Film Shooters?

Questions on editing, camera settings, equipment, critiques, how to upload photos, etc....
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SD80MAC
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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by SD80MAC »

I must be in the minority, as I never took a single train picture with a film camera before I started railfanning when I was 11 or 12. My mom had a little digital Canon Powershot that I borrowed until I bought my Kodak Z700 in '05. Then I graduated to a Canon S3 IS, and now I have my Rebel XSi and love it to death. I took a photography class in high school and we were given old Pentax K1000's (?) to shoot with. I went out and shot a few trains with it one day but found I really like to have a screen on which I can see how my shots look and adjust the settings accordingly. Developing the film in the dark room was kind of fun but I could never imagine shooting film all the time. Every film image I've ever seen, save for a few, looks fuzzy in some way to me.
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conrailmike
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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by conrailmike »

Conrail Jon wrote:I must be in the minority, as I never took a single train picture with a film camera before I started railfanning when I was 11 or 12. My mom had a little digital Canon Powershot that I borrowed until I bought my Kodak Z700 in '05. Then I graduated to a Canon S3 IS, and now I have my Rebel XSi and love it to death. I took a photography class in high school and we were given old Pentax K1000's (?) to shoot with. I went out and shot a few trains with it one day but found I really like to have a screen on which I can see how my shots look and adjust the settings accordingly. Developing the film in the dark room was kind of fun but I could never imagine shooting film all the time. Every film image I've ever seen, save for a few, looks fuzzy in some way to me.
If it looks fuzzy, you're not doing it right :mrgreen:

Shooting film is better in that it teaches you to rely on your photography skills (exposure, aperture, etc.).

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SD80MAC
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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by SD80MAC »

These aren't photos I've taken Mike, just film images I've observed in general. They seem to lack the sharpness and clarity I've come to expect from digital.
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conrailmike
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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by conrailmike »

Conrail Jon wrote:These aren't photos I've taken Mike, just film images I've observed in general. They seem to lack the sharpness and clarity I've come to expect from digital.
Could be the lens they were shot with or the focus was off...who knows. I go back and look at slides that I've shot and they are just as sharp as ever. I'll admit digital is nice but there's something about shooting film that it just won't replace.

Reminds me, I have a bunch of print film I need to get developed. I have no idea what's on them.

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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by Typhoon »

Still do. I am learning the ins and outs of Fuji now since I was forced to stop shooting Kodachrome. If and when Fuji stops making slide film, I will likely stop shooting trains all together.... :(

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conrailmike
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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by conrailmike »

Typhoon wrote:Still do. I am learning the ins and outs of Fuji now since I was forced to stop shooting Kodachrome. If and when Fuji stops making slide film, I will likely stop shooting trains all together.... :(
That's a horrible excuse to stop shooting. To use your famous line about "REAL Photographers....."

"REAL photographers don't care whether it's film or digital, it's all about having the camera in your hands and getting the shot."

Oh....and just because I can't resist.... REAL photographers DO use Photoshop

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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by Typhoon »

conrailmike wrote:
Typhoon wrote:Still do. I am learning the ins and outs of Fuji now since I was forced to stop shooting Kodachrome. If and when Fuji stops making slide film, I will likely stop shooting trains all together.... :(
That's a horrible excuse to stop shooting. To use your famous line about "REAL Photographers....."

"REAL photographers don't care whether it's film or digital, it's all about having the camera in your hands and getting the shot."

