NON-Digital Cameras aren't dead yet !

[ApS]

Waiting for the prices to come down on your choice of digital camera?

www.winnipesaukee.com/forums is a very film-camera friendly site...IF you use some help from www.snapfish.com. Request a mailer via the Internet if you want to try them out.

I snail-mail my 24-exposure film in a pre-paid mailer and get the negatives and 4x6 glossy prints back in a week to ten days. (The images themselves are provided to your computer in just a few days).

There, you can label, organize, archive, put on CDs, crop, adjust the contrast, put frilly borders on them, e-mail them, and still print your photos at your computer! There are other features such as Christmas cards, legal postage stamps (with your image!), discounts, and seasonal offerings from time to time.

Cost? $2.99 per roll. There are big discounts on fresh film purchases, too.

Presently, they are offering "packages" of 10-roll developing/printing discounts, which may signal a price increase before summer.

Many of those features have crept onto www.snapfish.com years after I sent in the first roll -- with no increase in price. I'm told it's a great deal by photographers with digital cameras.

I've decided to stay with my old clunky, light-struck Nikon, mostly because the digital cameras that I'd want to have are too small. Have you seen the digital Sony video/still camera that is somewhat larger that a credit card?

I'd lose it the first week!

[Mee-n-Mac]

Another alternative for those who can't make the jump to digital just yet. You can also use your basic Epson Photo flatbed scanner. We recently got one and scanned in some photos. Seemed to work quite well even on the auto settings. Mind you you're still stuck with whatever goofs the developer made but film isn't dead yet ! One last thing ...my friends who do slides tell me that you will need a proper negative scanner to do slides. The basic one I have won't do a good job. In this case (slides) the commercial outfits can afford a high quality drum scanner which I'm told is the best tool for the job.

[Steve]

Well, I'm about ready to jump into DSLRs with the Minolta 5D. So if anyone still wants a beautiful film SLR, I have a Minolta 3xi that is like new. Cheap. How's $50 sound? Body only.

There is something about film though, that is still neat. I used to love developing my own film in school (B&W only, color was too hard).

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by Steve

Well, I'm about ready to jump into DSLRs with the Minolta 5D. So if anyone still wants a beautiful film SLR, I have a Minolta 3xi that is like new. Cheap. How's $50 sound? Body only.

There is something about film though, that is still neat. I used to love developing my own film in school (B&W only, color was too hard).

Just got a 5D a few weeks ago. So far so good ! Other than a louder than normal shutter slap I have no complaints. The AS really does work, I got some shots of a school play (no flash allowed) that otherwise would have been impossible.

[jrc]

Last year I sent weeks transferring grandpa's super 8 (film) movies to DVD. There are very few sources for consumer movie film. His fancy projector lost the now obsolete lamp. Luckily, the cheap project lamp overlaps with some modern use. There is still a lot of commercial use of 16 and 35 mm movie film but a lot more movies are going digital.

This year I transfered dad's VHS tapes to DVD. I had to do it before our last VCR dies. Still haven't decided what to do with the store-bought VHS library. I think analog magnetic media doesn't have much life left.

The next big transition will be analog TV. As of March 2007 all new TV's must have digital. I'm thinking this may also be the death of the CRT.

As final thought, Kodak announnced the end of their BW film production. These films are of course only used by artists and photographers, they will probably be last users of color film as well.

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by jrc

Last year I sent weeks transferring grandpa's super 8 (film) movies to DVD. There are very few sources for consumer movie film. His fancy projector lost the now obsolete lamp. Luckily, the cheap project lamp overlaps with some modern use. There is still a lot of commercial use of 16 and 35 mm movie film but a lot more movies are going digital.

This year I transfered dad's VHS tapes to DVD. I had to do it before our last VCR dies. Still haven't decided what to do with the store-bought VHS library. I think analog magnetic media doesn't have much life left.

The next big transition will be analog TV. As of March 2007 all new TV's must have digital. I'm thinking this may also be the death of the CRT.

As final thought, Kodak announnced the end of their BW film production. These films are of course only used by artists and photographers, they will probably be last users of color film as well.

Yup, VCR and tapes are headed to meet up with the dinosaurs in the next few years. I can only hope that the Blue-Ray and HD-DVD people can work out a common standard and the whole DRM mess before then. I've resisted (but only just) getting a DVD-DVR. A DVD only (no HDD) solution means remembering to pop in a new disc every day (or 2) until higher capacities (? perhaps dual layer recorders will suffice ?) come along. The HDD based ones are good but then you're stuck burning a DVD if you want to watch in another room. What I really would like to see is a unit with the DVD recorder electronics minus the DVD, it to be replaced by an USB2 (or Firewire) output that I could plug a portable HDD into. The portable HDD then becomes, in effect, a large capacity DVD. It could be made tomorrow but I'm not going to hold my breath while waiting.

