Anyone still shoot film?

Yes, I still use only film. Do I feel sort of stupid when my family gets
together and we look at the recent pictures we have taken? Yes. I bring out
a photo album with pictures that are 4X6 inches and only my best shots are
in the album. They however hand me their camera and I have to push a little
button and scan through 300 shots, most of which should have been deleted.
But hey, they are so cute on that 1X1 inch screen. I hope some day I can
get rid of my Mamiya RB67 Pro S's and my Minolta X-700's and get one of
those cute little cameras that are the size of a cigarette lighter. Then I
will be so cool. Ric.

On 2010-02-10 19:33:23 -0500, Ric Trexell said:

Yes, I still use only film. Do I feel sort of stupid when my family gets
together and we look at the recent pictures we have taken? Yes. I bring out
a photo album with pictures that are 4X6 inches and only my best shots are
in the album. They however hand me their camera and I have to push a little
button and scan through 300 shots, most of which should have been deleted.
But hey, they are so cute on that 1X1 inch screen. I hope some day I can
get rid of my Mamiya RB67 Pro S's and my Minolta X-700's and get one of
those cute little cameras that are the size of a cigarette lighter. Then I
will be so cool. Ric.

You are lucky that you are offered a small P&S with a 1 inch screen to
look at. I am usually offered a cell phone with a picture that is
completely unidentifiable. It is usually the really cheap cell phone
that cost $50 with the new contract and came with a $40 rebate. And if
I try to move on to the next picture I run a high risk of accidentally
calling Honduras.

Like you, I will hang onto my film cameras (in my case a Pentax 6x7, a
fully manual Nikon F, and an Olympus OM system (OM2, OM10) for when I
want "automatic" exposures (for that read Aperture priority or Shutter
priority through the lens metering as opposed to my incident light
meter that I use for the Pentax and Nikon). What I DO need is a NIKON
Coolscan 9000. They are so unavailable that the ebay prices are now
higher than the new store prices.
--
Michael

On 2/11/2010 9:33 AM Bruce spake thus:

I use 4x5". I'm not familiar with the 9x12cm format. Sounds like fun!

Where did that format originate? Can you still buy pre-cut film? What
camera and film do you use?

9x12 was the European size counterpart, roughly speaking, to the North
American 4x5 size. (You have to implicitly remember that 9x12 is in
centimeters and is smaller than 4x5 inches. But you knew that.)

Historically, the cm size films were descendants of the earlier plate
sizes; early formats were full plate, half plate, quarter plate, etc.
There is also 12x18 and a couple other standard sizes. (6x9 is exactly
half of the 9x12 format.)

I have a bunch of 9x12 cameras, all of which are in the standard
"folding plate" style. These are compact cameras that fold out of
rectangular boxes (mostly metal, though I have one wooden one). The
front door becomes the bed along which the lens standard slides out.

They're still very plentiful on eBay, and probably "in the wild" as
well. They are capable of taking *fantastic* pictures.

Film is getting a little hard to find, but it's still available. I know
J&C Photo, which had several brands of 9x12 film, is out of business,
but there are other suppliers. The film one can get these days seems to
be limited to Euro stuff, Foma or some such. But it's good film (black
and white only).

These cameras are cheap enough that they are easy to experiment with. I
highly recommend them. Keep in mind that these are *not* full-blown view
cameras; they have limited movements (shift and rise, but usually no
tilt). But you can get amazing results from them.

(The ones I have are Zeiss [Maximar], Voigtlander [Avus and Vag], a
couple Icas, a couple Patent Etuis, an Ica Favorit, and some assorted
mongrels. I've also been lucky enough to score lots of film holders,
which can be difficult to find. Actually, most of them are plate holders
with film inserts.)


--
You were wrong, and I'm man enough to admit it.

- a Usenet "apology"

On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:01:20 +0000, Grimly Curmudgeon
wrote:

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Patrick L"
saying something like:

I've got four dSLRs, but I miss shooting film,

ding!
It was dSLRs that re-awoke my film interest, as I hadn't done much at
all for nearly a decade. Before I knew it, I was acquiring ancient SLRs
and Medium Format cameras, but that wasn't enough - my latest kick is
Large Format (well, what technically comes under that heading, but in
terms of real LF, mere tiddlers) of 9x12cm and 4x5inches.
The image quality on MF and LF is stunning, just stunning (with
something half-decent on the front, of course).
The thing I like about film use is I slow riiiiigghhttt down - with
digital I tend to rattle them off but with MF and LF it's much more
methodical and LF especially, I can take half an hour before a shot just
setting things up.
Mind you, the old 9x12s can be used as P&S - it's a hoot that way.

