Upturn in Analog Photography

the local junior college has a great photo department. they offer 3 levels of black and white only classes and two color classes. Full dark room with both B&W enlargers and color. they are ususually the first to fill up at the college, including the night classes. The second B&W class focuses on med format and they will even provide the cameras! and if you get to the lab late you cant ever get an enlarger! its great to see

Ha! This is great. And as a funny story to go with that... A few weeks ago I was at a coffee shop in Dickinson, ND (part of the ND oil boom here in the states). It's a pretty small town other than the insane amounts of oil related infrastructure all over. Anyway, there was this guy sitting a few tables away from me. He looked like a college kid with the "hipster" kind look to hm. He was reading two books, one was "Eat, Love, Pray" (?!?!?) and the other "Film is not dead". And he had an old school 35mm camera with him. I thought the whole thing was pretty comical but I appreciated seeing a film shooter in the middle of nowhere ND. Even if he was doing it simply to make a fashion statement. Whatever their motives I do hope these young kids really do get the analog bug and stick with it

And as far as "cool girls shoot film" group, I "like" their facebook page. It's a nice group with some talent but I find it a little empty (and this is coming from a female). Most of their updates are photos of their "cool" old cameras but really no discussion about actual photography or expanding your skills or vision. I must say, as a female I'm a little disappointed. Female photographers have an uphill battle in this field to begin with and this site (at least the FB page) isn't helping much IMHO.

BMbikerider said:

I forgot about the Hasselblad and the Rollieflexes, however I mean new cameras that are reasonably priced, to be used everyday similar to the Nikon F3, Canon F1 Nikon F100 Minolta Dynax 9 or even the likes of something similar to the Pentax MX/ME. t least the manual mechanical cameras are still able to be repaired

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I'm looking at B&H's new film cameras available, and I see: Mamiya 7 and RZ67, Voigtlander R2, R3, and R4, Fuji/Voigtlander GF667, Vivitar 35mm SLR, Zeiss Ikon RF, Canon EOS 1V, Nikon F6, Leica MP and M7, Rollei 6008, Rollei TLR...

Yes only the R2/3/4 and the Vivitar are under 1000 dollars, but honestly, if you're looking to buy a film camera brand new, you're probably not looking for something less than that anyway. If someone really wants to shoot film in a new camera they can get an R4 and a 35mm Skopar for 1200 dollars (which is the same price as a mid-range DSLR). Although I don't really know why you would want to do that if you can buy an M2 or M3 for the same price, pick up a used CV, Zeiss, or Leica lens and be better off.

BMbikerider said:

I forgot about the Hasselblad and the Rollieflexes, however I mean new cameras that are reasonably priced, to be used everyday similar to the Nikon F3, Canon F1 Nikon F100 Minolta Dynax 9 or even the likes of something similar to the Pentax MX/ME. t least the manual mechanical cameras are still able to be repaired

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Depends on your idea of reasonable. Voigtlander do a few models of range finder in 35mm and 6x6/6x7. Fujifilm still make compacts and the 6x6/6x7 range finders. Phenix and the like do SLRs for pretty much free, and there is the Nikon F6 still being made if you want.

Time to hoard film cameras as their prices are only going to go up!

MartinP said:

The take up of silver products would be larger if people knew that they are still produced and are easily available. I talk to surprisingly many people who are convinced that Kodachrome was the last film being produced in the world.

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I think this is a good point. I'm sure we've all heard that film is no longer available from people that are not really avid photographers. I always tell them where to get film and processing if they're interested. More advertising would be good, but can the companies afford that?

I have heard the same comments...............

Gerald C Koch said:

To all the gloom and doom sayers that have predicted the demise of film.

I was just listening to an article on PBS (public broadcasting in America). There is increased interest in analog photography especially in young people in their 20's and 30's. They have become tired of digital seeing it as having little of the creative process associated with it. They also enjoy the expectation with having their film processed This trend is true not only for the US but all over the world. Some camera stores have started selling film cameras again. One of the groups mentioned was "cool girls shoot film."

