greatly enlarged, even from an apparently unpromising positive. for example, when i worked in a local authority archive i was asked to scan a photo of a c.1900 sports team with a trophy - the user had paid for a scan at 300dpi. but for my own curiosity i scanned it at 600 and 1200dpi and at these higher resolutions the writing on the trophy became visible when it wasn't on the c.8"x6" photo. given a choice of two identical images, one taken with a high-res digital camera and one with a decent film camera, i'd go for film every time.

 

[neonwilderness]

I shoot both film and digital now, probably 50/50, but get far more satisfaction from using film.

I've got a small black and white darkroom setup at home. Initially it was for a mate who was living here at the time who mostly shoots film, but I started using it too. I still mostly shoot digital, but there's definitely something quite satisfying when you develop your own film and then do your own prints.

I only have a Canon 300 (which shares lenses with my 5D) and an Olympus XA, but I should really use them both more often.

 

[Nikkormat]

given a choice of two identical images, one taken with a high-res digital camera and one with a decent film camera, i'd go for film every time.

For me, it's not about practicalities; my digital camera (D700, 12mp full frame DSLR) gives me comparable, or better, images than 35mm. It's about the slower process and necessity to take greater care, and process of using manual cameras. I think it's still the case that no manufacturer has come up with a digital camera as pleasant to use as a manual SLR. Nikon made a half-arsed attempt with the DF; Fuji have made some great mirrorless with decent styling and functional dials, but they don't quite do it for me.

I read something on a blog a while ago, which rings true for me: I go out and take 100 digital photos, and get four good ones; I take 36 35mm photos, and get four good ones; or I take 12 medium format, and get four good ones.

Film, processing and scanning is getting horribly expensive though.

 

[weltweit]

I never really got into photography before digital.

I did have a Kodak instamatic before but hardly took any photos. Indeed it was a discovery when the photos came back from the printers as I had by then completely forgotten what was on the roll.

In my mind there is a certain romance about having just 24 or 36 shots per roll, and that I would have to pay someone to develop them for me.

Enough of that though, I am a digital photographer.

 

[Cid]

Still got my FM2... Just don't really have the opportunity to use it. Expense, and half the experience was developing the shots... Would certainly use it if I had a darkroom set up, but just not feasible for now. Also developing the film itself always seemed a bit terrifying, so I usually got a lab to do that stage - which I imagine is harder these days. Once you're at the negatives point you're just risking a moderately expensive piece of paper. Only 15 years ago when I think about... The situation changed so quickly - 2002 I worked as a contract courier (there were three of us) for a lab in Covent garden, 5 years later they'd closed.

 

[Cid]

I was mostly at uni when I was doing it (had a darkroom there), one of my favourite things to do. Just a quiet, cool space away from everything for half a day. Smell of the chemicals, understanding how light and lenses work. The physicality of it. I really think it's an invaluable experience for any photographer.

 

[editor]

Interesting article here. Old film cameras look so much better than most modern cameras.

The Best 35mm Film Cameras to Buy in 2024

The best film cameras you can get in every style and for any budget.

petapixel.com

 

[wayward bob]

i'm only just starting to adapt to an iphone camera after over a year of having and using one. it's too flat. the controls are in the wrong place. the lens is in the wrong place. it focusses mysteriously. it automatically does... things. but it is the camera i carry with me, which is the only thing that actually matters. but i still have a definite place in my life for something properly designed to be handled, and in some ways automatic through so much muscle memory.

 

[Nikkormat]

Interesting article here. Old film cameras look so much better than most modern cameras.

Only the Fujis and M series Leicas come close. I appreciate the convenience and image quality of digital, but prefer the handling and layout of film cameras. My ideal would still be a digital F3HP, stills-dedicated.

 

[editor]

Only the Fujis and M series Leicas come close. I appreciate the convenience and image quality of digital, but prefer the handling and layout of film cameras. My ideal would still be a digital F3HP, stills-dedicated.

I'd definitely put the Olympus digital cameras in there too along with the Ricoh GR.

 

[StoneRoad]

A particular friend has been involved with collecting cameras for many years, and over the past couple of years the number has steadily grown.
There must be getting on for a couple of hundred cameras plus a lot of accessories, from enlargers to filters, in the collection. Dating from very early types up to the last of the pre-digital SLRs.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

is there any demand for film cameras these days?

mum-tat mentioned over xmas that she was thinking of trying to sell her pentax slr (i can't remember what model but she must have bought it in the 80s) and it has occurred to me that i have a K1000 lurking somewhere (bought second paw in the mid 80s) which I haven't seen for quite some time...

 

[StoneRoad]

is there any demand for film cameras these days?

mum-tat mentioned over xmas that she was thinking of trying to sell her pentax slr (i can't remember what model but she must have bought it in the 80s) and it has occurred to me that i have a K1000 lurking somewhere (bought second paw in the mid 80s) which I haven't seen for quite some time...

