Anyone shoot film still?

[spinetnglr]

Another option, if you dont want to donate them or give them away, would be to check with any local auction houses you might have. I work at an auction every Friday and I can tell you in my area old film cameras and lenses bring decent prices. You might get a little more from some place like Craigslist or ebay but then you also have a considerable bit more time wrapped up in things like taking pictures of the items, writing the listing, answering questions of potential bidders, emailing the winning bidder when the auction is over, shipping and/or meeting the buyer to close the deal. With a local auction you drop the things off and are pretty much done. Most of the people doing the buying at auction are people who list on ebay and craisgslist for a living or supplement to their regular job. All you need is two that want the same thing and prices can get out of hand just like they do sometimes on ebay. Almost all auction houses these days have their regular craigslist/ebay buyers who attend every auction. I see it happen almost every week and when auction is over we are lots of times discussing the outrageous price paid for x or y that night. If auction is an option for you check with more than one and ask them their commission rate before consigning. Each one charges differently.

 

[jann1033]

The lenses are still useful. If you can find a buyer for the cameras, great.

You might use them as little plant pots..

great minds agree this was my first thought as well

i only have one thing to say about craigslist, be ready for lots of scam if you sell something of value on it.

 

[Groucho]

You could use them, too. I was rather surprised to see, on my last WDW trip, two different Canon AE-1s within five minutes of each other. I did occasionally see film SLRs but it was surprising to see two of a specific model in succession. (I know they were different as one was silver and one was black.)

As far as disassembling... I recently completely took apart my Zeiss 135mm for cleaning and took photos during it, I may post that as a new thread one of these days. My Pentax H3 has a sticky aperture pin reset level (and is pretty redundant since I have a Spotmatic now), I began to try to disassemble it to fix it then got intimidated and put it back together! Lots and lots of tiny little gears and levers in there. It is definitely a machine more than anything else.

 

[Experiment_626]

A while back, I bought a Nikon N65 as part of a package on eBay. I bought it to get a 50 mm f1.8 lens that was included. I got the whole thing for less than I would have paid for the lens by itself. It was my intention to clean up the camera and remaining gear (a Tamron 28-200 AF lens and a bag) and resell them. However, there doesn't seem to be much of a market for this camera these days. In addition, I cannot in good conscience extoll the virtues of the Tamron lens; I don't know how well it performs optically, but I do know it hunts for focus worse than any other lens I've ever seen.

So, in short, I'm thinking of keeping the N65 for my use, as infrequent as that might be. In addition to the 50mm, I also have an otherwise-unused 28-70 FX-format lens I can use with it.

I haven't shot a frame of film in 10 years. I know various brands and lines of film have vanished from the market in the interim, and there are probably new formulations of others and possibly brand-new varieties that have come into being.

If I shoot any film, I foresee it being in a situation where I might want to make a really large print, so I want the finest grain I can reasonably get. If it doesn't give me an advantage over my D300, I'd go with the latter. I did once shoot a couple of rolls of Ektar 25 (which I know no longer exists). One shot I took was made into a huge poster -- nine feet wide, if I recall -- and I was impressed at how clean it looked even at such a gigantic size. Is there anything out there that approaches those results?

I was even thinking it might be an interesting experiment to shoot film for HDR -- I do have access to a Nikon film scanner.

I don't particularly care whether I shoot negatives or transparencies -- I want what will look best. However, expense is a consideration, as usual.

So what do you guys recommend?

SSB

 

[elliot]

Hi Experiment!

For film all depend the type of target. You don't find those films on your local walmart, so try a local camera shop or online stores (adorama.com or bhphotovideo.com) this is my list:

1. My favorite--> Fuji Velvia 50 (saturate colors, sharp)

2. Fuji Velvia 100F (a little less saturate than velvia 50, better skin tones)

3. Kodak Ektachrome E100G. (more natural look than fuji velvias, less saturate colors, better for people portraits)


Yo won't regret shoot on film, digital is more convenient and easy workflow but with film is like having a full frame digital DSLR without brake your bank.

Enjoy your shooting!!

 

[Experiment_626]

Thanks for the reply. I think I might check out the Ektachrome when the time comes -- how does it compare, in terms of grain, with the Velvia 50?

I'm primarily a landscape/cityscape shooter, so I'm not too concerned about skin tones. However, Velvia's reputation for saturation concerns me a bit. In fact, I often engineer highly-saturated images, so I like the look -- in theory. I'm just concerned that I might lose detail in some colors with the Velvia, especially if I go to HDR with the results of my experiments (and probably 75 percent of what I shoot is HDR these days). I was just thinking that a less-saturated film would give me more room to maneuver in Camera Raw/Photoshop and/or Photomatix.

