r/35mm

I’m going on a trip to France soon and I only want to bring one type of 35 mm film stock. What’s my best option? I’ll be shooting everything from landscapes to nighttime flash. Ideally I’d stick to something relatively affordable. Ultramax or Fuji 400 are what I’m leaning toward, since they’re 400 iso and not too expensive, but maybe I’m overlooking something else.

Has anyone else been having trouble sourcing Cinestill 400D in 35mm I’ve never had issues before but I’ve called all around the country and no one has any. Does anyone know what’s going on with them? Thanks

I guess it was inevitable but damn do I feel old… no shade on the client , great young guy, intelligent, successful, grasped it pretty quickly, just had never heard of film… no concept of it. no idea it was developed, had never heard of photo labs, never seen a roll, negative, print, nothing. I explained it all of course but it just didn’t compute, he said “oh you mean like those cameras that spit out a photo?” I left it at that for now… I’ll be bringing a collection next time to show him. Has that ever happened before? Teenagers love film, apparently 30 yr olds have no idea… seems wild to me . Was it just him?

From one who “grew up” in the heyday of Kodachrome and Ektachrome Daylight and who owns a Kodak Carousel projector and a Day-Lite projection screen, I wonder how many photographers (both pro and hobbyist) use the minimally available reversal color films for pleasurable viewing and sharing with others? I’m considering devoting one of my several film SLRs to Ektachrome and shooting only special subjects and occasions that strike me as photo-worthy, and filling up empty carousel slide trays for future viewing pleasure. What about you?

I’ve only been shooting for 3 years and this is my first negative experience with a camera repair shop. Please tell me if Im the AH. If I am I will apologize to this shop.

I brought in an Olympus pen FT camera for repair, The film counter was getting stuck around 40. I also wanted to have a CLA on it. The total cost was $300 and it took two weeks to get back to me.

When I got it back and finally start using it, I noticed that the film counter is exactly the same as before, broken and it gets stuck in the same exact place it did before. Not only that but now the advance lever will rip the film out of the canister if I advance it too far. This did not happen before, the sprockets would skip the perforations and there was never so much pressure on the canister that it would rip out the film if I hit the end of the roll.

TBH I was really mad when the film got ripped out and immediately wrote an email with a rude tone. Just because Im asking if in the jerk, here is that angry email. I admit it is over the top.

“Hi (redacted) Photo people, I have some very bad news.

I asked you to fix the film counter. The film counter is just like before, completely in-operational. On top of that you tightened up the film advance so much that it now rips out the film from the canaster and I can not rewind it back. Maybe it wouldnt be a problem if the film counter worked. So now I am down 300 dollars and went from having a working camera to one that can't be used at all. 

If you dont know what you're doing, just turn down the job.”

I went back into the shop, the guy at the front desk offered to repair it under the 3 month warranty I have, but I told him to just return it the way it was before so it didn’t rip out the film, forget about the film counter because he clearly didn’t fix it, and asked him to give me a refund. He then started explaining to me that the only reason the film got ripped out was because I advanced it to much, and I should have payed more attention the the resistance of the film and then I wouldnt have ripped it out, this might be true. 

When I asked him about the film counter and why he didn’t test it out to see if it had actually been repaired. He told me that they always do test it out, and I might not have carried it home the right way. He also said the repairing vintage cameras is always an experiment and sometimes it doesn’t work out. If it turns out we cannot fix the film counter then we will consider a refund. He then told me the tone of my email was rude and not necessary (fair), that he’s been shooting from for over a decade and the tech has been working there for 40 years. But the truth is I walked in with a camera that worked and now I feel like I paid 300 dollars to have one that is not usable. 

I guess my question is, does this come with the territory of using old cameras and this is something that would happen to any repair shop. If it is I can accept that. Or are these guys incompetent and I should call the credit company I paid for this with and dispute the charge and find another place, probably Japan, to fix this camera.

Please let me know if Im in the wrong here.