Film photography revival?

[walpurgis]

There seems to be something of a resurgence of interest in the use of film photography, particularly 35mm format.

I was having a rummage recently and unearthed my Pentax MV-1 and some Tamron 'Adaptall 2' lenses and PK (Pentax) lens mounts and other lenses. This led me to thinking that using film again might be rewarding, so I bought some B&W film and a few cheap 35mm cameras to play with. I can have the film processed locally at not too exorbitant prices, so I'm giving it a go.

(dunno where my Petax P30n got to, but I did have one knocking about :scratch:)

I can see this all going the same way as the vinyl replay revival did.

[hifi_dave]

Had an interesting customer in last week who is an enthusiast of large format photography in black and white. He develops his own film and is also working with pin hole cameras.

That really is back to the future.

I still have my Nikon F3 HP camera in immaculate condition, a couple of Nikon lenses and a bag full of filters and other accessories. I was going to E-Bay it all but couldn't bear to let it go.

[walpurgis]

I still have my Nikon F3 HP camera in immaculate condition, a couple of Nikon lenses and a bag full of filters and other accessories. I was going to E-Bay it all but couldn't bear to let it go.

Maybe now is the time to give it a go again Dave?

I wouldn't mind finding another 80mm Zeiss portrait lens and a roll of Agfa Ultra 50 to use with it (bet they stopped making that years ago).

[Barry]

Interesting - I too have noticed an increased interest in film cameras. You see them for sale in some charity shops, as well as at boot sales. The customers seem to be students, for whom photography is part of their arts course. I would have thought they would want to use digital cameras, which allow a far greater range of post-processing using a computer, such as: selective blurring, or sharpening of focus; selective alteration of colour, even reducing the whole to black and white and colouring in parts, to selective cropping. But no - they want to use film in a film camera.

In the past I used to be very keen on photography, even to the point of developing (not very interesting) but printing and enlarging (could spend hours in the dark room, 'dodging' and 'burning in' parts of the image). In those days I used Exakta cameras with a whole range of lenses (25 - 360mm) and viewfinders. My favourite lenses, all fixed focus, were by Zeiss, Schact and Schneider-Kreutzach, and my favourite focal length was 90mm.

Later my interests turned to travel photography and for that is used a Leica M3 and M4 cameras with 35, 50, 90 and occasionally 280mm lenses.

I mostly used colour transparacy film ('slide' film) Kodachrome 64, or if black and white Kodak Tri-X or Ilford FP4.

In the early 2000s I bought a Lumix digital camera (simply because it uses a Leica-designed zoom lens), but although I liked the zoom facility, I didn't like composing the image by having to hold the camera away so as to use the screen on the back. I miss my older cameras which had eye-level viewfinders. As a result I found that whilst the image was sharp, the composition was poor, and I lost interest in photography, and only use the camera to take images to post here.

What films are you now using Geoff and what does do they cost to buy and have processed? Perhaps I should dig out my cameras (I stilll have them all, and all the lenses) and give them a second lease of life.

[walpurgis]

What films are you now using Geoff and what does do they cost to buy and have processed? Perhaps I should dig out my cameras (I stilll have them all, and all the lenses) and give them a second lease of life.

I picked up a couple of rolls of Kentmere (whoever they are) 36 exp. ISO 100 black & white film for a try, at around £7 per roll. I can get it processed locally, but will check out prices.

I have also nabbed some 35mm cameras at good prices.

A clean and functional Olympus Trip 35 and a Yashica Minister III rangefinder in similarly good order, I had a Minister III years ago and thought the lens very good, the Trip 35 is pocketable and also has a fine lens. Both of these were chosen because they don't rely on batteries, having circular Selenium cell arrangements around the lenses to power the meters and both had been kept with the lenses covered, so the cells had not tired.

To add to the Pentax K mount compatible kit I bought a Cosina CT-1 and a Vivitar XV-5 (which I believe is a Chinon product), both are manual and working just fine. All the K mount cameras including the Pentax MV-1 use LR44/SR44 batteries, so no problems there.

I can see myself replacing some light seal strips in the near future, It's a sensible precaution.

That'll be it for now, I won't get involved in spending much on this for the moment, but It could be fun. I'll start snapping with the Olympus this week.

[struth]

think i kept one film camera when i sold up. ive a good idea where it is . are they getting valuable again lol there is a bag up tp unit in kitchen with a load of old film in it too

[walpurgis]

think i kept one film camera when i sold up. ive a good idea where it is . are they getting valuable again lol there is a bag up tp unit in kitchen with a load of old film in it too

There have been rising prices for the reputable brands. Much 35mm gear was worthless by say 2005, but that is no longer true.

[struth]

There have been rising prices for the reputable brands. Much 35mm gear was worthless by say 2005, but that is no longer true.

pretty sure i kept one of my nice minoltas back...

[dave2010]

Vaguely interested in this. Is there really much point, apart from nostalgia?

One thing - with film the costs are such that you will [or should] think quite hard before pressing the button. Get the composition right, and most of the other factors, and then go for it. For action shots plan in advance if you can.

I think that the quality of digital has now more or less equalled or surpassed that of film, so might not be an avenue worth revisiting.

Will be interested to see/hear how anyone gets on with this memory lane trip.

[Sherwood]

In my younger days when I was travelling to multiple countries each year I used to haul around a large and heavy camera bag. I started out with Mamiya SLRs but they were stolen from me on the train from Leeds to London. I replaced them with a pair of Minolta camera bodies, a 50mm prime lens, a wide-angle lens, and a 70 mm to 210 mm telephoto zoom. In one camera body I had Fujichrome 35mm transparency film, in the other Ilford 50 iso monochrome film. I have many great photos from that period but they are currently in Gepe slide magazines and I can’t remember when I last viewed them. Over the years a lower back spinal injury took its toll, as did the added burden of carrying around (then) heavy notebook computers.

I was an early adopter of digital, including a very low res fuji camera that I bought in Morgan Computers on Tottenham Ct Road in the late 90s. I would say that digital overtook film around 15 years ago. I am not sure that it has improved at the same rate, though price/performance continues to improve. I remember buying a Casio compact camera in Hong Kong that was barely the size of a box of Swan Vesta matches but sported a telephoto zoom of very good quality.

In some respects, I think that photography has suffered the same fate as hifi. In the same way that consumers now use their phone for music rather than buying a standalone hifi, they now use their phones as their main camera. It’s often been said that the best camera is the one you have with you at the time, and it is certainly true that phones have allowed many people to capture moments in their lives that would not otherwise have been documented. However, even the best smartphones cannot match a good digital camera for image quality.

I still have my Minolta kit and hope one day I will get the chance to take it out for some serious photography.

[Pieoftheday]

Vaguely interested in this. Is there really much point, apart from nostalgia?

One thing - with film the costs are such that you will [or should] think quite hard before pressing the button. Get the composition right, and most of the other factors, and then go for it. For action shots plan in advance if you can.

I think that the quality of digital has now more or less equalled or surpassed that of film, so might not be an avenue worth revisiting.

Will be interested to see/hear how anyone gets on with this memory lane trip.
I like a bit of nostalgia, a bit mind. I'd go back to using my CDs In a heart beat if I had the space to get them out of storage , I'd buy a Yamaha fzr600 if I had the funds to restore it, a bit of nostalgia is good, a happy place:) photography wise I only ever had one of those jobbies folk took on holidays and then took to boots for developing, brilliant! Although like many a lot of my life has gone online/digital, I find it an often empty experience, thread drift sorry

[Barry]

No, it's not thread drift.

As I posted before, I used to be a very keen photographer using conventional film cameras: even to the point of processing in the darkroom. Most of my photography was done during my travels. I used to give talks, illustrated with my photos (slides), and I have to say they were well received.

Since then I have used a digital camera for convenience, but sadly with it I have lost my 'eye' when it comes to composition: it now merely records.

[Pieoftheday]

No, it's not thread drift.

As I posted before, I used to be a very keen photographer using conventional film cameras: even to the point of processing in the darkroom. Most of my photography was done during my travels. I used to give talks, illustrated with my photos (slides), and I have to say they were well received.

Since then I have used a digital camera for convenience, but sadly with it I have lost my 'eye' when it comes to composition: it now merely records.

Barry ,as much as digital/online has provided good things, would you think it's taken away more full filing things? Of course we all are able to make choices but we get drawn in to the convenience

[Barry]

Yes, of course - that is what I was trying to say.

To put it another way, with a maximum of 36 'shots' per roll, you had to think about every photograph before you took it. Now with a digital camera you can just fire away and then choose which shot you prefer. Maybe convenient but you tend to loose a sense of composition.

Simply put, I don't enjoy photography as I once did.