SSB

 

[PhotobearSam]

Ektachrome E100G is my fav SLIDE film but the Fujis are so nice in print....I kinda miss film.

 

[elliot]

Well, you know that film always has grain! for me the Ektachrome E100G have a finer grain than velvia but isn't sharper, I like shoot nature, so I prefer the saturate wild colors that velvia give me. Because kodak has more natural tones, maybe you have more room to experiment with HDR.

Another point if you have concerns for grain when print large format, your best bet is digital (DSLR) which has no grains. But this the unique look of film isn't?

The best bet is try both.

 

[hjssk8]

Hi all! I am a long time lurker with a question regarding film freshness. I bought some 800 speed film from a local shop in summer 2008 with a date of Sept. '08. I used all but two that I got in that time frame. They have been in the fridge since then. Are they still good? I would like to be able to use them since thay are 36 exp. each.

Thanks!

 

[Gdad]

It should be just fine- I bought some that expired in '04 on Ebay a few weeks ago (for $1 a roll) that's been in the fridge and no problems.

 

[hjssk8]

Thanks!

 

[Gdad]

So we spent a couple days and stayed over at Disney last weekend. I decided to go light and just take one camera which happened to be 35mm. Anyway- I took 10 rolls of Tri-X 400 speed film along which is B&W but when I got to the Magic Kingdom on Saturday and saw all the Christmas decorations I thought it would be nice to shoot a few rolls of color. So I wandered into the 'Camera Center' on Main Street- sponsored by 'Kodak' by the way- and was pretty surprised to find they had absolutely no 35mm film for sale whatsoever. Nothing at all aside from a little display of disposable film cameras and a few boxes of APS film (eh?) to offer. I know most people don't care but I can't imagine many places where more pictures are being taken every day than Disney World. Seems like it wouldn't kill them to keep a little bit of it around just in case.

 

[annnewjerz]

Geez, I could understand not having your film if you were trying to get something a little more "exotic" in The World---but 35mm? I know loads of people who still haven't made the switch to digital, so that's really surprising.

I'm sure you got lots of fantastic shots in B&W anyway and if you are still yearning for the shots in color, something tells me you'll be able to make another trip over between now and then.

 

[Groucho]

I see plenty of film SLRs still in use there at WDW. APS film? That's just weird. I would think they'd still have some 35mm... our local grocery store chain still has plenty of it at every checkout, but then, we are the home of Kodak!

Meanwhile, I just got ten rolls of Fujicolor 110 which they just stopped production of, and haven't sold in the US since 2004... mine's dated 10/2009 so it's probably some of the last ever made. I don't expect to find these at WDW.

A relative worked for a company that made machines for Kodak and they had tons of film for testing, and through "hand me downs" I've got probably a few dozen rolls of Kodak 35mm in the basement (I should really throw it in the freezer), but unfortunately it's almost all Gold 200/400, only a couple rolls of b/w, which I would much prefer.

 

[xipetotec]

So we spent a couple days and stayed over at Disney last weekend. I decided to go light and just take one camera which happened to be 35mm. Anyway- I took 10 rolls of Tri-X 400 speed film along which is B&W but when I got to the Magic Kingdom on Saturday and saw all the Christmas decorations I thought it would be nice to shoot a few rolls of color. So I wandered into the 'Camera Center' on Main Street- sponsored by 'Kodak' by the way- and was pretty surprised to find they had absolutely no 35mm film for sale whatsoever. Nothing at all aside from a little display of disposable film cameras and a few boxes of APS film (eh?) to offer. I know most people don't care but I can't imagine many places where more pictures are being taken every day than Disney World. Seems like it wouldn't kill them to keep a little bit of it around just in case.

That IS surprising! Especially a Kodak sponsored spot.

btw, from what I've read, Magic Kingdom IS the most photographed place in the world.

 

[NateNLogansDad]

What's a "film?"

 

[boBQuincy]

What's a "film?"

What we get on our teeth when we don't brush often.

I can imagine some young store manager who never even used film looked at the sales chart over the past few years and just didn't see the point in allocating valuable store space for something that shows dwindling sales. Or the purchasing people may not even buy film for WDW anymore.

It is sad in a way although I have not touched film since late 2001, after having a darkroom for 30 years. I suppose it is really over, long live CCD and CMOS!

 

[bob100]

What's a "film?"

I've heard of that chemical photo stuff but never imagined people still use it!

 

[gokenin]

Long live analog I am not really that suprised that there was no film there the digital revolution has taken complete control over what gets stocked these days. I am suprised that they had APS film however if i had know that i would have bought some I didnt think they made it anymore my point and shoot advantix camera uses that film.

 

[GrillMouster]

Didn't Kodak cease production of film cameras several years ago? I remember it being a big deal in the news. They still produce film and paper, but I think the only cameras they produce now are digital.