Remember the days of film?

[George McGovern]

[PJMcK]

1. I got into photography in the early 1970s

My junior high school had a photography club and we had a fairly sophisticated dark room. We could spool black & white film (Tri-X, I think) into 35-millimeter canisters then develop the exposed film. We had two enlargers and the chemicals for printing the pictures. I was actually elected president of the club since I was such a total nerd, (my wife says I'm still a dork).

I have many fond memories of the hours I spent with my Pentax SLR. By the time I was a junior in high school, I had moved onto music and the only camera I had for years was a Kodak Instamatic! Nowadays, I only use my iPhone. It's much easier and I always have it with me.

Once, I found an undeveloped cartridge of 110 film that i had shot in college. I dropped it off at a photo shop for developing. When I picked it up, the clerk gave me a funny look and when I looked at the photos, I could see why: They were intimate pictures my then-girlfriend and I took during an afternoon of sangria and weed. As I strive to be a gentleman, I destroyed the prints and the negatives! Fun times.

[George McGovern]

6. Fun times indeed PJMcK. Neat memories. Thanks!

[hunter]

2. I still have all my film developing stuff.

If I knew I'd taken some great pictures I could develop the film when I got home. Otherwise I'd throw my undeveloped film in a big plastic jar, the kind that holds those junk food cheese puffs, and develop it later in batches. Sometimes much later. I'd also develop found film, the kind of stuff you don't want to drop off at the neighborhood drug store on the chance they'll call the police. There are reasons some film was never developed... No I've never found anything horrifying, just a few obviously consenting adults. And mostly it's just boring vacation pictures, never developed because the photographer knew they all sucked.

Alas, the budget film scanner I bought at Fry's years ago stopped working and it's not a software problem.

Then I started dropping my film off at the Costco photo counter but that's gone too.

Sometimes I think about building my own scanner with one of the many thrift store digital cameras I've collected. Someday, someday...

I gave away my enlarger years ago.

Polaroids are too expensive.

All the pictures I take are either crap or might reveal my secret superhero identity and embarrass my wife and kids, so I don't post them here.

I love photography. I've been taking photographs nearing sixty years now, have taken classes, and never got good at it. Maybe it's the chemistry and electronics that fascinate me, not the photographs themselves.

My wife and kids take excellent photos, these days mostly with their fancy cell phones.

Sigh...

[George McGovern]

7. Nice that you won't embarrass your wife and kids, hunter. Thank You!

[Blues Heron]

3. Historians will wonder why the photo record suddenly gets very thin ca. AD 2000

What happened to all the shoe boxes of photos and negatives we used to find they will say - It looks like cameras were abandoned en masse around AD2000 for some reason....

[George McGovern]

8. For some reason or other. Thanks Blues Heron!

[Ferrets are Cool]

4. I shot my last roll of film in 2000 and have never looked back.

I will NEVER shoot another frame of film again. So thankful for digital cameras.
I am a professional photographer. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've pushed a shutter button.

[George McGovern]

9. Thankful for digital indeed, Ferrets are Cool! What make/model digital camera(s) do you use? Thanks.

[Ferrets are Cool]

15. RIght now for my real estate work, I use a Sony A7Rii and a

Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f/4.5 lens. My backup is a Sony 7C.
I don't do anything bu RE these days so that is all the cameras I need.

[George McGovern]

16. I knew nothing about Sony mirrorless until reading that the AP was switching to Sony.

This was a couple of years ago and most photographers were equipped with the Sony a9 II. I've since come to realize some of the capabilities of Sony cameras. I looked up the specs on your A7Rii and it appears to be an amazing camera. With your super wide lens I'll bet you get some excellent images.

Thank You,
George

[Ferrets are Cool]

24. Yeah, I was a skeptic until about 2014 then the quality of the cameras

completely changed my mind. Most people don't realize that Sony "makes" the sensors that Nikon uses.
Yeah, mirrorless is the way to go. Anytime you need or want any info, just let me know.

[George McGovern]

25. Thanks. I shot Nikon film and digital for a long time.

But ultimately the weight of my D3 and D3s got to be too much to lug around. Did some research and found out about Olympus mirrorless M4/3 and eventually got ahold of two bodies, one wide-angle and one telephoto zoom and they are working out real well.

[Old Crank]

5. I donated most

Of my darkroom equipment, a Besseller 4x5 enlarger, lenses, etc to a local community college. Along with light stands brackgrounds, supports. Kept my Zone 6 and FM2. Don't know when I will use them. Too expensive to ship to Europe.
have have boxes of Kodachrome kicking around.
Now I have a digital camera and phone.
Some ways better. The trouble with digital is the lack of discipline you can get away with.

