Photogrtaphic film

[geezerbiker]

Did any of you old guys like me ever see the day coming that major chain stores wouldn't carry film?

I was telling my grandson about when I was trying to be a pro photographer in my wayward youth and I dug out my old Nikons to show him.  So I figured why not shoot some pictures and when I went to buy film, none of the major chain stores had any.  I ended up ordering some off Amazon...

Tony

[ironglows]

My son is a professional photographer/videographer...  Thousands of dollars worth of cameras & darkroom equipment went worthless, seemingly overnight !

[DEACONLLB]

Very true lot of things that were in vogue so to speak have went out but sometime they do come back example vinal records.
I have a VCR/DVD recorder try and find blank tapes or Disks for that I like to convert my VCR tapes to the DVD disk and cannot find the DVD blanks, Everything has gone digital it is called progress and when things have no demand they are gone I also have a Ampex reel to reel player recorder which needs new belts cant find them either, they may be out there but I have not found them. They flood the market then things don't sell so they create something new and drop the old, we are a throw away society everyone wonts the newest and greatest. 


Deaconllb

[geezerbiker]

Lenses for Nikons are cheaper than they used to be but still not worthless.  Since I got back into looking into it, I started checking prices on eBay.  Lenses have held their value but not so much for other accessories.  I just bought a Nikon motor drive for 20 bucks.  Back in the early 1980's when I was heavily into this stuff, one of these was over 200 bucks and well out of my price rage since it was more of a luxury than a necessity.

It seems there is still a following for film cameras but not enough for the major chain stores to carry it.  I'll have to find a camera shop in my circle of shopping trips so I can hopefully find film and processing service on a regular basis.  Now that this flame has been reignited in me, I'd like to keep it going...

I used to buy blank CDs and DVDs in the hundred pack and I still have more than 50 each.  Since I don't do much of that any more, it's likely a lifetime supply.   I put a blueray burner in my main desktop computer and I've yet to buy any blueray blanks and it's been almost 2 years since I installed it.

Now about vinyl records, I have a stack of albums that I'd love to listen to but I have no way to play them.  I had a turntable for a long time and it might still be around here somewhere but I couldn't find a new stylus for it...

Tony

[mcbammer]

   Oh how I miss the days of taking my Kodak film down to the drug store  and waiting  to get my black& whites developed  .

[ironglows]

True, nostalgia for the 'good old days", but I am afraid that such things are gone forever.  The new digital system is so much more versatile and inexpensive in the long run.
  My son's processing computers are 4,000K to 5,000K, which allows such detail and creative opportunities.


  Even the rank amateur can benefit greatly.  Used to be you would buy a film of 12 , 24 or 36 exposures..then go out and snap.  Returned from the developer, perhaps 74% are keepers...rest junk.


  With the extreme high resolution, great detail is possible.  He can shoot a subject 10 yards away, then draw close where each and every eyelash is very clear..  Yes, today's digital is a great step forward.

[Ranger99]

I'm like everyone else.
A few thousand dollars worth of
useless Nikon doorstops in the
closet.
I can take professional quality
photos with all of it if I had a
way to buy film and develop it
at a reasonable price.  I once
took the photos for the brochure for
the dealership I worked for at
the time

[Ranger99]

I had the thought a while back that
I might be able to build a bad*as
spotting scope with some of the
long lenses

[geezerbiker]

Digital is still not very close to the resolution of film but it's close enough for most people.  About 30 years ago I shot some pictures on Kodachrome 64 and the resolution was so fine that when I enlarged them, I had to focus on the lettering on the valve cap on a Vincent Black Shadow.  I took the picture from about 20 feet away and the lettering was about 3/8ths of an inch tall.

I'd love to have a few more lenses but there are so many other things I need to spend my money on.  Now if I could swap ammo or reloading supplies for them....

Tony

[Land_Owner]

In the 70's one of my In Service duties was Ship's Photographer, shooting all of the movements, parties, flights, operations, and making B/W 8x10's for distribution.  In the Dark Room the ship's vibration was so acute I had to reduce exposure time on enlargements to mere fractions of a second or the image would blur.  I remember the steps to making still shots in black and white, from developing the film to the final rinse before drying the print.  Olympus was my brand.  Compact, quality, light weight, expensive, and a competitor to Nikon, Minolta, Canon, and others.

Some professional Sports, Landscape, and Magazine photographers may still use 35mm film, to a much lesser degree as a dying art, as Digital has doomed film to the relic shelf.


This is a single example of that by-gone era:

[geezerbiker]

My B&W darkroom equipment was one of the first things to go when I left home as a young adult.  I always hoped to have a place to set it up again but it all went by the wayside.

There used to be a couple rental labs in Portland where one could go to do their own enlargements.  I was a regular at one of those places up until around 1990 when it was clear that I wasn't going to make a career out of photography.  I do miss it but no a days that's all done on a computer with Photoshop.

I bought a pretty good digital camera around 10 years ago to do product work for my website.  It does the job but I've missed working with my Nikons.  Since it's not likely I'll ever put out the bucks for a top notch digital camera, I'm going to stick with film.  Film should be around at least as long as I am.  I did a bit of research and there are some good camera shops in my circle of travel that deal in film and film cameras.  I'm going to check out a couple of them over the next month or so.  It helps that one of my grandsons is fascinated with my old cameras.

Now if I could just swap out my stash of 7x57 and 7.62x54R ammo for some more camera stuff...

Tony

[geezerbiker]

BTW, I don't know where it is now but my father had a pic he took of the atomic bomb being set off near Bikini Island...  I'll have to ask my sister, she got most of his things...

Tony

[ironglows]

Check out these digitals, something unattainable with film photography.  The actual resolution is likely curbed by the ability of our computers.


  https://vastphotos.com/

[Ranger99]

My dad was too busy being scared
sh*tless to take any nuke photos.
I guess I would have been too if my
clothing started to scorch with me
wearing it