Everything old is new again

mbrady

The latest camera hardware craze sweeping the nation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvu2QPQLlYA

Ughhh.....
:huh


And in case you're not a fan of Vivitar, you can also go for the Kodak instead...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVveWhy8iR4

:cry

MileHighAko

I was at Walgreen's the other day and the over-head advertisement said something like, "you know that you can depend on Walgreen's for high quality digital prints, but did you know that Walgreen's also processes film as well? So if you still dabble in film...". I love progress.

ziggy53

I think it's a last-ditch effort to try to re-energize the dying film market, but most people really do like the instant gratification that digital offers. I think there's little to no real chance for a resurgence of film.

racer

They are trying to target a niche market who might still want a film camera. Typical old person, my grandpap, who still uses a console TV, rotary telephone, record player, criticize people for wearing bluejeans and women for showing anything bellow the neck... a computer dosnt make any sense to him, or anything digital, let alone a digital camera. This is the case for many older people who simply never progressed from the analog world into the digital age.

WillCAD

racer wrote: »

They are trying to target a niche market who might still want a film camera. Typical old person, my grandpap, who still uses a console TV, rotary telephone, record player, criticize people for wearing bluejeans and women for showing anything bellow the neck... a computer dosnt make any sense to him, or anything digital, let alone a digital camera. This is the case for many older people who simply never progressed from the analog world into the digital age.

Yeah, I have a friend who never uses his bank account for anything - every Friday when he gets paid, he cashes his paycheck and pays everything in cash, or buys money orders for the bills he has to mail in, like car payment and utilities.

NeilL

Now guys, don't lose sight of the fact that other guys in that generation are the ones that created the electronic-digital-tv-video-/games-internet age, along with the medical stuff that might be keeping us alive longer, our airplanes and space vehicles, etc, etc, right up to the styles of music we channel for our ears today. You can too easily confuse "use-consumption" with being à la moment. While younger generations make up the bulk of users and consumers of technology, the vast majority of them are utterly disconnected from the sciences and development involved. It is the older generations still who are shaping the world the kids now live in eg iPhone/iPad, not the reverse! Think about it!

Re film, I think it's unlikely to re-emerge as a mass habit, mainly because of the unwieldiness, time and expense, but I think it will continue to grow as an art form.

Neil

Grainbelt

Its hard as hell to get film developed in Minneapolis, and I live in a part of town populated with hipsters. You'd think you could get film developed somewhere around here.

Zerodog

Wow, I think I found my next camera!

waygard33

Zerodog wrote: »

Wow, I think I found my next camera!

Next 2 cameras if you act now!

borrowlenses.com

We'll be renting them soon

CSG

Film has become jazz. Small but diehard audience and a product of college programs.

Photoskipper

good time to sell off my 10+ film cameras. Anyone who wants it, please let me know.

My friends passed those old cameras to me and choking my dry box for years. Since the Digital one available, no one wants the old films. I had few big boxes of old prints and scanned into digital and save in the harddisk. Developing and printing film is not green, it processes a lot of chemicals and kill the trees.

Recently my daughter bought the Polariod type instant sticker digital camera, it was quite fun.

msf

Im surprised they are not trying to make a hybrid camera, both film and digital. digital so ou can see how it looks and film for the printing.

I use to see digital cameras at yard sales, but I havent for the last couple of years, bit strange. I have seen a ton of film camera's though, even a couple slr's.

msf

WillCAD wrote: »

Yeah, I have a friend who never uses his bank account for anything - every Friday when he gets paid, he cashes his paycheck and pays everything in cash, or buys money orders for the bills he has to mail in, like car payment and utilities.

Good situation to be in, doesnt spend more than he has, no debt.

WillCAD

msf wrote: »

Good situation to be in, doesnt spend more than he has, no debt.

True, but he also has major trouble when trying to buy things online or travelling.

racer

msf wrote: »

Good situation to be in, doesnt spend more than he has, no debt.

totally off topic, but its just itching at me to point out that he makes a car payment I do like your theory though

msf

racer wrote: »

totally off topic, but its just itching at me to point out that he makes a car payment I do like your theory though

Well I mostly meant credit cards, etc.

WillCAD

My buddy was also very slow to make the switch to digital, but mostly because in the early days, digital just didn't have the dynamic range of film. Technically speaking, it still doesn't. But my buddy waited until the 20D came out before making the digital plunge, and continued to shoot film for several years afterward. He only recently sold his medium format outfit - seemed like a good time, while it still had SOME value - and used the proceeds to buy a 5Dmk2.

No matter what the advantages of film might be, I think it's safe to say that film is now a niche market. For mainstream photography, both pro and amateur, film is now relegated to a small minority who prefer the film look, or who like the challenge of using film, much like woodworking with hand tools is now done only the realm of the hobbyist, and manual transmissions can rarely be found outside of a race car. I don't think film will ever die completely; as in woodworking, there will always be those who want to use film just for the sake of doing things the way they were done in the past. But the days when film WAS photography are done.

NikonsandVstroms

Grainbelt wrote: »

Its hard as hell to get film developed in Minneapolis, and I live in a part of town populated with hipsters. You'd think you could get film developed somewhere around here.

Especially since urban outfitters sells Holga's........for 50 dollars

20DNoob

And to think I just picked up a RF and started shooting film. I actually enjoy the process as it's slowed me down and makes me think about the shot, rather than just machine gunning the shutter and wondering if I got the shot then fixing it in post.

KevMoe

My biggest problem with a 100% switch to digital has been my inability to recreate the noiseless color of night shots with my D300. I understand software like Noise Ninja will help to alleviate this problem, but I still prefer to break out the old equipment to generate the breathtaking night scenes in the city.

ziggy53

If you use a low ISO, ISO 200 on a D300, and if you enable long exposure noise reduction, and if you nail the exposure, you should achieve very clean images that are better than film in many ways.

jmphotocraft

WillCAD wrote: »

My buddy was also very slow to make the switch to digital, but mostly because in the early days, digital just didn't have the dynamic range of film. Technically speaking, it still doesn't.

Digital has surpassed 35mm film in every single regard including dynamic range.

ISO 100 film:


100% crop from a 5400x3600 scan:


5DII:


The only case left for using 35mm is you just like the look of it. Which is valid, there are some shots I'm very glad to have on film...

jmphotocraft

Hey, that Vivitar camera is full frame!