Film cameras?

Question

Hey, I was looking into a Nikon film camera (Dont know which one yet) and I was just wanting to know, is film worth investing in? I know some companies still make film, but what about printing places such as Walmart, Walgreens, and Target? Will they still print in the forseeable future? I am planning to develop the film myself. Just wondering.

Answer 1

I will use film as long as its available. Kodak, Ilford and Fuji are still supporting film. I belong to the Analog Photography Users Group (apug.org) and they are very interested in film.

Everyone will tell you film is dead, buy a digital camera. In the long run they are probably right. For now I'll take the monicker of "traditional photographer" and enjoy it.

Answer 2

Alright, I have a canon, yes I am addicted it canon, while I know nothing about Nikon, I do know the stadards for the films.
I will NOT take my film anywhere but to a pro photo shop, because you never know what youll come out with, especially after all the clsses, either myself or a photo lab of good quailty will handle it.
If you use any black and white film, if it is not c41 printing that is required make sur you ask where you take it to, whether they do that kind. And make sure you use the CORRECT chemicals if you do it yourself, and be sur ethat when you develope yourr rolls you are extremely careful, and make sure all prints are washed well.
I love developing, I am trying to do my own studion, lack of funds has set it at a halt for now, (Unfortunately my car has decided to have a bad few months, and all my money is being saved for a car) Althoug some days I do think, well if I could just do my darkroom, i only work a mile away, photo shop to buy film is like 7 so, needless to say cars a must haha.
I recently bought a DSLR and while I LOVE it, I am still kind of addicted to my film camera, Its nice to have both, but with film I just seem to have more control even tho I cant see the picture until its done.

Answer 3

Go for it. Now is a great time to get a deal on a top film SLR. You might find a minty F100 for around $300 or so.

I am a photo lab manager running an analog printer and 4 dye sub digital systems. Our roll volume has dropped to about a third of what it was 6 or 7 years ago, from around 70-80 rolls per day down to around 25-30. However, we are doing between 20,000 and 30,000 digital prints a month. I still have plenty of customers, some pro and semi-pro, who use film. Some also use digital as well. Some have gone completely digital. I still shoot film alongside digital. There is room for both.

There are fewer labs dotting the landscape than there used to be. Most of the mom and pop labs are gone. Lots of drug and grocery stores that used to have minilabs in the heyday of processing have closed them due to the drop in film processing. There may be some decent one-hour labs in your area. Take a few test rolls around and try them. Target does not have a good reputation for film developing, as most use old Gretag equipment which is a pain to use and keep up to specs. Some Walmarts are fine, others sloppy. Same with Walgreen's. Eckerd used to really back their photo department, now with Rite Aid, I'm not so sure. But any lab can be a good lab if there are experienced, knowledgeable people who care about what they are doing. I do believe you will see less variety of film readily available in retail markets. You may have to do what I do, order on-line from B&H Photo. Many shops have already closed, and the chain camera stores tend to mass market their product. My "local" (as in about 50 miles away) Ritz store had zero rolls of Portra the last time I checked.

So go ahead with your film plans. Find a great deal on a killer SLR, order some film and get out there!

Answer 4

What they don't tell you about film is

1. After a while it costs a buttload of money

2. It's not very flexible in the sense of prints and editing and soforth

3. I don't have a three I figured two would be enough.

Get a digital. I got a 35mmSLR and trust me if you take as many pictures as I do film will end up WAY more expensive

Answer 5

I have a Nikon FM10 and i love it, its a great little camera. New I think it coast around 250, i got mine used for 200.

Film is defiantly worth investing it, i like it so much more than digital, and working in the dark room is really fun.

I wouldn't worry too much about film processing , there are still plenty of one hour photo places.

Answer 6

For quality, you are still going to get better results with film. I don't think that film is going to be obsolete anytime soon. Too many people are still shooting with it.
Wal-mart and Walgreens around here are still going strong developing film...there's ALWAYS a line whenever I take my film in to be developed. Walgreen's prints are a higher quality and cost a little more than Wal-Mart.
I have not heard of anyone discontinuing developing film anywhere anytime soon. Like I said, from what I see, film is still going strong contrary to popular belief from digital users.

Answer 7

If you are going to do your own developing then definitely go for it. My photography instructor says there isn't a digital camera yet that can match the image quality from a good SLR film camera.

I was thinking of using film exclusively by having my negatives developed at a store and then using an Epson V200 scanner (4800x9600dpi) to scan my negatives so I can create my own prints on the computer using Adobe Photoshop. That is something you might want to think about. The V200 scanner is only around $100 (US). It was just released by Epson. The only things I didn't like were having to wait for the negatives to get developed and then having to scan the ones I want to print into the computer.

Answer 8

Don't bother. If you were starting to learn photography 20 years ago, I'll say go for it. But today you should really learn all you can about digital, image editing, etc. If later, you find a passion for anything "classic" then by all means go and become an expert at film, developing, enlargement, etc. but you would still need to be fully grounded in current technologies.

Answer 9

film will always be available, it will just disapear to the pro shops - already decent film has gone to the pro shops only

heres something for you to think about: on my new dedicated scanner at 14400dpi i get 4gb (yes gigabyte) scanns in tiff from 35mm trannies. - show me a DSLR (35mm) can do that......

another thing to think about: why to some digis have "features" where you can imitate films like say velvia

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Answer 10

Color was supposed to kill black and white. Ektachrome was supposed to kill Kodachrome. "Instant" photography (Polaroid) was supposed to kill regular film, etc., etc., etc. Film has some advantages over digital, and there will always be us die hards. It isn't easy to find, but you can still find 620 and 127 size film if you want to use it. I figure film will stick around at least long enough for me to wear out another camera or 2.