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

[mehguy]

ive mostly got the question from people "can i see the the picture" or "can u delete the picture".

 

[Pioneer]

ive mostly got the question from people "can i see the the picture" or "can u delete the picture".

The most consistent question I get is: "They still make film?"; followed by: "Where do you get it developed?"

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Since it being seen more and more as "cool-retro" vs only a few years ago when it was seen often as "stuck in the old ways" the reactions have been nicer and often with an expression of "oh wow, that's cool! Where do you get film these days?" more and more, at least in my experience. The reactions are overwhelming positive when I'm walking around with one of my Rolleiflex TLRs...

 

[Sirius Glass]

"You can still get film?"
"I still have a ..."

 

[pbromaghin]

My experience is just like Richard Sintchak's. Also, the bigger and weirder-looking the camera, the cooler you are perceived to be. A 35mm SLR places you deep into the dinosaur age, a MF folder stands out to a very select few people, a Mamiya TLR brings questions and amazement, but if you show up with a Cambo Legend 4x5, people are afraid to come near you.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

I should qualify that as the reactions I outlined above are from the general public. Biggest jerks are the semi-pro wannabes who use the latest and greatest digital SLRs (most often Canon) who can be real condescending sometimes. I think its often rooted in a weird sense of subconscious jealousy (though they would deny that) since they spent thousands and often tens of thousands in new gear going digital and I suspect might have a sneaking suspicion it's not helped them at all in becoming better photographer. Heck, maybe even the opposite. I sometimes shoot family snaps by digital but cannot help myself from chimping constantly because I can. A very different experience. My digital work mostly sucks. I know I'm a better photographer when I shot film. It's just a completely different mindset that suits my style better and I get better results. I avoided spending huge amounts of money on a full-frame digital because I suspected that would happen. I even rented a Canon DSLR body and lens for a weekend. My results were crap. So anyway my point is the most rude comments about using a film camera comes from people who are usually carrying a Canon boat anchor, I mean, big DSLR...

 

[BrianShaw]

Interestingly, I generally get "meh" reactions. Mostly total ambivalence. The few that do comment often make a quick snide remark and then brag about what their digital camera can do... but nobody that I can remember has ever been critical of my continued use of film. I do recall a couple of folks who have voice surprised acceptance that there are still a few of us still using old cameras and shooting film... but mostly from a POV of "so it will take you a bit longer to post those pictures to the web site, eh?"

People in Canada sure sound more inquisitive (or intrusive) than they are down here.

The majority of the time I hear a lot of chatter about pictures is when they are snapped with a phone. "May I see it; Can you send that to me"...

 

[mehguy]

i have had one specific remark where i was hanging out with my friends and i had brang my film camera. most of my friends were like "you cant see the picture?" or "why cant you just take the film out of the camera and look at the pictures?". but one of my "friends" ( he wasnt even my friend, one of my other friends had just tagged him along) and i took a picture of him and he was like "HEY, delete the picture!" and i responded with "uhhh... you cant...." and this douchebag was like " WOW, WHO BUYS A CAMERA THAT CANT DELETE PICTURES!!!".

 

[Paul Howell]

The last comment was question about where to buy camera, which to start with 35mm or large format. In most cases folks don't pay attention to me one way or the other.

 

[BrianShaw]

What's the difference between a douchbag and a moron?

 

[MartinCrabtree]

resolution...................blah blah blah..................grain..blah blah blah..............too expensive....blah blah blah.......can't buy film....blah blah blah.........sharpness.............blahblahblah........only 36????........I don't think much of people so all I hear is Charlie brown's teacher. So I open the backpack put the F5 away and pull the D90 out with some big honkin' fast manual focus tele hanging off it. Shuts most of them up while they try and figure (what kind of lens izzat???) that out.

 

[BrianShaw]

... i was hanging out with my friends and i had brang my film camera.

What's the difference between a douchbag and a moron?

A douchbag would point out that the principle parts of the verb to bring are: bring, brought, have brought.

Sorry; I couldn't resist.

 

[NJH]

Biggest jerks are the semi-pro wannabes who use the latest and greatest digital SLRs (most often Canon) who can be real condescending sometimes. So anyway my point is the most rude comments about using a film camera comes from people who are usually carrying a Canon boat anchor, I mean, big DSLR...

