For the next couple of weeks my friend Drew and I will be inventorying and selecting camera equipment from my shop to take to the upcoming Vancouver used camera sale.
I usually don’t think about film much, but with the surprising interest I have seen at the last two Vancouver used camera shows I will be setting aside digital cameras and taking mostly film cameras, lenses and film accessories.
The Vancouver sale will give me a welcome chance to exchange thoughts with (mostly young) photographers who are using film in this day of digital technology. As I said I haven’t really taken film seriously, and other than my rarely used old Pentax 6X7 that was made in the late 1960s I always shoot digital. But the many avid film users are a large community here in British Columbia make me very aware that shooting with film cameras is not to be left behind.
I have mostly thought of film as a “retro” thing. Kind of like records and record players, or restoring and driving 1970s cars I suppose. I refuse to get into the boring and wearisome conversation discussion of film versus digital. Film is very different than digital and that is a more interesting topic to exchange views on. I think it depends on how one wants to visually discuss their subject and I think the technological cross breeding of film and digital can be exciting and rewarding.
That said, in my long experience teaching photography I do believe that digital camera users become more knowledgeable photographers faster because of the instant reinforcement of their camera’s LCD, and it is so easy and quick to check images on a computer display. I disagree with those that say, “Film cameras are the best way to learn photography.” I think that idea comes from older photographers that were forced to start with film’s long and demanding approach to photography.
The dialogue now may be about computers, monitors and software programs. However, with film we wanted the best enlargers, and enlarger light sources. What lens was mounted on the enlarger was as important as the lens on our cameras. I remember having a cabinet filled with many different kinds of enlarging papers from around the world, and another stacked with a wide assortment of developing chemicals for film processing and printing. And as with modern digital photographers I researched cameras, but it wasn’t about megapixels. I was 35mm, 2 1/4 and 4X5 formats in my quest for what would fit the kind of subjects I was photographing.
There is a strong and creative movement into film right now that is worth paying attention to. Many of the old processes are being resurrected and may be changing to meet the times and the technological cross-breeding of film and digital is exciting and rewarding. And with a few exceptions at the Vancouver used camera sale on Sunday April 30th, film cameras will be a bargain.
I’ll end with this quote I have used before by the famous Life magazine photographer, John Loengard. “When someone holds a camera in their hands they have a lifetime of experience processing visual imagery. The success their image is how it works for them.”
Stay safe and be creative. These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net.
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