Hello from Japan

[Nazzy11]

As I write this, a typhoon looms off the coast, ready to give us a blessed break from all this hot humidity in the air.

Hi, I'm Nathan! XD

I recently got interested in film again, so I sold my Leica M and bought a Nikon F3 and a 1.4 50mm lens. Going through my first roll of b/w film right now, so hopefully when it gets developed I won't see any evidence of light leaks or anything. Should be good though.

Currently living in Osaka and getting reaquainted with film. When I move to Taiwan I plan on making a darkroom, but for now I'm just going to use the local place to develop my film and scan my photos digitally.

Feel free to ask my questions. I don't have any right now, so I'll probably just stalk the forums once in a while.

 

[mooseontheloose]

Hi Nathan! Welcome to APUG from another expat living in Kyoto. There are a few members here living in Japan.

You definitely don't need a darkroom to develop film - I've been using a changing bag to load reels for over 10 years now and it's still serving me well (even though I now have a darkroom in my apartment - I like the bag better than standing in the dark for some reason). Once you get a tank, a couple of reels, and some containers to hold the developer, stop, and fix, you'll be ready to go. (Yodobashi has everything). I stuck a laundry pole up in the bathroom and hang my film to dry there. That being said - getting film developed here is fairly cheap and easy, but if you are planning on making a darkroom in Taiwan (whenever that is) it may be worthwhile to start building up the collection of things you need while you are in a film-friendly country.

 

[Trail Images]

Welcome to APUG, Nathan......

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Welcome!

 

[fotch]

Hello Nathan and welcome to APUG.

 

[frank]

Hello Nathan. Many years ago, I lived and worked in Japan as an English teacher, and completely loved the experience. The village I lived in was called Yamamoto, and it's south of Ikeda where the school was located, which is south of Nishinomita, which is south of Osaka . (I hope my memory serves.)

 

[darkosaric]

Welcome to APUG !

 

[Sirius Glass]

Welcome to APUG

 

[Nazzy11]

Thanks for the welcome everyone

As for getting stuff for a darkroom, I'm going to wait until Ig et to Taiwan to do that. I leave Japan in September, and I don't want to have to pack too much stuff. The film camera community over there in Taiwan seems to be thriving well enough, so I'm sure I can get my hands on equipment.

 

[David Metis]

I envy the film-shooters in Japan and Asia. They seem to have access to the cameras and etc that those of us stuck in the West seem to covet so.

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[Brian L]

I envy the film-shooters in Japan and Asia. They seem to have access to the cameras and etc that those of us stuck in the West seem to covet so.

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This actually touches something I keep asking myself - a bit of a historical/sociological question: If there's a broader base of people still using film in Japan, why is that?
And how come that there's such a huge number of companies that produced (and still produces of course) cameras etc. ?
Maybe I'm just stepping into the 'the grass is always greener on the other side' - trap...

Cheers,
Brian

 

[papagene]

Nathan... hello and welcome to APUG!