Forgive me my sins and my selfish ways

tikkathreebarrel

tikkathreebarrel

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Went at the invitation of a pal to the Classic Car Show at the NEC yesterday (it's on again today).

Couldn't decide what film kit to take but factored in a number of likely scenarios:

1. An indoor event.
2. Expecting the venue lighting to be "exhibition-hall" standard and stand lighting to be the exception rather than the rule. Therefore pretty crap from a photography point of view.
3. Deep crowds preventing a clear line of sight to most exhibits and thus needing the ability to get in close (10 feet and under) with some chance for longer shots but always with crowd.
4. A long hike from carpark to exhibition halls so needing to carry everything with me.
5. I'm not an instinctive user of flash.

I wimped out and took digital and actually, under the above circumstances, it was a sensible decision.

I didn't see much "pro" gear, I didn't see any film gear.
 
Situations like that are exactly why I love my little Fuji x100.

Tools for the job.
 
Tikka, don't beat yourself up, as Simon says the right tools for the job. I have actually sold most of my digital kit but have retained one Digi cam (Fuji X100) essentially for low light and indoor shooting where aperture vs shutter can be problematic. As a self confessed hrad core film photographer does not preclude shooting digital:)
 
simon ess said:
Situations like that are exactly why I love my little Fuji x100.

Tools for the job.
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Well it depends on what film cameras he has.....a T90 with 300tl combo is ideal as it measures ambient light and flash on the subject to get correct exposure, and with flash syn up to 1/250......and so many people walk around London with small back packs (probably for computers or erm sandwiches ;)), so carrying a couple of cameras (digital and film ) would be no problem.
 
Poor lighting, and need the flexibility of multiple focal lengths, and don't want to use a flash? I'd also be grabbing my digital straight away.

I could use my film camera, but the grain is going to be difficult to control with that sort of lighting.
 
freecom2 said:
Poor lighting, and need the flexibility of multiple focal lengths, and don't want to use a flash? I'd also be grabbing my digital straight away.

I could use my film camera, but the grain is going to be difficult to control with that sort of lighting.
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Well I'd do what they did before digital was invented, with a 24mm f2 and 50mm 1.4 lenses (and it's full frame) as my son's Canon 400d at 800 ISO is a bit noisy. ;)
 
Absolutely, but with an object like a car, you'd like as much to be in focus as possible - when you are shooting at f/1.4 at close distance, that just isn't going to happen.

No one needs to extol the virtues of film photography to me, but that doesn't mean I'm averse to digital either.
 
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freecom2 said:
No one needs to extol the virtues of film photography to me, but that doesn't mean I'm not digital-averse either.
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I'd have taken digital too, I'm not even sure film would have had a look in to be honest.
 
^^^ oops, got my spelling and grammar all tied up on that sentence!

The film probably would've had no detail in the shadows, and I don't like using flash either.
 
Don't know why, but I have this vision from the stoning scene in Life of Brian, where we all wear fake beards and throw film cannisters at the heretic whenever anyone mentions the word 'digital'
 
I may have taken one with a roll of fuji superia in it, just to see. Would have taken digital as well.

I have done film shots inside in those sorts of conditions and until decent scanning software came along to correct the colour balance the results were fairly atrocious.
 
excalibur2 said:
Well slides from the motor show in 1981, so they coped somehow using film...but of course using a DSLr with anti shake and can go to 3200 ISO is easier.

http://dcphotolibrary.co.uk/2/1cd27#/gallery/1981-london-motorfair-earls-court/dc-07-0122-008/
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Of course it's possible, but now that we have the choice... also, those shots are absolutely terrible (and they all use flash!). The exposure is uneven across most of the images, there are bits cut-off where the cars do not fit fully into the frame.

A DSLR with clean high ISO performance, a mid-range fast zoom and a flash with a decent modifier would absolutely trounce those images.
 
Steve said:
Don't know why, but I have this vision from the stoning scene in Life of Brian, where we all wear fake beards and throw film cannisters at the heretic whenever anyone mentions the word 'digital'
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:lol:...but this is the film forum, so what's the point in someone saying "film is not dead" when someone uses a digital camera just for convenience....but secretly I admire what digital cameras can do and use one for quick shots of an object or whatever.....but I'm hanging out to the end when I'd be forced to buy a digital camera.
 
freecom2 said:
Of course it's possible, but now that we have the choice... also, those shots are absolutely terrible (and they all use flash!). The exposure is uneven across most of the images, there are bits cut-off where the cars do not fit fully into the frame.

A DSLR with clean high ISO performance, a mid-range fast zoom and a flash with a decent modifier would absolutely trounce those images.
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Well I'm sure looking at the slides in 1981, they would be better :shrug:
 
Most of the "publishable" quality shots from motor shows would have been done on "press days"... where BITD you would have brought in a big solid tripod for the hassy, and taken a long enough exposure for velvia 100 to have been fine... I know if Id have come back with shots like you linked to Brian, I'd have been living on packet soups that week as the picture editor wouldn't have been paying much...
 
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And... my justification is the quality of the snaps (for that's what I consider most of them to be) which came off the SD card. Here is not the right place for digitally created images however.
 
tikkathreebarrel said:
And... my justification is the quality of the snaps (for that's what I consider most of them to be) which came off the SD card. Here is not the right place for digitally created images however.
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Well if you can't afford a digital camera, you can get by using a Nikon AF210 bought for 50p ;)

 
Jayst84 said:
I wouldn't call that coping. Though I don't think the quality of those images has much to do with the medium being used.
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Well today, using say Portra 400 ISO and a very good film camera and flash combo (35mm or ETRs), I reckon I could get some very good shots at a motor show.
 
Could I have done this with a film camera, an f4 lens and ambient light:

IMG_6807.jpg
 
tikkathreebarrel said:
Could I have done this with a film camera, an f4 lens and ambient light:

IMG_6807.jpg
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Nice overall shot...Well a simple answer is "I don't know" as it depends what the light reading was whether I could use f4 lens on a film camera in ambient light otherwise it would be a 40mm at f2 or 24/28/35mm at f2.8 and the background more blurred, but if flash was allowed I could light the car and get the ambient back ground light balanced.
 
Jayst84 said:
That was kind of my point. Though you don't need to bother with a 'very good' film camera - it's just a dark box after all.
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Well like a good DSLr, a good film camera esp with an excellent flash gun makes taking all types of shots easier as well as more chance of success.

Well there is a limit to a film P&S with a poxy flash :).....at the Hendon RAF museum I just don't understand why half of the display is soooo dark :(

AF210
 
AAMOI the following year with my grandson we went to the museum and knew I was gonna need a bigger flash gun, so decided I'd bring the artillery along i.e T90 with 300tl....well still not enough power, so if I ever go back would try getting closer and do a pano h'mm not sure about the wing though.

T90 with fairly powerful flashgun 300tl, with 24mm lens. dunno what the white smudge on the right is.
 
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