Saturdays Online: Can't Stop Shooting Film

Often when I participate in Photography Workshops, someone has to ask why I shoot film.  I get tired of the question, mostly because what anyone of us does or doesn't do is an "Artistic Choice" and we should not be asked to justify what pleases us aesthetically.

So I'm not on a rant, but here is my short list:

• I like working in the dark room (its not a photograph until you print it!).
• I like film cameras, and am a collector (if you've got it, use it).
• Because of the survivability of real Print Images, I was able to make a wonderful photo book for my Mother's 90th Birthday.  This only applies to real photographic paper, not your ink jet image.  Also B&W survives better than color.
• I work on spectacular digital imagery as a satellite image analyst.  I do not care to spend my free time (aside from blogging) tied to Photoshop and my computer.  Nothing can compare to the 'photography' I work with professionally from "my employer's digital camera" 500 +km in Earth orbit.
• Also Read about our Blogger Friend Aubrey's recent experience with digital rot.

Please view this video from Amrit Vatsa.  It answers all the questions you've ever had regarding why some of us love film.  It's not a bother its a pleasure.  He makes an elegant comparison to painting.  Did we stop painting just because it's an old analog format?  Or is there actual pleasure in creating something with your hands that you will eventually be able to hold in your hands?  And how old are those paintings in the Egyptian Tombs?


And search through that old box of photographs and negatives that you found in your grand parent's attic.  Who knows what you might find?

Even this un-restored photo of myself, Mom, brother Kevin and our Dog Tessie brings back such vivid memories of the summer of 1965:

 

It's just soooo 1960's.

Billion Pixel 'Camera'

For you digital enthusiasts.  A camera to salivate over:  European Space Agency to launch billion pixel camera with Gaia Telescope.  Actually a mosaic of sensors, each about the size of a credit card:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaSC/SEMQ9V6TLPG_index_0.html

Going to need a lot of storage space!

Why Film Won't Ever Go Away: Film Cameras are Simple to Use!

Think About It? How many settings and adjustments do you really have to make on a film camera: aperture, shutter speed, film speed, and focus (although you may have an auto focus film camera); also carry enough film for what you plan to do. And if you are good at applying or at least estimating the Zone System, 9 times out of 10 you KNOW what your result is going to look like, without the instant gratification of a digital camera. Bracketing will take care of case number 10 if you are unsure. Besides, sometimes that image on the back of your camera is so small, you really don't know what the image will look like, and good digital photographers still tend to bracket and make their final decisions on the computer screen later.

There are literally dozens of settings to take into account for your digital camera. So most people never take full advantage of the real advantages of digital, they simply shoot the default AUTO settings, and keep shooting until they have an image that they like. And if your battery dies you are done! I can shoot any of my manual cameras (even the ones with light meters) when the battery is dead. Experience tells me what the best guess is for my exposures under various conditions. And the decisions necessary for film photography all cause you to THINK and PLAN, two things that are a good idea anyway. That's why many school programs have their students start with plastic cameras, where there are no technical decisions to be make, just the planning and thinking about what you want the image to look like.

Lets face it, many of the best digital photographers today are great because they've been doing it for years (meaning that they probably started with film), and THEY could do it well with any equipment. We'll see if the totally digitally trained generation produces a great master, and/or if they do, will their materials survive the digital data rot? We won't know this for a few decades because everyone with film experience will need to die first, so their bad artistic genetics are not passed on. But just in case you want to support film user genetics, check out these guidelines for choosing your first film camera.

That's my thought for this Friday. Since this is a Photo Blog, I'll leave you with a photo for today:


Camera: Mamiya 645 (1000S)
Lens: f/2.8 80mm normal
Film: Ilford ISO 400
Location: Fern Canyon, Northern California

Man On The Moon

No Pix today, just a remembrance.......and links to great Moon Mission Photos.

July 16, 1969. I was nine years old and totally absorbed in the Space Program. The beginnings of my life as a scientist......And Buckeye Proud. Not only had the first American to orbit the Earth been from Ohio, John Glenn, but now the first man on the Moon would be also from Ohio, Neil Armstrong.

So leave it to NASA to destroy the High Resolution video of this historic moment. Why? How? Because they needed more magnetic tapes for data and decided to recycle their Tape Archives without examining what was on ANY of the tapes first......Fortunately a restoration is undeway based upon a worldwide search for the best network video archives. Some preliminary video was released today for the launch anniversary. You can view it at the 'Bad Astronomy Blog'

Because sometimes digital data doesn't rot, it just gets deleted or erased by idiots........

Also, view NASA Apollo 11 Photos at the New York Times taken with a Hasselblad, the still camera chosen for the Moon Mission (the Astronauts took one to the moon with them).

Digital Image Storage Problems: Does Data Rot?

David Pogue of the New York Times poses this question in light of the constant changes in data storage technology, and questions regarding storage longevity.

The crux of the problem: older data storage technologies are easier to preserve, restore, and therefore retrieve and read. For example, we can still play back Edison’s original wax cylinders. Newer technologies are constantly being developed and the old technologies are quickly thrown aside. This happens so quickly that data not transferred is eventually ‘lost’. And, technologies like DVD can put errors into your data, because their recording method allows for interpolation and not exact copying. Interpolation creates errors……

Do you know what we really need? A process that transfers digital image files to analog film. I spend all of this time scanning my film, when the film will be readable long after the scanned technology has been discarded.

Read David pogue's article and decide for yourselves.... "Should You Worry About Data Rot?".

(Sorry but the NY Times may make you register to read this.....at least it is free)