Why Shoot Film?? 

Film looks like a memory in a way that digital never can.

Those old photographs are a treasure found.

This video left me breathless. From your excellent commentary on film to the spectacular images at the end. This video was superb, to say the least! In the picture section I had to pause with every image and simply gaze upon & study it a bit. For me @ 78 years old, I was skipping heart beats at many of them. And on a side note, you did such an excellent job of preserving them. If there are awards or accolades for You Tube videos, this one deserves a healthy nomination!! Why shoot film today? My best analogy is with cars. I drive modern vehicles, but am also an old hot rodder. While my daily transportation is a newish Toyota Camry, the opportunity to sit behind the wheel of a Tri-5 Chevy or a C3 Corvette is nothing short of a thrill! In today's digital age, shooting film seems to provoke those same kinds of feelings. So, in essence, going out with a film camera today is the same for me as taking a '68 Corvette Stingray out for a joy ride. I shot film from 1970 to 2002, and developed & printed my own b&w from day 1. Starting in the 1990's, I also took a photography course at a local Community College "every" semester for 10 years running, where I could print my own color negatives AND transparency film. Bought my first digital camera in 2002 (a 6 mpix Fuji), and from that point to recently, I put film photography in my rear view mirror. It was your first video that renewed my interest in film, particularly b&w. So, you get the credit (or blame 🥰). I recently purchased a mint Yashica Mat 124G, and, already owning a couple of vintage Nikon F2's, I made my first investment in 35mm & 120 b&w film in over 20+ years, from B&H. Loaded up with T-Max 100 & my favorite, Tri-X, I am now going to further mimic you by going to a variety of places nearby, find interesting subjects & compositions, take meter readings with my hand meters, and fully enjoy and engulf myself!

Born in '92, I didn't have much experience shooting film other than probably a few random frames on disposable film cameras that my parents bought throughout the years. I bought my first digital camera in college about 13 years ago and up until recently, I was shooting digital exclusively. I picked up a film camera about 2 years ago and was instantly hooked at the process. It felt like I was discovering photography again. What I thought I knew about making an exposure shifted. Knowing that each frame could be financially punishing forced me to slow down. Looking for better compositions, being careful with settings to get proper exposure, etc. It taught me patience among other things. But I also have a knack with collecting tangible items. Something about cutting film and storing them in sleeves is very therapeutic to me. Even if the negatives are not even mine!

Beyond its tangible value, the manual process of chemical photography offers a unique and artisanal experience. Using a fully mechanical camera allows photographers to have complete control over every aspect of the image-making process. This hands-on approach fosters a deeper connection with the craft, where every step, from loading the film to developing the final print, becomes a deliberate and thoughtful act. The tactile nature of working with film, along with the anticipation and unpredictability of the results, provides a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that is often unmatched in the digital realm. Excellent video, very nice vintage pictures, thanks for sharing. 👍👍

How cool you still have your childhood camera 🤩🤩

I can relate. I started shooting with Canon FD cameras as a kid in the '90s. Back then these cameras were only seen as obsolete, and people would just give me gear they had in the closet. I went on to work as a newspaper photographer for over 12 years. I don't regret that career move one bit, but I ended up burned out with no desire to do photography for myself anymore. After a career change a few years ago, my inspiration has come back. I've been rediscovering photography as a hobby again, and a big part of that has been picking up my old film cameras.

I shoot digital for work and film ( 35mm, 120 in 6x9 form ) for fun. "Fun" is the key word that keeps me coming back.

Film photography is a hobby I enjoy. Hobbies do not require justification. I think the whole idea is that hobbies are pointless. Heck, 90 percent of what people enjoy doing is pointless. Yeah, not much to say about it really. I just like it.

I always felt like was a little bit of a wizard or something when I would be able to develop my own film and print in the dark room. Making images appear on a piece of film or paper just felt like magic, especially when I used a fully manual camera. It always made me feel connected to the process and the image itself. I feel almost disconnected from my digital photos. I also loved the ability to try printing photos on things you just can’t with digital. I do love my digital camera and all the benefits that go with it but it will never replace film as long as film is still available.

Very well said my friend. Physical pictures seem to be a tangible legacy that outlives us all. My mother passed last year and I’ve got a box of negatives she had spanning all the way back to the late 1800s. There are only one or two people remaining that can potentially identify who they were before they will simply be lost to unnamed history like all of us at some point.

I'm not sure why I still shoot film. As you enunciated so well the reasons that digital photography is way better than film, I can only offer a few reasons why I still prefer film over digital. It is what I started with as a boy using my Dad's Brownie box 616. A very cheap camera but it produced outstanding contact prints of the many trips we went on during my growing years as well as documenting the progression of Easter day family portraits we always made. Then when I joined the military as a young man, and was able to buy my own camera, it was a Nikon F that I purchased from the BX in Okinawa. I used that camera and an assortment of lenses to document everywhere I was stationed throughout the 30 years I was in the service. Those negatives and slides are a history of all my travels and the things that were important to me at each location. While I have stacks of CF and SD cards as well as an on line library of all the pictures I have taken with my digital cameras, I use my film cameras to make prints I hang on the walls of my home. These are tangible evidence of what I like most about the art of photography.

