I actually rarely use my digital camera for photography. I use a panosonic gh2 for video. I love it and it can take lovely stills as well but not with the lenses that I have. I only shoot with old 50mm canon fd lenses which make great bokah but I have no auto focus with them and my f-stop is stuck at 1.4 (something is wrong with my adapter). I get too many out of focus images and it annoys me. I do know what you mean about your last picture being the best on the roll. I usually only get One picture that I really love on a roll of 36 and yet somehow, film is still so worth it.
Oh, very interesting that you rarely use your digital camera for stills. I just recently got into video, now that I have a DSLR that has that feature. My previous DSLR did not. It is definitely a fun journey, learning, editing, and seeing the look of video with shallow depth of field. It’s pretty exciting.
Oh, wow. Sorry to hear about the trouble with the f/stop and adapter. I can imagine it being an annoyance. For me, I’d probably be stuck with wide open most of the time, anyhow. 🙂 But it would be nice to be able to stop down for less lens aberration and inclusion of subjects not on the same plane (of focus… not airplane… I know you know.. but for those who don’t. 😀 haha!)
I haven’t shot film in a long time. I still have darkroom equipment, and I feel guilty not using it. It has always been fun playing in the darkroom.
Yes, to all of the above. I hope to somehow sneak c41 chemicals across the border so that I can process my own film and then scan it myself. I have all of the equipment that a nice gentleman gave me when he saw me shooting film at a farmers market. It was lovely chatting!
It was fun chatting with you too. 🙂
And wow, what a great gift from the gentleman, so you can process your film.
Take care,
Huy
Hmm…. now that I’m looking at the image on my older CRT monitor, the colors are actually quite saturated. I think my overly bright LCD laptop monitor made the colors more muted. How is it on your end, and what was your vision of the image; saturated, normal, or muted? Thanks.
It looks more saturated on my old iMac. It’s much more muted on my crappy acer laptop and I like it better that way. These are really cheap scans from walmart because I don’t have a film scanner.
Yes, it can be frustrating to not know how they’ll be viewed by the audience. 😀 I do like the muted palette/look, also. Did you get prints for this particular image from Walmart, or just the digital scan? If so, which look came out (probably the higher contrast with more saturation)?
Hey, I have a cheap Acer laptop too! That’s where we get the same muted look! 😀 haha!
I didn’t get prints from there. It almost seems like they batch edited them for me when they put them on the cd. But probably not. 🙂 I’m two hours away from a real lab and film can be an expensive hobby so I just use walmart.
Yes, I absolutely agree. Film does get expensive, especially nowadays, it being a scarcely used process. My, how things have changed, and relatively quickly too! I understand your dilemma. 🙂
What draws you to film mostly? Is it the look, the process itself, the slower pace perhaps, or the nostalgia?
The process, the excitement of not knowing what I captured and how it forces me to really know my camera. I also love it because I shot film on an ancient Nikon with a 50 mm 1.4 lens growing up that my grandpa gave me (he was a photographer for the Oregonian newspaper). The old lenses feel comfortable in my hand.
Yes, I would have to agree. The process is very nice, and brings a sense of nostalgia for me. I remember thinking, and being excited to come back to the lab, and ready for “the package”. It’s like opening up a gift every time, wanting to see what you get inside. It’s just not the same for me with digital.
And yes, playing with the old equipment, and focusing with them, looking through the BRIGHT viewfinder with the half prism focusing assist, is just interesting. Gah, now you’re making me want to shoot with my old camera. 🙂
I really like this photograph: from its shallow depth of field and perspective, to the images muted, yet colorful palette.
May I ask what captured this image, and on what film?
Thank you so much! I use a Pentax MZ-7 (got it for 25 bucks) and a SMC Pentax-FA 1:1.4 50mm lens. The film was Kodak pro image 100. I shot this image at 2.0 or 2.4 with the shutter speed at 1000 if I recall.
Do you find that you shoot very differently with film, than with your digital camera? I try to reverse the “formula”, so to speak, when I shoot with digital. It’s interesting to me that with film, I remember liking my last frame on the roll most often. It’s probably because I force myself to make that last shot count. Or, it could also be confirmation bias when I remember times I see the last frame and like it. 🙂
Atop North Mountain 
This is such a charming photo and it makes me smile. I love the colors and these cute kids surrounding the woman so closely. What was the situation?
thank you so much. My friend was looking for frogs with our kids and the rest of the kids from playgroup in the pond.
