Camera Rescue: New film photography survey

[mshchem]

I took the survey but did not read all their info.
It says .... Results will be presented to the community.
Is there any other reason for this...... where is this headed.?

Have you seen the movie Soylent Green ? You know where gelatin comes from right? This is part of a vast Nordic conspiracy to turn us all into Hasselblad fiends.

Have you ever tried lutefisk ? We have a lot of decedents of Norway and Sweden in NE Iowa. Tough bunch. Any fish that you need to soak in lye, yikes.

No questions about darkroom. Where's the fun in film without a real print?

 

[railwayman3]

No probs in completing on Chrome on PC.
Interesting, but not very comprehensive in many aspects of analogue.

 

[Agulliver]

Done without problems on Chrome.

And all browsers "spy" on us. There exists a vast array of software to mitigate this.

Though frankly, if the government really wants to know what I get up to....it's not like I hide it.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I could not get it to work. I have tried it on different days and I get the same results ==> nothing, zilch, noda, ein v efface, bubkis

I got it to work and I filled it out. Mac OS FireFox

 

[wyofilm]

Took the survey using Safari browser. I've now met my one survey for the year quota.

 

[KenS]

It quit working on the 3rd page (using android and firefox).

I believe many 'real' questions about (perhaps) the 'How' and the 'Why' we 'do it' may have contributed more to the 'end' results. I'm not sure of the 'why', but I answered as "truthfully" as possible.. There are many more 'real questions' that aught to have been asked. (such as 'why we prefer film over 'digital'.. etc).... but were 'left out'

I am left with 'gut feeling' that 'they' (or whomever 'created' the survey) does not have that many years of experience 'making' artistic images worthy of 'hanging' on any wall .

Ken

 

[wyofilm]

The cost of used cameras today are astonishingly low in comparison to inflation adjusted prices of the same cameras in the pre-digital age. A real plus for today's film enthusiasts. The real problem is the quality, reliability, and fix-ability of today's used cameras. Also, the vagueness of buying cameras sight unseen is discomforting at times. I hope such concerns come out the their survey. Marketing opportunities?

One question not asked is, "why film photographers own so many cameras." Aside from collecting, and flexibility in use, I own multiple versions of a couple cameras for the sole reason of redundancy. Some day repairman and parts will dry up completely. As they say in the Army: "3 is 2, 2 is 1 and 1 is none."

 

[flavio81]

Hello friends,

the team from Camera Rescue is doing a new film photography survey, in cooperation with a student from Helsinki (Amelia Nguyen; the survey is part of her thesis). This is the second survey after their first very detailed survey in 2017. And again the results will be published, so that our whole film community can benefit from it. Therefore it makes really sense to participate in it:
https://camerarescue.org/help2020/

Best regards,
Henning

Henning commands, thus I obey.

Survey completed!

 

[Henning Serger]

Henning commands, thus I obey.

Survey completed!

Looks like you are the right man for the next undercover mission.....Bond is calling.......

Best regards,
Henning

 

[Sirius Glass]

The cost of used cameras today are astonishingly low in comparison to inflation adjusted prices of the same cameras in the pre-digital age. A real plus for today's film enthusiasts. The real problem is the quality, reliability, and fix-ability of today's used cameras. Also, the vagueness of buying cameras sight unseen is discomforting at times. I hope such concerns come out the their survey. Marketing opportunities?

One question not asked is, "why film photographers own so many cameras." Aside from collecting, and flexibility in use, I own multiple versions of a couple cameras for the sole reason of redundancy. Some day repairman and parts will dry up completely. As they say in the Army: "3 is 2, 2 is 1 and 1 is none."

Even though the cost of Hasselblads and its lenses have started to rise again, they are still a bargain compared to the original costs.

 

[dutchsteammachine]

Filed in the survey!

interested in the results

 

[KenS]

It worked fine for me. A bit long, but that was of minor annoyance.

The flaw is with the four personas. While I recognize them, there is a missing persona... people like me: started with film and never changed but basically a hobbiest who photographs family/events/stuff without aspirations to be “artist”. I know I’m not alone!

Then... there is the retired "Pro" whose been 'at it' for so long that it became too hard to 'give up' and 'seek' different means of staying 'alive'... and interested in being 'creative') rather than taking to the rocking chair in front of the television throughout non-sleeping hours.

Ken

 

[markjwyatt]

There were some gaps, but should be an interesting survey. For instance- where do you get your gear- Buy ebay and forums but I also had some and I had no option for that.

 

[jtk]

Weird, I did the whole survey using Chrome on my Android phone and had zero issues.

Exactly same here.

