Film Camera

[DIW35]

Given that I only need the negatives processed, and intend to scan those into my PC, I think I'll revisit processing the B&W stock myself.

Back in the day I was quite happy to process slide film using the E6 process, so I am keeping my fingers crossed I can find my old processing tanks and dark bag. If I can't find them, I don't think it will be too expensive to buy new kit.

[Le Gavroche]

wildoliver said:

The Pentax is a ridiculous thing. But hopefully it awakens a market, if it can find it's feet (I doubt it will) and a couple of other manufacturers start producing competition then film will start getting made in higher quantities and developing will become cheaper again.

But I can't see it finding it's feet at all. I used Pentax cameras for years, but they always seemed to just miss the mark a bit, with the k1000 and me-super (and the lovely mx) they found a real niche, the student market with the k1000 and the compact slr market with the me-super, I had all 3 and the mx was my favourite but all were lovely. The trouble is that Nikon, Canon and Olympus existed.

Now the problem a film camera has is digital exists and ultimately camera phones. I really have to make an effort to take a camera out because my phone can take spectacular pictures, I'm not going to decide to use a half frame film camera instead for any job at all, and do kids care enough about looking cool to spend £500 on it? Half the time you see someone walking around with an old slr it's not even got a film in it, it's a prop, and an old Olympus trip would do that job just as well I reckon.

It is an interesting one about awakening a market.

The market for 35mm film is certainly awake. So much so that Kodak and Ilford have both struggled enormously to keep up with demand, and have reopened/expanded some manufacturing facilities. Numerous other independent manufacturers have also started production. But because demand keeps increasing, the price of film has kept rising.

But as for the market for cameras.... It's a really difficult one for those who want to get back into shooting film. There are basically no new 35mm cameras available to buy* apart from a selection of cheap crappy plastic models with plastic lenses, or something with weird features almost zero actual technology in it, such as that new Pentax.

• apart from Leica, who have brought back the M6, MP and MA, but these are all about £5k each before you buy a lens for them.

So where does that leave someone such as myself who wanted to have a go at shooting film, but wanted a compact camera that wasn't complete crap?

I turned to eBay and bought a mint condition, barely used, Canon SureShot Supreme for £12, put a new battery in it, and now have a film camera that takes really superb photos via a sophisticated autofocus and metering system, and an excellent quality f2.8 lens

All for £487 less than that new Pentax 17, and I guarantee it takes far better photos than the Pentax.

The secondary marketplace is also flooded with excellent film cameras from loads of other brands such as Nikon, Olympus, and so on, all available for extremely reasonable prices.

Perfect right?

Well no, because the film cameras out there in circulation are aging and cannot be easily repaired. Almost no one makes parts for them and the expertise required to actually repair film cameras is rapidly dwindling.

So there is very much a finite supply of good film cameras left out there, and once they are all broken, that it. The end.

[David_M]

Drogo said:

This is of course dependent on the cost of processing these days…


Just lazily ran this through ChatGPT


How much does a roll of 35mm film cost to buy and develop in the uk

The cost of buying and developing a roll of 35mm film in the UK can vary based on the type of film and the services chosen for developing. Here are the typical costs:

[snip]

Example Total Costs
- **Standard Color Film:** £5 (film) + £7 (developing) = £12 per roll.
- **Professional Color Film:** £12 (film) + £7 (developing) = £19 per roll.
- **Black and White Film:** £7 (film) + £8 (developing) = £15 per roll.

I don't really understand the allure of using 35mm film now. The resolution of more or less any DSLR/mirrorless camera in the last decade exceeds film, high ISO performance is in a different league, and once you have bought the camera the photos are essentially FREE! This is before any consideration of how astonishingly good modern cameras are at autofocus, exposure etc etc etc

When I was in my late teens, using a K1000/ME Super and limited by my wallet I would have loved to have had the ability to take a thousand pictures to experiment with all sorts of things.

To be fair, I don't get the love for vinyl records (or, even more bewilderingly, compact cassettes) either.

[Le Gavroche]

David_M said:

I don't really understand the allure of using 35mm film now. The resolution of more or less any DSLR/mirrorless camera in the last decade exceeds film, high ISO performance is in a different league, and once you have bought the camera the photos are essentially FREE! This is before any consideration of how astonishingly good modern cameras are at autofocus, exposure etc etc etc

When I was in my late teens, using a K1000/ME Super and limited by my wallet I would have loved to have had the ability to take a thousand pictures to experiment with all sorts of things.

