Why do you use film?

[dugrant153]

There's just something different about the results from Ilford HP5 400 (or Kodak Tmax 400) used with an Olympus OM1 and 50mm F1.8 with no batteries Let's not forget Portra 400 and Fuji Pro 400H's awesome look for portraiture!
I've tried recreating the look digitally (black and white and color) and it just LOOKS different no matter how I try. It's subtle but when you put it all together... there's just something about film.

 

[KenS]

I'm tempted to say that I use film because sheets of toilet paper
or "Kleenex" will neither fill the available 'room' in my film
holders.... or stand up to the constant agitation in my BTZS tubes....
..... but I shall refrain from so doing.

Ken

 

[hdeyong]

For many of the reasons already listed, and partly because of a place like APUG, where you deal with knowledgeable, courteous people who don't just sit around and snipe at each other.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

cause its fun ?
and because i can ...

Same here!

Jeff

 

[Jesper]

Memory cards don't fit in my enlarger

 

[hoffy]

Because all the other hipsters are doing it?

In reality, I enjoy the process.

 

[mono]

... because I´m used to it for decades ;-)

 

[StoneNYC]

For many of the reasons already listed, and partly because of a place like APUG, where you deal with knowledgeable, courteous people who don't just sit around and snipe at each other.

Was that last part supposed to be a little bit of sarcasm? Lol

I will definitely bit, especially in the beginning when I started using film again, that much of my reason for shooting film over Digital was the thought that "oh I won't be able to post this for critique if I don't shoot it on film..." Hah!

I will also admit that because of the fact that I have a hybrid process, I scanned my negatives, that Digital compared to 35mm film just doesn't cut it unless I have a drum Scanner in terms of detail, and medium format is better but not a time better in terms of the detail I can pull with the normal V750 scanner I have, however definitely an large-format there's a difference in detail quality, but the most important thing is just the looks I get, and I mean not by people watching me shooting film, but the look of the image. I tend to shoot mostly black-and-white with film, and I think in black-and-white in terms of lighting etc. so all of that means that I look at tones and texture a lot, and film just destroys Digital in that sense. And that's really the most important thing, my own personal signature, the style and look of my images, that someone can say oh that's definitely a Stone shot because it looks like this...

This is also why I hand process all of my black-and-white film.

And then of course there's the style of shooting the changes depending on what type of camera you're using, if you're using an SLR with a view finder then you get one serve image, but there's a different feel when you're shooting for example a TLR with a square waist level finder.

And then there's LF tilts and Movements etc.

So, that's why!

 

[horacekenneth]

I use film because I love the workflow. I love to get my hands wet in the darkroom and work through test strips and holding my breath when I turn the light on to see a final print.

That's why I love black & white film. It's hard for me to enjoy shooting color because I don't get to do those things. Someone/something else does all the processing & printing with dark arts/magic out of my sight. I know developing color isn't too hard but printing it?

 

[Truzi]

Why do I use film? Why not?

 

[dreamingartemis]

Why do I use film?

1. Because I shoot slower.
2. Its more fun.
3. I love the thrill of knowing I have to get the photo I want in 36 shots or less.
4. I love the process (Please note that I have a Nikon D600 as well so I tried both side of digital and analog and I still prefer film.)
5. I actually feel more confident when using film (Odd I know).
6. I don't have to wrestle with a lot of controls when using film once I know how it performs under certain conditions.

Yeah I love film, but only for personal work, I still use digital when it comes to client works because it's what they want.

 

[vpwphoto]

It has a physical integrity and thereafter I don't really care about production, although I do print in a darkroom before the introduction of digital conversion.

+1

Gets me away from the computer now and then.

 

[BradleyK]

Because:

1. I love the look of film;
2. I love the fact that shooting film slows me down;
3. I love the entire process, from shooting the picture to printing the final product;
4. I didn't become a photographer to spend hours at a time time sitting on my ass doing "post-production" work on a computer (8-14 hours/day at work is quite sufficient, thank you very much);
5. I love the fact that shooting with a film camera requires (for most folks) a measure of technical skill;
6. Because nothing in this world looks more glorious than a well executed black and white image shot printed by a skilled printer (viewing Ansel Adams work was an epiphany);
7. Because after some 30-plus years of shooting film, I have a comfort level and familiarity with the stuff;
8. Because I love occupying a niche (LOL);
9. Because film is archival (as an environmentalist/outdoors-person, much of my work is done to record what was...);
10. Because film most closely approximates the recording of what I saw (the exception being some of the more extreme +/- brackets on E100G/VS);

And although I would never be considered any sort of neo-Luddite (check my signature):

11. None of my F2/F3HP/F4s/F5/F6/M6 or 500c/m bodies has provision for my CF/SDHC cards (!);
12. Because more often than not...digital just doesn't look quite right (no matter the post production effort).

 

[Sirius Glass]

I answered this many times on APUG. Please do a search.

 

[ME Super]

The way the digital camera marketers count pixels, each color is a pixel. A typical digital sensor records one color per pixel, then interpolates to get you a full color image. So a 20 MP camera gets you at best 10 MP of green, 5 MP of blue, and 5 MP of red. If you're lucky enough to have a camera with a Foveon sensor, you get 3 colors per pixel, but then they triple the pixel count. For example, the Sigma camera that B&H has for sale is sold as a 46MP camera. But the images you get out of it are roughly 15MP.