 

[skorpiius]

Thanks for that, just filled it out.

Just thinking about the questions and the 'state of film photography', for me processing is the biggest roadblock, particularly for transparencies and medium format. In Canada there a few labs in Vancouver, one or two in Winnipeg, probably 10 in Toronto and some in Montreal that handle those. If you don't live in one of those cities you are looking at $10-15 shipping each way if you want tracked packages, and that is before the actual processing, printing, scanning, etc costs. As someone who loves medium format colour transparencies, that is brutal and causes me to just collect shot film and send it in once or twice a year.

Luckily where I am we still have 1 hr 35mm c41 processing (although it's more like half day than 1 hr), and weekly 35mm E6. In many other smaller cities nothing exists.

Lastly, we used to have same day E6 here but the machine broke and it was stripped for parts to be sent to the chain's other processing store near Vancouver. I think film processing is experiencing the same pains as vinyl records. Suddenly demand started going up but no one was making the machinery and few knew how to repair it.

Yikes what a rant

 

[jtk]

fyi infinitely more people use smartphones than use computers. Good Internet use gives priority to phones, not to old man style workarounds.

 

[jtk]

Even though the cost of Hasselblads and its lenses have started to rise again, they are still a bargain compared to the original costs.

Hasselblads have mostly become non-functional collector's items. Note that I said "mostly." A few photographers still use them and a subset of them will be able to afford repairs for a decade or two.

 

[guangong]

My favorite camera survey was conducted in mid 1960s by one of the consumer evaluation magazines. Surveyed camera repair shops as to which cameras most often came in for repair. Magazine reported most unreliable cameras were Nikon, Leica and Hasselblad. I don’t remember which magazine.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Hasselblads have mostly become non-functional collector's items. Note that I said "mostly." A few photographers still use them and a subset of them will be able to afford repairs for a decade or two.

Obviously you interact with the wrong people. The Hasselblad owners I talk to do not have shelve queens. You really have to get out more.

 

[George Mann]

Magazine reported most unreliable cameras were Nikon, Leica and Hasselblad.

These were also the most heavily used brands for professional use, which indicates that they confused high service records with reliability.

 

[Henning Serger]

Obviously you interact with the wrong people. The Hasselblad owners I talk to do not have shelve queens. You really have to get out more.

+1.
I know really lots of different film photographers in person, because of my work for PhotoKlassik, and because I am organising film photographer meetings for northern Germany for more than a decade now. Met lots of Hasselblad users there. All with cameras in active use, no shelf queens.

Best regards,
Henning

 

[guangong]

These were also the most heavily used brands for professional use, which indicates that they confused high service records with reliability.

That was my point.

 

[jtk]

Is Northern Germany more than a hobbiest enclave ?

 

[Henning Serger]

Is Northern Germany more than a hobbiest enclave ?

???
The German photo market has been for decades one of the highest developed and most attractive photo markets worldwide, because photography has always been very popular here, and more popular compared to most other countries.
Or in other words:
A very / relatively high percentage of the population here in Germany is interested and active in photography. And the number / percentage of very committed enthusiasts and professionals here is higher compared to most other countries. For a very long time the photography spendings per capita / per photographer in Germany has been the second highest in the world, only surpassed by Japan.
Germany is the biggest photography market in Europe by a big margin. I know lots of photography companies which have a sales volume in Germany which is as big as the sales volume of all other European countries combined. So Germany 1 : rest of Europe 1.
We have still more than 20 (!!) different print photography magazines here on the market, including one completely dedicated to film photography.
And the collapse of the digital camera market is not so strong here compared to other markets, the German market has demonstrated better relative stability. The same is valid for the film photography market, which has been much more stable in Germany during the "digital revolution" compared to almost all other countries.

And conerning our photographer meetings:
They are open for all photographers: Beginners, advanced amateurs, fully dedicated enthusiasts, semi-professionals, professionals, lab-owners, photography teachers, book publishers etc. All these types of photographers have been at our meetings. For example one regular member of our meetings has worked as a professional photographer for Volkswagen for decades (has used also Hasselblad at works and privately). Another one is regularly exhibiting his work and publishing books successfully, using a Leica M6 and a Hasselblad 500 C/M.

Best regards,
Henning

 

[Tom Kershaw]

They are open for all photographers: Beginners, advanced amateurs, fully dedicated enthusiasts, semi-professionals, professionals, lab-owners, photography teachers, book publishers etc. All these types of photographers have been at our meetings.

This open access approach sounds highly commendable. Otherwise there is the danger of those who have something to contribute "falling between" an area of experience or knowledge.