Oh....and just because I can't resist.... REAL photographers DO use Photoshop
Wow, I have a famous line......cool. :D Digital does nothing for me, after all it is MY hobby. I don't get the same excitment looking at a LCD screen like I do when the box comes back from Dwayne's. Shooting slides I don't have the crutch of a delete button, or worse yet, photo editing software, making me get the shot right the first time. Working for the railroad I find myself spending less time shooting anyway, as I want to spend my free time away from the stuff I do everyday. Take the joy I get shooting slides away, add in the cost of a DLSR, and I am done. :(

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railohio
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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by railohio »

I've had greater trouble getting sharp photographs in the digital realm than I ever did with film. My Nikon F5 always gave me perfect focus, even though it's considered by most here to be "old technology."
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J T
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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by J T »

Typhoon wrote:Digital does nothing for me, after all it is MY hobby. I don't get the same excitment looking at a LCD screen like I do when the box comes back from Dwayne's. Shooting slides I don't have the crutch of a delete button, or worse yet, photo editing software, making me get the shot right the first time. Working for the railroad I find myself spending less time shooting anyway, as I want to spend my free time away from the stuff I do everyday. Take the joy I get shooting slides away, add in the cost of a DLSR, and I am done. :(
Save for the end result of your picture being on a computer file instead of a slide, you can shoot the same exact way with a digital body as you would a film body. No need to look at an LCD screen at when you're shooting. Just set the exposure correctly as you would, take the picture and go on to the next shot.

It's funny that something being more convenient can turn someone off from continuing their hobby. I wonder what the REAL old school photographers thought of those new-fangled 35 mm cameras when they came out. I'm sure there was just as much disdain for the technology then by the old schoolers as there is now.

I guess I can relate, though. I get no joy out of driving an automatic car. There's nothing like being able to shift when I want to instead of an automatic transmission doing it for me. Had I been driving back when the auto transmission was invented, I probably would have felt the same way about it as you do about digital cameras.

One more thing...help me understand something...is your hobby creating slides, or photography? If your hobby is photography, then it shouldn't matter what the equipment/medium is that you use.
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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by Jochs »

I still shoot film. I bought a Canon EOS Rebel K2 film camera last year. It was a $300 camera marked down to $119, and needed a new camera as my canon sureshot had taken a sure sh*t :lol:

Like many others, my first camera was a 110, inherited from my grandmother. Most of my train pictures from that aren't very good, but at least what I shot was. I got many of the alcos running on the CP's in the early-mid 1990's, as well as GTW engines back when GTW was hopping. I even have some old Chessie and Seaboard engines before they were repainted or retired.

Though looking back at the cost of film and developing, I prolly should have bought a digital camera.
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Re: Film Shooters?

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I still shoot my rosters on a K1000. Sometimes I just prefer having something that I can hold.

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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by Typhoon »

J T wrote:One more thing...help me understand something...is your hobby creating slides, or photography? If your hobby is photography, then it shouldn't matter what the equipment/medium is that you use.
My hobby is both shooting and collecting slides. Either of them by itself doesn't really interest me as much.

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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by J T »

Typhoon wrote:
My hobby is both shooting and collecting slides. Either of them by itself doesn't really interest me as much.
Well that's unfortunate.
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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by Jochs »

Jochs wrote:I still shoot film. I bought a Canon EOS Rebel K2 film camera last year. It was a $300 camera marked down to $119, and needed a new camera as my canon sureshot had taken a sure sh*t :lol:

Like many others, my first camera was a 110, inherited from my grandmother. Most of my train pictures from that aren't very good, but at least what I shot was. I got many of the alcos running on the CP's in the early-mid 1990's, as well as GTW engines back when GTW was hopping. I even have some old Chessie and Seaboard engines before they were repainted or retired.

Though looking back at the cost of film and developing, I prolly should have bought a digital camera.
Thanks to PAT.C, I now have a Kodak EasyShare P850 digital and a Minolta Maxxium 404si film camera. I think I'm gonna wind up being one of those foamers with multiple cameras hanging around his or her neck. :lol:
I will still continue to shoot some film, but most of my shots will most likely be digital from now on. Thanks Pat! :D
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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by GP30M4216 »

Next question for all you film photogs, where are you getting your film processed at? I was using Meijer's one-hour service until they discontinued it in Spring 2009, and was actually very satisfied with it for a one-hour processing. I also had pictureCD's made and they were scanning the negatives at a very nice, high resolution. Except for the difference in proportions, my film photos could easily be mistaken for digital. I tried the Meijer Fuji send out service after they discontinued 1 hour but found that to be unacceptable.

