# Going The Way Of The Dodo



## plumsteadblue (Sep 4, 2004)

HI guys,

Thought I would ask on here what you guys think, is film going out of fashion, now I know digital cameras have been around for quite a while, but I seem to see so many film cameras on the bay up for sale and not making any money, well not what they used to make, I know some of the high end stuff still makes ok money.

But what with kodak going bust do you guys think that film is going the way of the dodo and will soon be a thing of the past.

I have 2 film camera outfits, one I used to take on holiday with me and one for home use, but I have to admit I have not used them recently as prefer my digital outfit, cheaper and easy to see the results quickly.

Cheers, John


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## bridgeman (Dec 9, 2008)

Bought a 35mm Minolta on the forum before christmas -STILL waiting to finish the first film! But what a satisfying clunk as the mirror goes over- bit like mechanicals and quartz watches- ones so easy and accurate you dont bother checking its accuracy ,the other always fiddling,setting the date checking the accuracy-depends how much time you have got I suppose.But then dont get me on about disposable society-at 25p or whatever a pic on film you actually THINK when you fire not fire delete fire delete-maybe thats whats wrong aallround people are stopping thinking?


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## Kutusov (Apr 19, 2010)

I don't think it's going to end, I recon film will remain available.

I still think that my old film VoigtlÃ¤nder is a hell of a lot better camera than my Canon DSLR.


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## spaceslug (Dec 3, 2011)

bridgeman said:


> Bought a 35mm Minolta on the forum before christmas -STILL waiting to finish the first film! But what a satisfying clunk as the mirror goes over- bit like mechanicals and quartz watches- ones so easy and accurate you dont bother checking its accuracy ,the other always fiddling,setting the date checking the accuracy-depends how much time you have got I suppose.But then dont get me on about disposable society-at 25p or whatever a pic on film you actually THINK when you fire not fire delete fire delete-maybe thats whats wrong aallround people are stopping thinking?


I must beg to differ on in respect of stopping thinking. I conceed that I take a *lot* more photos on digital because of the lower cost, but while the cost is certainly an issue, slowness is too. It takes so long to get pics back that I forget how I took them, settings, subtleties etc. With digital, that feedback is instant, I can review settings and think about technique and apply that thinking instantly on location to get better shots. So I'd argue that digital actually helps me to be a better photographer.


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## bridgeman (Dec 9, 2008)

Yes what you say is all true and really I agree it makes life so much easier. But like getting a new watch -its often the buying and anticipation of the postman arriving thats the best part-like collecting prints from the shop. My dad was a member of a postal camera club-United Portfolios of gb I think-every month a box of photos maybe 20 would arrive and he had to mark them and then post on to next member after adding his own to rthe pile. Each photo had to have the aperature ,speed etc written on -so every photo he took out came the little notebook to write it all down. And they were developed and printed in the kitchen!

Different times I suppose---------


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## spaceslug (Dec 3, 2011)

I also have fond memories of my old man who was a keen photographer. We had the spare bedroom kitted out as a darkroom. He built most of his developing kit himself from his own enlarger built from catering coffee tins with a focussing bellows made out of folded black sugar paper. Even made welded metal trays for developing prints. We used to spend hours in there developing b&w prints and talking about photography which is obviously where my interest came from. Not sure what he'd make of the digital age, I think he'd probably be a bit of a film pureist, though he did try to build a robot once but had to stop on the orders of my mum, who is still petrified of them!


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## john87300 (Oct 12, 2011)

For me film will always be my preference for B&W, and the darkroom was my special place until moving here. When I finally finish with all the plans I have for this house the last thing I will do is convert the old bread oven building in the courtyard into an proper B&W darkroom,

Hand printed B&W has always been a minority interest anyway, and, hopefully,it will survive the digital revolution, just as the mechanical watch has survived the quartz era.

In just the same way as I have a couple of quartz watches as well as all my mechanicals, I will continue to use a digital camera where it is best suits the situation, for me digital is the equivalent of the Polaroid, instant results when needed. It must be my age, the images I have produced that I find most satisfying are from the darkroom, I need to work in red light with the smell of chemicals in my nostrils!


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## chris l (Aug 5, 2005)

I have, and use, both digital and film cameras; my medium format and large format cameras will blow the socks off any digital!

Medium and large format film scanned gives a wonderful result... I don't miss the chemical dermatitis, though!

I believe that Eastman Kodak have until next year to develop a reorganisation plan to address their Chapter 11 insolvency. Interesting to see what that will be.


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