The future

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Flatfish

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The following is my opinion. If you disagree please comment.

As much as I love clockwork, analogue and steam power. Film is dead. Medium format is dead. Large format may last a little longer with dedicated followers. 35mm is surely dead.

I think the race for pixels is over. The battle of superzooms is over. The quality of the sensors is the next battle. Low or no noise at high ISOs.

Discuss :ugeek:
 
I completed a City and Guilds course before the digital age. Used medium format, tripods, meters as well as 35mm SLRs. Spent hours in the darkroom. And I'm really glad I did. But I have now embraced current technology - and what a pleasure it is. When I am away, I so enjoy running through photos on a laptop, editing as necessary without too much fuss. At home, pics are transferred into the iMac then available through wireless on large screen TVs in other rooms. I do the odd print, but not many. In some ways its all too easy now. But I know which era I prefer. It will be a while yet before the old fades completely away though. Takes a while for old die hards to give up in any field.

I actually popped into Jessops today to ask what's new. Not much.
 
Speaking (or writing) as somebody that speaks to photographers on a day-to-day basis, I'm finding that anyone that hasn't already converted to digital isn't likely to.

There is still a small but determined band of film users out there, and as long as they can still get film, they will continue to use it.

Ian
 
I gradually moved away from film as digital technology improved and while I embrace digital and enjoy the ability to make all sorts of adjustments on my PC, I tend to limit my use of such software to minimal quick-fix solutions. Mostly I try to get the picture right when I'm taking it. Old habits die hard, I guess?
 
There'll still be film users for a while yet I think, in much the same way as people still listen to vinyl. Darkroom work is a bit magical, unlike bullying Photoshop or Gimp into doing what you want. As regards large format, if it hasn't died by now ...
 
IanM said:
PaulH said:
Mostly I try to get the picture right when I'm taking it. Old habits die hard, I guess?
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And it's a good habit.

Ian
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Dates back to my younger days when I couldn't afford to waste film. Tried to capture as many 'keepers' as possible first time. Digital means I don't need to be just as frugal when I'm taking pictures, and can afford to throw away experimental shots that don't come out well, but I'm still loathe to scrap too many :)
 
A small band of dedicated enthusiasts using what the mainstream consider to be out-dated technologies and hardware? Surely society would consider them to be lunatics. Why oh why would anyone want to use equipment that died out with their grandparents?

Oh wait...

My mate Jeff is a dedicated film camera man. I see no end in sight for those who choose to go that route, not while the interweb abides and small groups can bind together into virtual large groups. Why, they may even have forums with "group buy" sections.

Film is absolutely not dead.
 
Looking back, my shots on slide and negatives were better, say per every 100 shots. i.e. my keeper rate was higher.

However, i have definately learnt more in terms of variety. For e.g. flash photography is good to learn on Digital as you can see the effects etc.

On a slightly separate note: I bought a 24-105L lens for about 600 quid new when it first came out. I had to sell it to raise some cash for the wedding recently. If I want to buy it now, it's something like 800-£900 new. That's a joke.

I'm using a canon 50mm f/1.8 mk i at the moment. God, I love this lens. Almost as much as the sigma 50mm f/1.4 i had before it. I have to sell it though to release some further funds. I hope the mk ii is just as good (optically) and doesn't fall apart as some internet trolls reckon it will...

Finally, digital has opened up all sorts of new streams. FlickR, digital albums (that can connect to the tv). For eample, when people come over, i can now show everyone our photos on the big screen just by connecting a wire to a card reader or a digital frame.

The 2 technologies (old and new) can live side by side too. I have to 'digitise' my dad's wedding album. Can't wait to surprise him on their anniversary...
 
cheese_dave said:
A small band of dedicated enthusiasts using what the mainstream consider to be out-dated technologies and hardware? Surely society would consider them to be lunatics. Why oh why would anyone want to use equipment that died out with their grandparents?
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Erm, you mean like many on TSR that use old style razors.

I would also like to add that I prefer using film, you can't beat Fuji Velvia for landscapes and I forget the kodak film I used for portraits. The market now dictates that you need digital, certainly with my work it does.
 
I would hazard a guess that most billboard shots are taking with medium or large format cameras, possibly on film possibly not.I still use film now and again, it is great fun not knowing what the shots will be like until they develop.I remember giving my nephew an olympus trip to take some random pics when we were out for a family mean and the first thing he did after taking the first shot was look at the back and ask how to see the picture :lol: I told him to wait three weeks until we get it back from being developed.He is 9 and had never seen a film camera before, it is quite odd to think that within the space of a few years the medium has become obsolete all but for a few (relatively speaking) people who still like to use it.I wonder how many kids under the age of 15 will have used a film camera.Funnily enough straight after we joked at my nephew looking at the back for the LCD, his dad (a consultant doctor who is very intelligent) took the camera from him and tried to take a picture, I tried to hold my laugh in as long as I could while I watched him struggle to depress the shutter button, he of course had forgotten to wind the film on :oops: classic! He took a few pelters for that but it goes to show how easily we forget.
As for photoshop, I love it.Great tool and not much different to some of the techniques people used to achieve the same effects in a darkroom, albeit a lot easier.
 
Boab said:
He is 9 and had never seen a film camera before, it is quite odd to think that within the space of a few years the medium has become obsolete all but for a few
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Ah, the old days... I can still remember when we used to travel between countries in the bellies of great sky carriages which had wings like giant birds...
 
I bought a Hasselblad 500 (used) just before Xmas, but have not spent much time with it. Would love to learn developing and processing film myself at some stage, when I get some free time.

Without caring too much about sensors and where technology is going, DSLRs do the job for me; however the size and weight of them is prohibiting when I travel.

I therefore plan to sell most of my Canon bodies and L glass in 2011 and move to the "red dot camp"... (film [MP] and digital [M9])
 
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