I think what really draws me to film is that it reignited my love for photography as a hobby. I love my A7iv and my autofocusing lenses for professional work but all those bells and whistles take away some of the fun from the process of photography. There's an excitement to finding out a week later that you NAILED the focus with the shallow depth of field. I love how tactile shooting film is. I like the slower pace that film warrants and I like the little imperfections that can give a photo a more unique character. Don't get me wrong, for paid work I'm always going to use digital as my main camera but I've been adding my Canon A1 as a secondary cam lately to give my clients something a little more special and unique.

What a great video, I discovered a passion for photography in my late 50's as a hobby. I entered the digital photography world not knowing one bit about the genre. There was a lot to learn, cameras, lenses, photo editors etc. I struggled with the technical side of digital photography and still do. Taking photos is a creative and therapeutic hobby which helps my mental well being. What I love about digital photography is the ability and ease to manipulate an image and create something totally different. Blending a photo using painting software is something I enjoy. Now @ the age of 66 I have decided to try film photography with some trepidation. Why? Over the last several years I have picked up some film cameras here and there at yards sales etc. for my office decoration, never thinking I would use them. This past year, something started to change in me and the sense of being overwhelmed with technology, especially artificial intelligence. I found myself loosing my passion for digital photography with a sense of burnout and boredom. I remembered a photography class I had taken back in my high school days. Something just drew me to wanting to re-learn film photography. So here I am, shocked by how much everything costs, finding places to get filmed developed and (an introvert) even wanting to try making RU-vid videos about my film photography journey. I want to slow down the process of my photography and really learn to get in touch with the creative moment. Film photography teaches me to own and take the responsibility for my mistakes. I have a lot to learn with film photography, but the journey is well worth the cost for me.

I shoot film in all formats to include 4X5. I really do not know why I do it , it just so enjoyable that the cost is justifiable ( at least to me it is). Not only does it slow you down but the entire process is great. I shoot, develop, scan and print at home. Once I am done I have a negative and a print that will out-live me. Love all your videos. They are very entertaining and very informative. Thank you for dedicating you valuable time to us and the art of Photography.

The people with the row boats at 9:17 is really lovely. Thanks for standing up for the craft of film photography and the beautiful images it can create in such a rich, tangible way.

I just now subscribed to your channel as I’m thinking that we are about the same age and probably have similar film photography backgrounds. My father taught me 8mm & 16mm filmmaking when I was 6 or 7. His best friend was one of the most popular still photographers in the region. So I’ve been around film for over 60 years now. I’ve been collecting and repairing old, vintage film cameras for several decades now and am thrilled about this analog film resurgence. I’m sure I’ll enjoy your content! Thanks for this one!

Nice vintage pictures, thanks for sharing.

From the digital age but my father had a dark room and I remember spending time with him watching the pictures develop . I bought a film point and shoot and a holga and I'm hooked. My digital cameras get me perfect images but I am not as happy with them. Getting a nice film image means more to me, I can't say why though.💁

On a rainy day in April of 2020 my wife and I took a drive into NYC. What we witnessed was incredible. In a city of 12 million people there wasn’t a soul on the sidewalks, cars driving on the streets. I took my Nikon F3 with me to take pictures but I didn’t really think before we went I was shooting history. As we walked through Central Park we saw maybe ten people walking their dog when in fact there should have been thousands. You could walk down Madison Ave and not get hit by a car. Few cars were driving. I sent the pictures out for development and loaded on an USB thumb drive along with my negatives. Five months later the USB drive stopped working. If not for my negatives the pictures would be lost.

I've been shooting film since the 70s, but these days, for me shooting film is all about the process - from measuring the light through the tactile process of using a mechanical camera to the developing, printing (or scanning). On the financial front, you can get a very nice film camera plus lenses for less than the cost of even an entry level mirrorless camera and have money left over for some film. Of course the marginal cost of each film frame is higher, as you say, but the total outlay need not be prohibitive.

Well said, Sir. I have nothing I can add to what you so eloquently stated.

I'm 45 now I started out with film on a old Nikon f gifted to me from My Grandfather. He was a cold war military photographer that followed Elvis in 1958 , 1959 His assignment was Vietnam for most of the 60s .I seen all on film even the bad. I never moved away from that nikon f, it sets in my bag with a 7dmkii, 5dmkii and 5d4 also fe2 and fm2 . The life you gave to that random film you found is beyond words.

wow, this is the first of your videos i've watched and i wasn't looking for this, but, your explanation of this, well, it somehow re-kindled why i decided to start shooting film again. and at best, i'm a hobbyist photographer. i'll never make money taking pictures, and i'm okay with that, and i'll never have a popular YT or INSTA showcasing what i shot, and yes, digital makes the most sense for someone like me, but at the same time, i'm like, you know what, i wanna commit to this shot, even if doesn't come out. i love my digital camera and will basically always use it, but, i still like loading a roll of whatever, even expired film, in a film camera that i could have never afforded when it was relevant, and, well, just experiencing the process. i've shot a few rolls of film where i didn't even know what i was going to get back because i waited so long to either pay to get them developed or i took the time to develop them myself, and you know what, i was still happy with results, even if those results sucked. i'm subscribing after this one. not that it matters, but, it's nice to hear a fresh, and or, a real take on film photography and why people do it. i mean, beyond its resurgence with certain demographics that solely rely on the "film aesthetic".

