A stranger told me film is back..

[Huss]

Walking out of my local grocery store (Trader Joe's in Marina Del Rey - amazing location on the water!) a gentleman saw my film camera and approached me.
He then proceeded to ask me what was going on, is film coming back? Because he had just been to Disneyland and was shocked to see so many people with film cameras.
"Some of the photographers were as young as 12!"

Cool to hear!

Now back to your regular programming.

[Prest_400]

Last week there was a photography exhibition series in town, but during the short hour I was around a local climate march I noticed 4 film cameras. Out of a small group.
So far I know the gentleman that had a Mamiya 7 was part of the exhibitions, but the rest were young people.

[Ccoppola82]

I wear a camera everywhere I go for the past year or so. Usually an m6 or m2. I'm always amazed how many people stop to compliment me on my "cool old camera". Lol

[kiemchacsu]

Originally Posted by Ccoppola82

I wear a camera everywhere I go for the past year or so. Usually an m6 or m2. I'm always amazed how many people stop to compliment me on my "cool old camera". Lol

try a Rolleiflex and see how people react, LOL

[Doug]

Strangely enough I get similar comments, like "what's with the antique camera?" from my physician and a compliment for using a film camera from a newspaper gal smoking out back of the newspaper offices. And others. But it's always been a digital M Leica!

[raydm6]

This is great to hear!

[DMA1965]

I live near Yosemite and go there a lot. In the last year I have begun noticing lots of young people using film cameras. It warms my heart.

[css9450]

Originally Posted by Doug

Strangely enough I get similar comments, like "what's with the antique camera?"

I get comments like that about my cell phone. Its a "dumb" phone.

[Ko.Fe.]

I’m committing to Toronto, walking regularly to amazing water front location where I’m responsible for programs without interruption.
I have seen few more comparing to none. One person with black M4, another with 120 Diana and couple more. Not so bad for fourth largest city in NA.

[Brian Atherton]

A couple of weekends ago in London wandering around - as you do - a middle-aged bloke recognised my M6, opining what a great camera it is, and what a pity film is gone and I must have a secret film stash. When I told him no, film and film cameras are very much alive and readily available he said: ‘Christ! If you’re still using a film camera, digital really must be rubbish.”

[Timmyjoe]

I see more and more young people (okay, they're probably in their 20's, but from the 62 year old vantage point, they're young people) walking around Chicago with old Canon film cameras like the AE-1. I think it's currently "hip".

Best,
-Tim

[ozmoose]

Film is certainly alive and well in my house.

I did a recent stocktake of my film freezer - 439 rolls of 120 (mostly B&W) and 135 rolls of 35mm. Also some bulk rolls of long-deceased films like Panatomic-X and Efke (very lovely film, this).

So yes, film is alive and well with me. If a bit stiff from freezing...

[Out to Lunch]

film is back..

I don't think it ever disappeared. This said, Saigon has an enthusiastic film community of, mostly young people but the film infrastructure has been largely wiped out. Hundreds of film shops closed their doors and sold their equipment -I've always wondered where it went. Today, a handful of shops remain and the cost of developing, scanning and printing film is high. Especially scanning is proving to be a pita. The next time I travel out of the region, I'll bring my own scanner and take it from there.

[Solinar]

I work at a major state university - where film cameras are far and few between. I honestly can't remember when I last saw another photographer with a film camera in these parts.

In New Orleans, Louisiana - it was a different story. I saw four being used in one day.

[IIIg]

Originally Posted by kiemchacsu

try a Rolleiflex and see how people react, LOL

I'm in Istria at the moment with a Rollei 3.5E2 (Xenotar, if it matters to anyone).

Three or four pleasant conversations a day; usually about the good old days and current availability of film.

Good light all-

[Godfrey]

Since I've never stopped using film even while digital came into being and has moved well beyond it, I have to wonder why the notion that "some others are using film again!" is such a big deal.

