An article to think about

[KVRNut 0]

I guess that when it boils right down to the bone, photography is like fly fishing. You use what ever you're comfortable using and what works best for you. I still take my 25+ year old fiberglass fly rods with me when I head out and I still use them on occasion just because I love the memories of the fishing trips we've shared and the fish we've caught. I may look pretty silly with my grin on my face when I'm using old rods but the fiberglass rods have their own "feel" unlike the graphite rods and I find the same applies to cameras. My older Canon TL feels way different than the TX, the AE-1, T-70, or the EOS 3, but like the fly rods, it's the enjoyment of using them and the challenge being able to get the best I can out of them that I love.

 

Both digital and film have their strengths and weaknesses. It's being able to combine the technologies into an unbeatable team that makes the difference. I know that some day when I win the lottery or finally get enough cash set aside, I'll be able to afford a full frame digital to use along side and with my film cameras to get the best possible pictures I can by using the digital to help set up the film pictures, but until that day arrives, I'll be praying quietly that the pictures turn out when I push my envelope as far as my capabilities and skill with a camera are concerned.

 

Yes digital has come a looooong way in picture quality but personally, I love the clarity, the depth, the over all look of a transparency that I have yet to see with a digital. A good percentage of the film I have is slide film and I feel that I'll be using more of the transparency film in the future. I love using film and I more than willingly put up with the "drawbacks" of using it. That's just my personal taste, that's all, and by no means or way am I putting down the digital images I've seen here as quite a few of them have caused severe bruising of my chin when my jaw hits the keyboard. Guess I'm going to have to pick up a well padded keyboard one of these days...

 

Yesterday, I went in to pick up some film at a larger photography store and got to chatting with the girl behind the counter. She made the remark on how the film sales have been increasing steadily over the past while. The expiry dates on the film show me that the stock is fresh and that she wasn't just trying to promote sales. There's a new market out there for film now and it's due to digital. With the amount of good used professional quality film equipment that is being sold at affordable prices now, people like me are buying it and learning to use it. A few years ago, there was no way I could have afforded to try MF but now I have a good quality MF camera that I look forward to using a lot and it's just because someone decided to change media and go to digital. Am I happy? You bet your :bugeyes: I am! There's a growing market and demand for good used film equipment and I see it in the way that used film camera prices have been increasing over time. Digital has increased the interest in photography and people are wanting to try other forms of photography, including film. At work, there's a few digital users who have come up to me with a film SLR that was given to them and asked me how to work the camera because they were either intimidated by it or just didn't understand how to use it or what all the numbers on the camera body and lens meant. It feels pretty neat when those same folks come up to me later with a pile of their first pictures that they took using a film camera.

 

Yeah, there's lots of room for both digital and film in the photogrpahy world and I hope I'm long dead before the last roll of film is shot. Like Stu, I'll be putting my good (make that all) of my pictures on film too.

Just remember that it's not what you use, but how you use it and if you enjoy using it that counts in the big picture.

 

Think I'll get off my pulpit now and go visit an old fiberglass friend for a while.

Take care!

Ernie

[Guest]

Holy Cow Ernie, I think that is the longest post you have ever made here. :hyst:

 

Jim

[KVRNut 0]

Guess instead of my 2 cents worth Jim, I put in a quarter. I do get pretty long winded at times. Just ask Stu! :hyst:

I just hope I didn't raise any hackles or ruffle any feathers with my perspective on the topic.

Ernie

[Guest]

Well Ernie, like peter said. We are all friends and sometimes friends dissagree but we are still friends.

 

Jim

[Peterjay 0]

For some reason, it doesn't surprise me at all that an astute guy like Ernie still uses a fiberglass rod. I got a nice fiberglass 8 1/2 footer for Christmas one year when I was a kid. (it took an HCH line - that's how long ago it was LOL) and it's still the best trout rod I've ever used. I've never owned a graphite rod that's had the delicate touch that that glass rod had. I'd still be using it if it hadn't been stolen. Why the burglars took it is beyond me - they took all my saltwater stuff, including my diving gear, but that fly rod was over 20 years old and wasn't worth a nickel to anyone but me.

 

I think one of the reasons that individual stores see an increase in film sales is that there are fewer places to buy it these days and the places that do sell it will sell more of it. When I was up in RI last year, I planned on picking up some 120 film, since I couldn't find any in our part of NY. I checked the 4 or 5 camera stores that I'd frequented when I lived there, and sadly, every one of them had gone out of business, and they'd all been in business for years, a couple of them for generations. I finally located a store in Newport that had some 120, so I made the 45 minute drive over there and bought out the entire stock. The owner told me that he had exactly 2 customers left who still used film, and that he stocked it more as a courtesy to them than anything else. It's really sad to see so many camera stores going down - they used to be the places where photographers hung out, and I've met a lot of interesting people and picked up a lot of useful information in places like that. Every town of any size used to have one, but I was only able to find 2 or 3 in the whole state last year. It's great that the digital revolution is turning a lot of people on to photography, but it's sad to count the casualties, especially the "Mom and Pop" outfits.

[little laker 0]

Thats sad but so true Peter.

It's the mom and pop outfits that will loose out in the end with the digital era.

 

The BIG department stores will most likely take over from them, although we'll probably never get the service.

 

My local camera store told me just today that they'll only be processing film 2 days a week soon, and they'll probably phase it out completely in the next year.

They're teaching me the basics so I can process my own, but it's still a shame.

[KVRNut 0]

Tell you what Peter, if you and me ever get together to do some trout fishing, there will be two guys with grins on their faces because I've got 2 fiberglass rods that I use, both 8wt. One for you, and one for me. That's a promise!! Least I can do for a fellow astute conniseur of fine fiberglass.

 

I have to agree with you on the demise of the M&P camera stores. It is a real shame. The big problem is that they can't compete with the bigger box stores that seem to be taking over the retail market. Those box stores have such buying power that they litterally dirive the M&Ps out of business. I know that hell will freeze over before I ever step one foot into a Wal-Mart Photo dept again or any Wal-Mart again. Here in Kelowna, we've been pretty lucky so far with only one M&P that I know of going down the tubes. There is one that I patronize as much as I can buy buying my film and camera gear there. There is also a chain camera store that just opened and even though the staff are eager to please, I'll only go there to get film and gear I can't get anywhere else. Both locations offer 24 hr. processing with 120 film and hour processing with 35mm film. There's a couple of drug stores that offer 35mm film processing and they do a fine job in my estimation. It's just getting transparency film processed and mounted that can be a bit of a bear at times. One other thing I notice is that I used to be able to go into a store and pick up a roll of 100 or 200 film. Good luck now if they carry 400 film or any film at all. There's only one drug store here that carries a decent selection of film and that's because they have a busy lab on site.

 

Stu, that's a real shame that film processing is being phased out in your town. Guess the closest place you can get 120 or 35mm processed is here in Kelowna. I'm pretty sure that Oliver offers 35mm processing though. Will talk more when I see you.

 

Ernie

 

 

[Peterjay 0]

Ernie, one of these days I'm going to take you up on that. (I haven't forgotten those bull trout pix you posted LOL) We plan to get back out west at some point and revisit some of the places we fished and photographed when we lived out there. BTW, I think we passed through Kelowna some years ago on our way back from Jasper NP. I remember having lunch in Kamloops and heading south on our way back to Idaho, and Kelowna seems to ring a bell. Really nice country. Speaking of fiberglass, I've been thinking of picking up a blank or maybe a finished rod for next spring. Diamondback sells a 5wt that looks pretty decent. Definitely gonna give some serious thought to that. Anyway it's good to see they're still available - glass rods were pretty hard to find for a while, at least in the places I was looking.

[little laker 0]

Tell you what Peter, if you and me ever get together to do some trout fishing, there will be two guys with grins on their faces because I've got 2 fiberglass rods that I use, both 8wt. One for you, and one for me. That's a promise!! Least I can do for a fellow astute conniseur of fine fiberglass.

 

I have to agree with you on the demise of the M&P camera stores. It is a real shame. The big problem is that they can't compete with the bigger box stores that seem to be taking over the retail market. Those box stores have such buying power that they litterally dirive the M&Ps out of business. I know that hell will freeze over before I ever step one foot into a Wal-Mart Photo dept again or any Wal-Mart again. Here in Kelowna, we've been pretty lucky so far with only one M&P that I know of going down the tubes. There is one that I patronize as much as I can buy buying my film and camera gear there. There is also a chain camera store that just opened and even though the staff are eager to please, I'll only go there to get film and gear I can't get anywhere else. Both locations offer 24 hr. processing with 120 film and hour processing with 35mm film. There's a couple of drug stores that offer 35mm film processing and they do a fine job in my estimation. It's just getting transparency film processed and mounted that can be a bit of a bear at times. One other thing I notice is that I used to be able to go into a store and pick up a roll of 100 or 200 film. Good luck now if they carry 400 film or any film at all. There's only one drug store here that carries a decent selection of film and that's because they have a busy lab on site.

 

Stu, that's a real shame that film processing is being phased out in your town. Guess the closest place you can get 120 or 35mm processed is here in Kelowna. I'm pretty sure that Oliver offers 35mm processing though. Will talk more when I see you.

 

Ernie

I'm back safe and sound Ernie,

The roads weren't really that bad, although the visibility was pour whenever someone passed.

 

I don't think that I'll be heading into Grand Forks tomorrow, although I'll send Bill an e-mail tonight.

 

Ernie, one of these days I'm going to take you up on that. (I haven't forgotten those bull trout pix you posted LOL) We plan to get back out west at some point and revisit some of the places we fished and photographed when we lived out there. BTW, I think we passed through Kelowna some years ago on our way back from Jasper NP. I remember having lunch in Kamloops and heading south on our way back to Idaho, and Kelowna seems to ring a bell. Really nice country. Speaking of fiberglass, I've been thinking of picking up a blank or maybe a finished rod for next spring. Diamondback sells a 5wt that looks pretty decent. Definitely gonna give some serious thought to that. Anyway it's good to see they're still available - glass rods were pretty hard to find for a while, at least in the places I was looking.

You'll like this Peter,

I'll probably be building my first rod this winter.

A 4wt rod kit was worked into the deal with the sale of one of my pano's

[Peterjay 0]

Stu, I like the way you do business. I've never built one from scratch either, but I already know how to install guides, (a good skill to learn if you fish a lot of salt water) and there's a wealth of information on the rod building forum. Seeing some of the beauties the guys over there have built makes me want to give it try. Don't forget to post a pic when you get it done.