I actually rarely use my digital camera for photography. I use a panosonic gh2 for video. I love it and it can take lovely stills as well but not with the lenses that I have. I only shoot with old 50mm canon fd lenses which make great bokah but I have no auto focus with them and my f-stop is stuck at 1.4 (something is wrong with my adapter). I get too many out of focus images and it annoys me. I do know what you mean about your last picture being the best on the roll. I usually only get One picture that I really love on a roll of 36 and yet somehow, film is still so worth it.
Oh, very interesting that you rarely use your digital camera for stills. I just recently got into video, now that I have a DSLR that has that feature. My previous DSLR did not. It is definitely a fun journey, learning, editing, and seeing the look of video with shallow depth of field. It’s pretty exciting.
Oh, wow. Sorry to hear about the trouble with the f/stop and adapter. I can imagine it being an annoyance. For me, I’d probably be stuck with wide open most of the time, anyhow. 🙂 But it would be nice to be able to stop down for less lens aberration and inclusion of subjects not on the same plane (of focus… not airplane… I know you know.. but for those who don’t. 😀 haha!)
I haven’t shot film in a long time. I still have darkroom equipment, and I feel guilty not using it. It has always been fun playing in the darkroom.
Yes, to all of the above. I hope to somehow sneak c41 chemicals across the border so that I can process my own film and then scan it myself. I have all of the equipment that a nice gentleman gave me when he saw me shooting film at a farmers market. It was lovely chatting!
It was fun chatting with you too. 🙂
And wow, what a great gift from the gentleman, so you can process your film.
Take care,
Huy
Hmm…. now that I’m looking at the image on my older CRT monitor, the colors are actually quite saturated. I think my overly bright LCD laptop monitor made the colors more muted. How is it on your end, and what was your vision of the image; saturated, normal, or muted? Thanks.
It looks more saturated on my old iMac. It’s much more muted on my crappy acer laptop and I like it better that way. These are really cheap scans from walmart because I don’t have a film scanner.
Yes, it can be frustrating to not know how they’ll be viewed by the audience. 😀 I do like the muted palette/look, also. Did you get prints for this particular image from Walmart, or just the digital scan? If so, which look came out (probably the higher contrast with more saturation)?
Hey, I have a cheap Acer laptop too! That’s where we get the same muted look! 😀 haha!
I didn’t get prints from there. It almost seems like they batch edited them for me when they put them on the cd. But probably not. 🙂 I’m two hours away from a real lab and film can be an expensive hobby so I just use walmart.
Yes, I absolutely agree. Film does get expensive, especially nowadays, it being a scarcely used process. My, how things have changed, and relatively quickly too! I understand your dilemma. 🙂
What draws you to film mostly? Is it the look, the process itself, the slower pace perhaps, or the nostalgia?
The process, the excitement of not knowing what I captured and how it forces me to really know my camera. I also love it because I shot film on an ancient Nikon with a 50 mm 1.4 lens growing up that my grandpa gave me (he was a photographer for the Oregonian newspaper). The old lenses feel comfortable in my hand.
Yes, I would have to agree. The process is very nice, and brings a sense of nostalgia for me. I remember thinking, and being excited to come back to the lab, and ready for “the package”. It’s like opening up a gift every time, wanting to see what you get inside. It’s just not the same for me with digital.
And yes, playing with the old equipment, and focusing with them, looking through the BRIGHT viewfinder with the half prism focusing assist, is just interesting. Gah, now you’re making me want to shoot with my old camera. 🙂
I really like this photograph: from its shallow depth of field and perspective, to the images muted, yet colorful palette.
May I ask what captured this image, and on what film?
Thank you for sharing this,
Huy
Thank you so much! I use a Pentax MZ-7 (got it for 25 bucks) and a SMC Pentax-FA 1:1.4 50mm lens. The film was Kodak pro image 100. I shot this image at 2.0 or 2.4 with the shutter speed at 1000 if I recall.
Hi Lola,
Thank you very much for the information!
Do you find that you shoot very differently with film, than with your digital camera? I try to reverse the “formula”, so to speak, when I shoot with digital. It’s interesting to me that with film, I remember liking my last frame on the roll most often. It’s probably because I force myself to make that last shot count. Or, it could also be confirmation bias when I remember times I see the last frame and like it. 🙂
Take care,
Huy