Since the early spring of this year I've been getting my photos processed at Arbor Photo on the north side of Ann Arbor. The images come back with high quality and the photo CDs turn out great. I've noticed sometimes the color tends to be a little washed out, blue particularly, and sometimes orange, but it's nothing that can't be corrected with a couple minutes in a photo editor. The prints turn out good and I'm going to continue to support this local business.

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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by ~Z~ »

Jochs wrote:Thanks to PAT.C, I now have a Kodak EasyShare P850 digital and a Minolta Maxxium 404si film camera. I think I'm gonna wind up being one of those foamers with multiple cameras hanging around his or her neck. :lol:
When you mention multiple cameras around your neck, I think of this guy I shot:
Image
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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by Jochs »

railroadfan wrote:
Jochs wrote:Thanks to PAT.C, I now have a Kodak EasyShare P850 digital and a Minolta Maxxium 404si film camera. I think I'm gonna wind up being one of those foamers with multiple cameras hanging around his or her neck. :lol:
When you mention multiple cameras around your neck, I think of this guy I shot:
Image
haha

I take my film to Meijer, for $4.99 a 24 exposure roll, as Walmart's price has gone from $4.78 to $6.28 for 24 exp recently.
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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by MagnumForce »

GP30M4216 wrote:Next question for all you film photogs, where are you getting your film processed at? I was using Meijer's one-hour service until they discontinued it in Spring 2009, and was actually very satisfied with it for a one-hour processing. I also had pictureCD's made and they were scanning the negatives at a very nice, high resolution. Except for the difference in proportions, my film photos could easily be mistaken for digital. I tried the Meijer Fuji send out service after they discontinued 1 hour but found that to be unacceptable.

Since the early spring of this year I've been getting my photos processed at Arbor Photo on the north side of Ann Arbor. The images come back with high quality and the photo CDs turn out great. I've noticed sometimes the color tends to be a little washed out, blue particularly, and sometimes orange, but it's nothing that can't be corrected with a couple minutes in a photo editor. The prints turn out good and I'm going to continue to support this local business.

When I shoot film I don't shoot prints, I shoot slides and I think that you will find that most of us that shoot film for posterity sake do the same. I don't shoot enough film to really warrant buying using mailers from places like Dwayne's http://www.dwaynesphoto.com/ but I have done so before. Generally I drop them off at Meijer and they go out for processing, I have also used a couple local places in Toledo that do the processing in house but I generally find that to be a pain as I have to make two trips to Toledo. Meijer is about 9 bucks for 36 exposures and they are mounted in plastic mounts instead of Cardboard which I like a lot better, takes about a week to get them back. This is about the same price as Dwayne's charges.

I wish all the shots I took when I was younger were all slides instead of the print's I did take. I have plenty of cool stuff from the 90's that I wish I could show at slide shows, worse part is I have no idea where the negatives went so high res scans are out of the question and the prints have really degraded colorwise after 20 years of sitting.

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Re: Film Shooters?

Unread post by A No.1 »

Jochs wrote:
railroadfan wrote:
Jochs wrote:Thanks to PAT.C, I now have a Kodak EasyShare P850 digital and a Minolta Maxxium 404si film camera. I think I'm gonna wind up being one of those foamers with multiple cameras hanging around his or her neck. :lol:
When you mention multiple cameras around your neck, I think of this guy I shot:
Image
haha

I take my film to Meijer, for $4.99 a 24 exposure roll, as Walmart's price has gone from $4.78 to $6.28 for 24 exp recently.

You get what you pay for.

Kalamazoo Color Lab, Expensive, But nice.
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Re: Film Shooters?

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^Do you know if this place in Kalamazoo mounts the slides in a plastic or cardboard case?

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