Very thought provoking. I grew up in the film days and look forward to reading comments from those who didn't.

What an excellent video. Absolutely spot on. I grew up taking film, kept on it for years, moved to digital this century. Now mixing it up. btw, it's not just digital that can disappear : I had thousands of slides, prints and negatives destroyed by water whilst they were in the care of a storage company. I was not at all impressed.

I love looking at old photo's of people I dont even know. Always hoping that had happy and good lives.

It isn't just shooting film vs digital. It is using cameras made of brass and gears that have a weight to them. It is setting your shutter speed and aperture using your meter and your own intuition about the lighting and waiting until you get your pictures back to see if you made the right decision. I'm in my mid sixties and love shooting digital, but there is a visceral joy to using old Leica's and Nikons, Canons and Exaktas that you will never get using a plastic digital camera.

As I am now 58 I grew up with film. Digital started for me in the early 2000's. since retiring from social photography I now find my self yearning to shoot film again and also digital. I still don't know why but this video does ring true. I do make a point of printing my digital work ( only the stuff I like) in the hope it will stand the test of time. People simply don't print enough IMHO

I technically grew up in the digital era but I started with film, just got my first digital camera, and quickly am back to film. It just feels better. It’s more tangible, feels more like art, and you have to take more time with it. You have to be intentional. That’s why I love it personally. And nothing compares to printing in the darkroom

I shoot film because I love and miss using my film gear. I love looking at vintage photos from long ago, it's like walking into a time machine.

I shoot film and have mostly been brought up in the era of digital, though as a young child we did sometimes get given disposable cameras to take on a family holiday. Why do I shoot film? I guess in part because it feels like a reprieve from screens, which surround me the rest of the time whether its work or play. I like not having any temptation to immediately review shots seconds after they were taken; I like the excitement of waiting for a roll to be developed. I also like old things, and its fun to use old cameras from various eras and create good images with them.

Digital is for fun. Film is forever.

I, with pleasure took on the roll of Family Archivist and have pictures that date back to the civil war. I'm lucky, because I know who most of these people are and in the last few years gotten to know them intimately, through family history. Having been entrusted with these printed photos and daguerreotypes, I feel like I've resurrected their memories and been given the opportunity to celebrate them and their existence as my ancestors. Thank you so much for this video and your inspiration to All of Us!

I am 52, I received my first (film) camera at 12 for a Boy Scout trip to Japan. I did not really pay attention to photography until I became a father and my son started playing soccer. Digital was just getting big and I went in…, I have been a sports photographer and middling portrait shooter since. My nephew wanted to learn photography from the roots the other year. I picked us up a couple of Olympus OM-1’s and I now have a Bronica S2. I’ve learned to develop my b&w photos with Cafenol and have a ton of fun going on Photo Days with my nephew. Film is tangible not only for the prints, but for the memories made while looking for subject matter valuable enough to commit to film, the joy is sharing the hobby with someone close and the personal growth in the crafting of the images. Great discussion and photos.

Thanks for taking the time to scan all of these. This is one of the coolest videos I’ve watched in awhile. 🎉

Great discussion . At the old age of 77, I switched to digital at the turn of the century. Was shooting weddings. What a game changer, digital was..... Sold of all my 35mm and some medium format stuff, to purchase digital equipment. I did keep my 4x5 , one 6x6 and some rangefinders . Then about 4 years ago, I started seeing film videos on YT. I still had some developing equipment . Got the remaining cameras serviced, and started shooting film again. What a relaxing experience . I have to think, before I push the shutter button. Shot 10 sheets of 4x5, I decided that was too much , lugging gear around. My medium format is much better to hand hold, as is 35mm . However , I do scan all my film, as dark room processing is too much, and time consuming . But, I do not process the digital images, any further, than a lab would do . I still keep a digital camera on hand, for important work. Thanks. Take care. KB

Excellent reasons to keep on going in film! Thank you for the video!

