Your Cameras

If I had access to a full darkroom, I'd probably still shoot FP4+/HP5+. I miss 6x6 dearly, even with the hassles of drying and spotting fiber prints, etc.. Sending it off to be developed and lab-scanned and so on takes the magic out of it for me.

Would never go back to shooting color film, though. Digital printed on a good baryta gloss paper just looks too good.

I'm hoping that if dSLRs crest at the 18-20mp range, they'll start focusing on improving dynamic range. Or that digital medium format (which already has the DR of film, AFAIK) comes down to reasonable prices. And there's my hope beyond all hope that someday Hasselblad or Bronica (do they still exist?) will come out with a square format digital camera.

(obv. some cameras are beyond the 18-20 range, but I think they'll remain outside the norm - the D3S makes a lot of people v. v. happy at 12mp, and if you could get D3S noise at 18mp the only possible improvements would come in DR)

dyao- i haven't messed w/ my XA2 much-- the shutter button is really weird! its like... not a button? any tips?

I've owned an XA2 for almost 20 years! It's a button alright - just one with very little action or give behind a stiff plastic film as far as I can tell. I used to use my fingernail to take the picture.

i srsly dont understand why anybody shoots w/ digital anymore unless they've got a crazy expensive camera

Well...secondhand 2002-04 era 6MP DSLR with a thrifty fifty...200 quid? But, yeah, the plethora of film options now for not very much money is amazing. I mean, I can't believe I own a medium format SLR! That would've been so far out of reach 15 years ago.

xxp (no, Bronica disappeared in the late-'90s...hence my cheap SQ-A)

developing film isnt that expensive!

its like $4.50 for a roll and a CD of scans

do you not get them printed?

i just about manage to keep buying film, buying old expired rolls whenever i can get to a place that sells them, but i can hardly afford developing: i have a b&h plastic bag full of fifteen undeveloped rolls. whenever i can afford to, i get one processed, usually something i shot a year or eighteen months ago; i can never remember what i took; when it's from; have no idea how they'll come out or what kind of dumb strategy i had about how to control the light or do something cool with lighting. it's such a pleasure getting them back. quite a lot of the attention that film photography gets now's as an anathema to the instant gratification of digital, its efficiency and its capacity, and it's like the direct opposite of that. would love to see your first leica experiments anyhow. this sounds tiny, but since it's one of the things that always piqued my interest reading about the guys who used them - are the exposures silent?

those praktica photos were great btw plax

― baby i know that you think i'm just a lion (schlump), Friday, August 6, 2010 4:16 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is also true, I've been looking at mail order - some places can develop a roll for as little as $3, but factor in shipping/return shipping etc. and you need to send off quite a few rolls at once to make it worthwhile. oh and you'll need a film scanner or flatbed if you want digital copies... I've heard that if you go to a wal-mart, and write "process only" in the special instructions box, they'll only develop it for like 88 cents, but the one time I tried they ignored me and charged me $6 for the prints and the negs.

well the leica's are not that *quiet*, but the shutter sound is...different? it's a low pitched click, that doesn't really sound like a shutter at all, especially if you're used to SLR shutters. like if someone heard you but didn't see you shoot a frame, they wouldn't think you were shooting, whereas they would if they had heard the shutter sound of a SLR. does that make sense?

xp

not usually. saves $$ and space. you get decent scans that are suitable for putting on the web or for small to medium sized prints. you can always get prints of just the ones you want made later.

i guess, i have a lot of photos that are really just blur+lightleak

costco, wal-mart, wallgreens will all do "process only" for a buck or two and then charge $3-$4 for a CD cd scans. which seems like a lot but fuck it scanning negatives on your own is such a pain in the ass, especially when you have 6 or 7 rolls to do.

sorry to hijack this thread-- maybe you guys have a FILM thread somewhere?

Typical high-street prices in the UK:

36exp C41, dev+print+scan - about £7
36exp E6, dev+mount+scan - about £10
36exp B&W, dev+print+scan - approaching £15 (and it takes two weeks!)
Medium format - £15+

You can get better deals sending away to some of independent labs, or with the likes of Truprint (but you get what you pay for - the scans are dreadful).

xxxxp

ouch! one of the things I'm looking forward to is developing my own B&W. once my job starts again and I start getting paid I might pick up a plustek film scanner - dedicated scanner similar to the old konica minolta dual scan IVs. one good workflow might be: epson v500/v700 to make a quick contact sheet of a roll, plustek/some other dedicated to make high quality high res scans of keepers. maybe replace the first part with a light table and a loupe instead.

yeah ive been paying €10 for 36ex 5x7s but thats cheaper than every other place around town and the prints are way nicer too.

for USA people: if i have lots of slide/B+W/Medium format to do at once, its worth it to send to dwane's: http://www.dwaynesphoto.com/

then again, i live on an island with only one lab that does slide film

also I've heard that some places are selling DIY c-41 kits (i.e. freestyle photo) and that with one kit you can do at least 10 rolls, usually more, and it's a pretty simple 'dunk and dry' process

hmmm... isnt the whole thing with C-41 that there's a lot less range wrt water temperature? like you have to keep your bath at EXACTLY 103F for 15 mins, wheras b+w it can flux a little?? hence no one doing C-41 at home?