To be fair, I don't get the love for vinyl records (or, even more bewilderingly, compact cassettes) either.

I guess everyone will have a different reason, but I bought a film camera purely for fun. I enjoy shooting street/urban stuff, and rather than just firing the camera at everything without too much thought, I really enjoyed the fact that I only had 36 exposures on a roll, and I was paying for every single one, so I actually had to make a decision about what to photograph.

I do find it fun, and I even like the traditional nail-biting wait for the scans to arrive a few hours after I drop a roll of film off to be developed

What it also reminded me of, was that even a fairly average compact camera with a tiny lens from the early 80's can create some excellent photographs. I think over the last 20 years I fell into the trap of thinking that unless it was modern and digital then clearly the images would be a fuzzy blurry mess.

Plus, despite film emulations in Lightroom etc, I have found the look of genuine film scans to be really nice.

I only shoot a roll here and there just for my own amusement.

I use digital/RAW/Lightroom far more regularly, and my go-to camera is a Ricoh GR3, which produces absolutely astonishing images from something that easily fits in a pocket.

[wildoliver]

Le Gavroche said:

It is an interesting one about awakening a market.

The market for 35mm film is certainly awake. So much so that Kodak and Ilford have both struggled enormously to keep up with demand, and have reopened/expanded some manufacturing facilities. Numerous other independent manufacturers have also started production. But because demand keeps increasing, the price of film has kept rising.

But as for the market for cameras.... It's a really difficult one for those who want to get back into shooting film. There are basically no new 35mm cameras available to buy* apart from a selection of cheap crappy plastic models with plastic lenses, or something with weird features almost zero actual technology in it, such as that new Pentax.

• apart from Leica, who have brought back the M6, MP and MA, but these are all about £5k each before you buy a lens for them.

So where does that leave someone such as myself who wanted to have a go at shooting film, but wanted a compact camera that wasn't complete crap?

I turned to eBay and bought a mint condition, barely used, Canon SureShot Supreme for £12, put a new battery in it, and now have a film camera that takes really superb photos via a sophisticated autofocus and metering system, and an excellent quality f2.8 lens

All for £487 less than that new Pentax 17, and I guarantee it takes far better photos than the Pentax.

The secondary marketplace is also flooded with excellent film cameras from loads of other brands such as Nikon, Olympus, and so on, all available for extremely reasonable prices.

Perfect right?

Well no, because the film cameras out there in circulation are aging and cannot be easily repaired. Almost no one makes parts for them and the expertise required to actually repair film cameras is rapidly dwindling.

So there is very much a finite supply of good film cameras left out there, and once they are all broken, that it. The end.

You aren't wrong, but the world isn't going to run out of film cameras, sure some of the less reliable efforts, particularly cameras that pioneered electronics especially at the lower end of the market will succumb to electronic death, but mechanical cameras like the fm2/k1000 and the hundreds of others like them just won't die. They may need new light seals, but that's a job most people can do themselves, if a market for a repairer opens up someone will jump at the chance, but I doubt they would end up busy. There is a constant stream of cameras making their way in to the market as people die, that will only really dry up when the people become generally from an age they didn't start off with film cameras to squirrel away when the world moved to digital. Well that's the last 20-30 years and some of those will have had hand me downs too.

So there is a finite supply. But just like we were told for as long as I can remember we have a finite supply of oil, I wouldn't worry about it running out.

Does remind me I need to shove a couple of my Nikon film cameras up for sale mind. Do me a favour and scream the end is nigh a bit louder!

[Craikeybaby]

Earlier in the year my in-laws were having a clear out and amongst other things my wide was sent home with her old 35mm compact camera - an Olympus Trip. My boys were intrigued by this strange camera without a screen on the back. So I said I would buy them a roll of film each to put through it. I also remembered my old Pentax ME in the loft, so figured I would buy a couple of rolls of film too. I should have checked the price first! It is a lot more expensive than when I last shot film in 2008! My youngest son (5) has possibly heeded our reminders not to just keep pressing the button, and still has a couple of exposures left on his roll.

