How many rolls of film are you shooting in a week? (average)

Nikanon · Jun 4, 2013

I was wondering today after reading posts on various photography forums, what the average amount of film 35mm photographers are shooting in a week is? Respond with your average count!

viridari · Jun 4, 2013

This has gone up a LOT for me since I found the "go everywhere" camera (in my case, a Yashica T4). I tried doing this with an Olympus XA and while it's a fine camera, the dim rangefinder patch and the less convenient flash had me shooting less film than I would have liked.

Nikanon · Jun 4, 2013

If I am fairly busy I find myself shooting 1-2 rolls a day at minimum, but if I have a full free day it can be upwards of 7-8 rolls. My average weekly is probably somewhere around 15.

removed account4 · Jun 4, 2013

hi nikanon:
i am not shooting much 35mm these days
mostly half frame 35mm so it is a bit harder for me to finish a roll when
its loaded .. it wasn't long ago that i would shoot at least a roll a day though ..
or 3 or 4 rolls of 120 or at least 20 sheets of 4x5 film ..
unfortunately i am kind of beat / tired so i make images with the sun instead
and i do about 5 or 10 a week, maybe more ...

i do have a roll in my half frame camera, i gotta shoot it soon, thanks for reminding me!
john

h.v. · Jun 4, 2013

Winter: 1-2
Summer: 3-5

chip j · Jun 4, 2013

I shot 100 rolls/yr for many years, but now it's less than 20/yr because I sot everything around here and can't afford to travel much. I do deepen my vision, though, and the rolls I do shoot have a lot more good ones than in the past.

RonnyRobinson · Jun 4, 2013

I'm probably shooting 1-3 rolls on average. 10-15 if I have time time to do it.

jp498 · Jun 4, 2013

chip j said:
I shot 100 rolls/yr for many years, but now it's less than 20/yr because I sot everything around here and can't afford to travel much. I do deepen my vision, though, and the rolls I do shoot have a lot more good ones than in the past.

The first sentence is like either blasphemy (on the order of 'I already have cute photos of my kids, so I cut back. Or ' I've cut back on kisses to my wife from 100 to 20 because she already knows I love her"') or admitting waning creativity or admitting the need to additional challenge. No need to travel. On the LF forums, we've got people who never leave a mile from their home it seems, and people who only photography pixies and towels wrapped up into bowls, and other similarly intense focus, and it's paying off. Get into other formats, different lenses, different processes, photographing people. Deepening vision and getting more shots per roll is always a good goal, and different formats are a tool to force some of that. If you're only shooting 20 rolls now because it gets you as many pleasing photos as it used to take with 100 rolls, that's great simply because it saves you much time and effort to get what you're after.

wblynch · Jun 4, 2013

I'm down from over 100 rolls a year to about 60. So 1-2 a week.

Not all 35mm though. I use also 120, 127 and even hand loaded 126 Instamatic. 2014 will be my year for 4x5. I hope.

DannL · Jun 5, 2013

None. But, I can only say that as of now. After more than 3 decades of shooting 35mm and 7 years of 120, I finally threw in the towel and donated everything that involved roll-film to a local cancer charity. I now call it . . . "Spring Cleaning gone Wild!" But worry not. You'll need a heavy-duty crowbar to pry the sheet-film holders from my cold dead hands. When that time comes . . . of course.

Nikanon · Jun 5, 2013

I agree with JP, whenever I shoot a larger amount of rolls in a single day, it's usually in the same location. I don't photograph the same exact thing, maybe the same subjects, but things change, people move, etc. Most of the time I find myself photographing 8 rolls of film on a single street corner in a time frame of about 8-15 minutes. It dosent ever matter where I am, if things are moving, it can get interesting. There is a difference however between observation and intention, and simply trying to get a higher number of frames for security. On the contrary, I work better knowing I am risking everything.

j.ponakmo · Jun 5, 2013

This all depends, I find when I'm traveling I shoot way more possibly ~40 exp. roll or more a day. But when I'm bored here in Madison during the summer I try and do at least 2 rolls (~40 exp.) a week, or more if I've got an idea in my head.

perkeleellinen · Jun 5, 2013

Much more shooting in the summer, much more printing in the winter.

Steve Roberts · Jun 5, 2013

Probably thirty rolls a year but as per Steve above skewed heavily towards the summer months. Sadly with the rocketing cost of shooting transparencies, I can see that figure falling rather than rising.
Steve

benjiboy · Jun 5, 2013

I probably shoot about 50 rolls a year, that includes 120 film I would think it's about 30 rolls of 135 and 20 of 120. Iv'e shot a lot more since I retired 8 years ago because I now go out shooting almost every day.

mooseontheloose · Jun 5, 2013

Probably around 50-60 rolls a year, but over half of those could be done within a 1-3 week period while travelling. I rarely shoot outside of holiday time (I've got 5 months a year), since work and life in general are pretty draining otherwise.

2bits · Jun 5, 2013

I average 3 rolls per week of 35mm, and 2 rolls of 120. There is a lot of scenery here, both winter and summer!

E. von Hoegh · Jun 5, 2013

Wow.
Several, say an average of three per week. Frames, not rolls.

Allan Swindles · Jun 5, 2013

I'd go with E. von Hoegh, perhaps not even as many as that, remember it's quality not quantity, the d****** guys I mix with might just as well be shooting movies.

NedL · Jun 5, 2013

I'm with E. von Hoegh too. I carry my camera walking almost every day. The other day I used 6 frames and that was very unusual. Usually 1 or 2 and often none. It usually takes me several weeks to finish a roll. Which is good because it takes me that long to make all the prints too! Sort of a nice balance there.

hdeyong · Jun 5, 2013

Probably an average of 2-3 rolls per week. Some weeks more, when travelling as I am now. In 6 weeks I expect to shoot about 40 rolls.

Jeff Kubach · Jun 5, 2013

1-3per week.

Jeff

one90guy · Jun 5, 2013

Averaging less than one, weather to hot and I have trouble getting out of bed for early mornings Fall here is not to maybe mid November.

David

flatulent1 · Jun 5, 2013

At the moment I'm only shooting ~ .08 rolls per week. That varies, of course, depending on the weather, my schedule, the cost of processing, etc. In the last few years I've found myself putting the camera to my eye, looking at what I wanted to shoot, then put the camera down. Another shot of whatever that would have been ignored once I got the film back.

Nikanon · Jun 5, 2013

Allan Swindles said:
I'd go with E. von Hoegh, perhaps not even as many as that, remember it's quality not quantity, the d****** guys I mix with might just as well be shooting movies.

I agree with you, and I stated so in my last post. Im very surprised to learn that thus far I photograph more rolls than most people. I grew up photographically with the idea of making every shot count and be very intentional. The more I photograph the more I find I like seeing how absolutely anything looks photographed, which leads to endless material anywhere, and more rolls. There is, I believe, a fundamental difference in the digital shooter firing 8 frames a second at something and someone winding and clicking very intentionally aware of each exposure. Although plenty of people blow film in the same mechanical fashion haphazardly as well.

How many rolls of film are you shooting in a week? (average)

How many rolls of film do you shoot a week on average?

Only a partial roll

1-2

3-5

5-10

10+

Nikanon

viridari

Nikanon

removed account4

h.v.

chip j

RonnyRobinson

jp498

wblynch

DannL

Nikanon

j.ponakmo

perkeleellinen

Steve Roberts

benjiboy

mooseontheloose

2bits

E. von Hoegh

Allan Swindles

NedL

hdeyong

Jeff Kubach

one90guy

flatulent1

Nikanon

How many rolls of film are you shooting in a week? (average)

How many rolls of film do you shoot a week on average?

Only a partial roll

1-2

3-5

5-10

10+

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency