I shoot film. Ask me almost anything.

[jmowreader]

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I'd like to know why you shoot film.

I find digital so much more fun, more immediate, no waiting, more adaptable.

I don't mean to make you defensive! I love digital so much that I cannot imagine shooting film any more.

[jmowreader]

2. I have a few reasons

The most important: I like the look of pictures shot on film better than the look of pictures shot on digital.

I could throw a ton of technical and practical issues out there to support shooting either film or digital, but for me it comes down to the quality of the images. I can tell the difference between a digital camera image and a film image - ESPECIALLY if I shoot on film larger than 35mm - and I prefer film images.

[ManiacJoe]

12. Is your primary output paper prints or web images?

[jmowreader]

13. Paper prints

Nowadays it's almost impossible to print color optically - with an enlarger and filters. You can only get paper for negatives - Ilfochrome and Agfachrome Speed direct-positive papers were discontinued years ago, Ektachrome paper was discontinued even farther back than that (it should have been discontinued the day before it was introduced) and the only way to pull a dye transfer - which, sadly, I never got the chance to do - is to make your own matrix film. Dye transfer is THE coolest process on the planet, if you don't mind needing a full day and about $200 worth of materials to make one print and you don't mind smelling permanently of acetic acid - the process requires making "matrices" that absorb dye, soaking them in 10 percent acetic acid to prep them, mixing the dyes with acetic acid, and then soaking the matrices in dye to create the images. Yeah, four 20x24 pans full of vinegar fumes would tend to soak into the skin if you do this enough to make it worthwhile. My approach is to pull a very large scan off film with an old graphic arts scanner and print to wide-format inkjet. (To print a 16x20, the size I usually pull, I will make a scan 4800 pixels x 6000 pixels and print at 300 dpi...in digital camera terms, that's a 28 megapixel image.)

[ManiacJoe]

14. I thought that prints would be your choice.

There is something about a film print that is different from a digital print.

On the other hand, if you were going to end up as a web image, starting from a film negative would see like a pain in the ass.

While I still have my Minolta X-570 and my dad's XD5, I don't think either camera has seen any film since the 1990s.

[jmowreader]

15. sRGB saps the life out of anything you apply it to

If you shoot mainly for the Internet, you may as well just use your cell phone - lots more convenient and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway.

I think everything has its place...digital photography's place is journalism. On Saturday we ran a story about a high school basketball game. Our photographer went to the school with his EOS 70D. Tip-off was 7:30. The game ended at 9. The pictures were on the page before the story was. You simply cannot do that with film - in olden times we would have thrown 200 words on the page and let people guess as to what the game really looked like; today we can run full-color pictures in no time at all. (My press will print 16-page full-color sections. The advertisers love it, and the readers even more.) For my own stuff, I'm not in that big a hurry.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. What kind of gun do you use?

[jmowreader]

4. Three of them, actually

My favorite film gun is a Mamiya 645 Pro TL. It fires 120-format bullets - well, film - and puts 15 shots on a roll. My particular example has a 105-210mm lens (roughly equivalent to 65-130mm on a 35mm camera), split-image/microprism focusing screen, power winder, and automatic exposure prism. The advantage of 120 over 35mm is simple: the 35mm film frame is 36mm wide x 24mm high; the frame my Mamiya exposes is 56mm wide x 42mm high. Just like with your digital sensor, the bigger it is the nicer the pictures will look.

Mamiyas are just a bit different from most 35mm cameras - you can replace a LOT of parts to set up the camera the way you want it. If you shoot sports where you know you'll never need to focus (because the action is so far away the lens lives at infinity setting) there is a "sports finder" that is very much like a gunsight - point the thing at the action and press the shutter button. If you'd rather hand-wind your film, you can put a winding knob on it. There are several different film formats you can use - 120 roll film, 220 roll film, 35mm, and Polaroid all have backs available. The film back setup is very handy: I carry two backs. One is on the camera. The other is in my bag with a roll of film in it. There are two ways I can play this: I can put the same film in both backs and be able to reload the camera in a few seconds, or put two completely different films in (Ektar 100 in one back and Portra 400 in the other, perhaps?) and be able to go between the two without losing a frame. I like this camera enough that if I lived in a place that had walk-in 120 processing, I wouldn't want to have a 35mm camera. The only significant drawback is, the longest lens they sell for it is the equivalent of 300mm on a 35. (The tradeoff is, the negative is large enough you can crop the shit out of it without really getting hurt.)

