OT: Film cameras and photography comeback?

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by jkbrwn

Needs more film pics

That Getty Museum shot is great!

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by avalonracing

My pro buddy likes to use Sony A7R5 cameras and shoots hundreds of 61mp raw images per shoot (4-5 days a week). In the last couple of years he has spent five-figures on hard drive storage

That seems silly. Is he saving every raw file forever?

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by gavingould

I shoot a lot with a Fuji GFX 100S. guess where most of my images end up? Tiny squares on people’s phones.

after trying to make a career in photography right around the 2008 economy collapse, I’m glad to have it back as a stupidly-expensive hobby. once in a great while someone pays me for something.

.

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by pdonk

I'd love to find a purchaser for a mid 1960's hassleblad 501 and a bunch of esoteric accessories (polaroid back, slide reproducer, other small parts and filters). Lots of people find them interesting, but no one wants to buy.

I also have a canon AE1 with a selection of canon lenses but no bites on it either.

If I had the money, I would buy it TODAY. I had a Blad once and would love to again.

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

I think you can get a digital back for the Hassleblad.

Yes, they just introduced another new digital back that can be used on the 501.

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by MikeD

Isn't this a lot like the LP vs CD debate, with the LP contingent saying they can hear better sound over the pops and clicks and distortion?

I have Dark Side of the Moon four ways.
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab half speed master LP
Mobile Fidelity Soud Lab 24k CD
An early LP pressing
A regular CD.

The half speed master gives the best example of the amazing 3D sound stage the album was recorded on. The 24K Cd is second and the album very nearly beats the LP. With good headphones, on tracks like "Time" you can hear clocks appear in different parts of the room ticking away. Then they all start an alarm. In "On the Run", you hear a horse and carriage cross in front left to right and later, cross behind right to left.

[caneye]

Originally Posted by ntb1001

Film does seem to have made somewhat of a comeback. My daughter and some of her friends are into film cameras now. They’re some social media influencers out there creating some interest .

...
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This!!!
The kids these days are looking for photography imperfections.
Technology and smartphones give you fail-safe perfect photos all the time. It's too easy. What's difficult is creating the grain that film photography has, the underexposed/overexposed tinge and sepia tone, the off-focus photos. There are pictures where - the moment you see it, you know it's captured on film and not a digital equivalent.
None of this is about the sharpest lens, the best exposure, the highest detail.

I went down this rabbit-hole helping my photography-enthusiast teenager. He worked hard and bought himself a Sony A7R. At the same time, he also wanted a P&S. We ended up with what some considered to be the holy grail of P&S - a 30-year-old fragile plasticky Olympus mju with a 2.8 lens.

It's ridiculous what P&S are fetching these days. But we were lucky - we travelled to Asia late last year and I managed to scour FB marketplace of our target destination and found a mju for sale. It cost around USD200. Pricey for (again) a 30yo plastic device that could fail at any time. It was his $$ not mine.
But the quality of the photos has surpassed all expectations.

Do you remember the lengthy wait, surprise and joy/anguish of seeing a newly developed photo for the very first time? it's priceless to see that on a teenage face.

This film photography come back is not for any one of us here

[avalonracing]

Originally Posted by .RJ

That seems silly. Is he saving every raw file forever?

It does but clients often reach out for images from previous shoots and he delivers lots of images. Back when I was shooting film I would give clients anywhere from a couple of images to a couple dozen selects but he's been super successful by over-delivering and giving his clients hundreds of images per shoot.

[Mr. Pink]

It's the .psd files that take up room.

But storage is cheaper and cheaper. Just bought an 8T drive for about 300.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

Just bought an 8T drive for about 300.

Can you imagine making that statement 10-20 years ago? They'd ask you to confirm if the T stood for "tera" and they still wouldn't believe you.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by avalonracing

It does but clients often reach out for images from previous shoots and he delivers lots of images. Back when I was shooting film I would give clients anywhere from a couple of images to a couple dozen selects but he's been super successful by over-delivering and giving his clients hundreds of images per shoot.

Ahhhhh for paid work I would keep 2 copies, with one in a safe plus a cloud backup of absolutely everything. Fortunately its cheap and easy these days.

Each big trip I do I'll dump all the raws on to a usb hard drive and stash it away just in case, in addition to backing up anything current and a whole laptop backup. Its probably not perfect and I keep thinking I need to buy a synology raid setup.

[pdonk]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

I think you can get a digital back for the Hassleblad.

Yes, but they are insanely expensive.

It would be incongruent to have a 2000's high tech back on a body from 1963 (TP serial number).

If I could get batteries and small memory cards for my D1, I'd use it, every year I say I'll get a new body for my nikon lenses, but something comes up.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by avalonracing

I hear you on that. And I hate that people have become accustomed to hyper-saturated, over-sharpened (or over-softened) images which just makes real vs AI images even harder to distinguish.

It's well beyond color and sharpness. With Generative AI and Generative fill in Photoshop, along with other software brands emerging, It's ridiculous what you can do to an image with just a push of a button. I have only seen demos, I can't use the latest Photoshop because I need a new computer to be able to, and I'm moving, but, from what I've seen, a lot of retouchers are now obsolete. It is a big legal issue, because Adobe and everyone else are ignoring any sort of copyright protections by mining the internet for material to enable all of this, (same issue in literature) but when have the Silicon Valley dudes ever really cared about that? But, as I said, never fight the tech, if you want to keep up. Ten years from now, hoo boy. Glad I don't have to make a living at all that anymore.

[denapista]

With the announcement of the new Leica SL3 this morning, I thought about this thread.

Maybe that's a reason why film is making a resurgence? Quite possibly the average consumer is tired of the bi-yearly updates and new models with marginal gains. I own the Leica SL2 and the improvements on the SL3 are impressive, but not worth forking out $7000 for the body alone.

I love shooting my Digital cameras, but nothing is more satisfying than shooting with my Nikon F2, FM2N, Contax G1 and 500cm. The only downside is the workflow and costs of getting film processed/developed if I'm too lazy to process at home.

[capt_velo]

Originally Posted by denapista

Maybe that's a reason why film is making a resurgence? Quite possibly the average consumer is tired of the bi-yearly updates and new models with marginal gains. I own the Leica SL2 and the improvements on the SL3 are impressive, but not worth forking out $7000 for the body alone.

Kinda like how steel is making a resurgence in the cycling world? We're getting tired of the new plastic bikes where the marginal gains are mainly from improved aerodynamics from narrower handle bars (glares as Trek).