I am oftentimes asked why I shoot film. In 2007, I went from a film SLR, a Canon Elan 7n, to a digital SLR, the Canon 40D. I held out for quite a while. I was comfortable shooting film, but at that time, it looked as if film was in its last days, and it was either go digital or go home. So I made the switch. I loved the instant feedback of digital. Digital told me right away when I pooched a shot, and gave me a chance to try again. I was able to experiment with digital where I had not felt comfortable experimenting with film. When you…
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Is this a cooking post or a film photography post? Well, a little bit of both. Today, I processed my first roll of color film ever, and processed it with a sous vide. Back when I shot film, I used to process black and white film myself. It wasn’t too hard, once you got used to feeling your way around a roll of film in a changing bag. I never got into processing color film, primarily because of the difficulty in controlling the temperature. I understood that temperature control was far more critical in color film processing, and I had difficulty getting the temperature right. Color film processing seemed beyond…
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Over the years, I have posted “What’s in My Bag?” about various trips. On the last two trips, I have traveled with both digital and film cameras, and I wanted to do a separate post on traveling for hybrid shooters. As you might expect, it’s easier to travel with digital. Memory cards are small, and you don’t have to worry about the effect of x-ray machines at security checkpoints. I also feel more comfortable experimenting with digital. You can try new techniques, and the only loss is your time. However, I find that there are times when I prefer film over digital, and it’s worth the extra effort. There are…
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One of the great features of digital photography, aside from the instant gratification of knowing you’ve got the shot, is that the cameras record your settings, the metadata, assisting you in evaluating what worked and what did not. Most film cameras had no way of recording the settings used, requiring that the photographer keep meticulous notes, which could be consulted once the film was returned from the lab. As film photography developed over the years, manufacturers were able to design film cameras which recorded the shooting information. However, extracting the information from the camera required special software and a cable proprietary to the manufacturer. In researching the purchase of my Canon…