I learned photography on film and switched to digital around the year 2000, and I came back to film 5 years ago. The 2 main reasons I still shoot film is the process of shooting film manual is mode complex, reading your light, which shutter speed to choose, the limitations of one ISO for differents situation, etc and the second factor is the feeling of the camera when you press the button to snap the shot. The feeling of my Nikon FE when you press the button is totally different of the one of my Nikon D750 or Nikon Z6, and if I shoot medium format with my Bronica ETR with the waist-level view finder, try copy that on a digital camera, IMPOSSIBLE

When you shoot film on 35mm you get 36 shots. These shots are expensive so you take care to get the right exposure and composition. You have to think as a photographer. Then you process the photos and it’s like your birthday or Christmas as you never know what you are gonna get. Sometimes you are disappointed but most of the time you are grateful and surprised. These images you can treasure for ever.

Very well formulated. You hit the nail of my thoughts as well 👍

Can someone tell kids of these days photography is not about sharpness and perfection but about capturing the moment and documenting history.. Those negatives and photos are just surreal.. and did you notice most of them were out of focus or not sharp ( but who cares in the real world other than gearheads and photography snubs ).. Film is just what we had when I was younger and going back to film is nolstagic..I still shoot digital but film's imperfection is what I love.. in music we call it ( Film's got a SOUL.. digital is soul less )

Great video. Like that you rescue and save old negatives. 👍

The people in these photos certainly dressed in their finest fine for these moments. Worth every penny to them, and should be framed and displayed again. Have not been in a darkroom in 28 years and looking forward to getting back into the game. Having bulk loaded my film back then, I have serious sticker shock with the prices. Two rolls of Ilford Pan F and SFX for $30 two weeks ago and I still have not taken a shot yet. Don't want to waste it but I will shoot soon.

Thanks, I really enjoyed your thoughtful and thought-provoking video. The photo sequence was very moving, all those lives. I recorded many family shots in the 1980s and 1990s on film and am rediscovering them recently by digitising the negatives, so a crossover of sorts. I also have come back to shooting film in the last few months and the process is a reward in itself, though costly :0

I started phototography more than half a century ago, when film was all there was. For the last 20 or so years, I have collected mechanical 35mm cameras. I like to use these cameras, and the most economical way to do this is monochrome film, which I bulk load, and process myself.

I will be 95 in a few days! Took my first photos by the end of WW II in France before serving in the US Army in 51-53. I was really in love with photography and movies later on. When I touch a negative I know it really «saw » the subject, the event, before it became an image ! Took my first professional wedding shots at age 21 ! only stopped a few years ago. My favorite BW camera has always been the Rollei SLR and SLX not the Leica even though I I own an M6 and love its construction. I miss developing and printing BW. Thank you for the video.

This video touched deep inside me. I thank you a lot for it. Merry Christmas

I'll soon start my 74th year. The reason I shoot film is I like fooling around, with a purpose, with my old cameras. I like taking pictures with the film cameras because they are different from the digital. I agree, it really isn't logical looking at the cost. However.... we spend our money some where in some way. I choose photography... the film variety. I really enjoyed your views on the why of shooting film. The slide show of the old photos was really nice. In an hour I go to pick up prints from my first roll through the Nikon FT N given to me by my bro-in-law. I just counted... I have ten film cameras now.

What a solid presentation. You have a great sounding voice - perfect for nostalgic memories. I just bought three cameras: Konica autoreflex TC (the camera I had to shoot my high school yearbook in 1981-83. I miss the darkroom) Holga 120 N (just because of its wackiness - will be sending a test roll along with the above Ilford HP5 400j Fujifilm X-T1 with the manual Samyang 8mm fisheye II that just arrived today - loving this, I miss velvia e6 so bad I love my digital - hate the post processing. This is why I chose fujifilm - film simulation. Love this. BUT there is something about film…I can touch it…I love velvia large format…like word processing vs writing with my fountain pens and typewriters…drawing and hammering letters. Thanks for a great memory…now I’m going to buy some old negatives and e6 from eBay. I’ve got my eye on Chroma cameras there six 17 and 8x10 just because YOLO!

I had this desensitized feeling recently with my photography as well, until I got my hands on a Zeiss macro lens and found an adapter for my mothers old Canon FD lenses (I'm using a 90D)... The manual focus forced me to slow down and become more in touch with what I was shooting...Those lenses came with my moms old AV-1 that I'm anxious to try out, though I find it a bit intimidating.

Nice, well done. Like you, I remember the film era. I used the RB67 in my studio for the year I had it open, I am not a people photographer but gave it a whirl. I have been a wildlife photographer for many years now but just got an RB67 again for landscapes and such. Thanks for a great video.

Digital or film, I print my favorite photos of the year annually. In fact, I am picking the photos of 2023 next weekend. Otherwise, these photos would be eventually lost in the computer.

Such a compelling and beautiful montage making your case for film so elegantly. Thank you! I too was moved by individual images, but also by the totality of many lives caught in their living moments. In addition to all the reasons for shooting film often mentioned, we cannot forget the effect on our human subjects when they observe us deploying our ancient cameras. The more arcane, the better. Portrait subjects sense, as you argue, that this image will have more value than all the phone pics they typically endure. It can transform the resulting image.