I also have a Mamiya RB67. It shoots a 56mm high x 67mm wide frame. Before I bought my 645, I thought hard about adding a couple lenses and a metering finder to the RB...then I realized if I got the camera set up the way I wanted it for the work I want to do with it (lots of landscapes, water shots and cityscapes) I'd need a hand truck to haul it around. (The body with 127mm lens, which is the normal lens on that format, a 120 back, and a metering prism weighs nearly ten pounds.) It's huge and it's imposing...but it makes fantastic images, so every once in a while I'll pull the brute out. This is the camera I used to photograph demonstrations in Berlin with because if disaster struck I could have used it as a club.

I also have a 35. I started out with Minoltas - XG-Ms and X-700s. I shot a LOT of film on Minoltas. Most of it is still classified. I decided to go to autofocus and switched to Canon EOS. For several years I thought EOS was the cat's ass...until I got deployed to help Florida recover from Hurricane Andrew. The heat killed the focusing motor in my 100-300 lens. Hell with that man, I'm switching to Nikon! Right now I use an F4S with a 28-70 and 70-210 lens pair. If I need the negatives right away, or need more lens than my 645 has, this is my tool of choice. I'm planning to take a long train trip within the next couple of years, and will use this camera for photographing through the windows - mainly because it'll print the time and date between frames and I'll be able to use that information to help figure out where each photo was made.

[juxtaposed]

6. After reading your post i'm loading up my x-700 with an expired roll of Ilford Delta 100

and seeing what I can get! Thanks!

My mamiya c33 that I sold a few tears back, Yes tears.


My pentax 67 with 45mm which I still have and love.


And then my Minolta x700 with a 17mm 2.8 which I'll never get rid of.


I've gotten rid of most of my film cameras, but still have a few left.
If it was easy to get developed I'd use them more.

[jmowreader]

7. Have you tried Dwayne's?

http://www.dwaynesphoto.com

They get all my 120 work. They also do 35, and a few other formats - I know they run 110 and they may run 126. They'll process b&w, C-41 and E-6. And service is quick. I shipped 20 rolls from Seattle on a Friday and had it back in Idaho 12 days later.

Try http://www.freestylephoto.biz for film. They have every kind you can imagine, with one exception: ORWO black & white. That you can get from http://www.orwona.com. Freestyle also has a big range of inkjet paper, darkroom paper, chemicals...all you need.

[juxtaposed]

20. thanks for the links, do you use a drum scanners? if so what type if not what type and why you like

also I read you make prints 16x20 what printer do you like and why?
Thanks again

[jmowreader]

24. I own a Screen DT-S 1030AI drum scanner

Reason is simple: it is the best scanner I can get into my abode...and it is a very good scanner.

If I could find one at a reasonable price (as in "less than $5000&quot I'd love to have a Linotype-Hell Tango - 11,000 dpi resolution and higher dMax, plus it looks really cool - like R2D2 with a piece of clear pipe where his head used to be.

Other good scanners are Linotype-Hell S3400 and S3800, Screen DT-S1045AI and SG-8060...Crosfield 636 and Screen 737/757/777 are excellent scanners but don't buy one because they run on 3-phase power and you have to build the room around them because they are fucking huge. (Rumor has it that the Screen 737 and the Boeing 737 are the same size. I worked in a place that had one, and I assure you it's not as big as a 737...it is, however, bigger than a Harley. OMG these things are enormous.)

What NOT to get: Howteks, Scanviews, Screen DT-S1015, and I'd be more than a little reticent about Imacons because they're not actually drum scanners - they are CCD "flatbed" scanners with round beds.

You have to dedicate an old Mac to one. Mine runs on a Power Mac G4 with a SCSI card.

