Does anyone still use film?

Does anyone still use raw film or has everyone converted to digital cameras now?

San x

Turning on heat under the popping kettle.

Rich

I don't get it? What does that mean?

100% digital since 1996 😁

This sounds really embarrassing but I've never actually seen a camera film, only sd cards. My neighbour told me all about film and microfish???? but he lost me. Never seen it.

Many photographers under 40 have never used a camera with film, and that's normal.

I never shot another film frame once I got my first dSLR in 2004.

While I have not used film since the early 2000’s, there are a number of folks who do still use film and create some terrific images with it. If you are interested in film, folks here can help and you can also buy a film body (fairly cheaply) and some film and give it a whirl. Use a 3rd-party lab for developing and have them scan the negatives to digital files…. Do your normal processes thereafter on your computer.

It means that a lively discussion will likely follow and you may want to have a tub of fresh popcorn ready to enjoy the back and forth.

Last year I purchased available versions of the 2 film cameras that I learned photography with. I shot a single roll with each and had prints made that I subsequently scanned. I had thought that I'd shoot lots of film and scan the negatives myself (because unlike 50 years ago I have no space available to do film development).

To me, the film experience 50 years ago allowed me to take my time and think about what I was doing. Today, having to wait to use up all exposures on a roll of film, wait to send it out and have somebody else develop your film (and prints) simply adds too much time to the process. I like being able to shoot three exposures, pop the card into the computer and then develop the raw files immediately (myself).

Back in the day I only ever did b&w. These days I'm mostly doing color.

You absolutely stole every word out of my mouth . . er . . keyboard.

😀

Rich

Yep, plenty of us. These days I shoot more on film (primarily B&W) than I do on digital (which I still prefer for color). I love the process of shooting and developing my own film (and wish I had the space/time for a darkroom to print). Digital is a nice way to get images but doesn't have the same challenge... point, click, peep, done. Zzz.

I still shoot film mostly B/W but also sometimes C41 (both 135 format)😎

I quit shooting Film back in 2003, after I got my D100. After a few years I gave away my F90x. I figured, I got what it was worth, Zero Dollars. I cringe at how much money I wasted on Thousands of Rolls of Film, plus the cost of Processing and Printing. We are truly spoiled with the Level of Cameras that we currently have, and the Quality of the Images they take. The exception to that, was my D850, Worst Camera, I have ever owned, even touched.

Sure, I still shoot film. Occasionally. Purely for fun.

I very much like the naturally grainy look of some black and white film, and the smooth highlights and thoughtful color grades of some color negative film. I also like the physicality and simplicity of some film cameras. Somehow it focuses my mind on the basics. I love the process of shooting slowly, and even the added incentive of the price and drudgery to shoot sparingly and thoughtfully.

That said, developing film is either, terribly boring, or terribly expensive. Scanning it even more so. I'd shoot much more of it if it weren't such a huge sink of time and money.

I know you can buy disposable film cameras but is there still a market for actual film cameras today?

San x

Ricoh is even working on a brand new one! And Leica just resumed production of the M6. It's niche, but not dead.

Here is another question. Does anyone here use film and develop their own negatives into pictures?

Except for Leica, there are presently no film cameras being manufactured. I think Nikon's flagship film camera was the last several years ago, and the number of other makes had been declining rapidly since 2000.

But there is an active market in used cameras. eBay is stocked full. And like everything the Internet influences, there are trends and must-haves and ridiculous pricing. Film saw an increase in sales after almost disappearing from existence. But it's only a matter of time before it completely ceases to exist. Film companies are eliminating film types, consolidating lines and otherwise winding down production. They're also raising prices on the few remaining types.

Film cameras are for all intent and purpose non-repairable as parts are non-existent, except for cannibalizing other broken cameras. It may be decades still before there are actually no more operational film cameras at all, but eventually it will happen.

It is sad that the era of film will eventually completely cease to exist. It is unquestionably an art form that can't be completely replaced by digital. But Tempus fugit.

I made a living and worked in film from the mid '50s to the early 2000s. With my first digital exposure in 2001, despite the limitations of that awful camera, I knew I would never go back.

Rich