Thread: Weekend shooting -- film vs digital.

This is a sister thread to another one I posted on whether to process a pile of digital shots immediately, or to keep shooting: http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f14/a...464/#post94109

Over the weekend, I joined a church retreat up north. It was a great time, and I got over 400 shots with my RX100. I got about 25 on my Pentax ME Super.

One event that I was shooting was a game some of the kids were playing called "ga-ga" (no idea where the name comes from, but it's basically a modified game of dodge ball, where the ball is rolled instead of thrown, in a confined area). The kids were running and shouting, and many had brightly colored outfits.

RX100


I must have taken about 40-50 shots with my RX100. Click-click-clicking away. But I also tried a couple on my ME Super. With each "click" of the Pentax, I though "well, that's $3." Boy did that slow me down, and really cause me to think about framing. Of course, the Pentax was also 50mm vs. the RX100 that I was shooting wide at 28mm eq, so there was another need for thinking about framing. But with the ME Super, I had to think about what I wanted, wait for the scene to develop, pay attention to what was in front and back, and time the click. I don't know if I was successful or not, but boy was it refreshing! To be forced into thinking about perspective, framing, and subject/background, where I couldn't just "spray and pray."

I need to shoot film more often!

Originally Posted by wt21

I must have taken about 40-50 shots with my RX100. Click-click-clicking away. But I also tried a couple on my ME Super. With each "click" of the Pentax, I though "well, that's $3." Boy did that slow me down, and really cause me to think about framing.

I responded to your other post before this one. Your quote here supports what I said-- You probably could use to shoot with film more often and.. then take that philosophy back to your RX100. Then you will only have to sift your best photos rather than all of your photos.

So I do both as well, with the X100 and an old minolta XD-5. I too find myself being more careful and "thinking" a lot more before firing off a shot. I also look at the folders where I keep the digital shots I deem "worth keeping," and there are hundreds a month, for 3 years. No one needs that many pictures of their family for posterity. Or at least, I'm coming to realize, I do not.

The trouble comes when it's time to head out, and I cannot leave the X100 at home. But if I have it, then I tend to only use it, unless I have a lot of time to spread out and think. Some events (going somewhere pretty for a weekend) I will always bring both, but for a quick outting that I want pictures of, it can be hard to bring just the film camera. And if I bring both, I turn into "one of those people" with a giant camera bag who is so busy snapping pics that they aren't really present as a participant / dad.

Is it just the cost of the film? Or do the operational factors like manual focus and manual metering also have an impact of your shooting habits. For myself, I no longer have any attraction to film. But when shooting with the M9 I shoot maybe 15% of what I would with the E-M5 and have a higher rate of "keepers" as well.

If you had a digital version of the ME Super, do you think you'd shoot as much as the RX100?

Gordon