Most people who see me with an SX-70 or a Hasselblad or a Robot II on the street are more curious about what is now "that weird old camera you're using" than whether it is film or digital. They take a picture of me using it with their Android or iPhone, that they send to another friend who likes "weird old cameras" ...

At the electronica dance concert I went to last Wednesday evening, there was not a single film camera in sight ... film is USELESS for recording an event like this! You need movie capture, sensitivity and dynamic range, and the ability to see whether what you just snapped succeeded. The smartphone rules.

iPhone 8 Plus

Film is wonderful stuff, I'll keep shooting it as long as I can get it for my cameras. But good Photography transcends the medium of capture.

G

[Guth]

Originally Posted by Timmyjoe

I see more and more young people (okay, they're probably in their 20's, but from the 62 year old vantage point, they're young people) walking around Chicago with old Canon film cameras like the AE-1. I think it's currently "hip".

I've concluded the same as the story is very similar here in Portland.

[fadedpastels]

I also just got back from a trip to Disneyland and saw at least 3 chrome Canon AE-1's all toted by women not including my wife's black Canon AE-1 Program. Inside Mickey's house as I took some photos of my daughter with said mouse the assistant whispered to the staff photographer "that was film wasn't it?" At Griffith Observatory I saw a guy with a Bronica SQ-A that seemed like he was on a mission.

[Huss]

Originally Posted by Godfrey

..
At the electronica dance concert I went to last Wednesday evening, there was not a single film camera in sight ... film is USELESS for recording an event like this! You need movie capture, sensitivity and dynamic range, and the ability to see whether what you just snapped succeeded. The smartphone rules.



G

No it isn't. People have been shooting concert photography for years before the advent of digital.

[Jake Mongey]

Originally Posted by Godfrey

At the electronica dance concert I went to last Wednesday evening, there was not a single film camera in sight ... film is USELESS for recording an event like this! You need movie capture, sensitivity and dynamic range, and the ability to see whether what you just snapped succeeded.

Its not entirely useless, Ive been shooting the band the Black Tree Vultures for some time in horrible venues and relying on delta 3200 pushed up to 12800 and sometimes further in XTOl along with my Nikon F2`s and a few lenses has netted me some good results. Difficult, yes - Useless, not quite.









In response to the rest of the thread, across the london universities most work produced is shot on film by the student in 2nd and third years and you do see a hell of a lot of young people shooting on film (Me being one of them) - Admittedly london is a capital city and we do have a really good range of film photography shops across the city.

[Ko.Fe.]

Originally Posted by Huss

No it isn't. People have been shooting concert photography for years before the advent of digital.

This is the first concert ever for masters of electronica music. No film.
https://youtu.be/vNoFHdlMrtI

[Godfrey]

Originally Posted by Huss

No it isn't. People have been shooting concert photography for years before the advent of digital.

It's a waste of time for me to not have instant feedback at these kinds of events now that it is available. Why bother with film? There's no advantage to it.

I was shooting these events with film since the late 1960s. I'd never go back to that now that I have good digital capture that is *far far* more flexible and higher quality for this kind of shooting.

G

[Huss]

Originally Posted by Godfrey

It's a waste of time for me to not have instant feedback at these kinds of events now that it is available. Why bother with film? There's no advantage to it.

I was shooting these events with film since the late 1960s. I'd never go back to that now that I have good digital capture that is *far far* more flexible and higher quality for this kind of shooting.

G

I think you are in the wrong thread.

It is called 'a stranger told me film is back'
not "iphones rule".

Back to ur regular programming..

[Hogarth Ferguson]

Man, I really dislike trader joes but I really love film, what a confusing feeling!

[B-9]

Film is back.

Back again.

Film is back.

Tell a friend!

[B-9]

Two Canon AE-1s go round the outside round the outside.

Nicca-Nicca-Yashica Slim T*

[frank-grumman]

Just sold my Nikon Z7 and FTZ. Left with "only" my F6 and a Nikkor 24-120. One camera, one lens. V850 for scanning and Lab-Box for developing. Ought to be fun. I'll only have myself to blame for crappy outcomes (as it were).

