What's your motivation for using film in the digital age?

droj

droj

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Is it more that you like playing with film-related 'toys', or more that you're drawn to certain qualities in the images that are conferred by the medium of film?
 
Well don't know where I fit in as I haven't found a reason to go digital, but do use an old digi compact, given to me, for quick snaps of gear.
 
I had this very discussion with Woody at the Stratford meet. Basically for me, digital is about the result, I derive little pleasure from the actual act of taking a photo. With film it is about the whole process, from loading the film, finding the shot, taking it, developing the roll, scanning and then finishing it off in PS. If I get a good image then that's a bonus but its the process that matters.

Andy
 
I'm fascinated by the science of film, how it gives you a tangible object rather than a load of 1s and 0s. How primitive gear can produce fantastic images. How all of the different films and developers give different looks and feels.

Another facet is the cameras, the different formats, different styles, all of the different ways of doing things, the multitudes of manufacturers that you don't get with digital.

I like options, film gives me more than digital right now.

I could go on and on...

I shoot both film and digital btw.
 
I prefer the look of film to digital, I prefer the look of film cameras to digital ones, I find film cameras more pleasurable to use than digital ones, and I can afford much higher quality film cameras/lenses than I could digital ones. I still use digital ones when I want to take 300 shots and keep the best 5, though. (Moving targets, mostly)
 
Yep, all of the above as well ^^^^
 
They've not built a 200mp digital camera* with tilt, shift and swing built in. Or a 70mp* camera with (near) macro focusing with every lens. Or a full frame camera with fantastic lenses for £20 or one which makes a whoosh clunk noise every time you release the shutter etc etc.


*LF/RZ digital backs don't count :D
 
Hi Rog - I commented on another thread along these lines a couple of weeks ago...

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/excited.588267/#post-6858653

And I'll add to it by saying that I also really enjoy using older film cameras for their own sake. Not really that it feels like playing with toys - it's just a whole different experience to using 'new' cameras. For instance, if I step out of the door with my Rolleicord or M3 I'll almost always end up having a conversation with someone about them, even if it's just a, "nice camera", comment. People love to know how they work, and seem to be fascinated with the waist level finder on the Rollei (in fairness, I was when I first got it). I also find them a lot more tactile than digital cameras. You can feel things happening inside as they work, they look good, they sound good...they even smell good! :)

The Rollei and M3 both feel like precision machines that have been carefully put together by skilled people, and I find it satisfying to use any object like that.
 
I think you'll find we're still in the film age.
 
I am 85% digital, but the quality of film generated pictures are a diferent thing altogether they don't have the harshness of digital..In a similar way to that of listening to a vinyl (unscratched) record of a major orchestra as opposed to the CD version, it's softer, but not in the unfocused sense..Do I make sense?

Shoot film! A new sensor with every shot!
 
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I Use it because when i look at film photos on here, and elsewhere, it looks like people put more effort into composition and thinking "What do i want my photo to look like" rather than shooting away and picking later in digital.

I guess personally its made me slow down and think about what i want to take a photo of, and also what i don't.

The Majority of my work is with a DSLR shooting Motorsports though! Not tried shooting it with film yet...
 
the abilitity to learn the basics with little in the way of distractions.
and the kits nicer,
 
Mainly to differentiate the stuff I do for fun/for myself from the "paid jobs" to be honest - though I must admit that most of the still life stuff still ends up on digital, primarily because the way I work doesn't really lend itself to being shot with any of the cameras I own - perhaps if I was using a 10x8 monorail film camera, in a proper studio (like BITD) then I would be okay, but without the option to examine the details with a loupe I just don't seem to get what I want on film - perhaps I've been spoiled by the convenience of pixel-peeping on the digital :shrug:
 
I enjoy the whole process, as Andy said from loading the film, to the anticipation of remembering what was on it when you first see those negs. Digital offers instant gratification, which when you are working with it like I do is so very useful, but for fun stuff I have rediscovered the joy of film and apart from Spoty stuff, all my hobby photography is now film.

Oh yeah, and the cameras are SO much prettier :D
 
Yv said:
but for fun stuff I have rediscovered the joy of film and apart from Spoty stuff, all my hobby photography is now film.

Oh yeah, and the cameras are SO much prettier :D
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so you use digital for the spoty stuff then ,,me too :D
 
It's a refreshing change from the "norm" (digi) ........and i like to feel regularly refreshed! Lol
 
It doesn't feel like the day job - and I enjoy the process more.

