Could you go back to film?

“Could you go back to film?” was the question posed on FredMiranda.com in the alternative forum. I read briefly through some of the thread but apparently, there were some heated and off topic rants from both sides of the coin. However, the thread got me thinking and I felt compelled to share my feelings at this time. Below is my post which I felt compelled to share here for you, my reader. I could go on but ultimately, photography is not an end result but a process, a journey and not a destination. With that in mind, maybe the context will fit my brief discussion below.

For me, I am shooting more and more film, and less digital. In fact, I am almost 100% film. As most of my work is for pleasure and little is for pay, I find delight in using old mechanical rangefinders (Leica’s) and old mechanical SLR’s (Nikon, Canon, Minolta, Pentax, Olympus, etc). There is a pleasure, a tactile pleasure, and experience that I enjoy. I find digital boring today. Maybe because I feel I have mastered digital photography (I can get the results I want, to an extent. Can’t emulate film but a topic for another post). I have not mastered film and neither will I ever, just improve. To a degree, the same with digital but again, the experience is different and not as enjoyable. Too many variables, too many challenges with film. There is absolutely (to me) nothing more enjoyable then pulling out my leica iiif, guessing exposure and winding on those knobs for the next frame. A pure tactile dream! My M5 is almost as pleasurable with the added spot meter. Then the fun of mixing my own chems and developing. Sometimes I mess up, other times I have great results, still other times I am wondering how the result I was after is different than what I had anticipated. Granted, this would not be for everyone, but I like the hands on approach. Probably why I roast my own coffee beans instead of buying them roasted. I like my results and the experience, or rather the journey, is part of it. Not the end result, but the whole thing. The process, the journey, getting there, and then starting down the next path. Digital doesn’t give me this anymore. I’m starting at the end. It’s like buying the bag of ground coffee and brewing it. Yes, I can use a French press or a mocha pot for something better than the Mr. Coffee machine but still………..

My 5dmkii is dusty, I usually pull it out to swap L lenses with my film EOS bodies essentially using the digital body as an expensive rear lens cap. My workflow works and is at times quicker than my digital, more rewarding and requires less post processing. Right now I am a hybrid shooter. I develop my film and scan on a Kodak Pakon f135+. It gives gorgeous 6mp files (this is not a flatbed but a dedicated lab scanner) and will scan a roll in about 2 minutes. Color is usually spot on with c-41 due to the Kodak built in color profiles. B&W is beautiful. My lightroom editing is minimal. Adjust levels and sharpening. That’s it. 10 seconds max on an image, usually less. I could batch them all in the scanner and export jpeg and have no post processing but I like to fine tune things. Currently building a dark room for traditional printing, my winter project if you will.

I shoot digital for weddings and portraits but recently have been incorporating film into my wedding work. I sell fine art landscapes and have them in homes, on book covers and in office building across the country. Not a lot, but enough to keep me doing it. But that doesn’t bring pleasure. Just work. I am mostly an amateur photographer and for this reason, I enjoy film. It is where my most personal work is made.

What I didn’t share were some images. Here are two I scanned yesterday. They were shot on hand rolled cassettes of film that I spun off bulk rolls of Kentmere 100. I shot them in my Leica M5 using a vc 35/2.5 color skopar lens with orange filter. Development was using Rodinal (a very OLD developer, classic if you will) at 1:50 dilution. Film was scanned with my Kodak Pakon f135+. These images speak to ME (maybe not to you) but this is what it says. It reminds me of a beautiful afternoon riding bikes with my wife through Gulf State Park (my emotional tie). Aesthetically, I am drawn to the second image particularly. The lighting, the tones, the depth (the pleasing of the viewing experience)…you decide.

Gulf State Park

Gulf State Park 2

Hoarder or Collector

I think the time has come to clear out some gear. My wife would call me a hoarder but my therapist self would rationalize that I am a budding hoarder in the making and have some unresolved issues that prevents me from a) letting go of things, and b) a need to accumulate. The other possibility, or “what’s behind door #3?” is what this post is about.

So my Tammy (my beloved wife) would say I have something like a 100 cameras. I on the other hand know (or at least believe) that I have anywhere from 30-50 cameras. The reality is I have too much junk (but not enough of the good stuff!). The junk needs to be cleared away and the collection needs to have some semblance of rationality of a legitimate collection. In what I have, there is legitimate collector pieces…and a lot of mix and match and junk. The problem is, I like thrift store finds and, well, I feel the need to rescue these wonderful (and not so wonderful) photographic tools from the trash heap. A more nobler pursuit that I rationalize through my denial defense mechanism is that I am recycling. Now, a recycler of goods, not a wasteful consumer. That sounds nice, puffs up my ego just enough to justify the $2.99 thrift store purchase.

Now here is the problem, I use what I collect. Or in theory I do. But, I have too much stuff. Some of it I don’t use and never have, others I haven’t used in a long time and still more, I have gear that is half working or non working that I probably will never get around to fixing though the intention is there. A hoarder would not let it go. A collector would clear out the junk, consolidate the collection and with fewer pieces, focus on the really good or desirable stuff. Digital isn’t the issue, it is my film cameras, lenses and gear.

I have multiple working and non working FD and EOS bodies, numerous Nikon bodies (good stuff with both but not the top of the heap stuff), plenty of lenses in both mounts (with really good FD and EOS lenses). I also have plenty of Minolta bodies, both AF and manual focus. Plenty of good rokkor lenses and some A-mount stuff that is just so so. Multiple Pentax bodies with K mount and m-42 screw mount lenses and adaptors. The bodies are middle of the road stuff, lenses as well…not bad but not the best. I have one Olympus slr with 2 lenses (really wanted to get into the small oly system but hasn’t worked out yet in thrift store finds) and lot of Olympus point and shoots as well as the famous XA and XA4. I have a Mamiya DTL1000 with an assortment of screw mount lenses. And then the Leicas. Now the good stuff. An M5, a CL and a IIIf with assorted leica lenses in M and L39 mount w/ adaptors as well as canon screwmount w/ adaptors. These are definitely not going anywhere.

So, time to focus on the good stuff. Getting rid of all my point n shoots but one, a leica mini II clone, the Minolta freedom escort. The XA and XA4 work for ultra compact and will stay. Time to unload all my partial or non-working film bodies. Probably time to dump the orphaned systems that I don’t use like the Olympus and Mamiya systems. Oh, and I forgot the Konica autoreflex T4 and lenses. It’s going. Getting rid of the Minolta AF cameras and AF lenses and thining down the Minolta bodies to 1, the srt102. I want to add the XD-11 but that will come soon enough. I have a lot of good Minolta lenses and they are just too good to let go. The canon system isn’t going anywhere as I am committed to that brand. I have a couple of AF Minolta bodies that can go and possibly a lens but will keep that. Then to let go off about 30 skylight and UV filters of various dimensions, numerous vintage bags I don’t use (I would like a small leather or waxed canvas bag for my rangefinders) and unload some straps. That would clear up a bunch. But I digress.

I like cameras, I like to shoot cameras, I like old cameras especially as they are like fine watches with precision gears and mechanics. Did I say I shoot cameras? I do. Now here are some pictures of what we both collect, critters, specifically of the canine or feline category. Part of our family.

Noah
Noah

Howie
Howie

Rip, the foster kitty now in a forever home
Rip