Putting Away The Film For Good

About 7 years ago, never looked back.

My cameras; Mom & Dad's Brownie, from the fifties with a single large flashbulb. Kodak Instamatic 124, with flashcube. Polaroid Swinger, b & w only.

Polaroid Square Shooter 2 Polaroid Sun 600, really dark backgrounds. Pentax P3N, 35mm, autoexposure, Minolta Spxi, with power zoom!

Canon EOS Elan, one of the best. Canon N75, because the Elan became unusable. Nikon D40x, first digital, late 2007, great little camera, really good kit lens.

Can't remember, but when I did, I was frustrated for a few years by the limitations of my digital point and shoot cameras. I couldn't afford a DSLR until about 3 years ago. The lack of control after using an SLR film camera for years was maddening.

It's kind of sad to have all that film equipment (including a medium format camera) in the closet with no purpose.....oh well.

Kevin, I made the switch in 07' ... I not only switched from film to digital, but also switched from Nikon ( after 25 years ) to Pentax. I never looked back on the second part, as Pentax lenses are fabulous compared to Nikon. But, I missed film, so recently pulled the Nikon's back out. I'm looking at film shooting in a new way, more simple than the learning curve of digital.

Now I'm shopping for a Pentax film camera to use with my lenses .... another benefit of Pentax.

We all go through seasons for a reason, you're at yours and I'm at mine. Enjoy it and learn from it.

Thanks for sharing.

Haven't shot film since 2004. My Canon Elan sometimes calls out to me when I pass it sitting on the book shelf in it's new position as paperweight. But I ignore it.

We switched somewhat in 2001 with a very expensive (at the time) but extremely limited HP digital camera. The spouse still used his Minolta 35mm bodies but the end came in 2003 when 2 rolls of film used at Niagara Falls weren't printable. We had the HP with us but the best shots were never there-the film never advanced and we just didn't see the point of trying to get the one Minolta fixed with digital advancing so quickly. Don't know what to do with the lenses and bodies now. The lenses will not fit my Sony cameras.

When I was going to school 10 years ago, one of my instructors was so impressed with what he had seen of my photographs that he got me in touch with his photography professor at another university to learn about film processing. The professor looked at my work, complimented me and said to continue with digital as he sees film going the way of the wringer washer, something my instructor was rather shocked about.

Made the switch a few years ago. From Canon slr to Nikon dslr. Never looked back. I use new AF Nikon lenses and they work great..plenty of reviews out there. Also have an adapter to use my old Canon FD lenses...which works great....just can't use the af features which is fine I'de rather manual focus anyway for the most part. It all ends up digital now anyway might as well start there. The real revolution is in what you can do with the images once you have them, and that's unlimited.

back in 2003. my first digital cam was the sony dsc-f717, oh how i loved that camera.

While I love my dslrs, I miss shooting on film. I have a medium format camera in the closet that I soon hope to have the wherewithal to start shooting on again.

There are many photographers that still shoot on film, and many reasons they do so.



By the way, one of my very favorite 35mm film cameras was the old bare-bones Pentax K 1000. So when I bought dlsrs, the two I bought were Pentax!

One might say, I am a member of the “cult”! LOL.

Good old Pentax K 1000 with the needle light meter! The classic high school camera.

I said good buy to film years ago. Who needs the chemicals and expense. I probably has some undeveloped rolls around somewhere.

My first camera took floppy discs....what is this film you speak of? :) I think its interesting that there is a generation of photographers that have never used anything but digital, the "when did you switch" question doesn't really apply. I've only ever shot 2 rolls, and it just didn't appeal to me. Without a HUGE investment in equipment and time and know how, I lost all the control of how my images were processed when I sent the film for processing. I didn't give it much time or effort either though. I'd give B&W film a shot that I could process as home. I would like to try medium format film, but I would probably like medium format digital better.

I get the appeal of the video above though, my best work is when I slow down, disconnect from the technical equipment, and immerse myself in the light and take my freaking time to make one amazing shot, instead of 400 meh ones.

2009 was the year for me. I still get nostalgic some times and shoot film but not on professional projects.

I started my love for photography when I was young and have owned more film cameras than I can recall. But I make the move to digital photography around 10 years ago, one reason is because of the new technology and because I didn’t have to waist money on development and film as well as be limited on how many photos I could take per roll.

I didn’t make the move completely, even as for today. I still love photographing with film because I know that I have to rely on my knowledge in the use of the camera settings and type of film to get the correct results I want. Digital cameras with it’s presets made it far more easier for many amateurs to just set it to auto and take as many snapshots as they want and not worry so much about getting correct exposures, which (I feel) leads to laziness and snapshots that are captured quickly without really having to thinking about composition or settings or what we might want to project in our artwork. All we have to do now these days is go through all 500 snapshots that we took in just an hour, then pick out what we think are the best, then delete the others and take 500 more the next day.



Wow, just watched the video, he said what I feel about photography more eloquently than I could have. "Shooting the moment instead of around the moment".

“Good old Pentax K 1000 with the needle light meter! The classic high school camera.”

There were many many cameras on the market with the same basic needle light meters.

As I bought what---at the time---was a state of the art SLR, I bought the K 1000 as a backup.

I fell in love with it, and used it as much as I used my primary camera!

High School? The K 1000 was used by college students. Way back when I was in high school they did not offer photography classes. LOL.

But the real reason I loved the K one grand was that it was a well constructed , and well designed camera that offered quality glass at an affordable price.

And I agree, Peter! Thank you for the illustrations, and your input on film vs digital.

I went the other way around, and started using film after a couple of years of digital. There is something about film that digital cannot fully replicate and I still vastly enjoy running a role of film through my Nikon F6. More expensive and cumbersome, but (in some cases) definitely still worth it. The shot below would not be possible on digital I think:

I switched in 2003, giving my film camera, an excellent pentax to my then girlfriend. The girlfriend left, but the interest in film returned about 5 years ago when I found a great old mamiya dtl 1000 at an auction. I started collecting (to shoot) older cameras and have several. So, now I do both. Yes, the film is expensive, but when I get what want out of it it's worth it. I'm just starting to do more medium format, but as I'm not setup yet to develop my own, I have to send that out.

@Frank. I have a couple of nice Pentax bodies that I was planning on selling. A k1000 and a MEsuper. Send me a message if you like.

I had high school darkrooms, closet darkrooms, Polaroid Type 55 film instant film, alternative processes experiment.... I never truly had control of my work until digital afforded me the ability to shoot enough to learn the art properly and the ability to have total control in post processing to realize my final vision.

I would say that if you never looked through a medium format film camera and snapped the shutter, you should. It just does something to a passionate photographer. Yes they aren't very pretty, yes they can be very bulky and heavy, Yes you have to wind the film, BUT, go ahead and try one just for fun while at a camera shop. You will be pleasantly surprised at what it will do to you.
Isn't it funny how film cameras went way down in price during the later stages of the beginning of the digital age, but now back up in price and even higher than they use to be.

I have a an RB67 and I really enjoy shooting it. However, it's big and I don't find it easy to take with me out and about. So, now I have my eye out for something like a TLR. I'd love to get a mamiya 7 I think, but that's just not in the budget.

I have no idea what that "What is the difference" image above is saying. Here is well explained process of a photographer creating art from a "snapshot" - http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/snap-art.shtml