Nikon abandons film

[Boyd Ostroff]

Dating myself a bit here, but my Nikons go back to the 60's :-) And I inherited my dad's camera collection which includes leicas', contax'es, rollei's, speed graphic's and lots of other film cameras. However they all sit in a trunk in the basement and I haven't felt the slightest urge to put a roll of film in them ever since I got hooked on digital photography. But I will grant you one thing; it certainly is possible to get a roll of film and start shooting with one of those 60 year old Leica's. I doubt that my heirs will be able to do the same thing with my CoolPix 5700 in the year 2063 ;-)

[Frank Granovski]

And I inherited my dad's camera collection which includes leicas', contax'es, rollei's, speed graphic's and lots of other film cameras.

You lucky, lucky b_gger! All I inherited was a bunch of guns.

[Rob Belics]

All I have is my 1977 Olympus OM2 and lenses. But I haven't bought anything new in decades. Never even had to have it fixed.

Frank, you could always meet Boyd, go in heavy, and persuade him to make a trade. :)

[Frank Granovski]

Now there's a thought. But there's the small matter of airport security.

For some reason my dad loved guns. I guess because he used them in WW2. Oh, and he also liked German cameras and German motorcycles. He kept trying to talk me out of those I. T. bikes...bless his soul---I'll never sell that Beemer.

[Boyd Ostroff]

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Belics :Frank, you could always meet Boyd, go in heavy, and persuade him to make a trade. :) -->>>

Yeah, but I could get it all on film.... uh, that is if I had any film ;-)

Actually it's ironic... my grandfather left me his rifle when I was a teenager and I learned how to use it, got pretty good at target shooting. Then in college when I was a hippie marching for peace and love, I sold it. A few years later I really regretted doing that since it was something he valued and I knew he wanted me to have. Like the song says "you don't know what you've got till it's gone" :-)

(BTW Rob, St. Louis is my hometown, and my daughter is finishing up college there now. Great city!)

[Wayne Orr]

Interesting bit of nostalgia, Boyd. I remember reading awhile back about New Zealanders, who agreed to give up their guns after an horrific shooting by a maniac that took the lives of children and adults. One fellow turned in a rifle that was used by his father in WWII, and bemoaned the sentimental value of the gun, but at the same time understood the correctness of a law aimed at saving the lives of innocent people. Here in the States, we are subject to rhetoric about prying guns from "my cold dead fingers," in the name of upholding our Constitutional rights. But the fact of the matter is that gun ownership tends to enflame emotions, and my hat is off to those who can look beyond their emotions and have the guts to turn in their guns.

I'm not looking to start anything here, just thought I'd make a personal observation. I know this is not a popular position, and I have heard all the arguments. I confess to being an anti-gun nut, so save your time.

Wayne Orr

[Marco Leavitt]

I don't know how this thread got here, but I have to say I relate. I inherited a number of guns when my dad died, and it was quite a dilemma over what to do with them. The last thing I ever heard my father say -- I'm not kidding -- was "What's going to happen to my guns?" I was raised around firearms, and am very supportive of gun ownership rights, but personally, I have no use for them. I do think though, that a lot of liberal types who live on the east coast have no idea how ingrained this issue is to people who live in non-urban environments. I once watched my old man shoot the head off a rattleskake seconds before it had a chance to bite him in the leg. True story.

Anyway, as the originator of this thread, I want to apologize for perpetuating what has turned out to be false information. I'm still wondering what happened, but I'm truly embarrassed.

[Frank Granovski]

Wayne wrote:

...my hat is off to those who can look beyond their emotions and have the guts to turn in their guns.

Does that include "shotgun" mics?

Here in Canada, depending on where you live, you need a firearm to protect yourself against certain animals. Almost every year in British Columbia, people get attacked and killed by bears, moose and cats. When I was a kid in North Western Ontario, black bears were a real problem. Then there's the matter of protecting your own animals from wildlife. Sometimes, a firearm is the only thing that works. Don't get me wrong, I love all animals, but some animals like to eat you and your pets and livestock.

[Ken Tanaka]

Time-out

Please stay on-topic, if anything remains of this thread's original topic.

Issues concerning firearms (excluding shotgun mics ;-) ) are interesting but really belong in some other venue.

[Adrian Douglas]

Nikon is struggling financially so it is possible they will abandon their film cameras in the near future and concentrate on thier digital models. Cameras like the F5 and Canon's 1V are pretty much as far as you can go in a 35mm pro camera so it makes sense leave them be and concentrate on advancing the future which will be digital. I love film, I don't think I will ever replace my 1nRS, but unless you live under a rock or on a deserted desert island, hopefully with awesome waves on your doorstep, digital is the future or pro photography and photography in general.

I can't wait to see what Canon brings out answer the D2H, it's going to be a killer, it has to be to improve on the 1D. I'm really hoping for a 6-8MP, full-frame sensor'd beast that is capable of at least 8fps for 24+ shots. If they come out with something close then my wife is going to be way p@$#^d at me because there is going to be one in my bag along side the RS.

[Jeff Donald]

Don't count on the chip being full frame. In fact I can almost guarantee it won't be. Most photojournalists really like the 1.3X crop factor and I would expect it to remain about that size.

[Adrian Douglas]

That's gonna suck for me as 1.3x turns my 15mm fisheye into a not distorted enough for that cool fisheye look but too distorted to be a good wide angle. As skating and snowboarding rely on fisheye/WA use I really need that full frame. However, 1.3x is good for surfing as it get the 600/f4 out to almost 800 without losing almost 2 stops of light. That's something that sucks about the 1.4x and the 1nRS.

[Mike Butler]

Nikon may not have abandoned film, but many of their customers already have. I was shooting video next to an event photographer who when asked what format she was shooting answered "35mm," but I saw that her bag contained nothing but digitals...D2X, D1X. So I guess she meant to say "I use SLRs that LOOK like 35mm" It's all good, though, as long as the pictures are satisfactory for the job.

But Paul Simon's song "Mama Don't take my Kodachrome away" may be in vain, cuz film is rapidly going bye-bye. A year ago, I had the mindset that higher-quality still sessions had to be shot on film, because there wasn't a practical-priced digitral alternative (I still shot a lot of stuff on digital, just not the more critical jobs). Now I don't even think about using film. Just as well with the deadlines I work with. ("Hey Mike, we want you to shoot this grip-n-grin today and FTP the JPEG to this magazine tonight!")

Oh yeah, and just like Boyd, I hark back to the '60s and still remember my old Nikon F. Built like an anvil. And like Boyd, my vintage gear just sits, along with my still-working tube amplifiers etc.

[Jeff Price]

I'm waiting for film-type specific digital filters to be developed (if they haven't already). You know, shoot digital then apply a Kodachrome 64 or Velvia filter to the image to make it match the color tones of that film stock.

Until they develop a CCD with irregular pixels, or a filter that applies a randomizer to a digital image then digital will not be able to match film in terms of 'look'. It will be close but just as some LPs sound warmer than CDs then so will film still offer something digital can't match.

[Mike Butler]

That is very true, Jeff, and when the next project comes up that requires that, I will quickly grab one of my 35mm SLRs off the shelf, load it up and shoot. (and drive the film down to the lab, and wait for the film to be processed, etc.) I do still know how to use these, including the ones with automatic nothing. (y'know, manual focus, manual exposure, external metering, etc.) Better yet, I'll borrow a medium-format cam for those huge negs.

There are many different kinds of photography...some of it is art, some of it is mere commerce. It is kind of nice that there is a tool for every job.