More and more, I question everything I buy - Do I really need this? Often the answer is no, so I walk away.
Music-related stuff seems to be exempt from this process.
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Should I throw away my old film cameras?
- Thread starter hbarcat
- Start date
More and more, I question everything I buy - Do I really need this? Often the answer is no, so I walk away.
Music-related stuff seems to be exempt from this process.
I have the same thought a lot of times. "How quickly until this also becomes trash?" is also a question that pops into my head very frequently.
I'm convinced that the real measure of an economy is how much we can turn the world around us into piles of trash in a short amount of time.
At least some people can admit to blind-spots. I'll patch up an old pair of jeans because some bangladeshi or pakistani person probably worked themselves to the bone at a sewing maching putting them together - but my brain still thinks, "I really COULD use a P-type bass in surf green with a maple pickguard. You know, after I get a custom made bike for all that bikepacking I haven't done yet. While I'm at it, it'd be cool to cruise around in a red dodge ram with a hemi and see if some girl turns her head. Maybe I could throw all my camping stuff in the back and go to mount katahdin with one of those girls that turned her head."More and more, I question everything I buy - Do I really need this? Often the answer is no, so I walk away.
Music-related stuff seems to be exempt from this process.
Somewhere in that last part my brain goes back to reality.
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More and more, I question everything I buy - Do I really need this? Often the answer is no, so I walk away.
Music-related stuff seems to be exempt from this process.
Yes, it certainly does! Outside of music gear, I tend to concentrate my spending on experiences rather than stuff. We don’t have kids, so my wife and I like to primarily spend any disposable income on traveling and good restaurants.
If you have any Zeiss Ikon cameras from the 30's and 40's, along with Graflex cameras from the late 40's and early 50's, then you have stuff my Grandfather designed.
I was 16 when he passed in 1983 and although I knew what he did for a living during his working years, it wasn't until much later that I realized the impact he had on cameras in general. The guy was brilliant.
More and more, I question everything I buy - Do I really need this? Often the answer is no, so I walk away.
Music-related stuff seems to be exempt from this process.
You've probably never stepped inside a Snap On Tool truck......
If there’s a community darkroom anywhere near you some 20-something photographer will snap up those point’n’shoots. That’s what I did with several similar cameras a few years ago and they were gone in an hour. Kids are discovering film again.
I still shoot film and develop at home and I have a closetfull of cameras that I cycle through because I dig them but only some of them are really worth anything. Most of them are beautiful machines with outstanding optics that aren’t worth as much as a nice meal at a good restaurant.
I still shoot film and develop at home and I have a closetfull of cameras that I cycle through because I dig them but only some of them are really worth anything. Most of them are beautiful machines with outstanding optics that aren’t worth as much as a nice meal at a good restaurant.
I sold my whole bag of at a flea market.
My parents' old Brownie and the little Kodak bathroom dark room box, my uncle's old tripad medium format and my dad's old Leica which was his first camera I kept. I have them on display around the house on the mantle Etc.
I have a digital camera Canon G2 which I rarely use I mostly just "snap pictures" of my phone now. Shameful isn't it.
My parents' old Brownie and the little Kodak bathroom dark room box, my uncle's old tripad medium format and my dad's old Leica which was his first camera I kept. I have them on display around the house on the mantle Etc.
I have a digital camera Canon G2 which I rarely use I mostly just "snap pictures" of my phone now. Shameful isn't it.
Believe it or not, yes. We still have a 35mm camera with two rolls. (One is in the camera and I don't recall if I took any pictures with it or not.) I've been thinking about selling it to someone who still shoots with film.
Yes.
Both Kodak and Fuji still sell 35mm color negative film in speeds from 100 to 800+ for typical hobbyists, and also some B&W and color slide films for more "artistic" users.
Color neg film typically costs about $8 to $10 per roll, plus about $6 to develop the roll and 0.40c to 0.50c per 4x6 print.
Be careful where you get your film developed. Most of the big chain stores that were so popular in the past, now won't return your negatives or give you real prints. They typically develop the roll, digitally scan the negatives before throwing them away, and then have you download the digital images online.
If you're going to have nothing physical to keep for your pictures, then why are you even shooting film at all?
There are plenty of mail order places, plus some independent shops that routinely develop and print film.
I still love shooting film to this day.
Yes, I’ve got a Fuji X-T4 and some nice lenses.
But I’ve still got my Nikon F2AS and F2SB.
Along with some older Nikon primes.
Digital will never replace the look of film, even though digital has come a long way.
Just my 2 cents.
Yes, I’ve got a Fuji X-T4 and some nice lenses.
But I’ve still got my Nikon F2AS and F2SB.
Along with some older Nikon primes.
Digital will never replace the look of film, even though digital has come a long way.
Just my 2 cents.
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The local pro camera shop here in Dayton has a lot of different B&W and color films and they do processing. You can even get Polaroid film, of all things.
My son photographs for a couple record labels in NYC and has never used film. I bought him a used Nikon body and a couple lenses because that's what is being requested by clients. (birthday)
It's kinda interesting, there is a renewed interest in old video tech too. One of the more popular social media and album cover setups today is to play an 8mm type video camera into a CRT television and photograph the TV.
But think about it, it's no different than bassists playing gear from decades ago. Maybe if you still have a good film camera there could be a market to sell.
