how do people react when you tell them you shoot film?

[Ko.Fe.]

They asks if it still available.

 

[RattyMouse]

Hipsters: Coool
DSLR users: Oh dear, oh dear. I used to have a Leica.
Joe Public: Can you still buy film for that thing?
Kids: Show me the picture
My Wife: Not another bloody camera
Mirrorless camera users: How much did you pay for your lens?
Friends: You have how many films in your fridge?
Old Men: I've still got one of those somewhere. Do you want to buy it?
Photo shops: We sold the last roll eight years ago.
Good photo shops: Portra or Pro400H?
Other film photographers: I only shoot black and white
Nutters: Take my picture and I swear I'll kill you

Outstanding!

 

[removed account4]

shooting again today, speed graphic and ready loads and a falling plate camera ( both 4x5, both on a tripod )
interested in the cameras, interest in photography, took business card, might be interested in some photographs ..

luckily all the trolls i deal with these days are online not in person ..

 

[cuthbert]

Usually they think I'm crazy also because I'm relatively young.

They tell me I'm wasting my time and I should get a digital camera.

 

[pbromaghin]

Usually they think I'm crazy also because I'm relatively young.

They tell me I'm wasting my time and I should get a digital camera.

Wasting your time? Heck, you could be playing Game of War and fantasizing about Kate Upton.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Last year 'round Christmas I was shooting with the F5. A guy (my boss at the time) asked to see the picture. Told him it was a film camera. He asked why. I handed him the camera and told him to take a picture. I had to fill him in on how and he took a shot. He looked at me and just said "Wow" and handed it back.

 

[OptiKen]

Lately I've noticed that more times than not, when I go someplace 'public' to take pictures a 'lomo' person will come up to me and we talk film and cameras. I end up telling them about APUG and they tell me about LOMOGRAPHY. I think film is becoming just a little more commonplace again.
Also, when I go somewhere that has a lot of photographers setting up on tripods, etc, they will give a little extra time and space for the old guy with the film camera to set up and shoot.

 

[mweintraub]

... fantasizing about Kate Upton.

But why can't we do both? Just kidding, don't care much for her.

 

[cuthbert]

Wasting your time? Heck, you could be playing Game of War and fantasizing about Kate Upton.

I checked out on the net who this Kate Upton is and to be honest I'm not impressed, she looks like more boobs than brain, to be honest I prefer to fantasise about women of the calibre of Keira Knightley, Natalie Portman, Kate Beckinsale if I'm in the vampire fetish mood... I don't deal with fake blondes with fake boobs.

For warhammer, close to where I live there is a shop were the kids gather and they are some of my favourite prey, especially during the night, here some shots with my Leica M4P:

Better them than the other teenages brainwashed by smartphones. They also make very nice miniature that I like to photograph during the night a minimum DOF:

F2AS:

 

[pbromaghin]

Enough brains to get $40 million for shaking her boobs in that stupid game.

 

[eddie]

be in public!
be an advocate and ambassador and emissary !
SEND INTERESTED PEOPLE HERE, tell them where to buy stuff ...

+1. I can't count how many times I've invited people under the darkcloth, and took the time to tell people there are still a lot of us using film. I've handed out my card, to those interested, and wrote down the URL of this site. I have heard from a few of them (mostly younger) asking about how to get started. One 20ish couple contacted me about what they needed to develop their own film. I told them I could help set them up, but was out of town at the time. When I returned, I contacted them, but they said they couldn't wait, and bought a tank, chems, etc.! They had already processed a few rolls, and loved it. They were going hybrid but, hey... you gotta start somewhere.
I find young people particularly open to film. They've grown up inundated with social media and disposable images. The concept of making images requiring more time, and effort, is almost revolutionary to them. For some reason, it also fits into the youthful propensity for rebellion.
For older people, who grew up with film, it usually stirs up some nostalgia. I've had more than a few thinking about pulling their old SLRs out of the closet.
The reaction I get is almost always positive and respectful.

 

[BradleyK]

Reactions, in my experience, seem to be a function of the type of camera I happen to be using at the time: If I am shooting with one of my older Nikons or with a Leica, folks check out the camera, and then make some remark along the lines of "where do you buy film? or "I haven't shot film for years, I don't see it in stores much anymore." However, if I am shooting with a Hasselblad, conversations tend to be much more involved. Folks, more often than not, ask about the camera, will ask to look through the viewfinder, and then conversations begin about film itself. Why do you still shoot film? (I like the look and the control of the process) Where do you buy color film? (When asked this question, I tell folks that all our camera stores here in Vancouver still sell a selection; I have also suggested B&H, Adorama, and a few others) Do you process it yourself? (Only the black and white) Why do you shoot both color and black and white (result of seeing several A-12s in my backpack)? I enjoy both, and sometimes the same subject matter "speaks" to me in both; other times I simply cannot decide which I prefer) Who still processes color film? (locally I use theLab for my 120; Dwayne's gets the nod for my 35mm) "I heard Kodak was bankrupt." (Alaris, you have some PR to do). Who still makes film? Ilford, Kodak, etc. And I also mention the ongoing efforts of our friends in Italy.

