Hello film people.

MattPC · May 18, 2011

Hi all,
I'm a relativley recent refugee from the megapixel wars. After having my 3rd plastic fantastic fail I sulked, got out my old consumer grade P30n and rediscovered photography.
I was a little surprised to find just how good my inexpensive consumer camera really is. Which inevitably led to finding a Yashica GSN to replace the one I got rid of in favor of the P30n. I like my GSN, It's just so unpretentiuos and technical excellent at the same time.
Of course once I discovered how low the used prices are I bought another lens, then a body, then another lens, I think you guys know how it goes from here...
And in the process of all this low budget extravagance i discovered there are still more different types of film in manufacture than I ever knew existed. I'm having loads of low budget/low talent fun just exploring my new toys and the variations available through such as IR film, B&W, slide, color negative etc. There seems to be no end to directions I could go. I'm beginning to feel an interest for medium format, along with large format inkjet printing. I hope to learn a little about these topics here.
I'm pretty happy to find such an interested and enthusiastic film following online.

Wow, that was a long hello...

MattC

pityacka · May 18, 2011

Welcome back, in a way, MattPC. Start snapping up those film bargain cameras. There are a lot of people whose first camera was a, (dare I mention it ?) digital, and they are now showing interest in film cameras. APS cameras ? - Kicked into touch by digital. Bought a Minolta Vectis S1 with 2 lenses, one of which was the 80-240 apo lens, for the huge sum of £12.50p. We will have to do without food for a week !

mooseontheloose · May 18, 2011

Nice intro Matt. Welcome to APUG! It will feed and nourish your film photography until one day you'll find yourself with a large format system (among many others), handcoating your own paper, and wondering how you got there... ;-)

Jeff Kubach · May 18, 2011

Hello Matt and I hope you like it here.

Jeff

Whiteymorange · May 18, 2011

Hey Matt. Welcome aboard.

M.A.Longmore · May 18, 2011

.
Welcome Home Matt !

Ron
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papagene · May 18, 2011

Matt - hello and welcome to APUG!

Chazzy · May 18, 2011

Welcome to APUG, Matt.

mike c · May 18, 2011

Welcome MattC.

Mike

Joe O'Brien · May 18, 2011

Glad to see another apuger MattC!

Joe

Sirius Glass · May 18, 2011

Welcome to APUG!

Steve

MattKing · May 18, 2011

Welcome to APUG Matt.

Nice name

Diapositivo · May 18, 2011

Matt, the only cure there is to your imminent Gear Acquisition Syndrome is the decision to begin developing film yourself. You'll be too engaged in studying film developing, rotative processors, kind of tanks etc. to waste energy in buying another camera out of camera greed. It's another form of GAS but it will pay back in saved laboratory expense.

When you have finished with the developing gear and have bought all there is to buy, in order not to fall prey of GAS you'll have no other choice than setting a darkroom and begin printing by yourself. I'm not there yet but I know there is no escape.

After this, you will fall prey of medium format GAS. Then you'll have to update for MF all your developing materials, and all your printing material.

Don't worry too much about GAS, it's not a rare illness, actually it's fairly common.

Fabrizio

PS You might even plan your darkroom in advance for your future MF GAS.

Mike Wilde · May 18, 2011

Fabrizio is not far off the mark on the path of the arc most follow. Just this past weekend I booked a table at a camera swap show just to get rid of the stuff I am not using after 25 years at this 'hobby'. After all I sold it still left me with 2 -4x5, 2 MF, 4- 35mm SLR's, countless p&s 35mm, and four enlargers spread between 2 darkroom areas.

Glad you have found your place with film. This site is a great place to learn from. A bit overwhelming at first. I remeber my first month of 'drinking from the fire hose' of film knowledge freely shared here on apug fondly.

MattPC · May 20, 2011

Thanks all,

Thanks all for your kind words,

I'm presently making a consciuos effort not to look at MF gear (it's not working of course) on the sound basis that I am not (yet?) pushing the boundaries of 35mm. (and I don't yet have that 28mm K mount lens...) Not to mention the trouble I got into today when my new tripod arrived...<grin> That's gonna cost me.

What I really would like is an inexpensive spot meter to help me with my zone system learning curve. I (think) I have the concept but putting it into practice with the center weighted meters on my 35mm pentax bodies seems like educated guesswork (though markedly more effective than blind faith in the meter). Any advice on reasonable/low cost spotmeters would be appreciated.

I hope to get this (zone system) under control, before i start seriusly thinking about developing & printing. It's been over 20 years since I was in a darkroom and even then I was just 'helping' my dad. It seemed like magic at the time.

Thanks again for your welcome and nice be here,

Matt.

Diapositivo · May 20, 2011

MattPC said:
What I really would like is an inexpensive spot meter to help me with my zone system learning curve. [...] Any advice on reasonable/low cost spotmeters would be appreciated.

I bought a few years ago a second-hand Minolta Spotmeter F on an auction site. They are never that cheap anyway. I use it mainly for tripod work, but I do take it with me sometimes also when just walking around. It is relatively small and light and I put it in one upper pocket of by "many-pocketed" vest. It has a 1° viewing angle which is what you need for this kind of precise work.

Older Minolta Spotmeter might use a mercury battery so you need to adopt one of the many workarounds described in the APUG forum. I suppose you can find those at a cheaper price but remember that a "workaround" typically does not guarantee a precision equal to what the instrument would have with a mercury battery, unless the circuitry was designed to minimize voltage variations.
Using workarounds is fine for an in-camera meter, where metering is - the way I use it - some sort of ancillary function. I would avoid a lightmeter powered by a mercury battery those days.

Now that I use incident light metering more often, I find it clumsy to have with me two light meters. If you can find one of the more modern light meters which act both as spot meter (1°) and incident light meter, I suppose you'll appreciate the convenience. They are more expensive, but don't forget you'll have to buy an incident light meter sooner or later.

MattKing · May 20, 2011

MattPC said:
What I really would like is an inexpensive spot meter to help me with my zone system learning curve. I (think) I have the concept but putting it into practice with the center weighted meters on my 35mm pentax bodies seems like educated guesswork (though markedly more effective than blind faith in the meter). Any advice on reasonable/low cost spotmeters would be appreciated.

I hope to get this (zone system) under control, before i start seriusly thinking about developing & printing. It's been over 20 years since I was in a darkroom and even then I was just 'helping' my dad. It seemed like magic at the time.

Thanks again for your welcome and nice be here,

Matt.

Matt:

A centre-weighted metering Pentax with a 200mm (or longer) lens will give you a decent approximation of a spot meter - or at least a narrow angle meter.

A hand-held Lunasix 3 with a 5 degree attachment will also give you a narrow angle meter, and can be had for low cost. If you take the 5 degree attachment off, it will also permit incident metering - in my mind much more useful for most photographs.

Do you have a custom developing service for your film (N, N -1, N +1)? Plus a custom printer? Otherwise, I don't know how you will be able to get most of the benefit from the Zone System.

I've said something like this before, but in my mind the Zone System is 90% about fine tuning film development, and 10% about exposure. And it is almost entirely directed toward obtaining printable results.

MattPC · May 21, 2011

Hi Matt,

thanks for your comments, valid points and helpful for my thought processes. Some thoughts/comments below,

Do you have a custom developing service for your film (N, N -1, N +1)? Plus a custom printer? Otherwise, I don't know how you will be able to get most of the benefit from the Zone System.

Yes, I do have a very good custom lab nearby however, your point is valid. I can see already that I will quickly run into high costs by dint of volume alone if I follow this path.
I guess my present perception of 'the most benefit from the zone system' is to use it as a development tool for myself. I'm thinking that if i can improve my control/use of light to my advantage by means of learning to place important elements of my composition in appropriate zones within (say) the 7-8 stops usable in 'normal' developing my images/prints from scans cannot help but improve. Even if I am inevitably forced to blow out some highlights/lose shadows or miss shots the full extended zone system could have achieved due to this constraint I'm sure my 'keeper ratio' will improve.

And, far more importantly, I/my skills will develop a little and I'll enjoy the process (hopefully).

I like your suggestion of using a 200mm lens, thank you. I'll have a bit of go at this and see how I go.

Thanks again for your continued interest and suggestions.

MattC

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