35mm Film Photography

[esdras]

I bought a few months back an old Canon SLR, along with a 28mm lens.

I find that I enjoy photography much more when it is film, rather than digital. I guess I fell into the trap of 'happy snapping' with my 500d, where as choosing the film to go with what I'm looking for, having to really think about composition, and having to work with an older camera (EOS 33) with quite a few practical limitations means that I'm finding more pleasure in the pastime. I shoot mainly landscape and outdoors.

I also enjoy the development process, because I've usually forgotten what is on the roll when by the time it comes out of the tank!

Scanning though, is a right PITA, but I bought a scanner so I have to use it.

Does anyone else enjoy this? Am I just tilting at windmills?
I'm shooting with Ektar and ProImage [I bought a second, cheaper body so I have two films on the go]. Has anyone got any other recommendations?

[CelticRambler]

Does anyone else enjoy this? Am I just tilting at windmills?

Simple answer: no!

Well yes and no. A twisted path brought me back to my old EOS 1000NF after a long absence, a camera that I was absolutely delighted to be able to afford and really pleased to use from the day I got it. Digging it out of a box in the garage, finding that the battery still worked ten years later , feeling the weight of it in my hand and hearing that shutter release made me realise what an insubstantial experience I'd been having with a series of digital cameras and then a mobile phone.

But the reason it ended up in the box in the garage was because using film had become such a hassle, and in my case at least, the two/three/six/eight/twelve week delay between taking a photo and seeing how it looked did nothing for my learning process. And too many photos - even snapshots - were ruined by a wrong setting or a fleeting movement in front of the lens. For a while, I had my own developing kit which obviously cut down the waiting time - but with fast-moving subjects (birds, insects, children ... ), even same-day processing isn't fast enough to know that you did, in fact, capture something other people could look at and know what they were seeing!

On the other hand, the very fact of having to get film developed and printed meant that the job was completed, and those memories were crystalised in hard copy. Nowadays, I have thousands and thousands of memories in digital form ... and nothing more than a vague notion that I must get around to getting some of them printed at some stage. My sister's at the other extreme - she rattles through images on her phone and would get a hundred printed off (sometimes in duplicate or triplicate) every few months. I think that's overkill ... but I'm smugly satisfied that the biggest photos she has on her dining room wall are mine!

[Hairy-Joe]

What I found a great idea for both storing and looking at the digital photos was printing a photo book. I tend to do them by event ("Summer hols 2018") and/or by year ("2019 in memories").

I use Blurb and put the book together in Adobe Lightroom. It normally takes a week between order and delivery.

I've found myself flicking through them at random times.

That being said, the camera hasn't been out in over a year due to Covid.......

Oh, if I want to shoot film, I have a Zorki 2 on the shelf I picked up years ago in Moscow

[CelticRambler]

I do make up digital albums, especially for family events, and re-visit them fairly regularly (and share the links when appropriate). In fact, that's where my sister got her/my photos from (she did ask first, and I was a bit annoyed that she just downloaded the relatively low-res images from the album rather than telling me which ones she wanted so I could send her the high-res files ... but they turned out OK)

But now that you mention it, seeing as I have a digital album of my own favourite photos, maybe I should think of getting one printed that visitors could look at.

And seeing my photos on someone else's wall made me think that maybe I should put some on my own walls too! Not sure about that - I don't actually have any pictures of any kind on the walls. I have cobwebs, though.

[esdras]

While we are on the (general) topic, whatever happened to pix.ie?

[Cobham]

In covid times, I made good use of FreePrint Photobooks. I am working my way thru decades of photo albums, some getting a bit tattered. Like previous poster, I am make a small book from significant events/trips or for individual family members. I use my printer to 'scan' a photo, then it can be trimmed/modified on computer.

[Guburnor]

MOD NOTE: Some nature photography posts moved here.

[bullets]

I also enjoy the development process, because I've usually forgotten what is on the roll when by the time it comes out of the tank!
..
Does anyone else enjoy this? Am I just tilting at windmills?
I'm shooting with Ektar and ProImage [I bought a second, cheaper body so I have two films on the go]. Has anyone got any other recommendations?

What a lot of people that are just used to digital and never tried film dont really get is its not "just" about the photo, its about the pleasure of creating the photo and how its created. And it slows you down and makes you think about the shot when your taking it.

I've been messing about with Cynotype and Kallitype printing (unsuccessfully) as I enjoyed the idea of how the image was achieved....and also because I gave away all my darkroom equipment foolishly a few years ago thinking I'd never use it again. Its on my to do list to trying and gets some Film Negatives processed again and get them printed to contact film and use them for alternative process prints. I was even looking at videos recently where people were using egg white with silver nitrite to make light sensitive paper for prints.

I've a few old film cameras, I had stuck a roll of film into one of the cameras when my daughter was very young and did not feel the time go by as I was taking a Pic or her every so often, I lost track of time, when I developed the roll of film, I was delighted when I looked and captured her growing up over a year or three where the first frames she looked soo young and by the end of the roll she had grown, lost her baby teeth, had half a mouth of adult teeth and was much taller.

Having that captured something like that on the same Physical Roll of film is something digital photography simply cannot replicate.

[CrowdedHouse]

Where would I get slide film (E6) developed now?

I have a Nikon F4, and in the freezer a pile of (ancient) Fuji Velvia

[bullets]

Where would I get slide film (E6) developed now?

I have a Nikon F4, and in the freezer a pile of (ancient) Fuji Velvia

In Dublin I hear that "John Gunn Camera Shop" has a good reputation,
https://www.johngunn.ie/

not sure about other places in different counties.
I'm down in Limerick and there's a place called Newmans that still process film http://www.newcameras.ie/services.php

Also if you fancy doing it yourself This place in Meath are excellent
https://www.thephotoshop.ie/
I've used them a few times to buy chemicals. I've only ever done Black and White film but I've never done Colour or Slide
as the Temps need to be controlled a lot better, and also Slide Film having a tighter dynamic range is less forgiving if your exposure is not perfect.
(I would love to try it sometime, Its on my list of things to do! but I'd need to buy something to control the temperature of the chemicals a bit better)

Barkers in Cork sell Darkroom equipment too however I dont know if they provide a processing service
https://www.barkerphotographic.ie/

~B

[esdras]

Hijacking my own thread, but would anyone know of anyone who is looking to get rid of a colour enlarger?