Anyone shoot film still?

[Groucho]

Oh sure, no argument there - at higher ISOs, film starts losing the battle pretty quickly with modern digital equipment. You won't find many people trying to get on-ride Peter Pan shots with their film camera! (Unless maybe you're using an F0.95 Leica lens maybe...)

The ability to change ISO on the fly is great but one could compare that to primes vs zooms (you can guess which I prefer!) Granted, primes have many other advantages, but part of using them is being locked into a specific "setting" and getting the most out of it.

And I get the car reference. The Galant VR4s are pretty cool (a local team just ran the One Lap of America last year in one)... my garage has an '08 STI and a '66 Lotus Elan so I can certainly appreciate most sides of that world too. Modern rally car and vintage sports car, totally different but I wouldn't want to trade either one for anything else.

The nice thing about photography is that you can easily combine the two... I often shoot with very old lenses, a few of which are about 50 years old. You can post-process all you want but you'd have a hard time getting the same "look" as you do with a different lens.

Gdad, hope you don't mind that your thread has been totally and shamelessly hijacked!

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Long live analog! The other day I was talking to a 23 year old guy about music and I mentioned something that I used to listen to on cassette and he asked me, "What's a cassette?" I said, "Oh hell no, don't even go there! You know what a cassette tape is, right?" He shook his head. I said, "How old are you?!" Yikes. My 20yo DS knows what cassettes are because we still have them, in addition to my DHs LP and CD collection. LPs are on the way back sort of. There are entire stores that sell them as "vintage" records where I live. Yikes. And I still have and use my 8 hour VHS tapes to tape tv shows because it's so easy to use and reuse, and who cares about the quality of a tv show? I also have a couple of DVD recorders too, but they don't record as long as my 8 hour tapes. but at the same time...Time marches on...

 

[Gdad]

Gdad, hope you don't mind that your thread has been totally and shamelessly hijacked!

Haha- not at all. I am enjoying the little debate.

Well, there's a couple points here. First - the grain is not necessarily a negative for me when it comes to film. I'm not looking to get film photos that look like digital. Considering the amount of film work the OP has been doing despite his D700, I'm not the only one who feels this way.

I agree with this- I am not looking to get digital looking film shots either. I love digital photography too so don't get me wrong.

Second - I'm also not so convinced on dynamic range. Most tests seem to indicate that color negative film has a range of about 10-12 stops, with b/w film more like 14 stops. (They also seem to have smoother transitions.) If you are to believe DP Review (which I don't always ), the D3 has about 8.5 stops of range... with over a step extra to recover from, but still not at the level of better color film and a long ways from b/w film. The Fuji S5 is still the king, with 11.8 stops at maximum dynamic range correction.

I don't shoot film to try to achieve anything with dynamic range that I think can't be done with digital.

Farther down the OT Road but having had both I will say there is nothing on earth the S5 can do that the D3/D700 can't do better- way better. IMHO the Fuji S5 is a decent camera but the hype on it's superior colors and dynamic range are just that- hype. Maybe for a jpg shooter there is some advantage in the way the camera processes the files but I saw no real world benefit over the D300 which I was using at the same time with raw files.

If you're a wedding photographer, paparazzi, newspaper reporter, etc - then sure, throw all your film equipment in the trash.

Us amateurs, whose goal is more to have fun that to just produce the final image as efficiently as possible, look upon some of the negatives as positives.

We know that digital can "beat" film in most technical ways but film and film cameras (be they SLRs, rangefinders, ultraminis, "toys", medium/large format, whatever) offer something different. Maybe it's the look of the film, maybe it's the handling of the device, maybe it's just the old-fashioned fun of manually focusing a hand-crafted metal lens, maybe it's even the action of winding the film... but it offers something on an emotional level that digital does not. They are different.

For me, it's the camera as much as anything... I have no interest in a modern film SLR; I don't want one that has autofocus and Program mode and other features of my digital SLR.

