Anyone gone from digital to film ??

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daftbugga

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As title has anyone on here switched from using digital back to film, if so are glad you did it??

Having enjoyed photography for 15+ years i switched to digital 2 years ago and my passion for it has been killed stone dead, due largely to what it entails, namely "#!??#@ about with computers .

I dont enjoy computers 1 bit and its lead to me being reluctant to use my camera so having decided a while ago to sell my D 80 I was going to switch back to using film now however I dont even know if i want to do that.

So I wondered if anyone else has had the same dilemma?
 
I switch from mostly digital to now mostly film.
I miss the convenience that is all.
Film is far more interesting and involving, I can't stand sitting on my arse tapping away at a keyboard like a zombie hour after hour...its dull, but its what you must do with digital.
Saying that though, I dont print much film stuff, if i had a decent scanner I'd probably end up sat in front of a keyboard tapping away like a zomb....wait....ah b****r:bang:
 
joxby said:
I can't stand sitting on my arse tapping away at a keyboard like a zombie hour after hour...its dull, but its what you must do with digital.
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yep thats exactly my problem ,i'd rather watch paint dry
i guess matters came to a head a long time ago when i bought elements 5 , i now hate it with a vengance made worse by the fact i cant get my head around it
 
I kind of had the opposite problem, in that I never got into photography because of film, mainly the expense of the film, then processing, etc. I've been into digital photography for years though starting off by borrowing a 1.3 megapixel Kodak from work!

I don't know your background but is it that you don't like computers, or just aren't used to using them?
 
the_stiffmeister said:
don't know your background but is it that you don't like computers, or just aren't used to using them?
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BOTH ! i dont enjoy them so struggle with them .
just to explain

having switched from film to digital i got a computer if it wasnt for having a digital camera i still wouldnt have a computer
 
Do you think night classes could help you get into them?
 
Make sure that the image on the card is right for what you want, in the camera, something you can’t do with film. Then take or mail the card for prossesing as if it where film. I use both digital (Nikon D200 and coolpix 5700) and film (Canon A1 and T90) both have their strengths.
 
Make sure that the image on the card is right for what you want, in the camera, something you can’t do with film.
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Ummm, why not?
 
I still shoot film sometimes and find that I shoot 1 or 2 shots getting everything right like exposure and focus unlike digital where you can just fire 50 shots and think if I get 1 or 2 gooderns out of that lot, great :lol: Film lets you enjoy photography at a slower pace I think. I would never go back to film only now, those days have gone for me.
 
After 20 years of photography; I had to put my hobby aside to train for a new carreer, after 3 years training I qualified and reassessed my photography. I sold all my film cameras and darkroom to fund the change to digital, I wish I hadn't most of the time. I was a pretty accomplished printer in my darkroom, I could produce 20x16 fibre based prints too a very high standard, but I'm realy struggling with photoshop and lightroom etc. I used to get out and take pictures just to get in the darkroom, now there's very little motivation at all, I must admit to considering packing it in altogether more than once.

Mike
 
Depending on the level of quality you desire using something like Google Picasa can generate very quick results of surprising quality and the best bit is it's easy as hell. It's designed for the masses and is very intuative.
 
Fascinating, I've recently moved into Digital and have been mulling over selling my film kit, 35mm, 6*6 Mamiya and darkroom stuff, mainly because it doesn't get used enough.

However, so far, I can't bring myself to do it. I live in hope of using all my kit (digital & film) more often. Although I have to admit I love Chimping and I also live online, if I lost my computer it would be like having an arm off. But I can see that if you really hate computers you're not going to get the full 'fun' of digital. Although even in the film world some photographers managed without going anywhere near a darkroom.
 
dazzajl said:
Ummm, why not?
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What I mean is that with film even if you double check everything twice or thrice you still have uncertainties, simple things like in wedding shots where someone blinks (closed eyes), their tongue is out, a dew drop on the eye or even their nose that you never noticed on that freezing day at a February wedding, flash flairs on spectacles and watches. Other situations like birds flying into long exposures and so on. Faults on the film itself, processing problems, nothing is certain.
 
Rhodese said:
What I mean is that with film even if you double check everything twice or thrice you still have uncertainties, simple things like in wedding shots where someone blinks (closed eyes), their tongue is out, a dew drop on the eye or even their nose that you never noticed on that freezing day at a February wedding, flash flairs on spectacles and watches. Other situations like birds flying into long exposures and so on. Faults on the film itself, processing problems, nothing is certain.
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Gottcha. :thumbs:
 
nigelcampbell said:
Yes, and I've also got rid of my phone and installed a telegraph, sold my car and purchased a horse and cart and just the other day I threw away my ipod and replaced it with a gramophone.