 

[rjbuzzclick]

Not specifically about film, but was the strangest of my not-too-frequent interactions:

Elderly Gentleman: Is that for a telescope?
Me (with tripod): No, it's for a camera.
EG: This parking lot would be a good spot for that, a clear view.
Me: Yes it would.
EG: I don't want to brag or nothing, but I once saw a spaceship take off from the back side of the moon. It just shot right off of there.
Me: Uh...

 

[bergytone]

These are fun stories to read... they all hit home. I was shooting at my daughter's graduation with my trusty Nikon and you start to notice that all of these cell phone cameras have this little sound when the shot is taken that emulates a film camera, but when I'd fire one off it was nice and loud and authentic. That's when people start to realize you're shooting something from the past.
My son-in law asked "so why is it you are shooting with that film stuff again?" I said "it's fun, and it's a hobby"... enough said.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I took a Speed Graphic to an air show at Andrews AFB, more photographs were taken on my taking photographs than the number of photographs I took.

 

[Pioneer]

These are fun stories to read... they all hit home. I was shooting at my daughter's graduation with my trusty Nikon and you start to notice that all of these cell phone cameras have this little sound when the shot is taken that emulates a film camera, but when I'd fire one off it was nice and loud and authentic. That's when people start to realize you're shooting something from the past.
My son-in law asked "so why is it you are shooting with that film stuff again?" I said "it's fun, and it's a hobby"... enough said.

"...why not? Haven't found anything better yet!"

 

[Marvin]

If you want to be stealthy just use a Nikon F5 and look down at the back ocassionaly as if you were checking the pics. Most people will just think you are using a DSLR. Had this happen to me one time and after using the F5 and they were surprised that it wasn't digital.

 

[BradleyK]

If you want to be stealthy just use a Nikon F5 and look down at the back ocassionaly as if you were checking the pics. Most people will just think you are using a DSLR. Had this happen to me one time and after using the F5 and they were surprised that it wasn't digital.

lol Even more confusing to some is the F6 with its rear LCD display: Until I point out the film cartridge - visible through a window in the back left of the camera - many seem to think the camera is a d*****l.

 

[Tamara]

I'm busy making converts. I figure I need to get other people buying film and using processing so that the stuff stays around for me.

"Throwback Thursday" on Facebook/Twitter is my favorite for making film converts. Everybody in the 30-50 age bracket is posting scans of old pics of themselves as a kid or their parents when they were younger. That's when I gently point out that if their kids want to do Throwback Thursday in twenty or thirty years, a box of negatives would be handy to have. Heck, I could post all kinds of photos I took twenty years ago; I know where the negatives are. Too many snapshots I took only eight or ten years ago are unavailable on corrupted old floppies or dead hard drives...

 

[anfenglin]

I really don't like these people who keep looking at the display of their camera after taking a shot. They have a digital camera that does almost anything for them, they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars/euros/currencies for their gear and they don't know how to properly handle it. They see something, take the shot and then look at the display. They distance themselves even more from the picture and "fix everything in PS". These are the people who like to tease me about "using old, obsolete" technology. "But I want to see the pictures right away!". Usually these aforementioned people with the Canon DSLRs with enormous lenses with no hood on them in bright sunlight and the auxiliary flash popped up.
On the other hand, I had positive remarks about me shooting with my cameras. I was out in the city with my Zorki 4 and the turret finder, some tourist asked me very interested about film and "is it still being manufactured" etc. We had a nice little talk, even his wife was a little interested.
I was in Berlin once shooting with my Fuji GA645 in a museum, not very subtly, the Fuji is just a little loud. Some guy next to me heard the winder andvancing the film and was very surprised, he gave me a thumbs up and a "very nice".
Apart from that I keep my cameras in a bag or pocket, people rarely notice them.
In recent months, I had a few converts myself, some coworkers started shooting with film cameras, I am sharing my knowledge with them. I'm happy to see that film, just like vinyl records, has a strong fanbase and, in my opinion, will not die, at least not for a long time.

 

[cuthbert]

On the other hand, I had positive remarks about me shooting with my cameras. I was out in the city with my Zorki 4 and the turret finder, some tourist asked me very interested about film and "is it still being manufactured" etc. We had a nice little talk, even his wife was a little interested.

This anedocte reminds me on a time when I was in the London tube with my Z6, turret finder and a very attractive woman, possibly a model, started to stare at the Zorki, not at me, just at the camera.

She looked at the camera until I had to leave the train, that was weird, I wonder what she thought the turret was.

 

[TenSpeed]

when i hand my camera to someone to take a picture of my GF and I and they take like 10 shots

*cringe*

 

[anfenglin]

That's why I never give my camera to anyone who has no clue of photography. Plus, I have no AF SLR, people get confused and don't know what to do.

 

[Prest_400]

when i hand my camera to someone to take a picture of my GF and I and they take like 10 shots

*cringe*

The opposite happens with me. On digital and cellphones bursts are free and usually welcome in case of small issues (blinking eyes, and such) but people just take a single frame or two!
With film no worries as I have no Motor Drive cameras. I'd like a P&S though.

My OM-1 has gotten nice comments nowadays.
GW690 hasn't gotten around much publicly.

 

[Sirius Glass]

when i hand my camera to someone to take a picture of my GF and I and they take like 10 shots

*cringe*

Welcome to APUG

Now you know why you do not let others handle your camera.