35mm film records roughly 25MP equivalent in each of the three color channels, so it's like having a 75MP camera the way the marketers count pixels.

But most importantly, I shoot for projection, which means I shoot transparency film. 35mm slides projected at 2x3m (4x6ft, roughly) look good, but try projecting even bigger on the side of your house or side of your garage. Wow!

 

[Chan Tran]

I shoot film because I don't have a decent digital camera and I have many film cameras. I am happy with the workflow as well as the result I have from film. I can't afford to get a decent digital camera now. Film is still available.

 

[johnielvis]

Is there a valid reason why it should not be done? Perhaps the greenies will say that the chemical nasties will harm the planet (the same planet from which provides the chemical nasties)--or that the extra water usage is better to be used on more worthwhile endeavors.

In America you can do what you want for no reason at all--at least that's how it's supposed to work.

Why shoot film? Because you CAN. Because you can choose NOT to and do it anyways.

--how about that for a reason? Don't like it? Then make one up.

 

[trythis]

I got interested in doing video on a DSLR, but realized I could not afford one. In researching lenses for such, I found that some amazing old film cameras could be had for peanuts! I stumbled into a cheap MF agfa folder and some expired film and was amazed at the results. I can shoot film WAY cheaper than digital considering the equipment available to me. FD lenses, cameras, and old cheap MF stuff.

I like the suspense of film.
I like the variation I can get from scanning (sorry Apug)
I enjoy learning about the process.

 

[ambaker]

Because film makes my heart sing...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[agnosticnikon]

To quote Don Konkey from the short lived TV show "Dirt", who said, "I use film because film doesn't lie".
As for me personally, I like film because I can see it, touch it, smell it, shoot even taste it if I want, and I know that properly stored, it will last a long, long time. My father who passed away over 13 years ago, when he was 90 years old, taught me that much, and I'm still looking at pictures both he and his father took. I was lucky enough to inherit both his, his fathers, and even my mothers negatives that I can still print and enjoy.

 

[DWThomas]

I use film 'cause compact flash cards don't work in my enlarger.

 

[wildbill]

I use film 'cause compact flash cards don't work in my enlarger.

no they don't but your iphone will. I won't link to it but search "ENFOJER"

 

[Dr Croubie]

I started with my first dSLR (7D) to replace my digital P&S a few years ago (although I had fond memories of my mum letting me even touch her spotmatic when I was a kid). Boredom at work led me to discover the ability to mount Pentacon Six lenses to my eos with a tilt/shift adapter. Then I started researching the rest of the P6-family, then buying (GAS attack to the max).
The final straw for me was when the 5D mk3 got released, a camera I was sure I'd buy on-release as an upgrade to my 7D. Then I saw the price, and the fact that they'd prioritised high-iso over more-MP and low-iso performance didn't help.
Then I discovered Velvia, and after much researching I reckoned I could scan/print Velvia to about the same size as a 5D3 (at least for landscapes, give or take a bit depending on quality). Did some calculations, and for the price of a 5D3 I bought an EOS 3 with $3000 left to put towards film over the years (2 years later, I'm probably a few hundred dollars through that, including my very-full freezer).
Then, seeing as I already had the P6 lenses, I bought into some cameras too (more GAS). I thought at the time, if I can get 5D3-quality out of 35mm velvia, I should easily get better with MF, which I can scan to higher-res, and still at a fraction of the (initial) cost.

So initially it was all about the quality, and especially the quality/price ratio, that neverending quest for more-MP (scanned or digital). But I realised a while ago, and it hammered home again today, that I don't actually print billboards. I've got a 13" printer but haven't done much above A4 (yet, I will one day).

Today it hammered-home because I've bought a 480mm enlarger lens with no shutter, and I'm going to have to a) hack it onto a shutter, probably a packard; b) hack said shutter onto my Tovoview somehow; c) extend the bellows and tubes far enough to get it to focus; d) mount it somehow that it doesn't just tip my whole tripod over in the wind; e) work out some flash/lighting rig with short enough duration to deal with a potentially slow shutter; f) convince someone to sit in front of it for a few minutes while I focus the damn thing and calculate exposures and all that.
And there's where I get my fun (if you can't tell, I'm an engineer for a reason), the thing gathering light at the other end doesn't matter, it's just that film is a buttload cheaper than a 4x5 digital sensor (which only exist as scanning backs afaik, and definitely not in my price range). And if I get a good photo out of it that's a bonus.

 

[blockend]

Film satisfies my latent OCD tendencies. I can count the minutes off while the film develops, saying Hail Mary's and hitting the same floor tile with each inversion, neatly file the negatives chronologically, obsessively spot the prints and perform liquid alchemy at least twice a week. The rest of the time I can slob out with a digital camera.

 

[RattyMouse]

I must be the most conflicted APUG member. I dont hate digital, in fact I like it quite a lot. Yet I still am drawn to film even though I have some immense difficulties with film, particularly color film. My film shots dont look as good as my digitals on the computer screen, which is sadly how I view them here in China. I cannot find any place that prints and I cannot do so in my home. But yet I still shoot film because I enjoy the film cameras I have, a Fuji GA645 and Nikon FM2. I enjoy the limitations that film imposes on me. Very few shots available, so I have to make them count. I LOVE the archival nature of film compared to the digital computer files that can disappear in a blink.

One day i hope I can see prints of my film shots. I dont know if that will ever happen.