Thread: Film Cameras

'Just makes me giddy - all of you that have some of the most iconic cameras of the last 100 yrs. I still covet an F6 (and a Mamiya 6, and a ...)- to get the speed of my digital & the quality of film. Cost is the pita for me w/ processing. For Med. format ('blad 500 c/m), I get high res scans - about 80mb/shot - and about $2.77/shot. So you can see why I use the digital or 35mm until I get pretty excited about something. 'Finally forced back to B&W & dunking my own. You just KNOW an enlarger will be next. I do have a couple of labs nearby. One is fast, one is good. I keep asking the good shop to offer a discount on getting both prints & scans - as an incentive to print. They feel strongly about having prints, but there's issues to solve - financial & storage-wise for having that many prints. As is, I got a Tb drive for just photos. I'm probably naive & will need several Tbs to hold them soon.

'Just makes me cringe to hear of losing those old shots. Even the masters will recount images they took decades ago & suddenly thought of how to make them dazzling.

I'll be spending time w/ my old friend I bought new in the mid-80's - FE2 that just delivers every time.

Thx for talking 'bout your photo fetish. This'll be my 3rd time back into it.

That's why I have always dunked my own plus the fact that I have pretty much a full darkroom lab with two enlargers and a 6' sink. There are still places to get film, paper and chems on line.

Originally Posted by guitstik

That's why I have always dunked my own plus the fact that I have pretty much a full darkroom lab with two enlargers and a 6' sink. There are still places to get film, paper and chems on line.

Yes, that is true. You can still get all that stuff but the choices are/were getting very limited and in some cases hard to source locally. Add to that most people are not willing to go to the effort to build and equip a full darkroom capable of processing C41, B&W and slide films. Not a thing wrong with being dedicated enough to do all that but for the vast majority of picture takers it was/is easier to go digital.

The shaving community is similar in that a very small group use SRs. Even within that small group of SR users not all want/have a full blown workshop for restoring razors or want to necessarily learn to hone.

Bob

Gentlemen: I am just getting restarted in film having inherited my late Uncle's Kodak Retina IIa. Have purchased a dozen rolls of various film from B&H and am now toying with the idea of converting a corner of my garage cum man cave to a darkroom for developing B&W pics.

To that end, where would you suggest I go to find the necessary equipment and more importantly what would you advise me to get for a decent set-up?

Furious, That Retina is serious medicine. There were a few lens Kodak used or had made, but all were good & one was a schneider.
For darkroom, I've picked up my stuff from craigslist. Most things are dirt cheap. The Durst enlargers are good, but more popular in Europe than here. I got a Beseler 45. That may have been a mistake. 'Not 'cause it isn't good, but its ginormous - a space hog.
There are several photo threads on just darkrooms on apug.org (analog photography user's group). Membership required to view galleries. The guys there have been good to this geezer.

You can have a serious amount of fun.

One for the Halloween season.

I know this is a little outdated but just to build on what pinklather said: Look for a photo club and photographer networking group in your area. I'm sure there are some people in those groups that are still shooting film. Film photography is a wonderful pursuit. But you will save yourself a lot of time, expense, and frustration if you an mentor with someone a bit. Regardless, try and stick with one film, one camera, one lens, one developing process, one printing process, etc. until you really get your arms around it. The best rewards from shooting film come from know how your image will look in print the moment you press the shutter. This is kind of a golden age for film photography in that there are mountains of analog gear available for dirt cheap, but there is still a wide (and some say growing) support community for those pursuing this interest. If you like black and white, and if you are interested in shooting film but don't want to get into darkroom print, consider just processing your film (i.e. creating negatives) and then scanning those or having these scanned for you. Getting the equipment and chemicals for that is actually pretty cheap.

'Been busy. A couple from the work.
Serious - wanted to let you know the Mrs. got me a Kodak Retina IIIc for Christmas. 'Every bit as good as they say.