If the title to this thread makes sense to you, you'll probably appreciate what I'm talking about. My father-in-law has given me a couple "old cameras" he had no use for anymore. And I'm not talking point and shoots or Instamatics. One is a 1953 Kodak Retina 2A, and the other is a 1961 Leica M3 with the 50mm f1.2. The Retina is cool, but the Leica is absolutely stunning. The clarity of that lens is off the charts. The rangefinder was out of alignment and the shutter was hanging open on the Leica, but thanks to its watch like internals and a quick youtube search, the adjustments took me about 20 minutes. It's now working like new. I've run a couple test rolls through each and all seems well.
For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, taking photos used to be a little more complicated than pulling out your phone and having your photos on the interwebs seconds later. There was this stuff called "film" that you had to buy, and then you had to manually adjust the shutter speed, aperture and even focus. THEN, you had to either take the film to a drugstore and wait a few days, or you had to develop and print your pictures yourself.
Since film has been relegated to the realm of the dinosaurs, it's gotten a little pricier than I remember. Between the price of film and processing, it's getting up near $20 per roll. And the quality of the processing is iffy at best. It's really a lost art I guess. So, what I'm thinking of doing is getting some bulk film, a developing tank and a dark bag. That way I can process my own B&W film and scan the negatives with no need for a darkroom. This will drop my per-roll price down to the $2-$2.50 range. It's been a few years, but at one point in my checkered past I ran a small custom processing lab, so it should come back to me.
It's funny to think about all the "hipsters" out there with their Holgas shooting film because it's retro and cool. I guess I can't judge, because I'm essentially doing the same thing, But for me it's more nostalgia than trend. I can get great shots out of my digital cameras, but there's something about the smell of the film and the chemicals, and the mechanical precision of a camera that I just love.
Oh, by the way, "Sunny Sixteen" refers to setting the exposure on a camera without a meter. On a sunny day, at an aperture of f16, you set your shutter speed to roughly the equivalent of the speed of the film you're using. So, if you're using 100 ASA film, you'd set your camera to 1/125th and f16. If it's a little shady or overcast, you can open up your aperture or drop your shutter speed by a stop or 2 as needed.
I had the film processed and scanned to a CD, only to discover the optical drive in my laptop doesn't seem to work, so I can't provide any Q views. Sorry!
For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, taking photos used to be a little more complicated than pulling out your phone and having your photos on the interwebs seconds later. There was this stuff called "film" that you had to buy, and then you had to manually adjust the shutter speed, aperture and even focus. THEN, you had to either take the film to a drugstore and wait a few days, or you had to develop and print your pictures yourself.
Since film has been relegated to the realm of the dinosaurs, it's gotten a little pricier than I remember. Between the price of film and processing, it's getting up near $20 per roll. And the quality of the processing is iffy at best. It's really a lost art I guess. So, what I'm thinking of doing is getting some bulk film, a developing tank and a dark bag. That way I can process my own B&W film and scan the negatives with no need for a darkroom. This will drop my per-roll price down to the $2-$2.50 range. It's been a few years, but at one point in my checkered past I ran a small custom processing lab, so it should come back to me.
It's funny to think about all the "hipsters" out there with their Holgas shooting film because it's retro and cool. I guess I can't judge, because I'm essentially doing the same thing, But for me it's more nostalgia than trend. I can get great shots out of my digital cameras, but there's something about the smell of the film and the chemicals, and the mechanical precision of a camera that I just love.
Oh, by the way, "Sunny Sixteen" refers to setting the exposure on a camera without a meter. On a sunny day, at an aperture of f16, you set your shutter speed to roughly the equivalent of the speed of the film you're using. So, if you're using 100 ASA film, you'd set your camera to 1/125th and f16. If it's a little shady or overcast, you can open up your aperture or drop your shutter speed by a stop or 2 as needed.
I had the film processed and scanned to a CD, only to discover the optical drive in my laptop doesn't seem to work, so I can't provide any Q views. Sorry!
