When was year zero?

Ces1um · Nov 3, 2017

My last film camera before switching over to digital was back around 1998. I had a Kodak disc camera that I bought and took to Europe with me. When I came back the photos were such a disappointment I put it in a drawer and didn't own another actual camera for years. I remember the grain being horrible in the printed photos, almost having a pixelated appearance. When I did eventually buy a new camera, sometime in the early 2000's I bought a canon digital elph, I think it might have had 6 megapixels maybe? I bought my wife a dslr the next year which she is still using routinely. It wasn't until about 4-5 years ago I got back into film when my father gave me his old pentax k2.

guangong · Nov 3, 2017

Why the fretting? Once drawing was a requirement for an educated man, but beginning in the late 19th century recording visual data was replaced by photography. But there were still many who liked to draw. The ease and convenience of digital has replaced film for most people, who are little concerned with questions of permanence, etc. But those who like film will keep on using film. Of course, there will be fewer film, papers and so forth offered, just as those who enjoy drawing and watercolor have seen many of the best papers disappear. NYC lost its last quality art supply store, New York Central, but film still has B&H, Adorama and several others. Those who enjoy film for whatever reason will continue using film even thought most people will use digital. Nonetheless, reading this thread I see that few never use digital on occasion. If you enjoy film, use it and don’t fret about the other guy.

Dali · Nov 3, 2017

Never owned a d....l camera for a good reason: I already spend 8 hours a day in front of a computer and I don't plan to spend more time.

Andrew O'Neill · Nov 3, 2017

For me, film has always been the main principle thing.

Sirius Glass · Nov 3, 2017

Dali said:
Never owned a d....l camera for a good reason: I already spend 8 hours a day in front of a computer and I don't plan to spend more time.

ditto

Andrew O'Neill said:
For me, film has always been the main principle thing.

ditto

mshchem · Nov 4, 2017

etn said:
Film cameras only go up in price. It is an investment as well as fun.
The guy I bought my Hasselblad from told me once, “stay away from that digital crap. I just had a customer paying 2500 bucks for repairing his $10,000 Hassy digital back. And in a few years it will be worth nothing.”
This kind of money can be justified for pros who turn this into a revenue stream, but for us amateurs?

Exactly, well preserved film cameras have definitely bottomed out and rising. Especially medium format stuff.
Digital is a computer, and we know how that goes
Best Regards Mike

Mr Bill · Nov 4, 2017

Photo Engineer said:
The original Mavica. That is when I first felt the twinges of change.

I was at the SPSE conference where the Mavica was first introduced to the US, I believe. After presenting the paper, the author took a few snapshots of attendees for display on the screen.

At the time, VHS (video) cameras were pretty common, and I just saw this as a limited video camera able to do frame captures (two fields from the standard video stream). I really didn't see much purpose to it, never seeing CCD cameras as breaking away from the NTSC video standard.

Photo Engineer · Nov 4, 2017

Mr Bill said:
I was at the SPSE conference where the Mavica was first introduced to the US, I believe. After presenting the paper, the author took a few snapshots of attendees for display on the screen.

At the time, VHS (video) cameras were pretty common, and I just saw this as a limited video camera able to do frame captures (two fields from the standard video stream). I really didn't see much purpose to it, never seeing CCD cameras as breaking away from the NTSC video standard.

Kodak made a private showing of a color hi-res digital camera. I saw examples. The Mavica was not as good.

PE

Bud Hamblen · Nov 4, 2017

We started using digital cameras at work (insurance inspections) about 1995 as I recall.

paladin1420 · Nov 4, 2017

I got my first low end digital camera in 2001. I was so pleased with being able to take as many pictures as I wanted I really dove into it. I got a better d-camera in 2003 and used it exclusively. I did not shoot a single frame of film between 2002 and 2007. For some reason I was digging around in my attic one day in 2007 and came across my old SLR. I picked it up and cranked it and realized it still had film in it. I finished the roll. So now I have a roll of film with pictures from Easter 2002 at the beginning and my oldest son’s prom in June 2007 at the end. I have been back in film ever since.

mshchem · Nov 4, 2017

I just bought my 4th Bronica SQ-Ai, really nice shape with the fancy AE-I meter prism and nice motor winder/grip. Flawless 80mm f2.8 PS lens with the square hood, nice correct 120 back. 600 bucks. Works great. I found my stash of waist level finders and crank levers. Like Christmas morning.
I get digital for working photographers. For me I need film so I can make prints and transparencies for projection. I can't afford the equipment to make gelatin silver prints from a digital file.
Best Regards Mike

RalphLambrecht · Nov 5, 2017

blockend said:
As this is a philosophical discussion as much as anything, I'll post here. Reading about Kodak's declining stock value in another thread made me wonder how we got to this point. When I worked in photography digital was spoken of as a novelty, I recall 5 x 4 digital backs coming in at £25k, but I didn't personally know anyone who had a digital camera.

I continued to buy film for personal use until the mid-2000s when I bought a Canon digital point and shoot, and was sufficiently unimpressed that I didn't bother to move it past Auto. I probably shot about 100 frames, three of which survive. I became disenchanted with photography, believing my knowledge was historical and more or less gave up for a few years. I even threw out a few rolls of slide film that had been lingering in the fridge, in the belief nobody processed it any more, and gave my darkroom to a charity shop.

Then late 2008 I saw an article that said film was still a thing. Checked out eBay to discover there were lots of great cameras at pocket money(ish) prices, and set about buying everything again. When was the point you realised film would never again be the principal photographic medium, and how did you respond? Did you ignore digital photography and return to your silo? Did you flirt with it but return to film? And when was year zero?

I tried myself in 2003 with buying a Nikon D70 and converted almostentirely to digital in 2013 with a Nikon D800. Now, analog is just for fun.

When was year zero?

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