Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Shot a ton of slides/color reversals since '69 with not much thought going to composition. I'd swing by, pick up my processed film, squint at the images real quick and throw 'em in a drawer until they joined the others in a larger box somewhere. I really started chewing up film in the early 80's after I bought an auto winder for my two ME Super's. In 2004, Pa left me his negatives/transparencies so they joined the others. Waiting.
In 2007 I bought a D40 the day before my son's wedding and never shot a roll of film again.
Around 2009 I arrived at a point most of us eventually do; I started looking back, wondering where the years went. I thought of all these photos I shot over the years and started gathering them up, casually looking through the pile. The prints were invariably faded, discolored and curled having spent much of their time in a garage. Initially, I thought the slides were in better shape but, as I would discover later, the years of living in garages would contaminate them all with grit, dirt, dust, heat, hair and a dull sheen on many of them.
Today I have an Epson 700 and it's "Sierra Hotel" big brother, the 750. I use Hamrick's VueScan Professional software to control the scanners and use Lightroom to organize what I scan . A Canon PRO-10 printer was the final "had to have" piece of hardware I needed to see what the Epson's were capable of delivering.
It has been a long slog. I learned how to clean film. I have scanned some transparencies over one hundred times, probably more, figuring out: why is it out of focus, why doesn't the image I'm looking at on the monitor match the image the printer spits out? I figured out how to build custom film holders along the way (the 700 was a gift and didn't come with the OEM holders). I learned how to set the dark and light points to bring out images that I could scarcely see with the naked eye. It goes on and on...
My advice to those missing film and time on your hands? Scan film. Watching that initial Raw image reveal itself dpi by dpi as it scrolls down the screen is something to savor. Take your time, enjoy the thrill of discovery; you will not be disappointed.
I shoot a lot of film so no, I don't miss it. Still love it. I pretty much always bring a film camera or two to work with me for snapshots of my coworkers and just fun grab shots. I'll print some and hang them up around the shop for everyone to enjoy. Some of the guys really like it, asking me to email them copies or send them on facebook.
I don't get why so many people mention prints as part of liking film over digital. First, I shoot a whole lot of film, but I don't print much of it. I bring it to the local camera store (yep, still have one here in Charlotte) and them process the film and scan the negatives for me - or if I want to save a few bucks I'll just have them process it and I'll scan the negatives myself. Then I upload them to my computer and share them just like I would digital photos. And if prints are indeed the be-all end-all of your photographic goals, what in the world is stopping you from printing your digital photos?
Oh, another thing I've found myself doing is enjoying the cameras themselves. A lot of them are beautiful and very photogenic -- so I photograph them, sometimes with other film cameras, sometimes with a digital camera.
A couple examples:
My 1940's made-in-Detroit Ciro-flex twin lens reflex. Now there's a camera that makes you
slow down and really think when using it. 024 ciro flex on back deck
And this one is an Olympus Stylus Epic, which I think is one of the best little point and shoot cameras ever. I'm very
proud of this shot of it, which I took in a thunderstorm to show off its "all-weather" feature. 7034 olympus stylus epic limited
My wife had a Canon AE-1 program SLR when I met here back in 1983, she was actually the person that got me interested in photography. I pulled her AE-1 out today and gave it the once over. I seems to be in good working order with the exception of the light seals. I cleaned out the old ones and ordered a new set on line. Hopefully I can get the new ones in so that I can start using the camera. That will give me 5 film SLR's to play with.
When I was in High School I got a job taking pictures of cars for sale by local auto dealers for our local weekly newspaper. The only reason I probably got the job was that I had a pretty good 35mm camera already and the paper didn't have to buy/provide me one. I had a Yashica FR-II that my father brought me back from Japan after he was stationed back to the States towards the end of his Naval career. I probably took 200 pictures a week of new and used cars for sale from just about every car dealer in town, I got $0.50 per picture and then I made another $100.00 a week delivering the papers. So yeah I kind of miss film but not the expense of developing it.
When I was in High School I got a job taking pictures of cars for sale by local auto dealers for our local weekly newspaper. The only reason I probably got the job was that I had a pretty good 35mm camera already and the paper didn't have to buy/provide me one. I had a Yashica FR-II that my father brought me back from Japan after he was stationed back to the States towards the end of his Naval career. I probably took 200 pictures a week of new and used cars for sale from just about every car dealer in town, I got $0.50 per picture and then I made another $100.00 a week delivering the papers. So yeah I kind of miss film but not the expense of developing it.
Here's a couple shots I took a couple weeks ago with the cameras I posted in my last post:
That's me and my shadow in Blowing Rock, NC.
Taken with my 1940's Detroit-made Ciro-flex twins lens reflex, using Kodak TMAX 400 black and white film that expired in 1999. 13840011-3rs
Same me, same shadow, same Blowing Rock.
Different camera. This time it's that Olympus Stylus Epic, using FujiColor 200 film. 01 pond shadow selfie
Don't miss film at all!
When I first met my wife in early 2000, she had a small Canon film camera. Back then, we would have double prints and a Photo CD made from each roll of film. After a trip to a casino in 2001, and winning $500 on one slot, we started looking for a Digital/Media Card camera. Wound up buying an Olympus. After buying that, I done all photo processing on home PC, including putting photo's on CD's.
Now (today), have/use: Panasonic Digital (8mp), small GE Digital (11mp) and iPhone 6. All photos taken are transferred to PC photo software and then to two USB Flash Drives (one at home and one kept at bank SDB). Have transferred all photos we had on CD's to USB's. Had 4 plastic storage bins full of old photo albums from before I met my wife and some after I met her (before we got the Olympus digital). Have scanned all photos, but three photo albums, into PC photo software and transferred onto USB's. Have 5 photo USB's at home (old and new photos) and a copy of each USB in the bank.
Out of our own preference, we only keep a few photos (around 30) on our iPhones. We do put photos on Facebook at times, but only once in a while. Also have a few photos on Photobucket, but mainly use that website for transferring photo's to online forums.
Where do I get the time to do all of this? Well, I'm 66 years old and retired..........all kinds of time!
BTW, our Blue-Ray DVD Player shows our photo USB's great on our tv.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
