hehe... i know *exactly* what you mean. i went from EOS with 2 shitty lenses to A-1 with 55/1.2 ASPH SSC and few other high-end lenses which i couldn't afford in EOS/EF versions in a million years.
so not only did i get the film atmosphere, wide choice of emulsions and chemical manipulation etc., but also amazing lenses which enriched my photography more than anything...
besides, i figured there's always time to go back digital. each year you have better and cheaper cameras. film will only be here for so long, and i'd never get over it if i didn't make the best use of it while i still can.
okay, maybe i'm a specific example because i originally was a film shooter, went digital only when my old camera broke, but i didn't really like it. souless shots. too realistic. ordinary. not my kind of thing.
I'm very on the fence... I think the best plan for me is to get the film kit in addition to the digital, as I'd probably still use my D80 for when film would be inconvenient. Summer is approaching so I can do a few photo/graphic jobs, and by autumn I'll have my FM3a + 50mm f/1.2 + tons of film to use for some awesome low-light photography... I'll have to learn the developing process too. If I wasn't so new to film (I got puzzled when I had load a roll of film in a friends' compact - disgraceful I know) I would probably swap my current kit out without hesitation, but the extra stuff I'd have to get (such as a scanner) means that I'll just gradually ease into it.
But I can't wait until I have that solid piece of gear that'll last me a lifetime, and I'll actually be able to use a 50mm as a 50mm. Good thing is with Nikons I can share *most* of my lenses, so I'll still be able to use the 1.2 on my D80 (albeit without metering, though I can learn to guesstimate). Using a film camera seems much more fun too, manually focus, release the shutter and advance the frame... Digital seems much more clinical and less involving... Your point about newer, better digital cameras coming out every year is very true and I won't be losing out much since the lens mounts will stay the same. Anyway, I've got some saving to do.
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yeah, shooting film without a decent scanner is just half the experience. for past 10 years i've been using cheap lab scans and i'm painfully aware of their shortcomings. in short, if it's a color negative, you can live with it. for everything else, you'll hardly have a decent idea of what's actually on the film. especially when you get into experimenting. for example: [link] left is a standard lab scan, right is a good scanner. no comment necessary?
so after years of saving i managed to buy a really good scanner, and i've never looked back. the only problem: it cost as much as a professional dSLR. but oh well. i'm really into film so it felt justified. i just hope all labs don't close in next 2 years because i'll be left with a $1500 piece of useless machinery.
but okay, if you don't need 25 megapixel blow-ups of film frames like i do, you can get by pretty cheap.
you're lucky with nikon, i really respect their decision to retain backwards compatibility for lens mount. it really means a lot to share lenses on digital and film bodies, very cost-effective. if you earn with photography, it's a good idea to keep shooting assignments with digital camera, because with film you never really know until it's developed. no histogram, no checking for motion blur, no anything. you live in ignorance, and that's part of the charm purely artistic photography is a whole different story though (if you just sell prints afterwards).
I think I'll just use the ghetto method of taking a photo of the developed photo with my dSLR, that way I'll get the overall 'feel' of the photo (those lab scans are horrendous) without having to get a expensive scanner. 25mp blow ups do sound tempting though. Haha. What do you mean by being left with a useless $1.5k piece of machinery if all the labs close? You won't be able to scan in the negatives?
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PROTIP: Take your dustbin to the supermarket with you so that you can see what items you've recently run out of.
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PROTIP: Take your dustbin to the supermarket with you so that you can see what items you've recently run out of.
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so not only did i get the film atmosphere, wide choice of emulsions and chemical manipulation etc., but also amazing lenses which enriched my photography more than anything...
besides, i figured there's always time to go back digital. each year you have better and cheaper cameras. film will only be here for so long, and i'd never get over it if i didn't make the best use of it while i still can.
okay, maybe i'm a specific example because i originally was a film shooter, went digital only when my old camera broke, but i didn't really like it. souless shots. too realistic. ordinary. not my kind of thing.
so... what will you do? (;
But I can't wait until I have that solid piece of gear that'll last me a lifetime, and I'll actually be able to use a 50mm as a 50mm. Good thing is with Nikons I can share *most* of my lenses, so I'll still be able to use the 1.2 on my D80 (albeit without metering, though I can learn to guesstimate). Using a film camera seems much more fun too, manually focus, release the shutter and advance the frame... Digital seems much more clinical and less involving... Your point about newer, better digital cameras coming out every year is very true and I won't be losing out much since the lens mounts will stay the same. Anyway, I've got some saving to do.
--
PROTIP: Take your dustbin to the supermarket with you so that you can see what items you've recently run out of.
left is a standard lab scan, right is a good scanner. no comment necessary?
so after years of saving i managed to buy a really good scanner, and i've never looked back. the only problem: it cost as much as a professional dSLR. but oh well.
but okay, if you don't need 25 megapixel blow-ups of film frames like i do, you can get by pretty cheap.
you're lucky with nikon, i really respect their decision to retain backwards compatibility for lens mount. it really means a lot to share lenses on digital and film bodies, very cost-effective.
if you earn with photography, it's a good idea to keep shooting assignments with digital camera, because with film you never really know until it's developed. no histogram, no checking for motion blur, no anything. you live in ignorance, and that's part of the charm
purely artistic photography is a whole different story though (if you just sell prints afterwards).
--
PROTIP: Take your dustbin to the supermarket with you so that you can see what items you've recently run out of.
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