I was shooting fiom as a kid in the 80's and 90's as evevyone were at the time, but had a very cheap camera. In the early 2000's till a few years ago, i was mainly taking pictures with my cell phone. I was mostly interested in music and music gear at that time. And my step mom (my girlfriend's mom) passed away in 2017. While going through her stuff with my girlfriend, we found a old praktica mtl5b, and it clicked. I looked at my girlfriend and said I'm keeping this. And stating experimenting with it. Read many tutorial, watched countless videos on RU-vid. Bought a few more cameras, mostly Minoltas, got a bunches of lenses. Tried so many different films. Spent cash on get them developed, waiting to see how what i captured turned out. Sometimes it was really bad, sometimes, it was great. I love the feeling when you get your pictures. I recently bought a nikon d750, got my first photography contract. I love the camera and i can recognize the practical aspect of shooting digital, but my love for film is still there and can't wait to have a personal project to shoot.

Very nice Steve! I love finding old photos in antique stores. As you say, every single one was an image that meant something to someone, sometime. I think my main reasons for shooting film and 1) that it is, as you say, tangible, you can hold it in your hand and it will last a long time, and 2) I focus on older MF and LF because it's complex and difficult, which means every frame is taken with care and consideration. I think if I take a photo of you, the photo is a moment in your story, but the taking of the photo is a moment in my story. So the negative, or print, or whatever, is a unique moment where your story and my story intersected for an instant. I guess that concept is there with digital, but without that instant being transferred onto a physical object, a digital moment remains just a concept. Maybe that's why Instax has become popular, and Polaroid has made a comeback!

What a wonderful video musing on something inherently more interesting on the nuts & bolts of cameras and film stock (as interesting as those obviously are). Despite agonising over the cost and environmental footprint of film, I actually shoot film because it is an act of assigning value and import to people, places, moments... Something that digital, to my mind, due to its dematerialised, blasé, easy-come-easy go nature doesn't do. As somebody who sews her own clothes with linen and wool fabrics on a low-fi 1950s Singer sewing machine, I see a lot of parallels between photography and 'fashion', with digital photography - despite all its ease, technological potential, 'convenience' - being analogous to fast fashion: cheap, glitzy, synthetic abundance that loses its lustre within minutes... (And yes, of course, I clean and calibrate my secondhand sewing machine myself, just as I do my vintage cameras...)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, many of which I have shared with others re: digital vs. film over the past few years. And many thanks for sharing the images. The stories behind each one of them could make an interesting short story or even a book! Several images spoke to me so directly that they provoked an emotional response from within. And some,seem to be more; to be art. I starting shooting film when I was 8 years old and like you remember my first camera and photograph. I starting shooting film again three years ago for all the reasons you mentioned plus the joy (and frustration) of using the cameras themselves, which you lovingly share with us each week. Thanks for this video.

I recently got into film photography after shooting digital for all my life (I’m 38). I do recall seeing my mom’s photo book and how those photos made me feel. You nailed it with explaining how film carries some sentimental value to it. I find the process of shooting, waiting for my film to be developed and physically holding my photos so pleasing. I can say on one hand how many digital photos i’ve actually printed (3) in the last 10 years. I also feel like film photos feel more like a memory compared to anything digital. With that being said digital has allowed me to catch some amazing memories that film will have never allowed me to catch.

Film offers me the ability to pay homage, to practice the medium, to document history forever--physically, to be more creative, to use cameras and glass my idols and family used, to spread joy, to slow down, to be more thoughtful, to make it count, delayed gratification, to photograph the way it was designed. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL images at the end. I myself have bought and scanned images from the flea market as well, I gathered a collection of about 90 images of a single family over the course of a few months digging in a box of a couple thousand photos from a weekly seller. Over the course of these weeks I restored and scanned them all and did a huge amount of research to find the house that was in most of the photos, to put a long story short I plan to reunite all the images digitized and restored to the original family which I have identified, I visited the mausoleum where they are cremated and took flowers with some custom prints I made of the restorations embedded in the bouquet. I also visited the location of these photos to find a restored home and a nice new owner that had spent half a million bucks restoring to keep it original. I still get goosebumps thinking about all of it. Let's just say when I visited this family, after working on their images for hundreds of hours and feeling like I knew them, it was a more emotional experience visiting them than it is for family members I have lost.