Plus I get to play with more cool toys :)
 
...because I'd get even funnier looks if I veneered a Sony A6000 ;0)

As above really, I enjoy the process and find shooting digital more of a means to an end. Film delivers unique results and really annoying cock-ups in equal measures so feels like more of a challenge. Also, being able to buy medium format kit for a tenth of its' original price means I can try loads of different toys out without risking divorce!
 
I've recently returned to shooting film again after too long an absence etc. I really love the medium format quality, I've only shot about 4/5 rolls of 120 film with my newly acquired RZ67 Pro but it feels brilliant, I like the results from 120 film and everything involved with the taking/composing process.

I'm shooting a lot less digital stuff. Result
 
Three reasons: 1. Technology. 2. Process. 3. Results.

1. An older camera has a mantra. It has soul, it has history. It also forces more manual intervention - some of my main cameras are totally manual, with no light meter. I call that the salt n' shake value. The more that you put into something, the more valuable the results feel to you. I was disillusioned with my DSLRs. All auto this, that, and another, with burst mode. Just no fun. I don't want robots to take over yet. In addition - price. I can buy a cracking compact camera for 50p. Okay, if I want better, I can buy an ex studio medium format system camera for less than two hundred quid.
2. Process. I like developing and scanning (I'm a hybrid film photographer) my own b/w film. I like the smell of fixer, and I still get a kick out of un-spooling a wet slippery film for drying. Instant gratification isn't always fun. It encourages sloppy burst mode photography.
3. Results. Actually, to me, this is the most important factor. I like the results of home developed b/w hybrid film photography. I like the imperfections, the grain, and even sometimes the dust. I like that the exposure isn't robot perfect. I like the way that film handles skies. I like how it handles over exposure. I'm not a die hard film photographer, I do like some digital b/w photography very much, but ... film has that romance ingrained into it. You can't replicate that with software filters. So much boring shiny sharp, magazine directed, gutless photography is created by DSLR. Okay, some pretty incredible DSLR photography around, but so much of it is unimaginative and the same. B/W film/hybrid offers something different. A different approach. It is becoming the punk of photography.
 
On top of what everyone else said, I can drop my TLR into a stream and go on using it ...

I did exactly that and took this image ten minutes later and only lost one frame from the roll of film:


Streamside view by Kevin Allan, on Flickr

My only digitial camera is the Leica Digilux 2, which came to market in 2004 with a 4.9mp sensor. I paid £250 for it (second hand) in 2009 but it is now only useable with difficulty as the button presses don't work any more. If a photographer buys a new film Leica they can expect to get 50 years of use in return for their considerable investment; if they spend a similar amount on a new digital Leica they might be lucky to get ten years use from it.
 
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Because I can, and it is a whole different process / feel to digital. It also forces me to think about the shot I am about to take, rather than churn out a load and hope for the best one.
 
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...and if joe public film users are sensible and keep the negs they will still be around in 50 years...so how many of joe public JPGs on computer or CD (if it can be readable) will be around in that time................................................................
 
excalibur2 said:
...and if joe public film users are sensible and keep the negs they will still be around in 50 years...so how many of joe public JPGs on computer or CD (if it can be readable) will be around in that time................................................................
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EXACTLY...... Maybe 150yrs. I spent 6.5k on my 1DS when new..... fun & convenient BUT something was lacking and I couldn't finger it. After several years I realised I had a brand spanking new RZ67 + lenses just stored in their box's and done nothing. EOS 5 (film) took thousands of shot's with that. AE1 Program that works very well and they gradually drew me towards them..... I still have the darkroom gear (LPL) sensitometer and all the accessories. But don't get me wrong, I have no desire to return to the darkroom, I would sooner scan and process in the dry room. Now that's what I call Photography.... You had to know it all and was magnificantly satifying when you gat it right lol.

Digi is too easy..... but can still be fun!
 
What Paul said. But, and don't kick me out for saying this.....


....


I hate the smell of fixer :nailbiting:
 
Another angle is:- some digi owners find getting results is so easy and would like a new challenge which film provides.., and more fun using film is trying old film lenses and cameras..and the best thing of all is if a digi guy decides film is not for him\her then you don't lose much money and even all the old lenses you bought can be used on some digi cameras.
 
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