Printers? I haven't got one of my own yet, but I found out Walgreen's has put an Epson 7900 (24" carriage) in each of its stores. There's nothing wrong with that printer, so I found the local store that's got the most competent operator and take my files only to her. When I get my own printer, I'll probably wind up with an Epson 3880 - which in its size range (17" carriage) has the best price/performance going.

[alfredo]

10. What a collection.

My first SLR was a Pentax Spotmatic. Wonderful camera

I had a Yashica D. I still mourn the loss of that camera.

[juxtaposed]

21. thanks, i've gotten rid of most on the left side of the image.

I found the TLR's hard to shoot hand held, for me better on a tripod.
My first real camera was a Minolta 102 before that I had an instamatic which I still have which took the cube flash bulbs!

[alfredo]

23. Actually my first camera was the Brownie Flash Six-20

The next was the Brownie Hawkeye.

[alfredo]

5. What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

And where can I get black and white film developed in the US?

[jmowreader]

8. An African swallow or a European swallow?

Well, you have to know these things when you're a king.

As to your film, send it to Dwayne's...and to GET the film, try Freestyle (http://www.freestylephoto.biz), Glazer's Camera (http://www.glazerscamera.com), Adorama (http://www.adorama.com) or B&H (http://www.bandh.com).

Be forewarned: neither Adorama nor B&H accepts orders on any Jewish holiday, so if you need to order something on one of those days, you'll have to wait till their e-catalog reopens for trade. I keep enough film in the freezer that it's not an issue.

[alfredo]

9. Huh? I... I don't know that.

I will check out B&H. Steve Huff seems to like them.

I have a local source for Ilford.

[jmowreader]

11. Try the former-East Bloc films too

Adox, Foma, ORWO...those guys were using the prewar Agfa panchromatic emulsion formulas, and since they actually worked well they saw no need to change.

If you are a B&W shooter, slow formerly-communist film in Tetenal's Neofin Blue developer is a combination that's extremely hard to top.

[alfredo]

16. Thanks. I used to develop my own B&W. I still have my tank.

I used Panatomic X ISO 32 and TriX 400. What would be a good replacement for the Panatomic X? I loved the fine grain of the 32, but TriX was my go to film if I wanted good contrast.

[jmowreader]

17. About the only real replacement is Ilford Pan F

If you wanted a replacement for Plus-X that would be no problem. Panatomic-X is a different story: Agfa no longer makes 25-speed film (Agfa's factory now makes film under the Rollei brand) Kodak no longer makes the base Panatomic-X was on...Pan F is as good as it gets, and it's a sweet film.

If you shot 120, Rollei has ATP 1.1 but it's probably non-applicable to you.

[alfredo]

18. I have no problem with picking up a used Yashica D. I'm happy with

Ilford, and will probably go with that in the future. I just found that my local store no longer stocks Ilford. Boo.

[jmowreader]

19. Feel lucky...the only local store near me charges 2x mail order prices

If I was going to go TLR, I'd look at the Lubitel 166 - made in Russia, of decent quality, probably more reliable than a 50-year-old Yashica.

[alfredo]

22. OK, I'll take a look.

[Stevenmarc]

25. Nice to see a film thread

I have some Adox Silvermax that I've been looking forward to try out.

[Stevenmarc]

26. Love B&H

Also Adorama but B&H is an experience that every photographer should take advantage of if they are ever in NYC.

[Major Nikon]

27. Do you know of a good drum scanning service?

Preferably one that also does film developing, but that's probably asking for a lot.

[jmowreader]

28. How much scanning do you need done?

I own a Screen DT-S1030AI drum scanner and have worked as a color separator...PM me.

I send my own film to Dwayne's.

[Major Nikon]

29. None at the moment

My daughter is taking photography in college, so I dug out my old film stuff she will be using. I'll be helping her along the way and if she happens to produce some really nice frames, I though it would be nice to take one or two of the best ones and have them drum scanned to produce some high quality poster sized prints. We are also thinking about doing a B&W portrait project with some of her friends. Everything will be 35mm. I have an old Nikon LS-50 that I can scan most of her stuff with, so even if we come up with a few really good frames, it probably won't be more than half a dozen or so that we'd want to drum scan. Another option would be to just have high quality professional prints made from the negatives.