;)
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....and I bet you'd be a less stressed, happier person if you had. ;)

Not saying you're a stressed and unhappy person of course.
 
Never really got into photography until the digital age. I remember when I was a lad (cue Hovis music!:D) I'd wanted one of those shiny metal bodied SLR cameras but my parents wouldn't by me one.

I finally got round to getting one last month and got a Pentax ME Super from ffordes, and it's great fun to use it, but I could certainly never use film all the time, certainly for any commercial stuff. Digital seems to serve today's pressures so well.
 
, but I could certainly never use film all the time, certainly for any commercial stuff
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Indeed, we may never have have got commercial photography if it wasn't for digital. ;);)

Personally, I enjoy my work far less with digi than I did with film. All the risk has gone and that was a large part of where the buzz came from. :(
 
dazzajl said:
....and I bet you'd be a less stressed, happier person if you had. ;)

Not saying you're a stressed and unhappy person of course.
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LOL you're right of course - and If I swapped my laptop for a typewriter I'd get a lot less work related emails!!

in an attempt to actually answer the original question I never went back to film once I went digital (about 8 years ago). I do sometime miss the darkroom - though I had my first darkroom in my bedroom back when I was in my teens so perhaps I just miss showing girls my enlarger before turning off the lights ;)
 
dazzajl said:
Indeed, we may never have have got commercial photography if it wasn't for digital. ;);)
(
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Notice how I said that I couldn't use film for commercial purposes as I am nowhere near experienced enough! ;)

I think it takes much more experience to do that sort of photography with film than with digital.
 
Rhodese said:
What I mean is that with film even if you double check everything twice or thrice you still have uncertainties, simple things like in wedding shots where someone blinks (closed eyes), their tongue is out, a dew drop on the eye or even their nose that you never noticed on that freezing day at a February wedding, flash flairs on spectacles and watches. Other situations like birds flying into long exposures and so on. Faults on the film itself, processing problems, nothing is certain.
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My god:eek:, however did they manage using film for weddings for the previous hundred years:lol:
Seriously though, there are added pressures commercially.
The all digis do flap a bit when faced with un-certainty, but, for yourself, without any pressure I think you could, with a year or so shooting film, get an 80 or 90% success rate in a chosen area, how many can say that even with a preview screen.
Film is more forgiving and I think it makes you more forgiving of yourself, without commercial pressure.
I think daftbuggas problem is, motivation, I'm sure he'd figure out edit software if it was interesting enough.
 
Wouldn't even dream of going back to film it's so 20th century!
 
I film is what you enjoy I'd say stick with it, there are still plenty of people out there doing film only stuff as it's what they enjoy and what they are good at. Digital especially with post processing is a completely different world. I don't really understand people selling old film gear the second hand value seems to be so poor as to be hardly worth it you might as well keep hold of it just incase you ever fancy using it!

As an aside i'm seriously considering picking up an OM-10 or something now they are going so cheap, not sure I'd use it a whole lot but I always wanted something like that when I was a kid and now I can have one!
 
Bit like fishing. Film is fishing with a rod - never knowing how long you ghoing to wait and what you'll catch. Digi is with a net - you catch loads and you can look at them and chuck out what you don't want to keep. It might be less interesting using a net and less exciting but the end result of both is the same - nice fish :-) Just depends if you want the excitement and challenge of using a rod or if you enjoy eating the fish more.
 
Ah but doesn't taking pictures steal the soul? So it makes no difference if you use film or digi - the sole is still stole :|
 
The scariest part is, will you be able to look at your pictures in say, 25 years time.
You'd have a devils own job watching a betamax video these days, VHS is all bar dead and as for laser disk....................
 
Yeah, I'm looking after all my cameras raw packages at the same priority as my shots ... will I be able to read those raws in 50 years.. :shrug:

Probably though eh.

..... Its the huge resolutions of future screens that'll make my 7 mega pix shots look like thumb nails on screen that worries me, lol. :nuts:


Back on topic..

I'll probably try film again, nearly bought a cracking fast fully featured instamatic at a market a few weeks ago, only £30 ... f1.4... daft for not buing that, haven't found anything better since.
For me, it would be not so much for the pleasure of dealing with the whole process, which I have enjoyed too... But more as a re-test of my skill, I fear I may be horribly shocked at dependency of the chimping screen, but it would certainly help to re-focus my technical skills.

Can't say i miss the darkroom over paintshop though... not even slightly.
 
I learned photography from a young age on complete manual film 35mm inherited from my father. I now work in design/ IT and watched the development of digital cameras and used some expensive kit for work over the years before buying a DSLR a couple of years ago for myself. Digital cameras balance convenience with quality. The convenience of digital capture; immediacy, flexibility of editing and quick distribution is offset by the quality and performance of the equipment, especially at the highly variable "consumer" end of the market.
Last year I went back to film, right back to fully manual and I was thoroughly stunned. The quality of the emulsions in modern film (Fuji/Kodak/Ilford etc), even the cheaps stocks blew digital images and prints out of the water for detail/ resolution and saturation. Modern consumer photo inkjet printers are great but are yet to capture the depth and contrast of a well created lab print in my opinion I've since used a range of film formats and cameras from bygone age to 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x9 and 35mm. many of these classic high quality cameras and lenses are available second hand at a fraction of their original prices as people rush to digital. The overriding feeling is that I take more time with film and thus out of a 36 exposure roll will be happier with more images. If I need to electronically share an image, I'll scan the negs. Back to basics has really invigorated me and reconnected me with the craft of image making.....all at the expense of carrying that extra weight of film stock and.....a light meter. I'm not a Luddite nor a film snob but I trust my eyes.
 
well thats it after yet more screaming, shouting and bawling i've made my mind up for the sake of my sanity to go back to using film and nothing but ... and for me it really is a case of good riddance to digital
 
Mwahahahaaaa

*rubs hands*

film +1
digital -1....but +97668 for the day :(

now, wheres that Photostar, she's being a right tough nut to crack.:suspect:
 
WELCOME BACK TO FILM DAFTBUGGA . sorry was i shouting ?
 
whitewash said:
i started shooting film after i got into digital photography, really enjoy it but i dont really think id want to make a full time switch
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I don't think I could make the full switch back to film*–*the processing is the big issue, as it's not fast enough for my work needs.
However, from a purely personal level, if I had a darkroom and the processing kit, I'd definitely get back into shooting 120 film just for the quality. It'd mean investing in some more deium format kit, but I think there's charm in using an ld Bronica or the like - it's 'proper' relaxing kit to sue.

At the moment though, the cost is too inhibitive and the quality I get from my D200 is as good as 35mm tranny ever was in my eyes.
 
For my main photography I can only shot digital, to get pictures somewhere fast. However, for my hobby side of photography, Landscapes (which I'm not really that good with) I do miss film, and I'm considering getting a medium Format camera. Long, night exposure shots, just don;t look as good with digital as they did with Fuji Velvia.
 
Guy said:
Last year I went back to film, right back to fully manual and I was thoroughly stunned. The quality of the emulsions in modern film (Fuji/Kodak/Ilford etc), even the cheaps stocks blew digital images and prints out of the water for detail/ resolution and saturation. Modern consumer photo inkjet printers are great but are yet to capture the depth and contrast of a well created lab print in my opinion...

I'm not a Luddite nor a film snob but I trust my eyes.
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At last ! As someone who has just got a film camera, and is not giving up digital yet, I have been curious to know if film is as good or better or just different to digital. I want the discipline of film, but also, if I am going to be one of a minority, I want to be able to show people that film has something, apart from the tactile side, that says YES, it is still a valid medium.
It has to have something more than a feel and a smell to still exist...!
 
I wish my dad would read this thread!!!! All week I have been on e-bay looking at old classic film cameras, particularly the Pentax ME. But I told my dad and got the response 'film is dead!!!', then went into Jessops and asked them if they still do a range of film, and THEY LAUGHED AT ME! I kid you not, they actually burst out laughing.

I have a Nikon D-80, which I absolutely adore. However, I miss going into the darkroom and processing my own films. I miss having to wind on the camera. I miss the satisfaction you feel when you see the image start to appear on the paper!

I have just bought a really old enlarger, and found my old Pentax MZ-50 out of the cupboard. And no matter how dead film may be to some people, I am going to start using it again... I'm not giving up on my digital, that will be my main camera, but there is no harm in playing with film every now and then.

If your truely stuck with the computer, I would recommend getting one of those 'Dummies guide to...' books. I'm sure you'd find it helpful!
 
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