Amazing coincidence that as my experience has been exactly the same, most of my friends have been mildly interested but don't really care much either way and noticeably the only negative responses I have had have been from a couple of know-it-all Canon DSLR shooters. I mentioned shadow banding to one of them and how their sensors were 2 generations behind those made by Sony which got him angry enough that we could 'leave' the conversation.

 

[pdeeh]

Nobody ever gets near enough to me to ask a question because of my very strong, peculiar and offensive odour

 

[quintobrena]

Digital Photographers: "that is obsolete and expensive. Why anyone would still use film???"
Digital photographer after they see an 11x14 B&W: "How do you get that texture??", "how do you get so close to people? "
Friends: "Does your camera still works? "
Cops/Clerks/Guards/Parents/Players/lovers/extragers, etc...: "yes you can take a photo. "
My wife: "Isn't it the same to shoot digital for free?" XP

 

[removed account4]

i am out at least 2 or 4 days a week with a camera,
these days i have use either a 4x5 or 11x14/8x10 ...

i wandered around the downtown city-square photographing the streetscape
with a speed graphic. had a big box ( speed graphic fiber box ) + tripod
the only people that said anything to me were cops ( who i thought were going to hassle me
and tell me i wasn't permitted to photograph the construction site ) and construction people who
were holding "slow / stop" signs. both seemed genuinely interested in film and the camera, and happy to help me cross the street.
one guy came out of his garage where he was fixing cars walked across the busy street ( as he does 8 or 9 times a day ) and was happy that
i wasn't using a cellphone to photograph what was going on ... ( as the city probably was having the construction people do ) ...
i got smiles, and thumbs ups from cars stuck in traffic or driving by .. no snarky questions or comments, no can you still get film for that &c ..
by the coast where i set up the big camera i get people walking their dogs people relaxing in their cars interested in what i am doing.
some i have made portraits of, others i have told about apug so she can re-kindle her love affair with cameras + film too.
over the weekend i was in the state capital photographing an area i had photographed a lot, ... oodles of people walking by. a handful were
saw the speed graphic, told me how crappy digital-stuff was, and he said he had cameras he wanted film for but couldn't find it locally
so i told him about freestyle and b/h and HERE ... another guy saw me doing some exposures he made 4 fingers then 5 fingers, a few times then the "thumbs up"
he came out and was happy to see someone using a 4x5 camera ... and told me he shot tons of large format ( 8x10 and 4x5 ) he worked at a camera shop for a while
(the last one in the area) and also at the public / local arts center that teaches photography classes ( he was maybe 22 years old ) ...
no pro digital yadda yadda yadda, no negative vibe from anyone i have run into .. just shiney happy people and positive vibes and people stoked to see someone without a digital camera ...
[added]
yesterday ( or the day before ) someone saw me with the camera and came up to me and asked " is that a telescope"
i had her look at the ground glass under the dark cloth ... i asked if i could take her portrait, but she declined

 

[Xmas]

Well I normally let them look through the finder and take a shot...
The worst problem was a girl having focused and taken a shot then inquired what happened next.
On being told about the wind on lever said

'you mean it has tape in side it?'

That was merely the start of the dialogue which got worse.

note she was a photog student ...

 

[Alan Gales]

My buddy Harold told me the story about how he had his X-Pan on the tripod and his incident meter out reading the scene. A lady came up to him and asked what kind of digital camera he had in his hand. Harold replied that it was a light meter and not a camera. She asked him what a light meter was for. He told her to measure the light so he could set his exposure on his camera. She then asked him why anyone would want to do that? A frustrated Harold replied, "I don't know".

If she had seen one of Harold's beautiful panoramas she would have understood why.

 

[pbromaghin]

What's the difference between a douchbag and a moron?

Well, here's one half: http://hotchickswithdouchebags.com/

Here's the other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45lkvjX7VPs

 

[ToddB]

I mostly get the same comments noted in start of this thread. "You can still get Film?". I always welcome people to ask and tell them that "Yes".. It's just not as popular as digital." I've even had people ask if I lived in the city (San Antonio) I visiting in the regards of them wanting to learn how to use, develop and print in the darkroom as a mentorship. One time I had like three guys asking me about antique cameras and what they were all about, I explained it to them and one replied back "Do you teach a class"? Or another comments like.. " That's a real photographer". 95% of the time I get positive responses about my gear when I'm out and about. The DSLR people with their anchors (love that!) just look at me as like a penis comparison.. mine is bigger than your so there for I'm better. I think they're very jealous that they don't have the skill set to do it. Oh.. last one.. "Does that camera work"?