Well well, i´am one of the people, that got into Film after digital. Although my very first photos were taken on an old single use p&s that my grandma gave me from time to time. I´am born in the late 90´s so i did grow up in an more and more digital world. My first own Camera was my frist phone. i think i was in the 6th grade, but the pictures from that phone... ohu well. I really dont want to call that musch a picture. When i was about 12 or so i got a phone with a camera that you cud use for something at least. I started to take pictures with that more and more. I always got the old phone of my Sister. My frist Photos that i took that i was impress by the Quality was from the IPhone 6 that i got from my Sister. After school during my social work year i Safed all my money that i got for my first "real" camera. A Canon 80D. I loved that Camera! I never payed more for anything else in my life before that. Well well. I had some good years with that Camera. And than around 6 Years ago i steppt into Film photography. I wanted to have a stronger connection with the pictures. I was board of all the Files on my Laptop. That at least 85% of the Pictures were Stuff that i don´t ever looked at again or deleted directly. Very very funny by the way was the Moment when i got my Canon 80D. The Camera arrived and i opend the Box. I did not have the money for a lens, so it was just the Body. My Dad started to smile and sad i shut wait a Sek. And that he got back with an old Camera case. Inside was his own Camera… It was a Canon T80... Well and there were these two, side by side. It was a spacial Moment for me. May by i had this story in my head with the pictures that my dad had taken. I started to look for a nice film camera. i got a Canon AE-1 (what else...) with a 50mm1.4. But Sadly the Camera had some problem. So a started to get into the repair side. And so the story went on and on. For about 2 Months now i a have a Darkroom and i develop all my film myself. A lot of Cameras gotten through my Hands since. I sold most of my little collection and just have some very nice once left. Film photography has gotten so important to me, especially in the corona years, that i´am now thinking about may by looking for a job in that world. Lets see what will come. But for me, its one of the biggest joys to work on a camera that may by is broken or something, bring it back to life and that go out and shoot with it. Now that i just stuck my thoes into the Darkroom world, i can hear alice calling from far once again.

Thanks for posting this video. The old photos and plates are fascinating! What a treasure! It's also great to see how many younger photographers pick up analog photography even though they started with digital, as analog already wasn't a thing anymore when they first picked up a camera or smartphone.

Well, I’ve gotta admit I’m a bit older then the digital age. My father used to do photography. And won prizes with it in the late 70’s early 80’s before I even was born. He took me a few times into the darkroom and showed me the magic of light and chemistry. Sadly he passed away early in my life. However my teenage years where all on film. Mostly on trow away cameras I shot everything I thought was pretty to shoot. Vacations, little trips. Time spend with girlfriend. (Whom I later married.) Then we got kids in the early 00’s film was there still. But digital was more convenient. A few clicks a print and there was a picture. Now… 20 years later. I look back on there lives. And think sometimes. I made pictures. And a lot of my kids. And A Lot of pictures. But like you said. I have lost so manier pictures to failing harddrives. That I now wish I shot it all on film. My brother in law I had a connection with photography also. We used to compare and contrast with each other. He passed half a decade ago and photography took a backseat. Fast forward to today. I bought an AE-1 something that looked like what my dad had. But he was a Nikon man. And you know kids like to go against their parents in some way or another. I still have the negatives from my childhood. Sadly I don’t have the harddrives of my kids pictures anymore.

Most excellent video! Liked and Subscribed!

You talked about the cost of film, but the cost of equipment is another factor that may be just as important. I have a nice collection of Canon manual focus cameras and FD lenses that I purchased over the the last 40 years. Some of these lenses cost 5%-10% of the price of an equivalent modern autofocus lens. It's a similar situation with the camera bodies - $200 vs. $2500 and up. In most cases, the modern digital cameras have capabilities I simply don't need. I did buy my first "real" digital camera for an upcoming project, but I'm using an old manual focus lens with it because the modern equivalent is simply unaffordable for me. While learning the digital camera and the accompanying workflow, my feeling is that there is too much choice. When I shoot with film, I can take a picture and say that's what the scene looked like, even if it may be lacking in some ways. With digital, there are a thousand ways to manipulate the image to change the look. Which one, if any, is "real"? This is a purely emotional reaction on my part, but this aspect of digital repels me. Ultimately, there is a place for both. For me, I'm going to take my old film cameras and go out and learn the things I should have learned 40 years ago instead of setting the camera on Auto and just firing away. I've always just documented. Now I want to learn how to see.

Even I will have to sell a kidney, I will still shoot film.

Why shoot film? Why Not! I grewe up shooting film and treasure my negative collection. I have documented many things. Everyone should do sol. I loved your video!!!

VERY well said. Great video, please keep it up

I am 70. I've been in photography since 1971. Ive been all film, then in 2004 I went all digital. I have ALL the countless frames of film in formats from 35mm slide to 5x7 chromes. I have a light box and can hold the image in my hand. It exists. I have almost NO images from the 2005 to 2012 because of file corruption and failing to CONTINUALLY back up my digital images. Film is like an acoustic guitar. Digital is like an electric guitar. For black and white walk around I shoot film For color walk around I shoot digital. When I have enough images that I feel cover a personal project, I down load the best images onto my computer and design and self publish fine photo books or monographs. That way the best of my digital work is archived in print and available on Amazon. For serious landscape and urban environment I shoot both black and white and color medium/ large format film.

I still have my childhood camera that my dad gave me when I was 4. An Imperial Mark XII Flash plastic 620 film camera. Just recently shot a roll with it after I modified a 120 roll. I also recently found the negatives of my first roll.

Wonderful content and lovely old photos. I am an old film shooter. I shoot both film & digital now, but with film I get so much more satisfaction. Thanks so much for this video!