It's kinda interesting, there is a renewed interest in old video tech too. One of the more popular social media and album cover setups today is to play an 8mm type video camera into a CRT television and photograph the TV.
But think about it, it's no different than bassists playing gear from decades ago. Maybe if you still have a good film camera there could be a market to sell.
My sister is a professional photographer and she was on to digital photography when it was very young. She sold all her developing equipment and enlargers quite a while back and now has some seriously good printers, and if she needs a larger format she just shoots a file to someone with the equipment to produce what she needs. She’s got a few old box cameras and a homemade large format camera but they are decorations. She donated all but one of her SLR bodies and a few lenses because her passion is B&W portraiture, but for work and teaching she’s all about digital.
I’d second donating to Goodwill or similar. No expert, but from what I’ve seen of consumer grade cameras lately, especially those requiring some sort of film cassette, have become kitschy mantel decorations.
I’d second donating to Goodwill or similar. No expert, but from what I’ve seen of consumer grade cameras lately, especially those requiring some sort of film cassette, have become kitschy mantel decorations.
I see the similarities, but one thing is different. With guitar and bass amps, some of the vintage gear actually sounds as good as gear that's available today, and in numerous cases, has a unique tone character that can't be easily replicated.
Think of an original Ampeg B-15, for example. While not too many gigging bassists are going to be playing live shows with them, they're still hugely popular in recording studios of all sizes, from amateur home studios to the most prestigious commercial studios, and everything in between.
It isn't just nostalgia causing this. In many instances, that signature B-15 sound can best be achieved by using a genuine, vintage amp.
Sure, you can buy a modern day amp that will sound almost exactly the same, plus will be more durable and reliable, but the reality is that it will almost always be a modern reproduction of the exact same vintage technology (with a few modern improvements for additional useful features and for durability). It's also almost certainly going to be much more expensive than buying a vintage amp in good working condition.
Contrast this to modern day digital cameras as compared to vintage film cameras. Within the past decade, digital image sensing technology has far surpassed film based imaging in every way possible way. Literally, the only reason to choose film over digital imaging is for nostalgia purposes.
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The modern models and digital processing and solid state gear has likewise surpassed audio reproduction. The reason the B-15 sounds subjectively great is because it reminds us of the sounds we grew up with. But no young players are looking for that. But regarding the film cameras and analog video and CRT for professional production, it's kids in their 20s who never knew anything but iPads and smart phones. I think it's interesting when people look for retro technology without the context of having grown up with it. Regardless, i think it's cool. I still dink around with my grandmother's Ansco camera because I think it's fun.
My dad was a wedding photographer, I grew up with a film camera in my hand, and I developed and printed my own B+W and E6 slides like Ektachrome or the Fuji reversals.
For 5 or 6 years in the 90's I was a 'One Hour' lab guy for a national chain location. The convergence of home computers through to smart phones, digital scanning, exposure, and dry printing plus environmental concerns over C41 color print chemistry all converged to kill color prints, and the rest of film photography fast. Color developing and printing was many orders of magnitude more difficult than B+W or slides, the color chemistry had to live within a 1/2 degree F range, utter dark printing and developing (NO safelight for color), it was far more expensive as well.
I was always nuts for Fuifilm Velvia transparency film which is now up to 35 dollars a roll plus developing and mounting at only a handful of remaining labs around the country, and BE SURE you get them scanned digitally at the time: IF you send them back to be scanned one at a time once mounted, bring lots of $$$$.
I love slide film, but the world has moved on. I have a couple fixed lens rangefinders from the 70's (Electro 35 GTN and a Konica Auto S2, plus a Canonet GL17 QL, the best of that breed) as sentimental pieces, but haven't touched them in years. Part of me would love to score a Nikon F6 or a Canon EOS1, but then what would I do with them?
For 5 or 6 years in the 90's I was a 'One Hour' lab guy for a national chain location. The convergence of home computers through to smart phones, digital scanning, exposure, and dry printing plus environmental concerns over C41 color print chemistry all converged to kill color prints, and the rest of film photography fast. Color developing and printing was many orders of magnitude more difficult than B+W or slides, the color chemistry had to live within a 1/2 degree F range, utter dark printing and developing (NO safelight for color), it was far more expensive as well.
I was always nuts for Fuifilm Velvia transparency film which is now up to 35 dollars a roll plus developing and mounting at only a handful of remaining labs around the country, and BE SURE you get them scanned digitally at the time: IF you send them back to be scanned one at a time once mounted, bring lots of $$$$.
I love slide film, but the world has moved on. I have a couple fixed lens rangefinders from the 70's (Electro 35 GTN and a Konica Auto S2, plus a Canonet GL17 QL, the best of that breed) as sentimental pieces, but haven't touched them in years. Part of me would love to score a Nikon F6 or a Canon EOS1, but then what would I do with them?
Seems this thread has gained some traction lately and I'm happy to see that.
For those that have read thru it, you've likely seen my posts about the cameras that my Grandfather designed for Zeiss and Graflex..... groundbreaking stuff for the time.
However, my Grandfather's biggest accomplishment was the Kodak Instamatic.... which was probably the first point and shoot camera.
For those that have read thru it, you've likely seen my posts about the cameras that my Grandfather designed for Zeiss and Graflex..... groundbreaking stuff for the time.
However, my Grandfather's biggest accomplishment was the Kodak Instamatic.... which was probably the first point and shoot camera.