Is film really so out of favor?

[blumesan]

For the past week I have listed an excellent film camera and lens in the Marketplace forum. I am practically giving it away, asking just about the cost of packing and postage.

Almost free

Not a single reply. Anyone interested, see the link.

[cyclohexane]

Is film really so out of favor?

I still shoot 120 and larger, but have no desire to continue using 135.

[FedererPhoto]

It's weird - I do wedding photography and people still ask me if I "Shoot film" or have a "film backup"... yet at the same time ask for the digital files and wouldn't know what to do if all I gave them was prints and/or negatives. There was one client (who was a friend that I knew very well and had already given their deposit) who asked and I said "Yes, I'm all film" and she was so taken aback that she didn't even know what to say and started stuttering and all that. Of course, I then alayed her fears and we all had a good laugh. I'd never 'mess' with people like that normally, but they were some of my best college friends and it was over 6 months from the big day... so I wasn't adding stress.

I suspect they are getting it from an out-dated bridal magazine that says they are supposed to ask. Who knows.

[blumesan]

Originally Posted by cyclohexane

I still shoot 120 and larger, but have no desire to continue using 135.

Michael,
I had no thought of converting you, or any of the regular digital or MF shooters here. I am looking to send this off to someone just starting out in photography who cannot afford to begin with a good quality digital SLR.

Cheers/Mike

[cyclohexane]

I had no thought of converting you, or any of the regular digital or MF shooters here...

I know, I just thought I'd open my mouth. It seemed like I was offering some insight at the time, but I guess the rest of my post never came together, haha.

[Sidebyte]

Mike,
That is a super bargain and a quality kit, excellent lens. If I didn't already have 7- 35 mm's I'd buy it myself but most of mine use Canon FD series glass. I'm basically a junk collector I guess but I really never sell any photo gear I've accumulated over time. All 7 of my cameras and lenses wouldn't buy an entry level digital today.

[JonathanSQ]

If it was a older Canon that could still take EOS lenses, I'd buy it in a heart beat.
Or even if my best friend hadn't just picked up a Nikon N60, I think it was, from a
neighbor lady. Wish this'd come a few weeks earlier, she paid almost $100, IIRC.

[sean_buerger]

Ok. Film is not out of favour here. Love using it.

I'm sure your Yashica is a very nice piece of photographica, but if I look around at my friends, nobody seems either interested in carrying a camera that weighs more than 150g or has a lens that doesn't retract, when the power is off.

I could foresee my friends asking, where the USB port is on your Yashica and where you fold away the screen to...

Just a thought, Sean.

[brian.austin]

At the 35mm level, it doesn't interest me. Yeah, yeah, film is great. Long live the glory and yesteryears of film. Nothing can replace film.

Whatever.

I spent enough time in darkrooms, playing around with developing and printing, to know that I'll take digital any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

I'd consider (and still am) going into film for the MF range of bodies but only because digital is so flipping expensive on that scale. If offered a used MF digital back for the same price as a new dSLR, I'd probably go digital, though. And I'd send my film out to be processed and drum scanned, completing any post work in the digital medium.

I don't miss it.

[dougsmit]

A possible suggestion: I recently gave my Yashica with three lenses to a high school student who was taking film photography for the 'art' requirement. The school separates film and digital classes and from what I have been able to tell may be a bit slow in recognizing that digital is different from the 1 meg days and you do not have to Photoshop gimmicks in every shot to hide the fact it was digital. You might contact the local high school and find a free-to-good home recipient.

I still have my Contax body and lenses (same mount) which I suspect will go the same route in a few years as demand for even better 35mm's wanes. When I first started with film, some people still insisted on using glass plates so there will always be some who prefer film. Will digital advances of the next decade make me give away the 4x5? Probably.

[Sparky98]

Another suggestion similar to Doug's. If you have a college nearby see if they can use the camera. My daughter recently took a photography class at her college and used my old AE-1 but the school did have a few cameras they would loan to students. You might even be able to arrange for the school to give the camera to a student.

If absolutely no one wants the camera then PM me.

[Sidebyte]

Mike,
If you donate that camera to a school you can legally deduct a reasonable amount from your taxes and it will then be in good hands to be utilized? Just a thought and the deduction will certainly be worth more monetarily than selling it for peanuts.

[Manamarak]

Well, I am now well and truely converted to digital photography, and can't ever see myself going back to shooting film on anything like a regular basis, and yet, I find that I cannot quite part with my old photographic kit either. I still have an old FM2 body, and when I go on holiday I always take it with me in case of a natural disaster takes all the powerlines down, in which case my state of the art D3 would be useless.

Film is dead, but I am loath to bury its body.

[Sparky98]

I have a 35mm SLR and a couple of compact 35mm rangefinder cameras and I will probably always keep them but I don't see ever using them again. Film is expensive then the cost of processing and the wait for the negatives to be returned just takes too much effort and time when I can get equal quality from my DSLR and be viewing and processing the pictures almost immediately. I don't have anything against film but digital is just easier and quicker.

I once developed my own b&w film and printed a few pictures and really enjoyed it. I didn't even mind the smell that much but I didn't have a good place for a dark room and it was just a hassle to set up and then have to tear it all down. It is so much easier to sit at a computer and "develop" my pictures and I have more control than I had with the enlarger plus now I can do color. I don't think I will ever go back to film because for me digital is so much better.

[richardpcrowe]

What is film?

[blumesan]

Originally Posted by richardpcrowe

What is film?

That may be said with tongue in cheek. However these days I believe that a very large percentage of those posting in this and other photography forums have never shot a single film image. To suggest that they try it is like suggesting that they trade in their car for a horse.

[PetersenPhotography]

I started on a film SLR and still have my pro-sumer film camera. I take it out every now and then to put it through it's paces. Digital is easier to manipulate, but somehow the "snap" of the mirror on a film camera is sweet still.

I agree - donate the camera to a school. Or better yet, go to a local middle school, ask to be part of a mentoring program and teach a kid how to shoot pictures on that camera. Think of the life skills you can impart with just a few clicks of a shutter button...