[George McGovern]

10. I agree Old Crank - it's hard to be disciplined when deleting is so easy.

It was real nice of you to donate your darkroom equipment. I took a black and white course in community college. It was a blast. Almost magical to see an image appear on paper. Thank You!

[hunter]

11. Machine gun photography. Take a mess of shots and hope you get a good one.

Is anyone processing Kodachrome anymore? I know it can be processed as black and white film, starting with the removal of the antihalation backing. And there's still some potential to extract the color information in the future even after it's been developed this way. But why bother? I keep a few old unexposed rolls of film like this as artifacts of the 20th century.

I've long imagined a camera that uses black and white film but splits the colors across three frames which can be recombined later. This was difficult in the past, but now dichroic prisms are available and most commonly used in video equipment.

[George McGovern]

12. Machine gun photography - good description hunter. That's my method. Usually works out.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

18. Spray and pray!

That's how I get my birds in flight!

[George McGovern]

20. Yessir. Ain't it nice when the spray and pray results in a great shot!!

[usonian]

13. Long story short

I took this photo roughly 50 years ago. It's a bit degraded from multiple transfers, including printing, but I have the full-resolution original, and being a half-frame photo about the size of APS-C, has about the same or higher resolution.

CALL ME IN 50 YEARS (when I will be 123 years old) to show off your digital photos, after 10 or more format and media conversions, including embedding in DNA.



Ken Rockwell has more to say about this matter:
https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/why-we-love-film.htm
https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/film-resolution.htm

I take mostly digital photos, sure. Instant results,
with a very high ratio of "keepers" because I learned to frame and compose "in camera".
And when the opportunity is out of this world great, film is loaded and ready.

And have a great day, everyone!

[George McGovern]

14. Thanks usonian. Fifty years? It's a deal -- I'll be only 120 . . .

[usonian]

17. Fifty years from now ...

I expect that the old Nikon lenses will still be working.

Long ago, I had to choose between a Nikon and a Leica.

Logically, I chose the Nikon because I was, and always will be taking close-ups and the Leica required a Visoflex housing (making it an SLR, in effect) and then a 65mm. Elmar lens.

It worked out just fine.

My "first" SLR lens, a micro-nikkor, is working today with the FTZ adapter on the new mirrorless cam.

[George McGovern]

19. Beginning with a Nikon G and 50mm I shot Nikons for the better part of 40 years.

After the G fell off my tripod into the stream I was shooting, I bought an FE2 and an FA and and began to experiment with a Nikkor 28mm and a Sigma 70-210mm. About that time I enrolled in a black and white community college course and loved it.

But everything changed in 2004 with the D70. And DIGITAL! Whatta camera! Bought it new and used it with a 28mm, a 50mm, an 85mm, 20mm and a 300mm lens. Eventually I graduated to a D200 and then a D300, both purchased used. Ultimately I was able to acquire a used D3 and a D3s and they worked great. Even tried out a used Nikkor 400mm lens. But after awhile the full-frame rigs just got to be too dang heavy to my aging arms and shoulders. So I started researching alternatives despite so many years of devotion to Nikon.

I learned about Olympus and their mirrorless micro 4/3 cameras. Ended up getting a used Olympus E-M1 Mark II and a new Olympus 12-45 f/4 and that was it. So much lighter and therefore more fun to shoot with than my burdensome Nikons! Along the way I bought a used Olympus E-M10 Mark II and a new Olympus 40-150mm.

The only thing I miss about Nikon is their simple, straightforward camera numbering: i.e. D3 etc. That is so much easier to type out than O l y m p u s E - M M a r k II. But that's okay. My Olympus equipment is probably the last I'll ever buy. And the best.

Allan

[usonian]

23. Cool.

I'll reply in more detail soon. Sunset is developing and I have to load up the pack animal (me) with gear.

This time, I'll try to remember to remove the SD card from the computer before taking off. It's a bit of a trek to my best sunset vista location. Yesterday was a double trek, but worth it. Will share a sample or two later. So hard to choose.

Now, what was the question?

[Grumpy Old Guy]

21. I remember when thirty minute photo processing was invented.

Then I only had to wait half an hour to find out that my pictures sucked!!!!!

I started thinking of myself as a photographer in 1969 when I bought a used Nikon. However, prior to that I was using Brownies, Instamatics, Polaroids, Super8 and 8mm cameras. I just never thought it was anything special.

The thing I miss most about the old days is the fact that there were a lot fewer people who thought of themselves as photographers then. Photography seems to be a lot more popular now, which is wonderful. The thing I love most about digital photography is Photoshop. I've owned three darkrooms, including a professional B&W Lab, and I pinch myself when I think about what we can do with a computer.

[George McGovern]

22. Digital changed most everything about photography I think.

It's amazing to me what a computer can do with black and white, which is why I suggested that for this contest. I am really enjoying looking at peoples' entries.