Digital camera's have no personality.

Billy_wiz

Billy_wiz

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I visited emporium selling everything and came across a Zenith EM camera, this was my 1st camera and my introduction into photography in my teens, I remember using the exposure meter, the clicks when changing the F stops, but most of all when you wound a frame on using the shutter button and getting a clunk as the shutter operated. It was all still there when I tested out this EM.

This got me thinking about photography, ok the EM was perhaps the most basic of cameras but the feel, it's little quirks and smell of leather from the case, compared with modern cameras it was like carrying a brick round with you.

But I miss the fun and excitement, which I don't get using a digital camera, perhaps digital camera's have no personality.
 
But that’s what I enjoy about my Fuji X-T5, retro styling and I make sure the shutter snaps when I use it. It has appeal for me.
 
Billy_wiz said:
But I miss the fun and excitement, which I don't get using a digital camera, perhaps digital camera's have no personality.
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I think these ones have loads of personality, in many ways as basic (for a digital camera) as the old Zenith (I had the TTL)).

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I think they do but I find lenses much more interesting than cameras.
 
I think I understand where your coming from. The old film cameras had a feel (for want of a better word) that the digital I've used just doesnt have. Maybe the shutter sound, or feel of the shutter firing? I dont know.
But say a Nikon F3 or 4 just felt a lot different to say a Canon 5d4.
 
I used to love the "personality" of film cameras. Film pretty well died when digital developed into a usable technology but, like so many other things, has come back as a niche hobby, nothing wrong with that.

Personally though, I can't afford the time, cost and personality of film. I think that this cartoon also applies to film photography:)
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I do agree. I've started shooting a bit more film lately. Not a massive amount mind you. But the enjoyment and feeling is better and something different from shooting digital.

Yes, it's a bit expensive. 35mm comes in at about £1 a click and 120 about £3 a click - I try to make sure the MF shots are worth it before I commit :ROFLMAO:

We're in South Devon at the moment, and we've just done a few hours in Sidmouth and some villages on the way back to base, and although I had the X100f with me, I only shot 35mm and 120 all day - it's nice ;)

Tbh though, I'm not a massive digital shooter anyway. Street I might get through a few frames, car show I might come away with 10-30, sunset I might walk away with 30 or so frames but that will be mainly exposure blends, focus stacks and different clouds......
 
Film cameras are steam engines, Spitfire areoplanes and belt drive turntables whereas digital is TGV trains, F35 jets and digial downlaod songs. Nostalgia vs convenience and both have roles to pay in our hobby. I have 99% of my body in the digial camp even though I have a lot of film cameras but my heart is well and truly with the Spitfires.
 
woof woof said:
I think they do but I find lenses much more interesting than cameras.
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You’re right, a lens can make a camera feel like it has character. Definitely using old lenses or even new with manual focus and aperture rings. It all adds to the feel of making digital feel like fake film.
 
You are looking for imperfections to make your work different. But is it really? It is just a repeatable imprint of lens or camera flaw. Why not develop your own photography style and techniques that work across the board. It needs to be your personality attached to your work...
 
I agree, digital photography is 'soulless'. I much prefer my film cameras and although I keep saying I'm going to sell some of them on, I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. :crying:

I'd sell my D850 in a heartbeat if I was prepared to accept the financial loss (in such a short time). At least my film cameras' worth is increasing and not decreasing . . .
 
bumper said:
You’re right, a lens can make a camera feel like it has character. Definitely using old lenses or even new with manual focus and aperture rings. It all adds to the feel of making digital feel like fake film.
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I agree, but that "character" is mainly just nostalgia. Compared with today, most old lenses were extremely poor and were incapable of producing a sharp image at any aperture. The lenses for 5"x4" for example, usually needed to be stopped down to at least f/16. and some were so poor that they produced a specific and valued soft focus portraiture look, i.e., blurred.

We shouldn't be too nostalgic about old cameras either. The "Russian" cameras, actually made in a weapons factory in the Ukraine, were made down to the normal soviet standard, the Infamous Hasselblad copy, the Corfield 66, was made in Ireland, now very valuable becasue very few were sold and they all broke, the most memorable thing about it was the mirror system, which worked (very briefly) on a pulley system and a bit of twine. And there were the British Wray and Reid copies of old Leicas, again very rare and valuable for the same reason. The story at the time was that the factories were given copies of the Leitz blueprints, as part of the war reparations, but good old British companies couldn't be expected to work to foreign metric measurements, so they converted everything to imperial, and didn't work.