I agree with this. The film cameras I use regularly include a Leica M6- Nikon FE- Hasselblad 500cm- and a Yachica 124G TLR- plus a few others which are older- or Russian knock-offs- or plastic. Out of the group though none of them can auto-focus, all of them have prime lenses- some of them have a meter- some don't- they all have a personality. I like to take just one with me- and one lens- and one film type (hence the issue that began this thread) and see what I come back with. But I tend to do that with digital to some extent too- usually running with just one prime lens anyway. I find a certain sense of accomplishment with capturing a set of images on film with a classic camera and waiting to see what comes off the reel after I develop it. I don't need 200 'keepers' of my kids every weekend- if I land a couple good shots- get to munty on a well made vintage camera- and play with chemistry that's what I call a good weekend.

I can agree with the reasoning that some people prefer film is the feel, nostalgia, and experience of doing it that way. I mentioned that in my first post I think. No problems there.

But the days of both professionals earning their living from pushing a shutter button and the average consumer using 35mm are done. Complete non-enthusiast consumers don't care to buy/reload/process film anymore. Mom & Dad are sick of paying $12 for 21 junk prints to get the 3 good 4x6"'s they want. P&S digital cameras being $100 or so for the last few years maybe reduced WDW's 35mm film sales so low they just assume sell mickey pencils in the same retail spot.

Working professionals don't care about experience (I don't nor can't). The tool that works best is what I use. Changing out rolls of 35mm while the bride is walking down the isle Carrying 4 bodies around all the time.

For Working Professionals- Absolutely- If I made some or all of my living from photography then I would want what would make my work the easiest and most productive. The appropriate tools would be obvious- a top end digital camera and set of professional zoom lenses to cover any shooting scenario. No argument there.

That leaves the enthusiast who wants to do it his way just because. And that's great IMHO

The problem as I understand it is that the manufacturing process of photographic film- particularly 35mm- is not really conducive to small run production. In other words it is only cost effective for manufacturers to make lots of film- and when the steadily declining demand for it hits a breaking point then mass production will cease. That leaves behind the enthusiast who wants to do it his way- just because.

Still no excuse for Disney to not have film at the Kodak Camera Center on Main Street today though.

 

[J3nn78]

And I get the car reference. The Galant VR4s are pretty cool (a local team just ran the One Lap of America last year in one)... my garage has an '08 STI and a '66 Lotus Elan so I can certainly appreciate most sides of that world too. Modern rally car and vintage sports car, totally different but I wouldn't want to trade either one for anything else.

Gdad, hope you don't mind that your thread has been totally and shamelessly hijacked!

I was just up in Rochester at Tim's house (the One Lap GVR4 guy) a couple weeks ago, I bought his old streetcar GVR4 for parts. My GVR4 is all setup for drag racing, it's pretty useless as a rally car and it's a maginal street car. 560hp, 4 bias ply hoosier drag slicks, welded differentials, and open 3.5" downpipe kind of kill it for backroad cruising.

And yeah, I'v hijacked this thread now X3! sorry

 

[J3nn78]

The problem as I understand it is that the manufacturing process of photographic film- particularly 35mm- is not really conducive to small run production. In other words it is only cost effective for manufacturers to make lots of film- and when the steadily declining demand for it hits a breaking point then mass production will cease. That leaves behind the enthusiast who wants to do it his way- just because.

Still no excuse for Disney to not have film at the Kodak Camera Center on Main Street today though.

I agree it just seems odd that with Kodak sponsoring pretty much everything photographic related at WDW, they would still be selling film, even if it was at twice the normal retail price and had mickey ears on the wrapper/box. And it's not like they have changed the camera center into an "all digital" photography store, as the last time I was in there it was more general souvenir merchandise than anything camera related. Mostly picture frames and generic albums.

 

[ThurlFan]

Long live analog! The other day I was talking to a 23 year old guy about music and I mentioned something that I used to listen to on cassette and he asked me, "What's a cassette?" I said, "Oh hell no, don't even go there! You know what a cassette tape is, right?" He shook his head. I said, "How old are you?!" Yikes. My 20yo DS knows what cassettes are because we still have them, in addition to my DHs LP and CD collection. LPs are on the way back sort of. There are entire stores that sell them as "vintage" records where I live. Yikes. And I still have and use my 8 hour VHS tapes to tape tv shows because it's so easy to use and reuse, and who cares about the quality of a tv show? I also have a couple of DVD recorders too, but they don't record as long as my 8 hour tapes. but at the same time...Time marches on...

I still remember going down to the store with my dad and running a bagful of vacuum tubes through the tube tester to see which one had gone bad...

