At the moment I'm shooting entirely on digital, Nikon D700 and D300 with a selection of lenses.

I'm toying with buying a cheap film body and shooting film alongside digital, but is this just a whim? Has anyone else bought a film body just for the craic, and if so, was it a good experience?

I'm wondering if spending more time thinking about each shot, composing and getting it right in camera will help with my digital stuff (which can feel at times verging on point and shoot, especially with action shots) but I've got a horrible feeling I'll hate the lack of instant feedback and wait and expense of processing…

Any thoughts?

No real adavantage IMO, unless you're looking for a particular 'filmic' quality like big fat grain in B&W images. I still use a lot of B&W and infra red film for the above reason, but I develop and print it at home, so not too pricey.

Never use it for any paid work though – digital every time! I'd love to shoot a whole wedding on B&W film, and then make the prints in my darkroom, but haven't yet persuaded anyone to bite 🙁

Well if you buy a cheap body (or even better get given one :D)the initial outlay is minimal, and a couple of rolls of film ain't gonna break the bank… I've just started shooting film on an old Dynax body, and I'm really enjoying the experience. That said I have access to a b&w darkroom, and I've yet to develop anything. That may change my mind.

Why not buy a Lomo. It'll give you some different results from using an ordinary film camera. get a load of 800ASA film and off you go. Or Ilford XP2 works well too

http://www.lomography.com/

I was very tempted to get a panoramic medium/large format camera. Just chatting to a guy the other day though and he was telling me that it costs him £4 for the film, £4 to process…. and then £10 for scanning each frame. Since I like to store everything digitally (as well as hard copy/positive) that would be a very, very expensive thing to get into.

So I am sticking to digital, and waiting until I can afford a medium format digital solution. One day.

Maybe.

I toyed with it but ended up selling my film slr instead (only a couple of months ago). I couldn't convince myself it was in any way a good idea.

spending more time thinking about each shot, composing and getting it right in camera

Have you tried shooting with a tripod? Slows you right down.

Thanks for the comments all!

I very often shoot with a tripod, was doing 90second exposures on the weekend just passed for this

and yes, it does make you think a little more. It's the normal walkabout stuff where you may snap away with digital with impunity, but those 36 exposures on a roll may concentrate the mind more!

Mmmm, medium format… Roll on a cheap digital back!

Lomo might be worth a go, but I might also be too much of a control freak…

No darkroom access is a problem, not even through my club. If I did, I think that might tip the balance!

Andy – I have a SLR body with lens I don't use.
Bought it of JC.
Its a Dynax.

Interested?

you could just pretend it's film, tape over the rear display and put the camera in a cupboard for 2 days when you get home…

BK, Ideally I was looking for a Nikon so I could put my nice glass on the front… I'll have a look at that though, I'll speak to you "off line" (gasp) sometime!

SFB, I like that…

oh and fit a 256MB card…

I do, I use a selection of old zenith cameras 🙂

Well I have a perfectly working SLR using film. So no point buying a new one.
Second I could get tempted buy the lumix camera with a leica lense and a wide angle. However, I can't shoot with the display. I need the little window to aim. So that's a no compact digital camera for me.

andyl – got a pretty mint condition Nikon F60 knocking around somewhere if you are interested, i'd like to see it used again, fond memories and all that

MMW, drop me a line to andy (underscore) lyle46 at hot mail dot com with a figure in mind if you would.

Recently bought a Nikon F70 to use on a GCSE photography course (something to do on a Thursday evening that will (hopefully) impact positively on my photography in general).

Enjoying shooting film, it does force you to slow down and more carefully consider each shot in terms of value, composition, light, subject etc. You can pickup film quite cheaply from http://www.7dayshop.com, currently shooting black and white film as this can be developed quite cheaply in college darkrooms (though is very expensive to get developed commercially).

Shooting film has also made me appreciate digital all that more!

For real contemplative work I recommend daguerrotypes. You get to painstakingly polish the metal sheet, use strong acids, and the finished work is only visible from certain angles. True grit.

A couple of years back had the same impulse.Bought a near mint F3 and drive.Had a d200 as well for most shots.Ended up just shooting 2 rolls of slide film and scanning results.Did consider each shot more carefully but cost was to much and have been spoilt with digital.Sold F3 and d200 got d2hs then d2x now have d300,best camera yet.

i use a bronica, just got a metered prism for it and its a total weapon! i love it its like an SLR on steroids. I decided MF over 35mm because the depth of field can be much narrower for the same aperture and with my bronica its square format which i love.

Im raising funds for a bike frame so selling my 35mm f2 and 85 f1.8 lenses rather than selling this, thats how much i enjoy using it. As for efficiency then unless you're getting paid to take photos its all more or less for personal enjoyment, if you enjoy mucking about with film then result.

if you're near derby youre welcome to have a shot of the bronica

EDIT: if you have a D700 and D300 plus good glass the film and processing costs arent going to break the bank plus get yourself a tank and darkroom bag (im selling one btw) and its even cheaper.