I've done something very similar. I shoot a lot of digital, but I
love using my Pentax 67 and Yashica D, both of which I got after I
went digital. And just the last week or so, I've been looking around
for an affordable 4 x 5 large format.

On 10-02-11 0:33 , Michael wrote:

that I use for the Pentax and Nikon). What I DO need is a NIKON Coolscan
9000. They are so unavailable that the ebay prices are now higher than
the new store prices.

I wouldn't sell my 9000 for anywhere near the prices I was offered for
it when I was considering selling it. For that matter my Hassy kit is
off the market as well. I figure used backs will be affordable at some
point in the not too distant future.

There is a reality gap that goes:

"But I could have it new for only $100 more!"

"Yes, but you're not including taxes AND you get a $250 A-N transport
with mine."

"But it's not 'new'"

"Well, how 'old' do you think a scanner gets sitting on 1 spot for 2
years and scanning less than 200 frames in that time?"

"But, but, ... Well, I'll buy it new in that case!"

"Go ahead."

Then a few months later they're back and the whole rigmarole begins anew.

BTW: It's in stock at Vistek (Ottawa) for CAD$2729 which is nutz
considering the US/CAD $ rate. But if you order it there, the warranty
may not be valid in the US.

--
gmail originated posts are filtered due to spam.

On 2/11/2010 1:55 PM Bruce spake thus:

On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:08:50 -0800, David Nebenzahl
wrote:

On 2/11/2010 9:33 AM Bruce spake thus:

I use 4x5". I'm not familiar with the 9x12cm format. Sounds like fun!

Where did that format originate? Can you still buy pre-cut film? What
camera and film do you use?

9x12 was the European size counterpart, roughly speaking, to the
North American 4x5 size. (You have to implicitly remember that 9x12
is in centimeters and is smaller than 4x5 inches. But you knew
that.)

In that respect the UK followed the USA standard rather than the
European. 4x5 is very popular here.

Except that they call it "5x4" for some strange reason. Guess they just
won't use the same terms those damn Yanks use ...


--
You were wrong, and I'm man enough to admit it.

- a Usenet "apology"

On 10-02-12 18:54 , Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember
saying something like:

I use 4x5". I'm not familiar with the 9x12cm format. Sounds like fun!

Where did that format originate? Can you still buy pre-cut film? What
camera and film do you use?

Germany, from the early 1900s onwards, up until the '40s, I believe. I
have a couple of Weltas and an Ihagee focal plane shutter press camera -
pretty much the German equivalent to the Speed Graphic. The film is
still available from www.lumiere-shop.de
http://www.lumiere-shop.de/index.php...duct&info=3258
Various colour emulsions were also available until recently, but all
that's left is old stock now.

The only hassle is getting the film holders, as most of these were
produced before much in the way of standardisation took place - but
holders do come up on the 'bay regularly, just a question of taking a
bit of a chance. It's best to buy a camera that comes with some holders.

I've walked away from Speed Graphics several times. Mint condition,
great price. With several holders...

--
gmail originated posts are filtered due to spam.

On 2/13/2010 7:56 AM Alan Browne spake thus:

On 10-02-12 18:54 , Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:

The only hassle is getting the film holders, as most of these were
produced before much in the way of standardisation took place - but
holders do come up on the 'bay regularly, just a question of taking a
bit of a chance. It's best to buy a camera that comes with some holders.

I've walked away from Speed Graphics several times. Mint condition,
great price. With several holders...

Well, those are different from the 9x12 cameras we've been discussing.
4x5 holders are plentiful and easy to get (still being made); 9x12
holders for old folders not so. (I guess Linhof is still making 9x12
holders for their cameras, though.)


--
You were wrong, and I'm man enough to admit it.

- a Usenet "apology"

Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:

This is the most "extreme" HDR I've done -- 9 stops difference between the
brightest and darkest exposures:

http://gallery.defocus.net/Urban/The...09_HkEYi-XL-LB

Excellent. I'm tickled by the black building with the castle-alike on
top. What a delightful flight of architectural fancy. I'd love to have
an office or even a broom closet in one of those towers. I wonder if
there's a courtyard in the middle...

That's One PPG Place; it's actually not black, it's all glass.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PPG_Place
http://www.ppgplace.com/

--
Jeremy Nixon | http://www.defocus.net
Email address in header is valid

Peter Chant wrote:
Annika1980 wrote:

I do worry that in 20 years only the slides will still be viewable
while most of my digital pics are buried on old hard drives and
unreadable DVDs.

My solution, two separate backups. At first hint of at hard drive failing
replace it.


And nobody else knows what's on the disk. Nobody else cares.

The images will likely be lost without a plan and path to the future.