Why should I use my film cameras instead of digital ?

[Nermi9]

Originally Posted by Speedfreak

Not being able to change ISO in the field, limited (and at the same time forced) to 36 shots, dealing with labs and scratched negatives, spending hours in front of the PC with scanning, dust removal, color correction to achieve half-decent results ... looks like film has become a pain in the rear.

The look and feel of film, however, is NOT a pain in the rear.

[doolittle]

@dreamsandart: you answered your own question in your first post: so you have a film and digital archive and so your M7 doesn't sit on a shelf.

However go with your instincts. If it feels right to shoot with the M9, shoot with the M9. So what if the M7 sits for a while?

I had the opposite dilemma: an M8 which was spending an inordinate amount of time on the shelf. I thought about selling it, but just couldn't do it. I still don't use it so much, but I know I will find myself coming back to it at some stage. It produces nice files which don't require much post-processing. That said I plan to spend some time learning to post-process better and be more efficient with my digital asset management, just not yet!

[RattyMouse]

Originally Posted by Speedfreak

There is no reason why software companies should all conspire to make a certain file format unreadable. Never happened before.



Probably saved forever on servers and backup servers and backup servers or backup servers in the www. Times change.

Of course, if you want to hand over boxes with prints, no one keeps you from having digital pictures printed.

The awesome thing with digital is, even if your home burns down, flickr will be still up and running.

I have 190 gigs of photos today. If I bought a Nikon D800, I could double that number faster than the first 190 gigs appeared. How much space will I have to have to store my photos 35 years from now?

[kanzlr]

Originally Posted by Speedfreak

Not being able to change ISO in the field, limited (and at the same time forced) to 36 shots, dealing with labs and scratched negatives, spending hours in front of the PC with scanning, dust removal, color correction to achieve half-decent results ... looks like film has become a pain in the rear.

I think it is more a problem of not knowing how to get the best results.

That 36 shots limit will not go away, but the rest?
I use a Coolscan and while I often times have to deal with scratched negatives, ICE does remove that almost perfectly.
Color correction is a breeze if you scan the raw TIFF files without conversion and use ColorNegative in PS to invert the images. It has superb film profiles and I find that for Fuji and Kodak films I do not need to do anything but maybe a slight curves/level adjustment.

Working with scanned negatives is really not more labour intensive than converting camera RAW files.

[funkydog]

Originally Posted by RattyMouse

I have 190 gigs of photos today. If I bought a Nikon D800, I could double that number faster than the first 190 gigs appeared. How much space will I have to have to store my photos 35 years from now?

Depends how many of them are keepers.

[funkydog]

Originally Posted by Speedfreak

Not being able to change ISO in the field, limited (and at the same time forced) to 36 shots, dealing with labs and scratched negatives, spending hours in front of the PC with scanning, dust removal, color correction to achieve half-decent results ... looks like film has become a pain in the rear.

Uh, funny you should mention that. Except for the part about scratched negatives, you've listed the reasons why I'm back to shooting film. Digital camera convenience was just getting too bland.
Btw, even with digital cameras and an all digital workflow, I still spend hours in Photoshop doing "color correction to achieve half-decent results" because ....(drumroll).. "real" photographers shoot raw ..(taadaa)..

[funkydog]

Originally Posted by dreamsandart

Since the M9 its been 'difficult' to get film into my M-series cameras, which I'm having regrets and wonderings about. Has the use of a digital M really made me that lazy?

Methinks you have the blahs because your M7 and M9 are too similar in functionality and handling, differing only in output media.
If you're up for a challenge, get an inexpensive user Barnack and have fun mastering it.. dim desilvered misaligned viewfinder, sluggish shutter speeds, cracked light leaking curtains, funky trimmed film leader bottom loading, reverse curl film advance, the whole ball of wax.

It's like a long drive on a country road. The destination doesn't matter, it's the sights and smells along the way.

[Chrisrw]

Seakayaker1,
Which lab in Seattle is closing in November?