I so appreciate the succinct description of the value of film photography (no pun intended). Very thought-provoking and deepens my reflection on re-entering black-and-white film photography. A big part of it for me is the process: developing the work from beginning to the end. It slows me down. Causes me to really think about the value of what I’m seeing and trying to communicate.

I'm coming to this video unusually late for me, but I thought that I would add my own reasons for shooting film. Initially, it was simply because I can. I had learned how to develop it for myself and thought that I would enjoy diving down this particular rabbit hole. At this point, your value comment is one that I agree with. I often shoot film when I especially value my subject. This has become so strong that I am hoping in the next year to build a small dark room and take it all a step further, producing prints as well. The other aspect as an everlasting student is the education value that I get from shooting film. I have learned so much more that it improves all aspects of my photography. So whilst I am not a pure film photographer, I value the craft immensely.

So well put. I feel the same and now understand why people appreciate the photos I take on film a little bit better.

Being born in November of 1998 (currently 25 years old), my experience with film growing up was basically taking my moms point and shoot out on the farm or on a family trip and taking whatever random photos I felt like. At the end of the roll we would take it to our local drug store or Walmart to have developed for 5 bucks in an hour while we browsed around in the store. Now that I'm an adult, I take film alot more serious and put time and effort into every frame because as you mentioned it is not economically friendly. There is a certain value to each image you capture, and doing street photography, like I mostly do, you run into and have conversations with some amazing people that otherwise you would have avoided because they look "weird" or "dirty" or just simply because they are strangers. The whole process of film is delightful and the memories are more "permanent" in the sense that you remember taking the photo alot more than digital. I can easily burst 30 photos in a few seconds on my digital camera, or I can set up my camera and composition carefully and take one, maybe two frames of the same subject on film and be alot happier with the results. I love this channel and am very happy I found it. By chance, your metering video was in my recommended and I sat and watched the entire video and I am glad I did.

Even an amatuer such as I can find digital images, not to mention the experience, less than enchanting after a couple decades. Well said. One thing though; the initial outlay for a digital camera and a lens or two need to be part of the per shot cost calculation. I just bagged a little old 35mm slr from the early 50s for $100, and it's recently had a cla - new shutter curtain, for example. Compare that to my current basic digital gear costing $2500 in 2017, even ignoring the fact it's an upgrade from 3 previous cameras I didn't wear out, by the time the shutter wears out it will have cost about 10 cents per shutter actuation. Still a lot cheaper than film, but I'll wear it out faster than any mechanical film camera, allowing myself more latitude for bracketing and such. For the difference, I can afford, at the rate I'll use it, a few years worth of film and processing, and I count that money better spent, for me, than upgrading to the next level digitally.

I shoot mostly digital but love loading up one of my various film cameras and enjoying it old school like I did in the 80s and 90s. I love buying vintage cameras and trying them out. It’s an absolute joy 👍📸

I grew up with digital cameras, and with the start of the age of smartphones that we have now. The main things that drew me to film were being able to use older cameras, as I've always had an interest in vintage stuff and technology, but also the fact that as a medium film is far more tangible than digital. You said it well in the video, you at least have the negatives, instead of just files on some hard drive. The process of taking each picture and then developing each roll is something that is just nothing like digital, and I find it more fun than digital.

I shoot film because it's fun and the images look good.

Excellent though provoking video, thanks for sharing. I started shooting film in the 1960s when I got my dad's old Agfa Isola 6x6 camera. At one point I had a darkroom and enlarger, then haven't shot for a while. I tried digital several times but never really managed to connect to it beyond using my phone. I returned to film maybe 5-6 years ago, the main attraction is that it forces me to slow down, especially shooting medium and large format. The need to slow down, think about the exposure and framing, adjust exposure, etc., is very meditative for me. Not to mention messing with the chemicals and the anticipation of seeing the developed image. I don't care if my images have any intrinsic value or they last after I am gone. I just like the process and enjoy the tactile feeling of mechanical cameras.

I love old photo's, and they always seems to have a natural composition we seldom see these, days

Thanks 👍

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this excellent video. And the slide show is all the proof one needs, film is worth the extra cost. Oh boy, thank you very much for sharing this.

I play with cameras everyday. I have a film camera shop and there's nothing like film. Fuji specifically and a few others, a little Photoshop work you can get similar film like look. But it's just not the same. Especially printing. Lastly, there are so many film cameras and they all have a a unique design and are a beautiful object themselves.

The reason I enjoy film became apparent this year when my mother gave me an envelope of negatives. The colour and quality is impressive. Most of the photos where taken on my fathers Canon AE-1 which I shoot with today. I now have images that I thought were lost to time. With a bit of research, I have even figured out the dates and these photos are now in chronological order. I can see the importance of documenting family and community with film moving forward. I like to think that “nostalgia is the patina of the mind”. Thanks for sharing such a great video.

