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RayF
22218
Sep 8, 2018
First bit of advice: don't shoot film. Yes it's trendy to say you do, but it's very expensive, and unless you do your own processing and printing you won't have complete control over the results and you're unlikely to get what you want out it.
Second bit of advice: get Adobe Lighroom Especially if you follow my first bit of advice, but even if you don't. Lightroom is how you control and overcome the issues you noted in your post above. So long as someone else is processing your film, your at their mercy. If you're having it done at a drugstore or big-box store, there is no mercy. If you have it done by a professional lab, that portion of the equation will be more consistent and you'll have solid foundation you can build on when you scan and move your work to a computer (for post processing in Lightroom).
Consider this, if you shoot a roll of 35mm, 36 exposure film with a manual SLR, your odds (really anybody's odds) of getting an acceptable level of "keepers," let alone great shots, are very limited. And because of the time it takes to have that roll processed and printed, your opportunity to correct anything that might have gone wrong, has usually vanished (certainly the moment has). With a decent digital camera, you can take as many shots as you like, experiment all you want, and see a pretty good version of what you've accomplished, right on the back of the camera--while you're still in sight of your subject. As you can imagine, It's very inconvenient to have to fly back to Paris to improve your exposure on that otherwise great shot of the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, n'es pas.?
Trust me, there's a reason George Eastman invented the Nikon D850, and it's entirely possible that reason was to make you, a really great photographer ;- )
Know whud 'ah mean, Vern?
Iw1sh
2
Sep 8, 2018
RayFBut, if I like the process, I like the B&W dynamic that analog bring and that shooting film let me express myself in this particular way, why should I use digital instead ? I like the process, so I do analog. Plus, lens are really cheap (I mean, the price difference between old very good lens and today's very good less is HUGE)
RayF
22218
Sep 9, 2018
Iw1shI think all the money you've saved on lenses has likely gone down the drain in chemicals! None the less, if you enjoy it, and are obviously already in it, I say "Have at it!"
AngeloR
67
Sep 10, 2018
Iw1shYou can adapt old lenses easily
Xymnslot
380
Sep 19, 2018
RayFAll of this makes perfect sense, but doesn't take into account the feeling of taking pictures on film. Personally, I LOVE not being able to check my pictures in camera immediately after taking them. I want to feel stressed about the image, and to check and double check my exposure and framing and focus before releasing the shutter. It's a more careful, considered approach to taking pictures and has yielded, for me, some of my very favorite personal photos. That said, I have also wasted a lot of film, ruined a lot of shots, burned a lot of money...but man when you get a 'keeper' on film back from the developer weeks after you took the shot, the joy is profound.
Caveat to all of this - If I were a professional I would pretty much never use film, or only use it in repeatable and consistent environments like a studio.
RayF
22218
Sep 19, 2018
XymnslotThere are people who chop fire wood because they enjoy the work of doing it—more than they actually need to make a fire. I say if you enjoy the process you describe, go with it. Film and chemicals never stopped Ansel ;- )
peteulatan
12
Sep 20, 2018
XymnslotIf you ever shoot film again, take your time and don't stress about it much. The funnest part is getting your negatives back after you developed a roll. It's all about learning to set up your composition. Meter for the shadows and take your shot. If you do have a bad photo and take the time to understand why it's bad, you're learning photography. I've been shooting digital for years and I feel that since starting to shoot film I always used digital as a crutch to get good photos because you're only capped by your memory card capacity. So it's more forgiving for bad images. Film forces you to become a better photographer. It's been around for more than 100 years being perfected with fundamental techniques developed along the way.
Xymnslot
380
Sep 21, 2018
peteulatanI shoot film all the time. I probably didn't express myself clearly...the 'stress' I'm referring to is the additional attention and care required to take good pictures with a film camera vs. digital, and I think the same thing as what you're touching on - film forces you to observe the fundamentals of photography in a way that digital doesn't, and it has definitely forced me to become a better photographer.
Funny enough, after I got home yesterday I went to look at my stockpile of film and realized I have 11 rolls that I need to get developed. That's gonna be costly, but I can't wait to see everything I've shot over the last 6 months!
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