[DIW35]

This is going to get expensive. Despite still having 4 of my old 35mm SLR film cameras that date from the late '70's onwards, I have just bought an even older film camera that pre-dates anything I currently own.

Thankfully it only pre-dates my oldest camera by a few years, so my old lenses will fit, but it doesn't have any of the electronic bells and whistles that the later cameras have. Should be fun learning to use it.

[Tony1963]

I’ve had it with Pistonheads posts where the poster gives less than bare bones info.

Who cares?

[Derek Smith]

Tony1963 said:

I’ve had it with Pistonheads posts where the poster gives less than bare bones info.

Who cares?

Would you care to expand? There's insufficient info in your post.

[Tony1963]

Derek Smith said:

Would you care to expand? There's insufficient info in your post.

People tend to get offended if they’re singled out.

[DavidY]

Bit late to this threda, but my current two film cameras of choice. Whilst 35mm is ok for fun, I much prefer a larger negative

1962 Rolleiflex 2.8E, fully serviced - 4 rolls through it in last 6 weeks


Rolleiflex 2.8E by David Yeoman, on Flickr

1974 Fuji GM670, 6x7 Medium Format, recent purchase, 4 rolls through it in last 2 weeks, not developed yet.


Fujica GM670-2 by David Yeoman, on Flickr

These cameras are built like tanks, I and I fully expect them to outlast me!

[djsmith74]

DavidY said:

Bit late to this threda, but my current two film cameras of choice. Whilst 35mm is ok for fun, I much prefer a larger negative

1962 Rolleiflex 2.8E, fully serviced - 4 rolls through it in last 6 weeks


Rolleiflex 2.8E by David Yeoman, on Flickr

1974 Fuji GM670, 6x7 Medium Format, recent purchase, 4 rolls through it in last 2 weeks, not developed yet.


Fujica GM670-2 by David Yeoman, on Flickr

These cameras are built like tanks, I and I fully expect them to outlast me!

Interesting & lovely camera combination there!. Curious about the Auto Electro lens on the Fuji - what does it do? Some sort of auto-focussing mechanism?

[DavidY]

djsmith74 said:

DavidY said:

Bit late to this threda, but my current two film cameras of choice. Whilst 35mm is ok for fun, I much prefer a larger negative

1962 Rolleiflex 2.8E, fully serviced - 4 rolls through it in last 6 weeks


Rolleiflex 2.8E by David Yeoman, on Flickr

1974 Fuji GM670, 6x7 Medium Format, recent purchase, 4 rolls through it in last 2 weeks, not developed yet.


Fujica GM670-2 by David Yeoman, on Flickr

These cameras are built like tanks, I and I fully expect them to outlast me!

Interesting & lovely camera combination there!. Curious about the Auto Electro lens on the Fuji - what does it do? Some sort of auto-focussing mechanism?

If you set the lens in A on the shutter speed dial, it auto sets the shutter speed through the meter (effectively aperture priority mode). The meter works through the lens, so any aperture settings are used (and external filters are automatically taken into account). You can apply exposure compensation using the ISO dial on the lens.

No autofocus, its a a traditional rangefinder in that respect.

[djsmith74]

DavidY said:

djsmith74 said:

DavidY said:

Bit late to this threda, but my current two film cameras of choice. Whilst 35mm is ok for fun, I much prefer a larger negative

1962 Rolleiflex 2.8E, fully serviced - 4 rolls through it in last 6 weeks


Rolleiflex 2.8E by David Yeoman, on Flickr

1974 Fuji GM670, 6x7 Medium Format, recent purchase, 4 rolls through it in last 2 weeks, not developed yet.


Fujica GM670-2 by David Yeoman, on Flickr

These cameras are built like tanks, I and I fully expect them to outlast me!

Interesting & lovely camera combination there!. Curious about the Auto Electro lens on the Fuji - what does it do? Some sort of auto-focussing mechanism?

If you set the lens in A on the shutter speed dial, it auto sets the shutter speed through the meter (effectively aperture priority mode). The meter works through the lens, so any aperture settings are used (and external filters are automatically taken into account). You can apply exposure compensation using the ISO dial on the lens.

No autofocus, its a a traditional rangefinder in that respect.

Ah, interesting. Thanks for explaining!