Thank you for sharing those photos. That was fun. I don't know that I am creating much with my photography. I mainly shoot film because I like old cameras. I am working on my skills, and you are helping me with that. Thanks.

Great work on those old images, they are worth saving. Such things allow me to lay my eyes on people I would have never seen, in this life, and it allows me to add them into my prayers, as I do with all people I see. They made good efforts in making those old photos and deserve a salute to the unknown photographers. Life is fleeting indeed, and those images provide food for thought. Good work! Have a blessed Christmas!

Great video and fantastic photos... I just hope that I can create photos that nice some day lol. Its amazing how nice those photos look after all those years. Thanks for taking the time to scan and edit and convert blah blah and bring those images back to life.

I enjoyed hearing some of your personal work history. When the series of antique photos began, I stopped and cleaned my glasses for a better look. The clarity and evocative nature of those old photos is wonderful. Thanks a lot. I really enjoyed this one. I’m using a Rolleicord and a C220 w/ 55mm lens. Good luck to you too! (from Victoria, BC)

Excellent video. My father and several uncles were good amateur photographers and I've managed to save 100's of pictures of family and friends, some from before I was born. My father bought me my first camera when I was about eight. That was about 1960. I've been a film photographer ever since with the exception of about 10 yrs. around the turn of the century. For serious photography for a serious amateur that was a huge and regretful mistake. For the person who is thinking about getting into photography as a serious hobby you need t factor in the entry level cost of a quality camera which you can control and understand. For film you can get an excellent used working camera for $100. I just looked up prices for Fuji and Nikon quality cameras $1000 - $2000. That's a lot of film. If yo really care about the quality of your result and take your time planning to get it, what's 0.35 or 0.40 cents. The same cost as shooting a deer rifle.

I’ve moved away from film. About 80% of my output is b&w but I don’t have a darkroom to produce a print that I visualised when taking the picture. So I have to shoot colour, scan in and then use the software to produce what I want. It’s just easier to cut out the film. Also, having 36 shots on a roll is annoying. I never use a whole roll in one session and you can bet the light conditions are very different when I next want to shoot, probably making the choice of film in the camera not as good as it could be. I’d rather use 120 - my old Mamiya 7 only got 10 shots per role. If companies went back to producing 12 shot film canisters I might be persuaded.

Agree with every word of this. And smiled all the way through the old photographs you showed - thanks for posting.

I've gotten really into shooting film over the last year, my dad who is a professional photographer who came up during film and switched to digital is baffled that I'm sticking to analog. But for me who's only doing it as a hobby I find it much more satisfying. You're involved at every step of the process, from picking the right film for the situation, working with a camera that's a mechanical device that you manipulate to get the most out of that particular film, carefully considering the composition to not waste your precious few frames, then taking time to properly develop and scan the negatives. It takes work and planning and there's risk involved, at any step you could screw it up. But when you get those few perfect shots from a roll it really feels like you earned it and that you actually created something beautiful. I don't get that feeling from pointing a sensor at something and pushing a button.

It’s all very well having the facility to have endless photographs on a sd card but if you don’t print them off they are just digital naughts and crosses that will disappear at some point. How soon before the current latest technology is obsolete. Take pictures. Make pictures. Use film. Simples.

Well slowing down is a big part pf the process I think, that and creating something tangible from a fleeting moment maybe never to be seen again. Digital makes the whole process so much easier but sometimes you wonder who took the photo, you or the modern little beast of a camera, more so with evfs today.

oh what a brilliant images you preserved - thanks for sharing. i consider modern digital photograpfy too perfect and literal. i love the way film renders the light. i myself see things more like film does. i would have to be stoned to see all those hdr landscapes so popular in digital photography nowadays. it is not necessarily bad. if someone enjoy that - go ahead. i am more into film aesthethic with it's limitations, imperfections and character.

Maybe it's my film brain kicking in, but I don't reuse my memory cards. I consider them my film of those images and store them somewhere safe offline. I don't use the crazy expensive Sony cards or shoot 1000 photos at every event (see film brain comment)

Started shooting film late 70s, turned pro transitioned to digital. These days only shoot for my own pleasure and use both. I like film for its special quality, permanence and in a new era of ai its realness for want of a better word.

Great episode. Very much appreciated your take on film photography.

As you mentioned, with digital photography, I can easily fire off hundreds of shots in a day, adopting the mindset that it won’t cost me anything extra. Later, I spend hours selecting the best ones, which might honestly be just a few. Digital photography’s speed allows me not to worry about what to capture; I can take everything and sort out the issues later. Conversely, film photography requires more thought and evaluation (which can be a good or bad thing). And as for memory, I believe digital ultimately captures more memories. This is because I might skip certain scenes on film, knowing they might not result in a good photo, whereas with digital, I might still take the shot, regardless of how it might turn out. I just made the switch from digital to film last year and am still trying to balance between the two. I can certainly see the value in shooting film, but on the other hand, I feel like I’m losing a lot of ‘bad’ shots with potentially good memories when shooting digitally.