Going back to film...

[Jonny69]

Has anyone gone back to film? I've been thinking about this for quite a while now. I've been both amazed and disappointed with my DSLR, but I think the straw that broke the camel's back was I saw someone thumbing through a thick wad of photos in a Starbucks the other week. Now, it didn't click at the time, but it must be a clear ten years since I saw someone in public with a pack of photos.

So I was thinking sinceI've had a lot of practice I might go completely manual, but I've got no idea where you'd get stuff like light meters from these days. I also quite fancy a 110 SLR, but it looks like there is no new film any more and what is out there is long-expired. There seems to be 35mm film in date, but where does one get it processed? I doubt Boots do it any more...

[petemc]

Boots will do C41 colour and black and white film, in 1 hour.

I have more film cameras than digital. Digital is for work. Film is for play.

The thing you have to remember is that film is romantic. There's a lovely feeling to sitting down with an album and browsing prints but it'll cost. Film isn't cheap. Development isn't cheap. Can you afford to waste shots? By that I mean each shot will cost you money. Each bad shot costs you money. Can you afford that?

[Jonny69]

I'll probably stick to digital for putting things online, like my projects and cooking and stuff. Keep film for the holiday and family shots. But yeah, essentially, I shot on film for years and it was never a problem. I think the only thing I'll miss is being able to set the white balance, but I can probably get around that by shooting in B&W :D

Cool, I didn't know Boots still processed film. What about buying it in the first place? I see you can get 200 ISO 36 shot film for about £2 on eBay with a year or so left on the date. Do you get yours online or do places still sell it? Come to think of it, there's a camera shop on the high-street near work and I bet they still sell film and process it.

[Joe 90]

I wish my old Zenith EM still worked (shutter is stuck) as I really enjoyed shooting with that.

Recently though I have been tempted by a Lomo fisheye because they're £40, which is better than a fisheye for the DSLR!

[petemc]

Jacobs sells film. Probably cheaper online. If you want to shoot b&w that Boots will process then buy Ilford XP2 ISO400 film.