Anyone shooting film?

[wickidwombat]

Another reason to slow down and make every shot great.

too true, in the end getting it right in camera is the fastest way to shoot. its so easy to overshoot with digital

[SandyP]

The first big "oh my god" moment with film was when I had this amazing location for a shoot lined up, had an assistant with me for the day (my girlfriend, ha! to hold a reflector) and a great model who I always work well with. At the last minute I decided to ditch my 5D Mark II, and ONLY use the Mamiya 645 Pro TL (I have the power winder grip and the metered prism), and only with the 80mm f/1.9 lens. So I grabbed that, and three rolls of 120 film. Portra, PanF+ and another PanF+.

Out of all 45 photos possible, 42 of them were definitely very nice shots that I was very happy with, and like 20 of them were just some of my favorite shots, and a year later, are still some of my favorite shots. It was because I really took my time, like REALLY looked around the view finder, double checked my exposures and focus, I didn't just take a shot, if things looked somewhat "iffy" I would change angles, change positions, get closer, move further back, get her to change her pose, whatever it took. And in the end, if after all that, if it didn't still look really like "WOW!" then I'd just say "there's no photo here", and we'd move on.

It was an eye opening moment for me, and one of the most important moments to date, for me photographically. YES, I did that sort of stuff with digital before, but never, ever, to that level of detail and attention.

[funkboy]

If you have some good canon glass, why not pick up an inexpensive film body?

Exactly my thinking when I got an EOS 1n from the used section of B&H for peanuts when I first got serious about getting good glass.  I changed the viewfinder screen for the spit-prism for manual focus.  Brilliant viewfinder.

But my favorite film camera (for its handling, metering, & drive) was my T90.

[loudpictures]

Bought an EOS30 last summer - because it frustrated me that I never had made a picture that (for me, not for newspapers/magazines - they do ) was worth to be printed in large format. Only did b/w with it, and I
- now have some of my own pictures on my wall, finally, and
- reduced my shuttercount on the digital around 75%, just because I ask myself "if this picture would cost 1 EUR, would I still take it?

Healthy for me and for my cameras. Sometimes frustrating, because I come home without a single picture taken. But then again- who needs the bad pictures you take when you just forget them on your harddrive?

I can recommend to try with a cheap EOS body. I still have to laugh about myself sometimes when I took a picture and stare at the camera, wait for the digital-display to lighten up with over-exposure-warning, but there is nothing but black plastic

Anyone shooting film & digital?

[prestonpalmer]

i took a photo of a roll of film with a digital camera once. Does that count?

[Superka]

After first time trying a film I left digital for a long. I came back for digital only for textures and for shooting video.
I shoot 120 film with panoramic 617 camera which is 160Mpx equivalent. I shoot 135 film with Canon EOS 620 And Olympus OM-10. Olympus is just perfect.
And I love film.

[Fleetie]

After first time trying a film I left digital for a long. I came back for digital only for textures and for shooting video.
I shoot 120 film with panoramic 617 camera which is 160Mpx equivalent. I shoot 135 film with Canon EOS 620 And Olympus OM-10. Olympus is just perfect.
And I love film.

My film background is Olympus, too!

I started with an OM30 when I passed my O-levels at 16; got money from family as a reward for doing well.

A couple of years ago, I got back into photography, and picked up an OM40 and some nice glass (see my sig below) on eBay.

Finally, I got an OM2-SP in beautiful condition and fully working, for £90 on eBay, last August. A bargain!

But I don't shoot it much these days because of the crippling development costs. Ouch. £15 for dev+scan (no prints) on a 24-exposure roll. (But as someone else said, I have had no hesitation dropping over £7k on digital equipment in the last 2 years. Hmmm...)

[Superka]

My film background is Olympus, too!

I started with an OM30 when I passed my O-levels at 16; got money from family as a reward for doing well.

A couple of years ago, I got back into photography, and picked up an OM40 and some nice glass (see my sig below) on eBay.

Finally, I got an OM2-SP in beautiful condition and fully working, for £90 on eBay, last August. A bargain!

But I don't shoot it much these days because of the crippling development costs. Ouch. £15 for dev+scan (no prints) on a 24-exposure roll. (But as someone else said, I have had no hesitation dropping over £7k on digital equipment in the last 2 years. Hmmm...)

OM-Zuiko are just perfect lenses. Viewfinder are incredible! I wish modern cameras were so good.
But scanning is a problem. Nikon has stopped producing it perfect film scanners When I lived in Moscow, scanning film cost me about 9$ for a 36 roll. 4000dpi, Nikon 5000. It was very cheap and very good! Now I live not in Moscow and shoot much less. I had to buy a scanner!

[DigitalDivide]

Someone mentioned full frame earlier, if you ever wanted to get the same feeling as using a crop sensor on film, there is always the EOS IX

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_EOS_IX

Just joking around with that. Anyway, where are most people getting their film developed? Pro lab? Or just Target/Walmart, etc etc ....

I have used pro labs to develop my color slides for many years - ever since a chain store returned several rolls of slides to me with a scratch across every one   They probably got some dirt in their machine and never noticed.  I now go to Burne Photo in Madison, WI (USA).  I've chatted with the owner there and he is completely committed to film.  He has capitalized on the move to digital by becoming a niche business, and he told me he has been able to build up his film processing capability by buying up equipment from other labs that went digital.  He does nice work, and I've used him for medium format transparencies as well.  I go there in person when I am visiting the area, but he does accept work by mail.

One thing I miss is the days of hand printed pictures using a proper enlarger.  I used to go to another guy in Madison (Hyperion) who made some really fantastic prints from my slides.  He was a real craftsman and would dodge and burn each print to get it just right.  Unfortunately he was an early digital adopter and now only offers scanning and printing services like most, if not all, labs.  I know it is easier and quicker, but I swear something gets lost in translation.

[mws]

Quite surprised how many are shooting MF. I just bought myself a Mamiya 645 pro off ebay this morning to join in the fun.

[smithy]

I still shoot film regularly - I developed a roll of B&W film just a week ago.  Since I have plenty of developing chemicals and don't need to buy any more for a while, it's the cheapest way for me to go full frame, and I get to use a 1-series body that's the same size as a 5D. 

Right now I'm experimenting with different B&W films.  I mostly use Ilford branded (HP5+, PanF 50, Delta 100 Pro), but the other day I loaded in some Kodak 100 TMax.  It's a lot cheaper to buy than Ilford, but I've read good things about it.

As for the above films I mentioned, I've had (by far) the best results from Delta 100.  It has 14 stops of dynamic range, which I understand to be the same as the Nikon D800's sensor.  You can see so much detail in the shadow areas, it's mind blowing.  Not bad for $12.