Shooting on film

Have you ever used a film camera or did you go straight to digital?

Not as strange a question as it first sounds, I have said in the past everybody should use at least one film SLR before moving to digital, and caused quite a stir.

Still, that was another topic a while back...

I wouldn't go so far as should as I know plenty of people who are excellent photographers and have never shot a frame of film in their lives. This will be incresingly so as time moves on. After all, how many of us have shot lantern slides?

I have mentioned though that shooting a slide film is a useful and interesting experience from which a number of lessons about composition, attention to detail and exposure can be learned.

My first camera was a Chinon CE-4,I had some great pictures taken with it.I then bought a 2mp Kodak which was pretty grim to be honest.The camera that hooked me back into photography was the brilliant Pentax S10.
I currently use a K200D,Z1-p and Z-10,I enjoy using film more than digital most of the time-why?I prefer film images, there is no work to do in photoshop and I like having to wait for the photos to return from the processer,in stark contrast, digital gives instant gratification and a computer full of images.We live in an instant age, shooting film slows me down.The solution-shoot both.
Regards
Chris

My first Pentax camera was the Z-10, my first AF as well - what an absolutely brilliant and simple camera - I sold it to finance the Z-1p, which I still have...

Maybe a good question (or two) to ask the people who use digital:

How many of you are still using film on a regular basis?

And for those who have given up silver, how many have given up in the past 12 months?

I shot a lot of film before going digital. I've got to say though, about 90% of what I know about photography I learned with a DSLR.

The instant feedback makes learning a LOT easier IMO.

So far there's some interesting comments.

It seems that most have moved from film to digital and improved since doing so.

My view is that you should try film at least once, as I stated earlier, simply because it makes you slow down when shooting. After all only having 24 or 36 attempts at getting the shot right certainly focuses the mind on compositio, exposure etc.

PLEASE, don't anybody take this the wrong way. It's just my view!

Using a film slr was useful, for me, because it acquainted me with the basics, without the many distractions you get on a DSLR. All my camera had was an aperture ring and a speed dial, and green/orange leds in the viewfinder. I sometimes wonder how newbies cope with all the buttons and settings on new DSLRs - and unfortunately the entry level models are the worst for this!

Personally, I feel that technically I learnt most using film (but that is largely chronology, digital wasn't an option in the 80s) but artistically (if that is the right word?) I have learnt more from the digital era, largely because of the ease of (a) comparing multiple versions of a similar image and (b) getting you lot to make comments on them. Going through my old slides I am reminded that I was pretty good at getting the exposure and focus right most of the time, and the photos are good record shots of buildings, archaeology and places I have been but very few are images I would want to print large and put on my wall.

I have found that having "gone [largely] digital" has reinvigorated my interest in the subject and has made me push the boundaries of what I do quite considerably. Ironically, it has also made me enjoy shooting film again and to push at those boundaries too (e.g., by getting the Horseman, and wanting to take-up darkroom work again).

Thankfully, the old stale film v. digital argument has largely died and instead of arguing about which is "better" we can just get on with enjoying and playing with the differences.

Best wishes, Kris.

I've always loved photography and, of course, started with film: slides, prints and had the use of a darkroom for black and white.

But digital has changed my life, not just my photography.

I shall never shoot another analogue image.

What do I miss? Using my twin lens reflex 6cm x 6cm was a wonderful experience...and the huge negatives ... and the prints...

Best wishes,

Andrew

(But my mother-in-law always likes me to put a new film in her camera and take the old one out!)

I used to shoot slide film but only on compacts. Latterly with a Pentax one which gave excellent results. Subsequently went on to Canon digital compacts - with manual overrides. But I only really started to learn about exposure when I bought a digital SLR - the K10D.

I miss film!!!!! I am finding digital way too complicated, constantly fiddling with buttons and settings. Auto this and auto that. BUT, I am very, very slowly coming round to digital, many advantages over film. I only wish this old, foggy mind of mine would process the learning curve a little faster. I must stop playing and begin concentrating.

Stephen

Load it up with something like Fuji Velvia and go out and use it! You'll enjoy it. Honest.

Or get some Ilford FP4 in it and develope it yourself!!

The feeling I'm getting is that film is not dead, a lost art or just for wierdies, it's a fondly remembered friend.

I shoot both, and I've found that buying a DSLR has got me back into film as well. Thing is, with digital you can see the results immediately, so I think it's a much better learning tool (as opposed to film where I tend to forget what settings I used by the time I finish the roll).

I do find that I have very different approaches with the two. I'm far more inclined to try odd compositions or techniques on digital and will also fire away knowing that I can simply delete any results that I don't like. On film, I stick to things that I know will work and don't take as many shots. A roll of film lasts me for a month or two as I simply don't get through it that fast.

I cant see myself ever using film again and I dont regret the move to digital at all but Pentaxophile makes a good point about digital being overwhelming.

I would be quite a happy with a simple DSLR with Av, Tv, M, P and X and the LCD.