Sky said:
I agree, digital photography is 'soulless'. I much prefer my film cameras and although I keep saying I'm going to sell some of them on, I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. :crying:

I'd sell my D850 in a heartbeat if I was prepared to accept the financial loss (in such a short time). At least my film cameras' worth is increasing and not decreasing . . .
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Good point, by my superb Nikon F90 is worth almost nothing on the second-hand market, probably too good and too reliable:)
 
Guy. Digital is simply not "soulless" but if you think it is I think you need to try harder to see what personality and look digital can bring. I could post about what I think are the intersecting personality attributes of various digital cameras I've had but really this is a personal thing and you have to see it for yourself. What I will say is that there are an awful lot of people enjoy using their Fuji cameras.

Another thing that I was thinking about recently is build quality. Some film cameras I've had where build wise just awful but at least that's something that's probably pretty much gone away now at least with mainstream modern kit. We don't have those horrible plastics now.
 
bumper said:
You’re right, a lens can make a camera feel like it has character. Definitely using old lenses or even new with manual focus and aperture rings. It all adds to the feel of making digital feel like fake film.
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I've used a lot of film era primes on my mirrorless cameras and I've had a lot of fun with them but I've never been happy with using adapters as they add bulk. These days you can get some MF lenses which will mount straight on to a modern mirrorless camera and I've had some of those too. I've had some cheapish Chinese MF lenses but have sold all but one and I do still have 4 Sony mirrorless mount Voigtlanders and one of them is probably my most used lens. What I'd really like is compact and light and reasonably priced modern mount MF versions of lenses like the Minolta Rokkor 50mm f1.7/1.4 and the like but so far I haven't found any.
 
Billy_wiz said:
I visited emporium selling everything and came across a Zenith EM camera, this was my 1st camera and my introduction into photography in my teens, I remember using the exposure meter, the clicks when changing the F stops, but most of all when you wound a frame on using the shutter button and getting a clunk as the shutter operated. It was all still there when I tested out this EM.

This got me thinking about photography, ok the EM was perhaps the most basic of cameras but the feel, it's little quirks and smell of leather from the case, compared with modern cameras it was like carrying a brick round with you.

But I miss the fun and excitement, which I don't get using a digital camera, perhaps digital camera's have no personality.
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While I largely agree, I also think that my Nikon Zf and Fuji X100s both have some personality, much more than my Nikon Z8 (or other digital cameras I've used). I'm also pretty convinced, though with no experience of them, that digital Leica Ms will still have a personality.

But even if you go back to 35mm film SLRs, they didn't really have all that much of a personality when compared to medium format film cameras. With some exceptions, medium format cameras were mostly very different in their approach to what a medium format camera should be, and each came with its own unique personality.

And it;s had to think of a more satisfying sound in the photography world than the clunk click of a Hasselblad 500 when you press the release..

Having said all that, in terms of functionality, for the jobs that I used to use 35mm film for, I would take my Nikon Z8 over any of the Canon, Nikon, Pentax or Leica film cameras that I used to use. And indeed I would also take the Z8 over my Zf and X100s, much as I love them both.
 
Garry Edwards said:
I agree, but that "character" is mainly just nostalgia.
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I think you are quite right about that.

It's similar to cars: I think back to some of the cars I was enthusiastic about fifty years ago and then I compare them with my ultra reliable, easier to drive and much more comfortable Hyundai. Would I really want one of those other cars?

Nope!

In the same way, I used many cameras loaded with film but I wouldn't swap my digital cameras for any of them - far easier to concentrate on the image and none of that hassle with darkrooms.

Still: different folks, different strokes. If loading film into a metal box is your thing, go for it.

I'll be the bloke with the digicam,
 
Interestingly my film cameras feel fantastic to use and IMO produce images I prefer the look of too digital.

Likewise my turntable produces nicer sounds, no nostalgia involved at all, just more fun & better results IMO.
 
Billy_wiz said:
This got me thinking about photography, ok the EM was perhaps the most basic of cameras but the feel, it's little quirks and smell of leather from the case, compared with modern cameras it was like carrying a brick round with you.

But I miss the fun and excitement, which I don't get using a digital camera, perhaps digital camera's have no personality.
Click to expand...

I'd agree. I dumped all my Nikon digital kit years ago now, and I don't miss any of it one bit.

I love digital photography mind you, but my iphone is a much better digital camera than many mirrorless cameras, at least for my use (snapshots of my toddler).

For the real photo fun, there are my film cameras, and a 4£ roll of lovely Fomapan, developed at home. A 200 quid TLR does the rest.

