chris00nj's photostream  

First off my blog

I enjoy photography and generally shoot with a mechanical film rangefinder. Yes, odd. Let me explain.


Film vs. Digital
For me the most important thing is the discipline that film instills in me. If I am spending a small amount of money every time I depress the shutter, I think about the shot.

I found myself to be very cavalier with a digital camera. You end up taking multiple pictures of the same shot and you never go through them. You take bad pictures thinking you can post process them. Then you think you'll print them out but they end up sitting on your camera until your flash memory fails.

The idea that digital is free is offset by the price of film versus digital camera. I can get a great film camera for under $100, while a comparable digital would be $1000. How much film can buy and develop for $900?

I do like scanning film photos, and keep a digital on hand for one-off photos.

Here's all 8 reasons why one might choose film:

photosttl.blogspot.com/2009/05/case-for-film.html


Rangefinder vs. SLR

The success of Japanese SLRs almost made the rangefinder camera disappear. However, the success of marketing and sales isn't indicative of a better camera. Both SLRs and rangefinders have pros and cons. Rangefinders are smaller and lighter because they lack a mirror. Rangefinders are better for wide angle lenses as the focusing element can depress into the camera body while it would hit the mirror with an SLR.
SLRs are much better for telephotos, because you can focus them better. Rangefinders are harder to focus at long focal lengths and wide aperatures.

Lenses - Zoom versus Fixed Focal length
While zoom lenses are versitile, they aren't without their drawbacks. Namely, they are slow... the fastest that you normally get is f/3.5 My 50mm f/1.5 is nearly 3 stops faster. That means in indoor light, I could use my lens, 400 speed film without a flash. To do the same thing, the zoom lens would need 3200 ISO.

Mechanical vs. Automatic
Automatic exposure and focus is sometimes helpful, but also can be annoying. The automatic nature will give you problems when you want to focus on something or base your exposure on something that is not in the middle of the lens.
Automatic lenses will also not allow you to capitalize on depth of field.

The future of film
Film will never see it's heyday, but it will be a niche market. Consumer films will continue to decline. People returning to film or those who never left, will look for the best film.