ToddB

 

[gone]

"Biggest jerks are the semi-pro wannabes who use the latest and greatest digital SLRs (most often Canon) who can be real condescending sometimes".

Amen to that, brother. I've been stung by them one too many times, Now, I just refuse to talk to them. They do not exist when I am out and about. Bunch of stuck up, ill mannered, rude, superficial, ignorant phonies....and I am being very kind. Ask me in person and my wording will be a bit more colorful :}

That was a valid question the lady asked Harold. I wonder why he didn't simply explain that it was so he could get correct exposure on the film? It's not often that someone expresses actual interest in my travels.

 

[mehguy]

i am out at least 2 or 4 days a week with a camera,
these days i have use either a 4x5 or 11x14/8x10 ...

i wandered around the downtown city-square photographing the streetscape
with a speed graphic. had a big box ( speed graphic fiber box ) + tripod
the only people that said anything to me were cops ( who i thought were going to hassle me
and tell me i wasn't permitted to photograph the construction site ) and construction people who
were holding "slow / stop" signs. both seemed genuinely interested in film and the camera, and happy to help me cross the street.
one guy came out of his garage where he was fixing cars walked across the busy street ( as he does 8 or 9 times a day ) and was happy that
i wasn't using a cellphone to photograph what was going on ... ( as the city probably was having the construction people do ) ...
i got smiles, and thumbs ups from cars stuck in traffic or driving by .. no snarky questions or comments, no can you still get film for that &c ..
by the coast where i set up the big camera i get people walking their dogs people relaxing in their cars interested in what i am doing.
some i have made portraits of, others i have told about apug so she can re-kindle her love affair with cameras + film too.
over the weekend i was in the state capital photographing an area i had photographed a lot, ... oodles of people walking by. a handful were
saw the speed graphic, told me how crappy digital-stuff was, and he said he had cameras he wanted film for but couldn't find it locally
so i told him about freestyle and b/h and HERE ... another guy saw me doing some exposures he made 4 fingers then 5 fingers, a few times then the "thumbs up"
he came out and was happy to see someone using a 4x5 camera ... and told me he shot tons of large format ( 8x10 and 4x5 ) he worked at a camera shop for a while
(the last one in the area) and also at the public / local arts center that teaches photography classes ( he was maybe 22 years old ) ...
no pro digital yadda yadda yadda, no negative vibe from anyone i have run into .. just shiney happy people and positive vibes and people stoked to see someone without a digital camera ...
[added]
yesterday ( or the day before ) someone saw me with the camera and came up to me and asked " is that a telescope"
i had her look at the ground glass under the dark cloth ... i asked if i could take her portrait, but she declined

Wow... im actually scared to even to be out in public with a tlr or a large format camera. I fear when people see that type of "odd" camera they think im like some weirdo.

also, how do you carry a 11x14 camera around?! I can see a 4x5 camera not being too hard to lug around but 11x14 is a large format!

 

[OptiKen]

What surprises me is the question, "Where can you even buy film?"
I generally reply with, "The same places you always did before - Target, Walmart, CVS, RiteAid, etc.
They don't have the selection they used to have and you may have to search a little in the store to find it, but for the most part, the same places you bought it before still carry it.

 

[Ian Grant]

In a camera shop/photo studio with a beautiful Gandolfi or Watson 10x12 with a TTH Cooke portrait lens in the window on Chios (Greek island) it was is film still available. I met a son of the owner later who spotted my TLR and came to talk he preferred film but they'd gone digital.

In Venice 4 or 5 years ago with my Yashicamat 124 a mother said to her sons look there's a real camera.

A few years ago it was always abuse from Digital shooters but I've seen a big change more recently, maybe the Lomo movement has opened some eyes or perhaps digital shooters as they get more involved have seen what film can do.

Ian

 

[ic-racer]

What surprises me is the question, "Where can you even buy film?"
I generally reply with, "The same places you always did before - Target, Walmart, CVS, RiteAid, etc.

"Same places as before..." I also mention that but for me it means I still use a dedicated photography store. Even in 1975 when I got my Yashica Mat 124G, those types of stores did not carry B&W 120 film.