I love my Rolleicord, the ergonomics of it, the simple interface, the beauty of the prints I get from it. I would never replace that experience with a portable microcomputer with more buttons, dials and displays than a dishwasher and microwave oven put together.
 
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swanseamale47 said:
Blimey, when I think of how much film I used every day the mind boggles, 10 or 20 rolls wasnt uncommon... :rolleyes:
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Quite - more so since one of my dad's pals was an army photographer and he used to drop off binbags full of short- or post-dated process paid slide film
 
Erty said:
You can always make your digital camera feel more like film by getting an old 500MB memory card and switching off any preview or review functions.
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then not downloading the images from the card for at least a week after you get home...
 
Garry Edwards said:
I used to love the "personality" of film cameras. Film pretty well died when digital developed into a usable technology but, like so many other things, has come back as a niche hobby, nothing wrong with that.

Personally though, I can't afford the time, cost and personality of film. I think that this cartoon also applies to film photography:)
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Yes I just want to take photos of things that interest me - wildlife, family etc in an easy way.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
It's similar to cars: I think back to some of the cars I was enthusiastic about fifty years ago and then I compare them with my ultra reliable, easier to drive and much more comfortable Hyundai. Would I really want one of those other cars?
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Yes, I would!

Before I first had a car of my own, at the time I had the Zenit and Zorki, my father had a Wolseley 6/110, and for a few months the starter didn't work (can't remember why), but no problem, it had a crank handle. I would love one now, or even better a 6/90 with the gear shift on the right.
Would even settle for a 70s Cortina.

I have never broken down with a car that didn't have an ECU (although I never owned a Fiat without an ECU, and the two I have owned with an ECU both broke down more than once)


I still use Russian Cameras, and other film cameras, I enjoy them, I don't really feel any difference in my approach or enjoyment, or in the photos I take. Digital is just more convenient and a lot cheaper.

I get days when I don't feel like using any camera :)
 
Get a Fuji xe1 for the fun of not knowing what your pictures come out like until you get home snd download them.
The rear screen is useless for reviewing pictures, at the weekend I was convinced I had set something wrong, most of the pictures looked completely blown, but once home they were fine.
I have leant I just need to trust this camera, it rarely lets me down.
 
Erty said:
You can always make your digital camera feel more like film by getting an old 500MB memory card and switching off any preview or review functions.
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Why tinker with an expensive simulacrum when you can have the real thing? ;)
 
I started on film. I returned to it recently because I craved that film look, so from that point of view it scratched that itch. I did enjoy it, and it reminded me how tactile film cameras are. It also reminded me how impractical they are too. I suppose time moves on and in the end it's the quality of the image. Not if it's film, or digital.
 
It seems to me, if it's the experience you want of taking pictures then choosing a film camera of what ever vintage is essential. If you just want to make pictures then a digital camera is likely the best tool for the job.

For me, I just want the camera to get out of the way and quietly help me get the picture I want. With an older style film camera the nostalgia can be fun for a few seconds, but that's all.
 
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Just to ask the obvious question: Which digital camera's what has no personality..... :exit:
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Sky
Not ANOTHER apostrophe pedant. :LOL:
 
A camera's just a tool. Choose the result that you want from the options available, & work back from that to what you have in your hand.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I think you are quite right about that.

It's similar to cars: I think back to some of the cars I was enthusiastic about fifty years ago and then I compare them with my ultra reliable, easier to drive and much more comfortable Hyundai. Would I really want one of those other cars?

Nope!

In the same way, I used many cameras loaded with film but I wouldn't swap my digital cameras for any of them - far easier to concentrate on the image and none of that hassle with darkrooms.

Still: different folks, different strokes. If loading film into a metal box is your thing, go for it.

I'll be the bloke with the digicam,
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I have a Ford Focus & 1971 Ford Escort - I know which one I'd rather drive without even thinking about it ;) And it isn't the newer one!

A7Riii/35GM & Yashica Mat 124g - I know which one of those I get more enjoyment from using too :) And that isn't the newer one :ROFLMAO:

That's not to say the newer ones (of both) aren't any good etc They are! And fairly often, they are more suitable & convenient etc too.... But if David was originally talking about enjoyment, fun & excitement then the older wins every time :)
 
droj said:
A camera's just a tool. Choose the result that you want from the options available, & work back from that to what you have in your hand.
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To you it maybe a tool, to others it isn't but we have been down that rabbit hole very recently :rolleyes:
 
The difference here really is that some like the process, and if the results are any good I suspect that's a bonus.
 
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