Film's not dead! It just smells a bit funny...

I've been shooting quite a bit of (35mm) film these last couple of weeks so I thought I'd post a small selection up for your C&C. These were really taken with the aim of testing equipment rather than to be aesthetically pleasing, but I quite liked the following anyway.

1) Pentax Spotmatic | Takumar 58mm f/2 | Kodak Gold 200




2) Pentax S1a | Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 (early) | Kodak Gold 200




3) Pentax LX | Pentax-M 50mm f/1.4 | Ilford Delta 400




4) Pentax LX | Pentax-M 28mm f/2.8 | Kodak Ultra 400




5) Pentax LX | Pentax-M 85mm f/2 | Ilford FP4 Plus




The Ilford films were developed by Ilford, the Kodak films were by SnappySnaps Aylesbury. All scans by me using an Epson V600 and then tidied up (dust spots removed / levels tweaked / resized) in Photoshop.

This week I bought my very own Pentax 645 which will be getting a nice outing tomorrow - I'll post some of the results here if the developing costs don't bankrupt me in the meantime...

Hefty, i'll be interested in seeing your 645 images, for sure.

How far can you go in tweaking a scanned film image? What is the range? Can film photographs benefit this way as a digital image?

A surprising amount and yes they can! BW film has a big dynamic range and because the response curve is S shaped rather than linear it is much harder to completely blow out the highlights. Just as in the darkroom, you can dodge and burn a fair amount to bring out the highlights etc.

Slide film, however, has a much narrower dynamic range and is also very fussy about getting the exposure right. Shadows, in particular, block out really quite quickly. They too, can scan well and indeed be improved upon.

I have never really got into colour print film and in the "film only" days was always rather disappointed with it. That was probably more due to using cheap film and cheap processing!

Before digital took over as my main "work" medium, I'd guess 95% of my shots were colour slides, 4% BW and 1% colour print.

I was just thinking yesterday that the 5x4 view camera would suit your current project very well, or perhaps the Pentax 6x7 with a shift lens.

Best wishes, Kris.

I think Kris has summed it up nicely - print film does have a visibly greater dynamic range to digital, and once you've scanned it then it's not really any different to work on than a native digital file. If you're going to shoot colour film (and I do as you can see) then it's worth sticking to the better emulsions / brands - Fuji Reala 100 is a particular favourite of mine (but nowhere around here stocks it so I had to make do with whatever my local Boots had in).

I'm not sure there's really that much of an advantage to shooting 35mm film in terms of detail though; even with a really good scanner you'd be lucky to extract any more information from a 35mm negative than you'd have in an image straight from your K20D. That's where medium format comes in - once you see a good scan from those (comparatively) huge negatives your jaw will drop. It's like having a 40/50MP digital camera in your pocket.

I took the 645 to a vintage car rally today and ran off a couple of rolls so once I get them back (and assuming the camera actually works - it made the right noises but that's no guarantee!) I'll scan them in and post some of them here for all to see.

A fascinating and laudable experiment. Most interesting results. Glad some people are keeping film and the equipment needed to expose it alive!

Andrew

I keep telling you, buy yourself some roll film and blow the dust off your Yashica TLR. I'm curious to see what my test roll from the Lubitel 2 comes out like. Talk about a basic camera. I managed to loose two shots by accidentally winding past the frame number!

K.

Thanks very much, Kris and Hefty.

I have always wondered about these things and you guys have helped me out, no end.

I would love to own a Pentax 645 or 6x7/II but i'm not sure how long film stocks being sold on the market, will last.
I'll definately be interested in seeing your 645 images, Hefty.

Kris your right, ever since starting out with this latest project I knew that a 5x4, or a medium format camera would be the tools of the trade for this sort of thing. Also, fitting an ND filter or two and stopping down you can easily not have to worry about moving people in the shot.

I remember meeting Paul Barkshire in the east end last year, and he carries around a 10x8 Wista in a shopping trolley, these things are heavy and cumbersome. But of course, it's a price worth paying for the quality you get from this type of camera.

Cheers.

10x8s are serious bits of kit! The 5x4 can fit in a good sized rucksack with the appropriate bits and pieces but the tripod is a killer. I usually transport my 5x4 in a small wheely case which is roughly the maximum size of carry-on luggage. It contains the camera, normal and wide angle bellows, two lenses on lensboards, lightmeter, cable release, loupe (Pentax! ), darkslides and the infamous blue towel soon to be replaced with a Chinese darkcloth. I need to buy myself a set of filters, maybe from Lee. Apart from the tripod it probably doesn't weigh any more than the pile of kit I lug on my back whenever I fly to the US, but then I am not known for travelling light!

My main regret (which is entirely my fault) is that I do not use it often enough. Once I have a bit more space in the autumn and can make a room lightproof, I'll hopefully get more use from it. I need to start seriously planning my churches project which is what I purchased it for in the first place.

Best wishes, Kris.

It's not the results that count for me (I could have got much the same with digital), it's the pleasure of using nice equipment. When I go out with a digital camera I'm guilty of taking shot after shot with little thought given, safe in the knowledge some will come out OK (I took over 350 with the K10D at the rally today). With film the restrictions imposed mean that I take my time and spend more effort on actually taking good pictures - meaning a much higher pro rata hit rate.

Ages!

There will be a market for 120 film for a long, long time yet. In fact there are even new emulsions being launched and old ones being resurrected. Somebody's got to feed all those Hasselblads, Rolleis, Bronicas, Mamiyas, etc and that's before you take into account the seemingly unstoppable rise of Holgas and Lomos...

great set!
i have never taken any bw in films before. maybe i should give it a try.