Does anyone still use standard cameras anymore?

zx1 · June 2018

I was watching a YouTube video recently on obsolete tech and one was about old 1990's cameras and it got me thinking, does anyone still use cameras as most smartphones have one built in with loads of features to edit, crop etc.
My last camera was a Kodak APS one, it was a Christmas present back in 2001 and it was a smashing little camera, very compact and took great, clear photos. I last used it in 2008, i still have it but it's lying in a drawer. I got my first phone with a built in camera and thought there was no more use for it and getting film for it was becoming more difficult.
I also kind if miss sending your photo reels off to get developed, you'd wait a few days and when you got them back there was blurry ones or ones with heads cut off :))
I still have almost all the photos taken with that camera (and the one i had previously which i got when i was 11) as there's something special about physical photos. It's easier to lose digital photos, one wrong button press or hardware failure and your hard drive of memories are gone!

mel the bell · June 2018

I dont use em but i have a boxful of mi dads old cameras (70s probably) actually the box is my old wooden toybox lol, with old airfix plane decals all over it

dm_boozefreek · June 2018

My wife is literally selling her old camera on ebay or amazon at the minute, it's a pretty good one, but she was like "F*ck it! I don't use it any more, might as well get rid of it"...

polomint · June 2018

What's a camera?

Your Spec-chum · June 2018

Yeah I had one of those Kodak APS cameras. Just a basic point and shoot thing, but you could change the aspect ratios of the pictures. I stopped using it around 2003 because it jammed up half way through a film for some reason. I've had a digital Kodak easyshare 8mp camera since then, still going strong, but the bloody thing eats batteries, even high capacity rechargeables. My phone has a better 13mp camera, records in 4k HD, and the battery lasts much longer. I'm sure there will be some enthusiasts/photographers that still use 35mm film like us folks still into ZX Spectrum, but the masses have them in easy reach on their phones.

zx1 · June 2018

I remember back in around 2002ish or so i took a topless picture of my then girlfriend then sent the spool off to be developed, when i got them back there was no topless photo, on the negative reel there was one blank photo! I wondered if the photo hadn't developed properly or the camera had malfunctioned. I wonder if the bastards at the developing lab had withheld the photo! Maybe the technician kept it for his spank bank! :))

colonel32 · June 2018

I still have my first SLR, although I don't use it. I'm attached to it as it has such a nice solid feel, and apparently it was the first camera to have an LED exposure meter in the viewfinder.

http://www.camera.portraits.srv2.com/st901.htm

I have a modern micro 4/3 mirrorless camera with a few lenses too, but don't use that either.

I do use the iPhone 8 camera every day, so go figure ;)

Alessandro Grussu · June 2018

I am still attached to my old film cameras, a Zenit 122 and a Canon EOS 300. I haven't used them since I purchased my first digital camera, a Sony DSC-V1, in 2003. Nowadays the camera I employ most of the times is a Leica M9. Not exactly new might it be, but it delivers a punch in color and contrast which I find quite pleasing and reminiscent of reversible film. Not to mention the fact that I discovered rangefinder photography to be much more captivating than shooting with a (D)SLR, at least for me.

On a side note, film hasn't completely disappeared; an example is black and white film, which is still popular among certain professionals and advanced amateurs, i.e. those who are lucky enough to be able to develop their film personally (I can't). I can assure you it is not easy to obtain a convincing black and white print out of a digital capture, it requires a careful and complex amount of work in post-processing. Simply desaturating the image, or applying a digital emulation of colored filters, won't work, especially if you make prints of your image - which is the proper way a photo should be looked at; even the best monitor screens cannot, in my opinion, deliver the same amount of detail, color nuances, tonal range etc. of a good photographic paper printed by a professional laboratory or a skilled photographer. I witnessed that myself with photos I had printed for my exhibitions.

VanTammen · June 2018

Haven't used one in years...

grey key · June 2018

The photo labs would always remove rude photographs and cut the negative strips in a way that they could remove them, however the offending shots were not binned, they were left in piles for anyone to see, many a good laugh was had over them. Sometimes the odd one or two good ones were put up on the walls !

zx1 · June 2018

That was MY property though. If there was no fault with the photo they have stolen it.
I obviously couldn't complain to them though as that would have been embarrassing!

Zup · June 2018

I don't have any roll camera, but I still have some digital cameras at home. IMHO standard cameras can take photos that phones can't (i.e.: in low-light places or using faster shutter speeds), not to mention that they can zoom and use filters (I use a polarizing filter, that you can not replicate using photo editors).

