Hi everyone,

It's good to finally find a strong digital free community. I've been shooting film in 35mm, 6x6cm and 4x5 for about 20 years. I'm still a hack but getting slowly better. I shoot B&W only because I can't afford to shoot color and have it processed. I hope to learn from you all on the subjects of exposure, processing and printing. I think my artistic compositional 'skills' are beyond hope. Every once in a while I make a nice picture. Sort of like a broken clock is right twice a day.

I tried to be a member in good standing of photosig.com but found it populated by digital newbies who wouldn't know an aperture from an ASA rating. These folks look at grain and call it 'noise'. They ask questions like 'it looks OK in B&W, but can you please post the original color?" They brag about the way a submitted photo was manipulated in Photoshop to mask incompetency with the actual digital 'camera'.

When asked what sort of film was used when submitting a picture. The film camera people answer the question because they are using FILM. The digital people are supposed to ignore the question because they are not using film. Instead, they populate the film database with things like the manufacturer of their generic memory, the size of that memory... etc That would be like responding to the question, "What film did you use?" with "36 exposure roll". As if a 24 exposure roll of film gave you a different sort of image. Digital people just don't get it and I got tired of the ignorance. I hope I'm not stepping on any toes here. If I do then please let me know.

Enough ranting. So now I'm flying into the arms of a film community. Geez, I'm getting warm fuzzies already

Welcome, from Hawaii. I think that your introduction hit the "nail on the head", and you will find many here who agree with your positions. There are people here who practice "digital", but these same people see that there is nothing wrong with using film. Yes, this forum is about traditional methods and about using film. You will fit right in.

Welcome aboard. You are among like minded people.

gene

Welcome from down I-5! I totally agree with you!! Last time I posted a pic on my other photo forum, the first question I got was, so how much PS work did you do on this? Or something like that... grrr....

Spooky . . .

. I'm still a hack but getting slowly better.
Me Too!

. I shoot B&W only because I can't afford to shoot color and have it processed.
Me Too!

. I think my artistic compositional 'skills' are beyond hope. Every once in a while I make a nice picture.
Me Too!

Are you my long lost sibling ?? :)

Hi and welcome! I live in Redmond and I work in Tacoma right now. There are a few of around. I'm going to meet one Friday night at his home in Olympia to buy some equipment from him.

You'll see there is no shortage of knowledge here about analog processes. There are a lot of old farts here who live in small shacks in the woods with nothing better to do than mix chemistry and test film :)

As for compositional skills, feel free to post in the Critique Gallery and see if you get any helpful feedback.

If you like the place, you can subscribe for a low annual subscription rate to help support the site financially (like the equivalent of $1 per month).

Take care.

-Mike in Tacoma

Nice to see you. I have a sister in DC - is that far from Tacoma? Anyway, warm fuzzy's to ya from DownUnder.

Best, John.

Nice to see you. I have a sister in DC - is that far from Tacoma? Anyway, warm fuzzy's to ya from DownUnder.

Best, John.

Wrong side of the country.

Spooky . . .


Me Too!


Me Too!


Me Too!

Are you my long lost sibling ?? :)

Ditto.....................

Nice to see you. I have a sister in DC - is that far from Tacoma? Anyway, warm fuzzy's to ya from DownUnder.

Best, John.

They're practically neighbors. Only 3,000 miles between them. :)

They're practically neighbors. Only 3,000 miles between them. :)

Just "Down the road a bit" in Oz terms...

Just "Down the road a bit" in Oz terms...

Yeah mate. And Perth is just down the road from Sydney. :p

Wrong side of the country.Whooooops! :o errm ... I was more a physics than geography student. :rolleyes:

I once had a Schwinn Paramount. It was a track bike although I was never a viable competitor. Passed through the old Schwinn factory repair training facility in Chicago in about 1966. I was 14 yrs old. They were still taking apart Newdeparture coaster brakes and the Bendix 2 speed with the 3 red bands was a brand new phenomenom. Seems like a vastly different century. I guess it was.

Welcome! I'm over in Spokane, and really enjoying the non digital comradeship.

rocky

My schwinn Paramount was of the road racing variety. Mid 70's model. Candy Apple red with beautiful chrome lugs and tubular tires. I had Campy Super Record on it and loved that bike. I raced it a few time a couple of years ago when my modern Italian rig was in the shop. It served me well in the pack sprint. I loved that bike so much that my internet persona has adopted the name

Now you've got me interested and i'm going to do some searches on Ebay to see what a Paramount is worth. As a kid I worked in my mom's second husbands Schwinn bike shop. I put about a million of them together at Christmas time in those years. I still ride a bit every summer. Bianchi.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7117813037

Well that didn't take long. Apparently, quite a bit. That one could be mine. Correct era and mine was white. Doubt if I got $85 bucks for it.

I was more a physics than geography student.

Really, that's interesting. I'm an electrical engineer by training, but I work as a programmer/analyst. I've had a few physics courses, some interesting, some boring.

....I'm an electrical engineer by training, but I work as a programmer/analyst. I've had a few physics courses, some interesting, some boring.Hey .... so did I! However, the old career is currently going through it's third iteration as we speak, but photography has always remained a constant ;) .

My brother in law probably wouldn't appreciate me relaying this story (so if you ever meet him, Don't let him know you know) but ...... He was driving home with his brand new Schwinn on top one of those standup roof racks after it's 2nd time on the road. We were training long miles and he was a bit tired (so the excuse goes) and to cut the story short, the car parked safely in the garage, with the bike not so safely on the footpath behind him. :o
He managed to save the components, and the irrepairable frame now adorns the garage wall .... permanently. :(
Funny things was, his insurance company released an advertisement on TV depicting exactly what happened, sometime later. This happened a couple of yrs ago, and although we don't know this is where the Marketing Gurus got their inspiration, the TV advt is still playing and brings us a giggle each time it comes on.

Can we take up a collection to buy Jim that Schwinn Paramount track bike. It's currently just shy of $3,000 on ebay.... Scratch that. Can we take up a collection to buy the bike for ME!... please?

Bike, roof rack, garage door, heart attack, bury me on the Alpe d' Huez

Carefull guys. That deal looks like a ripoff.
I had a Schwinn Varsity. It only cost $65 brand new and had TEN gears. :D