F100 and film question vs DSLR

[helder_santos]

Okay, I was at Adorama and I picked up a great shape F100 for $300.

I thought it was great deal and only when I got home did I start thinking about

film and that 35mm was going to possibly be gone in two or three year? Is

that real? If 35mm going to be gone? Should I just return this camera and keep

my 2 N8008 bodies and AIS lenses? I have a D50 now and I love it but as a

camera it is not an F100!

I still will have my Hassi and my Pentax 67 so what do I do? Do I return the

$300 F100 and use the money towards something else? Or do I keep it?

 

Thanks

 

Helder

[leslie_cheung]

I say return it unless you shoot sports or fast action then you may want to keep it as neither

the d50 nor the n8008 is adequate for fast action.

[StuartMoxham]

How do you know that 35mm film will possibly be gone in 2-3 years from now. If you have a use for the camera then keep if you don't take it back or sell it on. If you shoot film on a regular basis then you could put it to good use over the next few years. One way to be sure that you would use it would be to sell the D50 instead.

[craig_shearman1]

Keep the F100. Whatever happens with digital, 35mm was (and still is) the most popular film format of all time, used by professionals and amateurs alike. The selection of film stocks is going to dwindle over the years, but 35mm will be with us for decades to come and will probably be the last film format to go. 120/220 for your Blad and Pentax will be gone long before 35mm. Anybody who tells you 35mm will be gone in two to three years simply doesn't know what they're talking about. Kodak kept making double 8mm movie film, for example, for 30 years after the cameras were discontinued, and still makes Super 8 movie film 20 years after video took over. You can still find 126 and 110 cartridges and those cameras haven't been made in years either. As for the cameras, the F100 is far superior to the N8008, so if anything I would sell those two bodies for whatever I could get and keep the F100. I would also sell the D50 and take the money from it and the N8008 bodies and put them toward at least a D80, preferably a D200. Then you would have a solid digital SLR plus a solid film SLR as backup, with both using the same lenses and many of the same accessories.

[ShunCheung]

There is absolutely no reason for me to believe that 35mm film will be gone in 2, 3 years. The cost for slide film and especially processing has been going up rather rapidly. Print film is not seriously affected yet. I don't shoot much film any more myself, but if you prefer film, you can shoot that for years to come. It may become expensive and less convenient to get film developed over time.

 

In other words, whatever reason you decided to buy the F100 recently shouldn't have changed in the last day or two.

[steve_levine]

The last super-8 movie camera rolled out of a factory over 20 years ago. Kodak still makes film for it.

 

 

There are literally tens of millions of film shooters out there in the US alone. Someone will continue making film to cater to a market this large.

[ellis_vener_photography]

<I>...When I got home did I start thinking about film and that 35mm was going to possibly

be gone in two or three year?</I><P>35mm film will still be around and getting used three

years from now, but it will be harder and harder to find professional quality (i.e. clean and

consistent and fast) processing.

[RaymondC]

If ya wanna use it keep it, if not sell it.

You can of course use your other gears film or digi and still touch the F100 or not touch it. Some may shoot film in MF or LF only or some may use 35mm as well.

 

If film will be gone in 2-3yr like ya say, what's gonna happen to all your other film camera's?

 

Personally I enjoy film more than digital. If I had a choice of a FF digital or a F6 and I cannot sell off to profit I take a F6 anyday. What's more satisfying than buy slide film, shoot it, get them back like the good old days or Tri-X or Velvia, Provia, and the lab has no say in it, for b/w do it yourself or give ya receipe for the lab and choose your developer agent, for slide processed as E6 and there is no post processing at all. For this reason I don't like C41 or digital, at the end of the day you are scanning and then photoshopping. For me comes a time when I say, why do I bother, if I keep doing this isn't my results gonna be repetitive, why shoot RAW and take the contrast and saturation all the way down and then photoshop the file around, geez.. not my style at all. Then you have issues of HDD crashes or CDs not working, its not really feasible to say pop on a CD and it still works in 10yrs.