2ND EDIT: there are a few pics on my flickr (click my name) from the bronica, i tweaked them cos i fluffed exposure but im getting better.

For real contemplative work I recommend daguerrotypes. You get to painstakingly polish the metal sheet, use strong acids, and the finished work is only visible from certain angles. True grit.

That's just cheating frankly.

Personally I dig a large cave, plant the back wall with moss seed and then poke a pinhole in the far wall. The moss only grows where the sunlight strikes, forming a perfect brown-and-green landscape image in mere months.

Think i,ll dig out my Mamiya C33

"I've just started shooting film on an old Dynax body"

Me too,

And the lenses fit my Sony dslr as well….

I've still got a Contax 139 Quartz with 35-80 and 70-210 Tamron zooms from 1980. Can't imagine getting it out and putting any film through it now, not with a Nikon D60 with 18-55/55-200 lenses, a Lumix TZ3 and a Nikon Coolpix 5700 to play with, and an iPhone to use as a Lomo/Polaroid/Helga.

Simon, a college mate of mine is charging £400 a pop for a Daguerreotype…pricey stuff!

YamYambiker, any jessops with a lab with put through a roll of normal C41 colour print film or black and white such as Ilford XP2 or Kodak Pro b+w film for £4.00 for a dev only. £4.50 in the hour. In Plymouth, we get swarmed with students as other than their colleges we can often do it quicker than the pro photolab, and it goes through a machine so no guesswork or human intervention….

Simon, a college mate of mine is charging £400 a pop for a Daguerreotype…pricey stuff!

and imagine the tears if the subject moves during the one minute exposure 🙁 [hence the glassy expressions and lack of action shots]

Yes, I bought a Hasselblad 503 + 80mm CFE lense of ebay and it is superb, use my old D70 as a meter until I get a handheld one.

I have a Nikon FM2n which I use quite a lot, I tend to only do B+W which are just fantastic, and in my view way better than you generally get with digital, just love it.
Also I get very exited when waiting for the prints to come from Ilford, you don't really get that with digital. I don't think it's more expensive either ( If you don't waste lots anyway).

Developing was all the reason to go out and take photgraphs
Another thing was mastering the changing bag

YamYambiker, any jessops with a lab with put through a roll of normal C41 colour print film or black and white such as Ilford XP2 or Kodak Pro b+w film for £4.00 for a dev only. £4.50 in the hour. In Plymouth, we get swarmed with students as other than their colleges we can often do it quicker than the pro photolab, and it goes through a machine so no guesswork or human intervention….[/Quote]

We have to shoot non C41 process film so that we can develop it ourselves. Thats why I say its fooking expensive if you want a lab to do it not so much a problem when you have access to a college darkroom though as I'm part time access to develop film is limited by time.

andyl46 – If you're Yorkshire-ish and wanted to borrow a Nikon F80s, then email me.

Let you use the same lenses as the D700.

Note that I said borrow though.

Edit – just checked profile. Ah well, if you're passing…

freezie im selling my zeiss ikophot for £20 if youre interested drop me an email, its old but accurate 😀

Put the occasional film through my Pentax 645, but haven't shot any 35mm for a while.

I've got a GX680 in the attic. Keep meaning to take it out for a last trot around the mountains. Plenty resolution on a 60mm X 80mm negative. The tilt lens is nice too 🙂

There's plenty top quality large format cameras cheap on eBay these days I see, so there's no point in trying to sell it.

I'm looking at buying an Ebony in the near future.
5×4 – yumyum!
Shoot film through my old 6×6 'Blad manual bodies.
I shoot on D700's for commercial work.
No longer own my own dark room so I'd be very rusty now.
I have maybe 10 Nikon film bodies doing SFA in my filing cabinets if you want one.
Sold the Leica M body and lenses this time last year.

When I win the lottery, I'll buy the S2 and M9 cameras + all the lenses and some Ebony field cameras too (goes off to dream of such things).

Ti 29er, I'd happily cover your postage and buy you a few pints if you want to clear some space!

I'm in Belfast so igm, thank you for your kind offer, we're not too far away, but I'm not exactly local!

As always, I'm genuinely touched by the generosity and helpfulness of the mountainbiking (and photographic!) community!

I still used this now and again .

Light easy to use , other that its pants but fun.

When the lottery coughs up, it'll be a Nikon D3s, the new one that'll go up to 102300 ISO, and a Leica S2. Oh, and a very large harddrive…

LOL Nottie8 But saying that have made a pin hole camera

One thing I like is that you keep the negatives How can we safe guard
Digital images that also can be used on future computers?