If I know that I'm going to a place where I will surely take photos I will get one of my cameras, but my phone is always in my pocket so I took many photos with it.

grey key · June 2018

I don't have a digital camera and I don't even know if my emergency contact phone has a camera in it, I barely know how to turn it on. I have and use an Olympus Trip camera, which has always served me well. People will be having mobile phones fitted into their bodies soon and probably even tvs. I would probably get wheels fitted to my feet, or wings on my shoulders, although I don't have a driving license, heck nor a passport.

zx1 · June 2018

I don't even have a passport either.

grey key · June 2018

I thought you were an airline pilot ;)

zx1 · June 2018

I am. But i just sleep in the aircraft hanger until the plane is due to leave.

guesser · June 2018

People without smartphones.

grey key · June 2018

You can still live without all the mod cons, it is just that your life is more enjoyable without the constant distraction. it is like when you go to a concert and most people are watching it through their mobile devices, whatever happened to living in the moment ?

1024MAK · June 2018

The tiny fixed focus lens on most camera or smart 'phones is a bit limited in longer range pictures. Hence for general photography I use a digital compact camera with a motorised lens. Using an SD card also means backing up / transferring the photos is quicker and easier for me, as I can use my Linux PC and not have to mess about with other methods. It also means I can swap SD cards and get instantly Gbytes of free storage space. Great when you are in an area with no, or poor mobile telephone signal strength (where the smart phone fills up and then plagues you with memory full pop-up messages).

Camera or smart 'phones are great in that they are nearly always available.
They are also often very good for close-up pictures when you want detailed in focus pictures. Hence I now use a iPad mini when taking photos of circuit boards or similar. The only problem with this, is the shadow of the iPad itself!

Mark

dm_boozefreek · June 2018

I get the feeling most people who use real cameras these days are professionals, or pretentious twonks in tartan pants and fedora hats :))

zx1 · June 2018

grey key wrote: »

You can still live without all the mod cons, it is just that your life is more enjoyable without the constant distraction. it is like when you go to a concert and most people are watching it through their mobile devices, whatever happened to living in the moment ?

That pisses me off and fills me with an incandescent rage. I went to a Suzanne Vega concert last year and took no photos, but this was partly due to me being in the second row and i didn't want to blind her.

joefish · June 2018

What do you mean by 'standard'? I don't use film but I have a tough compact and a digital SLR with a couple of lenses. I did buy a new compact but the damn thing leaked and burned out on its first dunking so it's going back whence it came.

It pisses me off how a lot of manufacturers have stopped making any more waterproof compacts with all the various GoPros and clones around.

grey key · June 2018

dm_boozefreek wrote: »

I get the feeling most people who use real cameras these days are professionals, or pretentious twonks in tartan pants and fedora hats :))

I am not a professional photographer, I am a professional pretentious Twonk however.

Your Spec-chum · June 2018

grey key wrote: »

dm_boozefreek wrote: »

I get the feeling most people who use real cameras these days are professionals, or pretentious twonks in tartan pants and fedora hats :))

I am not a professional photographer, I am a professional pretentious Twonk however.

I think I've seen your photo on a wanted poster :))

grey key · June 2018

Guilty as charged

The reward has gone up to 20p and a packet of used Rolos

p13z · June 2018

Over the last year I've noticed a lot of young folk using film cameras - seems to be cool for those too young to have experienced it previously. Polaroid / Instax film cameras seem to be making a comeback too, see photos getting handed out a lot at festivals / gigs / parties these days.

dm_boozefreek · June 2018

So hipsters basically....

ivanb303 · June 2018

I haven't used my Canon EOS 400 for at least 7 years the lens on it was fantastic but the aperture is stuck in the fully open position, can't justify fixing it. My smartphone now has a higher pixel count than that :)

Zup · June 2018

dm_boozefreek wrote: »

So hipsters basically....

Lomography was trend some years ago... do them still try to use these cameras?

ivanb303 wrote: »

My smartphone now has a higher pixel count than that :)

I can't find any emoji that can have a face shocked enough. Pixel count can be the less of your worries. I had an older Canon Powershot A80 (compact, 4MP, nothing special) that got broke. I bought a Canon A590 (compact, 8MP, again nothing special) and I still feel that A80 photos were more real than those taken with the A590.

Even most compact cameras (with less pixels) can do better photos than a phone, specially in low light or high speed photos. So, as I said before, I use one of my cameras (that old A590 or a Powershot SX10... I don't feel the need to buy new cameras) when I know I will take photos. The smartphone takes a lot of photos too, but mainly before it's always in my pocket.

Antiriad2097 · July 2018

At a barbecue at the weekend, one of our friends was using his old Leika. Well, its almost a Leica, it says so on the front, but he reckons its a clone from way back when, as they were quite popular to knock off over in Russia or some such, while still being quality.

mik3d3nch · July 2018

I wouldn't mind getting another film camera and trying my hand at platinotypes. My optician raves about the process and what tone rich B&W pictures it makes and his various examples do look much better than the average monochrome.

I'd prefer a twin lens reflex like a Yashica using large format film as you get better results from not pushing the emulsion so hard on magnification. Its expensive to get all the kit though so I guess it aint happening unless I win the lottery I never play.

Hey, thats a quantum thingie aint it? Maybe if I dont buy tickets hard enough I'll win after all!

Does anyone still use standard cameras anymore?

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