 

My local store has b/w film that has a expiry date to 2011.

[erik_loza]

I shoot mostly landscapes these days with film. By all accounts, my F5 is the wrong tool for

the job. Big, heavy to pack around, wasted AF performance. I could just as easily us a little

FA, F3, or since I am used to the weight, go up to a medium-format rangefinder. On top of

all that, it only sees daylight a few times a year, these days.

 

Though I use the D70s for commercial work on a sometimes daily basis, I feel no more

connection to it than I do to my PC. It is a tool, nothing more. Shoot what you want,

because the camera you're most comfortable with is the one you'll use. If you like it, keep

it. If you don't, return it.

[nolan_ross]

What produces the best images to your eyes. The D50 or the N8008. Decide that and you know what to do. Film is not going away so that is not a problem.

[oceanphysics]

If you're just using AIS lenses it's not clear to me that the F100 does anything that the 8008 doesn't. If you're planning on buying some AF lenses, different story.

[Peter_in_PA]

Craig says "120/220 for your Blad and Pentax will be gone long before 35mm" I disagree.

120/220 has a STRONG advantage over 35mm when scanned, and a STRONG advantage

image-wise over any DSLR in the right hands, when scanned even on a medium priced

scanner...

 

35mm, on the other hand, according to many (including me) is already inferior to the

results from the best DSLRs in many ways. I think 120/220 and large format film have

quite a future...

 

35mm film will probably be available for DECADES... however, the cost of film and

processing (both of which are environmental nightmares, by the way...) will skyrocket even

more than we have seen, imho. And the value of film cameras is already plummeting at a

dizzying rate. Even relatively valuable SLRs have seen a huge tumble.

 

I just sold all my film gear, and I have NO regrets, even though I got pennies for them.

 

Go digital, and don't look back is my take...

[lahuasteca]

Keep the F100. I have both the F100 and D70s - for a number of reasons, I, personally

(others may and probably will differ) prefer the F100. It has almost infallible matrix metering

and very fast AF, plus you can use your AIS lenses with it.

 

Again, for me, two cameras stand out in the Nikon line - FE2 for manual focus and F100 for

AF.

[nolan_ross]

Gene, I agree. The FE2 and F100 are stand out camera's. I love the look of film and I love these camera's. Solid well built and beautiful camera's. For landscape I do prefer medium format however. It's just hard to beat, but I am sure large format does just that. I just haven't gone there.

[derek_stanton2]

I just bought an F100... and i'm a CANON guy. I have an EOS 5D digital, EOS 3 for film...but i

love the feel of Nikon bodies. I'm counting on Tri-X and HP5 being around for 20 years.

 

If i were you, i'd sell both N8008s, and either the Hassy or the Pentax, depending on which

better suits your needs. Keep the F100, D50, and one MF system. I also had a P67 and Hassy

kit. I sold the Pentax gear, and although i occasionally long for it again, i couldn't justify all

the different systems sitting around....

[hugh_sakols]

I own two medium format cameras and a Nikon F100. Yes I want a D200 but I will still hold on to my F100. If I were to travel abroad, I imagine I would take the F100 so that I could put together a nice slide show - remember slides. Furthermore, when I travel I go light and don't want to deal with rechargeable batteries or lap tops. I was just at a gathering with some photographers represented from the Ansel Adams Gallery where we shared images. One member in our group still projects 35mm film and his work is incredible. Other than for travel, I use my F100 for macro photography (with a sb28 flash) and exteme wide angle that I can't achieve very well with medium format or a nikon digital. I agree that the F100 is an incredibly well designed camera.

