In the days when film was king, and especially E6 and K14 chrome (slide film) we would spend 1000s of dollars learning our craft, and indulging our passions. There is nothing quite like shooting a few dozen rolls of slide film, only to average five or six really good shots out of 36 exposures. Then after the processing came the sorting, storing, and in rare instances printing. These are the days before digital scanners, and a single Cibachrome/Ilfochrome could cost you $10 to $20 or more for an 8x10 print. In retrospect, while I loved the punch of a beautifully shot slide, and the clarity of an Ilfochrome print, I often wonder if it was really worth it. Keep in mind with this paragraph I am only talking about 35mm slide film. The Black & White film shooters with their amazing ability to see depth and tones had/have their own unique challenges (and that’s before getting into the dark room).
While it’s true many of us miss the film era and look
back upon it with arguably false nostalgia. Shooting slide and print film
is for the most part is impractical because of the costs associated with it. A
single 36 exposure roll of 35mm E6 slide film by Kodak or Fuji will cost approx.
$25 to $45. Then another $15 to $30 to process. A multi pack of 3 rolls of Fuji 400 Print film
available at Walmart costs approx. $25
and another $12 to $14 per roll to process.
Flip forward to the digital era…
Recently several people have remarked that they can accomplish the same (or better) with one of the newest generations of camera phones as you can with a Point & Shoot camera (especially an early generation digital); AND they are 100% correct… YOU CAN! However, shooting vintage digital, and reprocessing both new, and old images
with newer photo editing techniques can also be a lot of fun. Granted as I previously mentioned the
obvious foil is that you can do the same thing or better with a smart phone. But sometimes the hard road
can be fun too. Especially if that means you are employing different technical and creative skills.
Dayton Air show in 2003. Photos on the left are the originals,
the photos to the right were reprocessed with Photoshop 2024. Only the
basic editing tools were used, all of which are readily available in the
online FREE version of Adobe Photoshop Express.
https://www.adobe.com/express/feature/image/editor
Look for another blog posting about the Fuji Finepix S602 in the near future.
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The Canon Powershot A5400
For those more interested in the tech side of cameras, there is a dated but particularly helpful review of the Powershot A5400 at the link below. An issue I have noticed with these cameras that is not mentioned is the secondary battery responsible for retaining the date never seems to last very long.
These images were taken at a car show at
"Annual Grace Life Community Church Car Show "in Bristow, Virginia.
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