\(o_O)/ just passing on what i've read

Just got back some Neopan 1600 prints (put it in at Jacobs a month ago and forgot about it) - ridiculously contrasty, not a lot of midtones. Shot quite a bit of it with a hired 12-24mm back in June - I'll pop the best on the photos thread eventually. Which might not be much.

i never worked out a happy medium in terms of b&w re: midtones - i love shooting 1600 or 3200 for the insane contrast; 100 comes out way too grey, no ink black in sight, and i'm still waiting on seeing what 400s look like. don't think ilford or fuji make an 800 ...

developing wisdom is useful - i don't think i could ever put a film in the mail. do you send it registered or something? i'd worry.

I've got some Neopan 400CN in the fridge - be interested to see what that's like (and, as a C41 film, it'll be cheap and quick to get back).

I trust the Royal Mail maybe more than I should. I liked using Metro in Birmingham for E6/120 - their scans were super - but the last time I used them they neglected to include the CD-R I'd paid for and didn't respond to any emails. So sod them.

Regular Neopan 400 was the bomb. Tonality akin to Tri-X or HP5, grain more like the Deltas/TMaxes.

Got a Canon S90 tonight to keep with me for times when the D700 is inappropriate.

as promised

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4868821090_2735a9b560_z.jpg

oh shiiiiiiiiit

Totally psyched: I have an Olympus RC which is missing the shutter dial (my fault) so I eBayed a lot of 5 broken models, got em for $30, received them today and am pretty sure that at least 3 of them are in very good working order. Yanked the dial from one of the broken ones, and now I've got gift cameras for my friends and family!
I realize that my last camera post on here also began with the words "Totally psyched." It's a good life I guess.

I'm mostly lurker here anyway, but had to brag.

those are very good cameras

A couple weeks later and I'll say how much I agree: great cameras and they all work (or uh at least the three I've tested). So sharp! So small!

After downloading a few of the X100 sample images and playing with them in LR, I really hope the camera handles well - ie autofocus is half decent and it's responsive. The files on Fuji's website are unsharpened and the B&W ones are particularly badly processed - five minutes in LR and a bit of sharpening does wonders for them.

A beater Leica M2!! Couldn't resist the price. I will still be skipping a few luxuries for a bit though, since I'm normally a thrift-store and flea market cameras kind of guy.

i might be buying a new camera today but idk i feel like i would be betraying my old one, still it would mean i could put some 800iso film in it for taking night time photos and i wouldnt have to use the whole roll before i could go back to my normal ones.

cool! come w a lens? how beater? details? xp

Eh, it's pretty beat looking. It would mostly be just normal scratches and occasional flaking vulcanite, but on the counter-side corner there's some significant denting. Looks like it took a nasty fall at some point. Functions (seemingly) fine. Shutter speeds seem accurate etc. but I'll know better when I finish off the roll I've started going through.
No lens. So I am just starting off with a low-end Voigtlander 35. Will be on the lookout to upgrade when I have the money or a deal comes up on CL etc.

And xp: I also feel as if I've betrayed my Olympus RCs! After lauding them so much and all. And I feel sorry for my Pentax, and my Minolta AL, and my borrowed Nikon F2, or the FED, or the XA etc. I'm a little nostalgic about every camera I pick up and feel kind of guilty when I get new one. I think the goal is to settle on just a few that each have their purpose.

plax i usually roll w/ 2 cameras: 1 loaded w/ b&w and one w/ color/slide film

i dont do b+w but i wanna be able to take night photos that dont look like something christopher doyle vomited on

but yeah, looking into soviet copies of leicas and stuff on ebay.

now that i have a job and shit

anyway 2 cameras = roll w/ 2 diff types of film

yeah this is something that actually only occurred to me for the first time last night!

its awesome try it

as long as nobody outbids me I will!

one of them comes w/ like additional lenses. Idk it all seems a bit much, this is my only camera except for this shitty digital thing i never used and a crappy one an ex gave me when he was done w/ it that survived abt a month w/ me as owner

i dont do b+w but i wanna be able to take night photos that dont look like something christopher doyle vomited on

lol. go for 1600 i say.

really, i only start getting handshake at 1/8 and most of my night shots are 1/2 - 2s atm, i thought 800 would be fine?

god i used to think u just had to press a button

new board description

plax russian cameras are kind of hit or miss

chinavision strangely enough I also bought a beater M2 recently, that's dented in the same area as yours :o

I have a disease

really, i only start getting handshake at 1/8 and most of my night shots are 1/2 - 2s atm, i thought 800 would be fine?

I'd just buy the new Portra 400 that can be shot from 400-1600 on the same roll without issue, and shoot 1600 when light demands it.

200 is the only iso i've used even though i have some 400 but its all 24exp so im too cheap to use it.

well i bought a supercute little FED-3 for £31 incl deliver and a leather case. goes from 1s-1/500+B so i figure it can be my night one for throwing some 800/1600 (depending) into. feel v. excited about all this btw!