 

www.yosemitecollection.com

[RaymondC]

Yeah I think I streamline it out. For me its subjective, I like the WLF so I sell the Pentax and keep the Blad. Sell the older film Nikon and keep the F100, my bro says the F100 is a nice camera a bit heavy and bulky for travel or backpack style travelling but its a well balanced camera and fits your hand like a glove. If you travel with film I get a N//F80 and when NAS settles in I get a F6 or a F2 :D

 

I tend to like to have one system per line of formats to keep it simple. I can have more than one body, one that is just nice and the other for simplicity and portability like on travelling. At home one can use a heavier cam and a lighter cam to with diff speed film, on travel one may prefer to have 2x F80 for example. The MF just get the changeable backs, one reason I like them over the Pentax.

[joseph_smith3]

I agree with Craig, keep the F 100 and sell the 8008 cameras. The F 100 is far superior to the 8008. I should know, I have both and have used both extensively with slide film. The F100 clearly outperforms the 8008. Film will be around for a long time. Good local film processors are another issue, but since you shoot medium format you already know that. Fuji has announced it is thinking about reintroducing Velvia 50. The film world has not ended. Keep those AIS lenses as they will meter with a D 200. I say plan on adding a D 200 by selling the 8008 s and maybe even the d 50. I still have my f 100 even though I use my d 200 most of the time.

 

Joe Smith

[nolan_ross]

The FE-2, F100 and a D200 would certainly take care of business. I don't think selling the N8008s would help much. I just bought one in dead mint shape of the bay for $40.00. It's great when buying but not so great when selling.

[unohuu]

i like the F100 so much i now have three of them; two with MB-15s. This camera is a great match for someone who shot with a Minolta Maxxum 7 before. i slove the feel of the camera in my hand and i absolutely love the matrix metering. keep the F100 and sell the N8008s is my opinion. i will be looking for the equivalent in the DSLRs soon.

[basarab]

Film is not going away. Just fading a bit. In my opinion the 35mm print film has already less end quality than today's top of the line DLSRs. This is mainly because of the way it is being processed and not because of its own intrinsic properties. However 35mm slides are still going to be above digital for a few more years.

 

The question you must ask yourself is this: can I afford a digital DSLR equivalent in performance to the F100(camera mind you, not the film)? If yes then do the obvious. If no then... do the obvious. (Please do the math on how much the film and processing will cost vs. digital and depending on how much you're shooting).

 

Remember that 35mm film has been invented as a tool for news photographers who couldn'd afford to use LF cameras because they were loosing too many shots (or they were maybe just plain lazy :) ). So 35mm was meant for speed and not quality. If you are looking for FILM quality then a 4x5 is a must. (Tachihara recommended).

 

Myself? I would skip the F100 and go for a LF camera since I would shoot as much with eitherone and the LF is clearly the winner quality wise. But that's me!

 

Take care

Cristi Basarab

[jose_angel]

Film will be here for a lot of years more, in my opinion. There will be also second file b/w film makers in the eastern europe for a time.

But what Ellis said: proccesing is from now another problem. All pro-labs have switched to digital, a lot of them seems to have no interest in quality E-6 processing, unless at a reasonable price (to me).

 

Second problem: cost. Velvias are highly priced now, as the E-6 does. Each shot costs me 0.40-0.50 euros. 15 euros per rolls is a very high price.

 

What would I do? I would sell the 8008 bodies and the Pentax 6x7; keep the most interesting AiS lenses (if so), the F100 (with a good&fast AFD zoom) and the Hassi. B/W film is still cheap and interesting (home darkroom).

[jose_angel]

And keep the D50, for cheap everyday use.

[tom nb]

Keep the F100 - it's such a good camera. My only gripe is that it's so much bigger than earlier Nikons like the FM2N or FE - but it's so well designed and comfortable to use. And it takes real photographs you can print, scan, or whatever. I use my F100 with MF lenses - it even tells you when it thinks you're correctly focused! Fantastic.

 

I hope it isn't true that 120 film is on the way out. That would be a real tragedy...

[anthony_valvo]

Keep the camera, enjoy film. It will be here for years to come. Some are even returning to film.