[B-9]

Which Version? The new 24-120? The F6 has to be a killer kit in use.

Always heard the V1 VR was garbage.

[Godfrey]

Originally Posted by Huss

I think you are in the wrong thread.

It is called 'a stranger told me film is back'
not "iphones rule".

Back to ur regular programming..

The stranger was wrong. Film was never away, it's been here all the time.
The few that continue to use it know this.

So what's the big deal?

G

[Yokosuka_Mike]

A stranger told me film was back
I took him at his word
He had a camera around his neck
He said “this ain’t no Micro 4-thirds”

His camera had a funny lever
And there was no screen on the back
He mention something like
“Film is forever”
I thought this sounds so absurd

He cocked his camera like a hand held gun
Then aimed it at my head
Smile he said, it’ll be fun
Because unlike you,
Film will never be dead!

Just having some fun,
Mike

[Godfrey]

I love making photographs, every day. Today I shot film, like I do about every other day.

MiNT InstaKon RF70

G

[Guth]

Originally Posted by Godfrey

At the electronica dance concert I went to last Wednesday evening, there was not a single film camera in sight

That likely says more about the musical tastes of film camera users than the superiority of one format over the other.

[Guth]

By the way, while film might "be back", apparently the camera store is not (based on many of the replies found in another recent thread around here). Interesting times.

[Pál_K]

Originally Posted by Yokosuka_Mike

A stranger told me film was back
I took him at his word
He had a camera around his neck
He said “this ain’t no Micro 4-thirds”

His camera had a funny lever
And there was no screen on the back
He mention something like
“Film is forever”
I thought this sounds so absurd

He cocked his camera like a hand held gun
Then aimed it at my head
Smile he said, it’ll be fun
Because unlike you,
Film will never be dead!

Just having some fun,
Mike

Nice. I'm saving that.

[ChrisPlatt]

As conventional digital cameras become less popular those of us who tenaciously
hold on to our film cameras should become far easier to spot in a crowd.

Chris

[Huss]

Originally Posted by B-9

Which Version? The new 24-120? The F6 has to be a killer kit in use.

Always heard the V1 VR was garbage.

F6 with 24-120 G, Fuji C200, Z7 scan



Problem is peeps look at the F6 and think it is a lardy digital camera.

[B-9]

Love it!

G- it is.

F6 Envy.

[Jenrick]

I shoot motorsport as a hobby and a business. I shoot film about 1/3 of the time, varying from 35mm to large format. No matter what piece of digital gear I bring with me, I almost never have a conversation with another photographer about photography. Even the most mundane film camera though, and I will spend all day talking photography with most anyone that sees it. I had a great conversation in the pits this year with one of the crew at IndyCar's race in Austin, about how he "hadn't seen anyone shoot film in ages" at an IndyCar event.

Around town a see a decent bit of film being shot, usually by younger folks. One of the two camera stores here in town does a brisk business in film and film camera's, and I teaching photography do a brisk business in teaching new film shooters too. Obviously it isn't "the" photography option anymore, but I think it is still very much alive.

[farlymac]

I almost took a shot at going completely digital earlier this year. But I had a change of mind after going through the scans of my latest film excursions. Even dragged my 4x5 out of storage.


Yeah, film forever!


PF

[zuiko85]

I'm a dedicated film nut but...I agree with Godfrey. Not that I go to concerts, maybe an occasional one at a fair or such. But that I just obtained a ILC digital that I can get along with. A EM10.
From my perspective, a digital dummy, it is a wonder!
I can change ISO at will?! It has IBIS?! It will take all my film Pen lenses?!
It's very compact and light weight!
And, in digital years, it is practically a dinosaur, came out way-way back in 2014 yet still amazing to me.
I still love and use film. Perhaps mainly because that is what the cameras I like takes. Also use photo paper in 4x5 at ISO 6, that'll slow you down.

Thing is, using film is not a slam (or even a comment) against digital or those who only use digital. After all, digital is just the current technology.