 

[MassFamily]

We bought a Nikon N65 when we got married, just before digital P&S were getting less expensive and greater mp. I can't justify dropping another $400 on a DSLR because I don't get enough chances to take pictures. I am going to dust it off and take some pics during our trip, going for the castle and fireworks are my main goal.

Do we need a thread for film tips and suggestions?

 

[Gdad]

Sure- I do.

Tip #1 is take all the film you need along with you. It's hard to find at Disney and when you do find some it's ridiculously expensive.

As for fireworks- I would think most of the same advise applies as with digital cameras. I know there are a couple good fireworks threads on here somewhere.

 

[MassFamily]

Thanks Jeff, that is a good tip, now I just need to find fresh film around here. I hope Ritz has not gone totally digital.

 

[d_lairson]

I still shoot a lot of film, mostly 120 B&W c-41 though. I think that there is something about film that I just have not been able to capture with my DSLR. It could be that I don't have the settings right

As for finding film at WDW, it is almost impossible and very expensive, so take twice as much film as you think you might need and save the leftovers for other projects.

 

[Gdad]

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/index.php

Excellent selection, prices and service.

 

[Gdad]

Here is the Fireworks thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1474329

(OT but why can Google find this but the DIS search tool can't?)

 

[annnewjerz]

(OT but why can Google find this but the DIS search tool can't?)

I could find it with the DIS search tool, you just have to know the exact name of the thread...."How to Shoot: Fireworks."

To the OP, I shot with film while in Disney this past year and had a great time. I use a Digital SLR, but brought a Holga with 120 film just to have some fun and try it out in a more fun setting than my home town in New Jersey. I agree with everyone else that you should bring more film than you anticipate needing (sort of like memory cards) because as usual, everything costs more in Disney and depending on what type of film you are shooting (or possibly any film at all), it might not be available while you are down there if you run out.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Groucho]

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.

Just to bump an old thread... on our most recent trip from a few weeks ago, I saw 35mm film (not just disposable cameras) for sale all over WDW - it was probably in the majority of shops we looked at, and certainly was everywhere that they were selling disposables.

I'm not sure if there was a temporary shortage or what, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that the rumors of film's death at WDW are premature.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

Well I'm not giving up my slide rule. Math was never intended to be digital. If it was, irrational numbers wouldn't outnumber rational numbers.

I should know this I bet but whats a slide rule? im not kidding I dont know.

 

[YesDear]

I should know this I bet but whats a slide rule? im not kidding I dont know.

I am feeling soooo old!

Slide rule

When I was a freshman in college the HP pocket calculator had just come out. It did addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It had an LED screen and cost $279.00. It was rechargeable. That year was 1973. The big argument was it going to replace the slide rule!

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

I am feeling soooo old!

Slide rule

When I was a freshman in college the HP pocket calculator had just come out. It did addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It had an LED screen and cost $279.00. It was rechargeable. That year was 1973. The big argument was it going to replace the slide rule!

thank goodness for calculators! this looks SOOOOOOO confusing. I have admit I was born in 84.

 

[d_lairson]

When I was working as a Network Administrator I would keep an old slide rule on my desk, and if people would complain about how slow the network was or what ever I would had it to them and tell them to use my "Back up computer". I used to be faster with my slide rule than a calculator, but not any more...

 

[pjacobi]

The APS film format was hated with a passion by professional protographers. It was never fully accepted by amateurs, despite all the support for Kodak.

Yet, APS format still lives today! How?

The sensors in most dSLRs are the same size as the APS format film. Canon's sensors are sized exactly to APS-C and APS-H format. Nikon's DX sensor is just slightly larger, but still very close to APS film format.

The 35mm film for still cameras was just an accident, too. The format was a simple way to recycle film leaders from 35mm movie cameras.


-Paul

 

[disneyboy2003]

When I was working as a Network Administrator I would keep an old slide rule on my desk, and if people would complain about how slow the network was or what ever I would had it to them and tell them to use my "Back up computer". I used to be faster with my slide rule than a calculator, but not any more...

There are quite a few small-business folks in Taiwan who STILL use an abacus, and I was SHOCKED to see how lightning fast their fingers were!

If you don't know what an abacus is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus

If you've never seen an abacus before: