Anyone Still Shooting Film?

[Gdad]

I might be crazy but I just bought a Full Frame Nikon. No- not a new D3- I just picked up a minty 35mm SLR Nikon F4. Over $2000 in 1988 Dollars- it has depreciated just a bit to about 1/10th that 20 years later. It will be here some time next week- I am looking forward to giving it a run.

Now I just need to order some film- I will probably start with some Velvia 50 and some Tri-X.

 

[YEKCIM]

I might be crazy but I just bought a Full Frame Nikon. No- not a new D3- I just picked up a minty 35mm SLR Nikon F4. Over $2000 in 1988 Dollars- it has depreciated just a bit to about 1/10th that 20 years later. It will be here some time next week- I am looking forward to giving it a run.

Now I just need to order some film- I will probably start with some Velvia 50 and some Tri-X.

Jeff-

Congrats on the new addition to your Nikon "family". Time to update that siggy! Have you thought about using one of the really fine-grained B/W films like Ilford's Pan F, which I think is available in 35mm cassettes or 100' bulk rolls.

~Ed

 

[Groucho]

Well, I also just bought a new-to-me film camera... but mine's just a touch older. A Kodak Junior Six-16 from the mid-to-late '30s. Now, to see if I can still buy rollfilm, and find somewhere to get it developed...

It was a garage sale find along with a wooden Kodak light box (for developing negatives) from 1916. That was about it for interesting photography at our local (huge) neighborhood garage sale. I did find someone taking photos with an Epson R-D1, which is a very, very cool digital rangefinder (and not cheap!) and talked to her briefly.

Once I catch up with my WDW photos, I'll probably take a few photos of it and post 'em. It's kind of neat-looking.

 

[The Grays]

Groucho, did the camera have the spools in it? If I remember correctly I thought you could take 120 film and reroll it onto the 616 spools. I could be wrong but that poped up when you mentioned that model.

GDad- I would try the T-Max 400 not the tri-x. I did a test a couple of years ago with a 120 macro lens on a 645 camera and using my Zeiss 60mm makro lens on my Contax RTS III. Had a lab print 40x60 inch prints. They refused to do the 35mm but I said I needed iot for work and they did it. Guess which one looked better. I was using the T-Max 400 film. The Zeiss helped with contrast range, but the resolution was so close.....

 

[Groucho]

Thanks for the tip. I'm not in a rush to try it but I would like to give it a shot one of these days.

 

[DebºoºS]

I might be crazy but I just bought a Full Frame Nikon. No- not a new D3- I just picked up a minty 35mm SLR Nikon F4. Over $2000 in 1988 Dollars- it has depreciated just a bit to about 1/10th that 20 years later. It will be here some time next week- I am looking forward to giving it a run.

Now I just need to order some film- I will probably start with some Velvia 50 and some Tri-X.

Congrats! That's nice. An F4 wow. I really enjoy film there's something about hearing the shutter click on my old Nikons and then waiting to see what it looks like after it's developed that's exciting. I refuse to get rid of my enlarger and the darkroom. SomedayI'll get back to it.

 

[Gdad]

Jeff-

Congrats on the new addition to your Nikon "family". Time to update that siggy! Have you thought about using one of the really fine-grained B/W films like Ilford's Pan F, which I think is available in 35mm cassettes or 100' bulk rolls.

~Ed

Thanks Ed- I'm sure I will be trying out a lot of different films- thanks for the tip on the Ilford- I will add that to my growing list. Film seems like it has a lot more personality than digital.

 

[Gdad]

Well, I also just bought a new-to-me film camera... but mine's just a touch older. A Kodak Junior Six-16 from the mid-to-late '30s. Now, to see if I can still buy rollfilm, and find somewhere to get it developed...

It was a garage sale find along with a wooden Kodak light box (for developing negatives) from 1916. That was about it for interesting photography at our local (huge) neighborhood garage sale. I did find someone taking photos with an Epson R-D1, which is a very, very cool digital rangefinder (and not cheap!) and talked to her briefly.

Once I catch up with my WDW photos, I'll probably take a few photos of it and post 'em. It's kind of neat-looking.

That's pretty cool- I still have the (new to me in maybe 1985 or so- made in the early 50's) Argus C4 Rangefinder. Now that I am diving back into this film thing I'm sure it will be just a matter of time before I get it down off the shelf and put some film in it.

 

[Gdad]

GDad- I would try the T-Max 400 not the tri-x. I did a test a couple of years ago with a 120 macro lens on a 645 camera and using my Zeiss 60mm makro lens on my Contax RTS III. Had a lab print 40x60 inch prints. They refused to do the 35mm but I said I needed iot for work and they did it. Guess which one looked better. I was using the T-Max 400 film. The Zeiss helped with contrast range, but the resolution was so close.....

Thanks for the tip on the T-Max- as said I will be trying a lot of stuff.

 

[Gdad]

Congrats! That's nice. An F4 wow. I really enjoy film there's something about hearing the shutter click on my old Nikons and then waiting to see what it looks like after it's developed that's exciting. I refuse to get rid of my enlarger and the darkroom. SomedayI'll get back to it.

Thanks- I am excited about it. I have an old Canon AE-1 but no real glass for it. This is a much better pro body plus from what I have read most of my lenses will work with it in some capacity. And the camera has a very interesting history- the retired photojournalist I purchased it from used it to cover many world events- including the fall of the Berlin Wall.

My darkroom stuff is all boxed up in the garage by the way. It was my fathers darkroom and I spent a lot of time in there growing up- but I have no plans (or room) to rebuild it now. Although developing my own film has crossed my mind.

 

[Lizziejane]

nice to see there are others venturing into film too! We recently found a 1951 Leica IIf in the basement (was my late father-in-law's) Mint condition but I sent it in for a cleaning. I'm working in a photography store right now and everyone there raves about the Pan-F - I believe it's a 50 ISO. We have a couple of sample portraits taken with it and it's amazing! Can't wait for my new toy to come back from the shop!

 

[Independence1776]

Congrats on your purchase and I hope you have fun with it!

As for me, I never stopped using film! I use a Canon A-1 which used to be my dad's and it's is older than I am. I'm still learning how to use it well since I only had it my last semester in college, stopped for a year (with a couple months for a repair job), and just started using it again last week. I have a 28mm, 50mm, 80-200mm, and 2x converter for it. I've only used the 50mm, though. Right now, I'm probably going to stick to Kodak film (usually ISO 200). I don't really like B&W- I figured out in my photography class that I frame with color in mind. Although, I would love to try B&W infared someday.

I actually don't plan on switching to digital- I like the results I get from film. The only downside: never-ending buying and processing costs (which is why I'd like my own darkroom someday).

 

[PixieDust32]

Oh of course! I don't have one of those super fast and fancy digitals (yet ) so for some pics the film is great. I use wal mart for developing and I love it. I used kodak 800 and the colors are so pretty as well.

 

[dr_zero]

I love my film pictures but I just bought my first digital SLR last week it should be here today!

The cost to the film and the developing is one of the factors that drove me get a digital SLR after one dance competition I was out over $150 for film and developing but with the digital I can cut that way down.

 

[SunShineGurl]

i am still plugging away with my minolta SRT-201.....getting harder and harder to find film locally.

 

[Geoff_M]

Congrats.... (BTW, that's technically an F4s.)

I still have my F4s and F5 in "mothballs"...

 

[0bli0]

nice to see there are others venturing into film too! We recently found a 1951 Leica IIf in the basement ..... I'm working in a photography store right now and everyone there raves about the Pan-F - I believe it's a 50 ISO. .... Can't wait for my new toy to come back from the shop!

i have a leica IIIf red-dial, which is similar to your IIf (with the addition of a second slow speed shutter selection knob for under 1/30th of a second). i only run b&w film through it. the ilford panF+ is one of my favouite films. it is iso 50 and has quite a bit of latitude for pushing and errors in exposure. are you using the 50mm summarit? you'll definitely enjoy the camera. hopefully the rangefinder patch hasn't separated. it's just held on with an organic glue and sometimes on the IIf & IIIf it separates so you can't focus.


ilford pan F+

 

[Gdad]

Congrats.... (BTW, that's technically an F4s.)

I still have my F4s and F5 in "mothballs"...

Thanks- that is a picture of the actual camera so I guess I am getting an F4s

 

[Lizziejane]

To be honest, I'm a little confused. Mine has the second slow speed shutter also, but not the red dial. It has a 50mm F2 Summarit lens. I sent it in to be cleaned and lubed, and turns out there is only one repair shop in Western Canada that can work on Leicas. I'm told the last one my local repair shop sent off for a tune up took 5 months to get back!! I'm so disappointed as I'm off to Europe in a couple of weeks and really wanted to take some b&w on the streets of Dublin

i have a leica IIIf red-dial, which is similar to your IIf (with the addition of a second slow speed shutter selection knob for under 1/30th of a second). i only run b&w film through it. the ilford panF+ is one of my favouite films. it is iso 50 and has quite a bit of latitude for pushing and errors in exposure. are you using the 50mm summarit? you'll definitely enjoy the camera. hopefully the rangefinder patch hasn't separated. it's just held on with an organic glue and sometimes on the IIf & IIIf it separates so you can't focus.


ilford pan F+

 

[0bli0]

To be honest, I'm a little confused. Mine has the second slow speed shutter also, but not the red dial. It has a 50mm F2 Summarit lens. I sent it in to be cleaned and lubed, and turns out there is only one repair shop in Western Canada that can work on Leicas. I'm told the last one my local repair shop sent off for a tune up took 5 months to get back!! ...

does yours have the second dial on the front (next to the lens)? or is it a black circle?

if it's a speed setting dial, then you have one of the few that have been modified using the iiif parts, or it's actually a iiif (note: there were only 35,999 iif units made. the way to know for sure is to check the serial number on a page like cameraquest.com)

i hope it doesn't take too long to get your camera back. i would have suggested either ship to DAG in wisconsin, or camtex in vancouver.
btw when you get the camera back, make sure you trim the film leader before you load it. you need to cut about 10cm to make an extra long leader, otherwise you can end up jamming the sprocket - requiring a fix. if you have any questions, let me know.