Film revival?

You can still buy new film cameras. For example, the Nikon F6.

Which will take away retro look, mechanical feeling and subsequently all the fun. That's why I gave Nikon N80 to my dad and switched to OM system.

Which will take away retro look, mechanical feeling and subsequently all the fun. That's why I gave Nikon N80 to my dad and switched to OM system.

 

I've also pretty much standardized on OM cameras. But some folks expressed the concern that the lack of new film cameras and the disappearance of parts for old ones makes using film more risky. Just pointing out that there are indeed professional level new film cameras still being made.

I've also pretty much standardized on OM cameras. But some folks expressed the concern that the lack of new film cameras and the disappearance of parts for old ones makes using film more risky. Just pointing out that there are indeed professional level new film cameras still being made.

 

Still lots of ok+ quality used cameras around, though many shooters cheap-out and doom themselves buying half-dead junk.

 

Pretty certain Nikon hasn't made an F6 or F6 parts for quite some time. They're selling down inventory of a pricey white elephant. Same was true of the venerable

F3 whose production ceased long before its official discontinuation.

 

Film is a residual market now.

Voigtlander Bessa still available new from B&H. Thinking of getting one.

Still lots of ok+ quality used cameras around, though many shooters cheap-out and doom themselves buying half-dead junk.

 

Pretty certain Nikon hasn't made an F6 or F6 parts for quite some time. They're selling down inventory of a pricey white elephant. Same was true of the venerable

F3 whose production ceased long before its official discontinuation.

 

Film is a residual market now.

 

Irregardless of whether any new ones are actually being produced, you can buy a new F6 and get a 3 year warranty. Nikon will service F6's along with F5's and a couple other of other models including the much less expensive FM-10. All I'm saying is that you can still buy a film camera that you can get serviced if something goes wrong. That is very reassuring to some people.

 

Personally I like tinkering with old cameras so I would try and fix it myself and if that didn't work, pay a modest amount for a used replacement. More often that not, I'd have a another 35 mm camera sitting around anyway. Right now I don't because I've been purging a bit, but I'm in the market for an Oly rangefinder or something equally as compact.

Just curious, what does one think the demographics are for film users? I am 67 and would not be surprised that most are older than I. This would be. An important element for how the market would go.

Just curious, what does one think the demographics are for film users? I am 67 and would not be surprised that most are older than I. This would be. An important element for how the market would go.

 

I recall it was better-off seniors in Toronto who were also hardcore amateurs in the early 2000s who first jumped to digital and never shot film again. Now it's a very mixed bag('newly-wed to nearly-dead')who I see lined up on weekends at lab/film counters. Same goes for chemistry.

I've also pretty much standardized on OM cameras. But some folks expressed the concern that the lack of new film cameras and the disappearance of parts for old ones makes using film more risky. Just pointing out that there are indeed professional level new film cameras still being made.

If (when) all the film cameras die from natural causes and the only 'new' machines will be F6 and FM-10, it might just as well signify the end of film as such. But I think some new cameras will emerge eventually.

 

Just curious, what does one think the demographics are for film users? I am 67 and would not be surprised that most are older than I. This would be. An important element for how the market would go.

 

29 here. I shoot film because I've found out that digital made me lazy and took away my thinking ability.

If (when) all the film cameras die from natural causes and the only 'new' machines will be F6 and FM-10, it might just as well signify the end of film as such. But I think some new cameras will emerge eventually.

 

As a small correction, the FM-10 is now gone. IMO, it's no great loss-I have one and it's mostly just a place-holder to fill out my "collection" of film bodies.

 

 

29 here. I shoot film because I've found out that digital made me lazy and took away my thinking ability.

 

I'm 30.

 

I took a serious interest when I was in high school and about 16 years old. I wanted a "real" camera(in my mind in those days that meant an SLR) and some research led me to 3 options:

 

1. The first "affordable" DSLRs were making their way out, but we were still at $1000 for a Canon Digital Rebel or Nikon D70 kit.

 

2. I looked at and considered some new SLRs. Back in those days, Wal-Mart carried a Canon Rebel(maybe a Rebel G-I don't remember), the Nikon N55, and some sort of Minolta in the $200-300 range.

 

3. Older manual focus cameras would let me get good glass for even less money.

 

Option 1 was pretty much immediately off the table. There was no way I could come up with that kind of money then. In those days, I could get Fuji Superia for around $7 for 5 rolls(24ex, usually 26 or 27 in my A-1) at Wal-Mart. $3 send-off processing got me 3x5 prints. The $700+ savings over a low end DSLR paid for that pretty quickly.

 

In the end, I went with a Canon A-1. Since I really wanted to learn the ins and outs of photography, I saw the new options as being pretty limiting as low end SLRs then(just like DSLRs now) were optimized as glorified point and shoot cameras. I also realized the limitations of the kit zooms. $150 or so bought me an A-1 with a 50mm 1.8 and a few other lenses. I was happy, and it was a launchpad for me.

 

In my case, my interest in photography has waxed and waned over the years, but I've never STOPPED shooting film. I used a Canon Powershot A540 for a while along side film-it had a full manual mode and I used it as a meter for my MF cameras. I finally picked up a DSLR in 2010, but along the way bought a few other pieces I liked/wanted and hadn't been able to afford before. I've REALLY built up my range of equipment over the past year and a half and also made a major system shift in 35mm, but I keep going along.

 

BTW, the lady at the local lab talks all the time about how much junk she gets in the E-6 line. After she's run her control strip for the day, she generally bumps my E-6 to first in line because it's a nice double check for when she starts getting under or overexposed images on a lot of other cameras.

I took a serious interest when I was in high school and about 16 years old. I wanted a "real" camera(in my mind in those days that meant an SLR) and some research led me to 3 options:

 

1. The first "affordable" DSLRs were making their way out, but we were still at $1000 for a Canon Digital Rebel or Nikon D70 kit.

 

2. I looked at and considered some new SLRs. Back in those days, Wal-Mart carried a Canon Rebel(maybe a Rebel G-I don't remember), the Nikon N55, and some sort of Minolta in the $200-300 range.

 

3. Older manual focus cameras would let me get good glass for even less money.

 

Option 1 was pretty much immediately off the table. There was no way I could come up with that kind of money then. In those days, I could get Fuji Superia for around $7 for 5 rolls(24ex, usually 26 or 27 in my A-1) at Wal-Mart. $3 send-off processing got me 3x5 prints. The $700+ savings over a low end DSLR paid for that pretty quickly.

 

In the end, I went with a Canon A-1. Since I really wanted to learn the ins and outs of photography, I saw the new options as being pretty limiting as low end SLRs then(just like DSLRs now) were optimized as glorified point and shoot cameras. I also realized the limitations of the kit zooms. $150 or so bought me an A-1 with a 50mm 1.8 and a few other lenses. I was happy, and it was a launchpad for me.

 

In my case, my interest in photography has waxed and waned over the years, but I've never STOPPED shooting film. I used a Canon Powershot A540 for a while along side film-it had a full manual mode and I used it as a meter for my MF cameras. I finally picked up a DSLR in 2010, but along the way bought a few other pieces I liked/wanted and hadn't been able to afford before. I've REALLY built up my range of equipment over the past year and a half and also made a major system shift in 35mm, but I keep going along.

 

BTW, the lady at the local lab talks all the time about how much junk she gets in the E-6 line. After she's run her control strip for the day, she generally bumps my E-6 to first in line because it's a nice double check for when she starts getting under or overexposed images on a lot of other cameras.

 

And here's how it happened with me: My dad was an amateur at my age. Back then he shot black and white, developing and printing at home (still got whole equipment). He had "Sokol" camera, a rangefinder with a weight of SLR and rather unreliable automatics. Luckily it also had a Soviet copy of Tessar lens, 50 mm f/2.8 which delivered nice pictures so I was "hooked" from the early age. My first was a "FED" camera, crude Soviet copy of Leica, it cost 10$ back then. That was the time when Kodak Gold went for 1.5$, Proimage (sold as Profoto) - 2$ and Fuji Acros 100 cost a little more than 3 dollars. Labs developed for free. But I still wanted to try a digital, thinking I would save money and space . A few years later I went for my first digital, it was a point and shoot. And in 2010 I bought my first DSLR which was Olympus E-600 with two lens outfit. I added 35 mm f/3.5 macro later. I clicked for three years in a row and found myself dumb and lazy. It was then when I first reconsidered shooting film. I tried several machines - Contax II (wonderful, yet unreliable), Zenit 11 (clunky!), Nikon N80 (good and multi-functional, but it has that "digital" feel), Minolta 9000 (alas, Minolta's electronics turned out to be not so reliable), Kiev 10 (Bigger and heavier than any other 35 mm camera I ever held) and finally without even trying any Canon, I went straight to Olympus. I bought OM-1 from KEH for 100$ with standard 50 mm lens and immediately renounced everything else - it was stylish, compact, ergonomic and did I mention it also delivered wonderful images? Aye, it's completely mechanical and manual, but years of using Glorious Soviet Steel allowed me to shoot manual!

 

I sold it a year ago (a dumb move, admittedly) just to get OM-4 with 28, 50 and 135 mm lenses outfit for 100$. It is my daily camera, 28 mm lens is good for streetjob, it fits in standard holster as if it was 50mm lens and if there's something more serious, I take other two lenses and a medium-size bag. But I'm still on the lookout for OM-1 or OM-2 that might turn up for cheap.

 

Now that I think of it, if I got my hands on Canon A-1 (no way on AE-1!) or compact Pentax (ME or ME Super primarily) back then, I would never consider OM system. It just happened to be there when I needed something better than I already had. Right now film isn't cheap in Georgia, there are no high quality films here either, but there's still a lot of enthusiasts and hipsters who prefer to shoot film and buy all the stuff from Ebay.

 

Oh and there's also a little sect of Lomography operating out here, so you could say the situation is much better than it was five years ago for example.

29 here. I shoot film because I've found out that digital made me lazy and took away my thinking ability.

Horrible when equipment pushes us around that way! :eek:

90% of the pictures I take with a digital camera are documentary in purpose.

Work, something needed for future reference, researching something work or hobby related.

Point, shoot, file.

Little if any thought to composure or aesthetic at all.

Sometimes I shoot digital with a small camera to have easily accessible backups to film if on a special outing or such, or to transmit digitally to family or friends.

Usually the wife takes over with the digital while I soot some old Pentax.

Whenever I am in a “Photography Mood” it is exclusively Film for me.

I use digital.

I ENJOY using Film.

 

Somehow I never got into the heavy artistic digital manipulation of “Phartography”........

I'm 67 years old, but I've been shooting film since I was 24.

"Horrible when equipment pushes us around that way! :eek:"Fred

 

There's a thought.

 

"I'm 67 years old, but I've been shooting film since I was 24."Vince.

 

And.....it still makes you happy...how cool is that.

 

Gives me a warm feeling ..... and I mostly,not always, shoot digital.

 

Got a Leica M2, Lucky me.

Horrible when equipment pushes us around that way! :eek:

Everything comes at a price I reckon. And if that was a price to take me back to film, so be it.

It is the cost and inconvenience that attracts me to film Edited April 22, 2018 by donald_miller|5

As a small correction, the FM-10 is now gone. IMO, it's no great loss-I have one and it's mostly just a place-holder to fill out my "collection" of film bodies.

 

Nikon USA still shows the FM-10 on their website.

 

www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/film-cameras/index.page

Nikon USA still shows the FM-10 on their website.

 

www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/film-cameras/index.page

 

B&Hs website tends to be a bit more current, and they show it as "no longer available"

 

Nikon FM10 35mm SLR Camera with 35-70mm Lens 1689 B&H Photo

 

That's in contrast to the F6, which they show as "temporarily out of stock"(if I had to guess, they probably order the latter as needed).

Anyone see the film Kodachrome on Netflix? It's the standard 'road trip to redemption' story but has some nice photography and framing in it (it was also shot on film).

 

Yah, just discovered it yesterday night. Will have to watch it sometime.

I also noticed the purple greenish hue in the dark tones in some of the scenes from the trailer, just like the 70s movies shot on film. I don't know if it sounds stupid, but when I read the storyline, the first thing that appeared in my mind is, why didn't they just send the rolls by mail.

It felt like a weak excuse for a road trip, but there may be a genuine reason that is there in the whole movie which I haven't seen yet.

See the movie Road Trip. Thats what I call a genuine reason ;)

My opinion, they could just have mailed the rolls and looked for a better excuse to visit somewhere else,

Kodachrome 1938 Bantam camera

I watched "Kodachrome" last night. Predictable storyline, a bit slow but I liked some parts. Since they were using a real scenario, I quickly looked up to see if that was really "Dwayne" toward the end.

 

I think "Camera Store" is still on Netflix. I liked that film overall; kind of fun to remember what mall stores like Ritz and Wolf Camera were like.

 

Eric Sande

BTW, the lady at the local lab talks all the time about how much junk she gets in the E-6 line. After she's run her control strip for the day, she generally bumps my E-6 to first in line because it's a nice double check for when she starts getting under or overexposed images on a lot of other cameras.

Wonder if she says that to all her E6 customers. Just asking...