Depends on exactly what it is, and the condition.
Some still have significant value, others not so much.

A lot turn up on ebay - often very badly / inaccurately described and with an unrealistic price demanded.
Unfortunately, many good camera shops have ceased to exist as the owners retired and digital / phones have dominated the market. [Same with camera clubs].

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Prices have shot up recently, driven by YouTubers, Instagram etc, though it's still quite dependent on the model. Compacts sell for silly amounts sometimes. The K1000 actually goes for a good price as it's often recommended. Definitely worth an ebay search to look at sold prices if you're thinking of it.

The big money as always is in the higher priced models to begin with. A Leica M6 will easily go for two grand nowadays - without lens obviously.

It may be driven by hype to a great extent, but also, they're not making them any more - not high-performance ones anyway, except for Leica, who still make a couple of film bodies - and the existing ones break down and become harder to fix. Particularly compacts, which were often not built to last, whereas SLRs were designed to be repairable... if you can find somebody who can do it nowadays.

 

[StoneRoad]

There used to be a decent camera mechanic or two in Newcastle City Centre.
Both long gone now.

I wonder just how much business there would be, as there seems to be quite a niche marketplace going on.
Certainly for the high-end high-performance & hence useable / very collectable items.

But one also needs film.

Unlike the early glass plate methods where a degree of adaptation & DIY is possible
[if you want to try & experiment with some of the safer methods & chemicals]

 

[Nikkormat]

There used to be a decent camera mechanic or two in Newcastle City Centre.
Both long gone now.

I wonder just how much business there would be, as there seems to be quite a niche marketplace going on.
Certainly for the high-end high-performance & hence useable / very collectable items.

But one also needs film.

Unlike the early glass plate methods where a degree of adaptation & DIY is possible
[if you want to try & experiment with some of the safer methods & chemicals]

There's a place in Finland, Camera Rescue, that's started training new technicians for analogue cameras. As FridgeMagnet says, the market has taken off again (for some models) in the past few years, and I suppose a lot of the older technicians retired and were not replaced.

I sold a Nikon FM2 three years ago for a horribly low price; today I could get double as it's become fashionable. The F2 and F3, on the other hand, haven't risen much at all, despite being better cameras to my mind.

 

[stdP]

Only the Fujis and M series Leicas come close. I appreciate the convenience and image quality of digital, but prefer the handling and layout of film cameras. My ideal would still be a digital F3HP, stills-dedicated.

When I was looking for something a bit more serious than my Lumix I opted for a Fuji camera precisely because its emphasis is on nice tactile buttons with dedicated functions (and aperture rings on most of the lenses) making operation so much quicker and easier once you've got your hand in. The various different presets they have for colour reproduction are all based on the Fuji film stocks of yore and there's artificial grain effects available which look pretty good if that's what you're after. Still, nothing quite compares to the texture you'd get out of a nice gritty B+W film - good ol' Tri-X or pushed Neopan.

Incidentally I saw a chap the other day using a polaroid camera with the belt holder and everything - hopefully it's not just a hipster thing but it seems they must be popular enough to have restarted film production.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Yeah, Polaroid film is now actively in production (not quite the same Polaroid film as before... it's a long story). I shoot a fair amount, though what with the pandemic and all I have a lot left over.

The Fujis are well-designed in terms of build and manual controls definitely, which is good because their menu system sucks though that counts for a lot of cameras. The latest ones also have a lot of options which are great for customising film emulation profiles. There's a blog I look at sometimes which has recipes for that - Film Simulation Recipes

 

[stdP]

Yeah, Polaroid film is now actively in production (not quite the same Polaroid film as before... it's a long story). I shoot a fair amount, though what with the pandemic and all I have a lot left over.

The Fujis are well-designed in terms of build and manual controls definitely, which is good because their menu system sucks though that counts for a lot of cameras. The latest ones also have a lot of options which are great for customising film emulation profiles. There's a blog I look at sometimes which has recipes for that - Film Simulation Recipes

Yeah, I grew up on the Olympus OM series but as much as I liked the look of the new digitals, the Fuji's felt much more at home for me. As you say the menu system is somewhat byzantine but the manual controls more than make up for it.

I'm familiar with the simulation recipes site - I used to shoot it back in the day and I'm very fond of the Agfa Scala - for those who don't know it, it was a fairly unique B+W transparency film (but could also be processed as a negative) that gave really sumptuous blacks.

 

[gawkrodger]

I have a Nikon F3 for 35mm and Bronica SQ-A for medium format. The Bronica has doubled in price since I bought it just a few years ago.

edit: just remembered I also have a minolta x700 as well but unfortunately is currently dead and needs to be sent for repair

 

[Nikkormat]

An interesting selection there, as notable for what it does not contain as for what it does: no Olympus OM1, Nikon F2 or FM2, no Minolta SRT101, no Pentax Spotmatic or MX, no Contax S2, and no Leicaflex or R4.