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I had a recent conversation with a Atlanta area camera shop (Wings Camera, in business for 100 years believe it or not) that supplies chemistry to local schools, his comments were that there is a big resurgence in analog at the High School and College levels. Once a student sees a B+W developed print in the darkroom, "and then they get hooked" was the comment. Resurrection of "Camera Clubs" and darkrooms in both environments, and they have personally experienced the benefit of being the supplier to the institutions (arms merchant?) since they have been identified as the source for film supplies, used cameras, etc.

My big question is the destiny of processing, B+W as well as C-41 and E-6. I can remember about 20 years ago when the C-41 "mini Lab" concept was in full swing, and in about any drug store you could find. The drug store labs would have 2 people working most of the time, and meeting the "1 hour" pledge was sometimes tough to do. This was probably the heyday of "film for everybody" because you got pretty quick results in hand, even the 35mm point-and-shoot hardware could pop out decent results, and the 35mm SLR technology was cheap enough to place quality gear in many hands. Hopefully folks like The Darkroom can sustain their processing business model as analog continues to evolve. If Kodak can be a survivor in the analog space, I hope they do but time will tell, and if the reports on Ilford are correct they look to have their act together.

FL Guy

I learned last night at the photo club meeting that a nearby university won't be sending its photography students to another institution for analog stuff anymore because they built a brand new darkroom - color and B&W labs. They moved out a printer room, I believe.
And someone in the club who recently finished an associates degree at a community college was asking where to learn the darkroom side of things because the CC didn't have that.

Film for everybody is dead.

Everybody doesn't want film. Those of us that do are more than happy to use pro labs (which most of us would be doing anyway, I'm sure), or do it ourselves, or use mail order processing. If you're in an urban area, local processing of any sort should not be an issue, it's just a matter of finding out which lab to use (I use Duggal and CRC in new york city for my lab work.)

The fact that there are "no" mini labs doesn't trouble me, because I wouldn't be bringing my film to them in the first place.

Chris Lange said:

Film for everybody is dead.

Everybody doesn't want film. Those of us that do are more than happy to use pro labs (which most of us would be doing anyway, I'm sure), or do it ourselves, or use mail order processing. If you're in an urban area, local processing of any sort should not be an issue, it's just a matter of finding out which lab to use (I use Duggal and CRC in new york city for my lab work.)

The fact that there are "no" mini labs doesn't trouble me, because I wouldn't be bringing my film to them in the first place.

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You sound like the kind of person I am in that once I decide I want to do something, I don't settle for "No" or "Gone" and "Hard to Find".

Living in a very expensive resort town, I looked for about a year for a small darkroom space to either rent or coop and found nothing. I then decided to empty 80% of the stuff out of a rather nice sized storage closet adjacent to my apartment and put all of that crap in a cheap storage unit some 23 miles away. So for about $50 a month, I have a tiny but hi-tech darkroom in which I can with good consistency print up to 20x24 from 35mm, 120mm and 4x5 negs.

I send my color out because I do very little of it on film and have no interest in doing it my self. But black and white is 100% mio and it rocks.

I have a great show coming up in about three weeks that has kept me in the darkroom at least three full days a week. I will be the only one with 100% analog images and I love it...

I am having fun with my recently acquired Nikon F5. Still have my D700 for landscapes and sports, but I love using film for people. Up until recently, I was only using negative films, but now I'm building up a supply of slide films to try out. My father shot slide exclusively with his Nikon F and this has me inspired to do the same. What I like most about my Nikon F5 is the ability to use the same lenses from my D700.

This is great news

I inherited three Hasselblads and two Nikons from my father. I originally got into B&W because it meant I didn't have to go out and spend $1000 on a DSLR---I could just spend ~$10/week on supplies and use the cameras I already owned. Much easier to stomach. I know many other young(er) people that have found themselves in the same boat.

I recently gifted a 21-year-old one of my old, unused SLRs because they had such an interest in analog photography. When I was 21 I didn't know anyone under 50 using film---and DSLRs weren't even what they are today.