Analog TVs have a few more years of life despite the FCC date. That'll get pushed back until DTVs drop more in price. I'm not going to buy an HD-DTV until the HDCP/DRM fiasco gets straightened out. I sure don't need to find out my large expensive HDTV will only be able to show standard definition stuff. With LCD monitors now becoming good enough for photowork and movies, CRTs will die along with VCRs and tapes. For TVs, I think LCDs and micro-mirror (DMD / DLP) will prevail (and perhaps plasma's replacement).

EDIT : Latest date for analog turn off - 2009. But they are now (finally) working on converter boxes for your old analog TV. http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/...px?i=2666&p=20

[Steve]

Mee-n-mac-

Thanks! Great info. I think the AS is awesome. And I already have a bunch of Minolta AF lenses, so the 5D was a no brainer. People have been very happy with the picture quality and battery life, so I'm really looking forward to it. It's only $625 (plus the $50 rebate) from Abes of Maine right now, for the kit. What a deal!

Still though, there is something about film that now seems nostalgic.

[edit] would you be willing to share a pic of the low light picture you took? I'd love to see how the AS helped you...

[lakegirl]

Hi Steve... I just got my new digital rebel from Abes of Maine... they were great. I ordered on a Wed. at 3:00 and it arrived the next day at 1:00. One thing I learned.... you will need new lenses for the new camera (i think). My boss tried his old(er) canon lenses for his 35mm on my new digital camera and they didn't fit!!

[Steve]

Thanks. (Sorry for the almost hijack!). I checked on the lenses though, and Minolta AF, A mount, will work just fine. That's great, cause I have 3!

[ApS]

Originally Posted by Steve

"...There is something about film though, that is still neat. I used to love developing my own film in school (B&W only, color was too hard)."

As far as longevity goes, I've got perfect negatives from the 1920s that produce excellent prints. I've heard that CDs lose their "edge" at a threshold of just ten years.

I developed Ektachrome 64ASA color slides years ago. It wasn't that difficult, but the temperature was critical and had to kept at ± ½° for an hour.

The circumstances in the only processing room available were awkward (snow would blow into the room through the wooden walls). I found that by filling a deepsink with warm water and immersing all the chemicals in it, that the tolerances could be maintained. (And never "lost" a roll).

There was no automated equipment to put the developed film into the mount, but snap-together plastic counts were available -- and used. They still look great!

So, "there IS something about film." (And it is neat).

[Silver Duck]

The Admiral and I are moving into digital, just for the convenience and size. We just purchased a Panasonic FZ5 with a 1 Gig memory card; big enough to grip, Leica optics with 12x zoom (equivalent to 36 - 432 mm), and 400 shots without running out of film in the middle of shooting an occasion.

Watch out loons; this year we can stay way back and still get decent sized images! (Maybe this year I can get something better than a tiny image of a loon's backside as it dives? I love 'em, but they have got to be telepathic - spot one, stop the boat, shut off the engines, wait for it to approach, and just as I get the SLR/250mm combo focused and press the shutter button, down it goes and comes up out of range. Frustrating!)

Silver Duck

[jrc]

Originally Posted by Mee-n-Mac

...EDIT : Latest date for analog turn off - 2009. But they are now (finally) working on converter boxes for your old analog TV...

The March 2007 date is when all new TV's sold must have a digital tuner. So effectively, no analog TV's will be made after that date, at least for US markets. The end of analog broadcast, as you say, keeps moving and exisiting analog TV's will live on for years with converter boxes. But the clock is ticking on analog TV.

I'm wondering if Sirius and XM will be the only digital radio solutions or will there be free digital radio someday either ground or space based.

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by Steve

Mee-n-mac
{snip}
[edit] would you be willing to share a pic of the low light picture you took? I'd love to see how the AS helped you...

Check your mailbox

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by jrc

The March 2007 date is when all new TV's sold must have a digital tuner. So effectively, no analog TV's will be made after that date, at least for US markets. The end of analog broadcast, as you say, keeps moving and exisiting analog TV's will live on for years with converter boxes. But the clock is ticking on analog TV.

I'm wondering if Sirius and XM will be the only digital radio solutions or will there be free digital radio someday either ground or space based.

Aaah, thx for the update ! I do hope "free" radio will continue but with the trend towards pay per service these days ... argggh ... too early for a black russian I guess.