Is there a cost effective alternative to the experience of film?
Written by Pixtures Webmaster
If you love film but hate the cost, there's a relatively inexpensive way to achieve a very similar end result without the need to spend lots of your hard earned money on expensive film stocks and processing. Even of you do the processing yourself, as I do, there is still the cost of the film stock and with films like Pro-H costing around £20 a reel of 36, finding an alternative is a goal for many.
One answer to this dilemma is to revisit a time before CMOS existed, a time just before the ultimate demise of film. That time, around the beginning of the new century, was inhabited by amazingly good cameras of every type all utilising the latest in CCD technology. One of the leaders in its field at that time was Kodak and even today, cameras which utilise Kodak CCD sensors are highly thought of and sought after.
Notable cameras that use Kodak sensors are of course, many of the early and indeed later Kodak camera models, for example the Kodak Easyshare DX6490, a diminutive camera capable of achieving incredible filmlike results, and the much later Kodak PixPro AZ421 which has an incredible 42x stabilised optical zoom and a 1/2.3" CCD sensor. This powerhouse of a camera cost me just £39 on Ebay recently. In fact, of the twelve CCD cameras I bought over the summer, the average price was just £29 and these included the Olympus Evolt E-500 (which again uses a Kodak CCD senor). the Nikon D200, another camera with a Kodak sensor, two Kodak DX6490's, one just £5 on Ebay, the Kodak AZ421 mentioned earlier. I also bought a Fuji Finepix S200EXR, this was just £19 GBP in A1 condition complete with a LowPro bag and battery, a Nikon E7600 for just £5 GBP, a Canon S5 IS for £19 GBP and an Olympus C760 for £19 GBP. Finally I bought a Casio EZ-750 and the even better, if that is possible, Casio EZ-850, along with their docking stations, for £10 GBP and £5 GBP respectively All take amazingly good photos with the lower resolution CCD sensor versions getting uncannily close to film results. The most expensive cameras I bought were the Olympus Evolt E-500, the Nikon D200 and the Kodak AX421 which all came in at around £39 GBP each. All of the DSLR's came with a lens, some with cases. All take fabulous photos fill of rich colours and tones which modern CMOS cameras simply can't get close to without substantial editing.
The image gallery below is a mix of the images from all of these CCD cameras, which, over the summer of 2023, were extensively used. Editing in all cases has been kept to a minimum. Some cropping, some developed to better fit the histogram to the extremes, some edited just for effect.
Just a quick teaser, I will be talking through the process of using On1 PhotoRAW 2022 and Affinity Photo to turn a old scanned B&W image into a resized, colour accurate image of that period (WW2) over at The Creative Camera very soon. In the meantime, pop over and have a browse through some of my other photography related articles.
I've mentioned before that I enjoy observational photography, that is capturing something so normal and natural as to be unusual. Such instances occur all around us almost all of time and sometimes you just get lucky. In this shot, the lady in the window could have moved at any moment but luckily for me she was in a world of her own for the duration of the shot which because it was captured on a smartphone, was probably a lot less intrusive then pointing a DSLR at her. If I could capture such shots every day I would be very happy and while I realise this is not everyon'e idea of photography, it's a genre I love.
The Watcher (c) Dave Collerton, 2021
I guess I am what you might call, an observational photographer. The things that catch my eye are often very simple, everyday objects and instances that might otherwise go missed :) My favourite photographers, of which there are many, include Saul Leiter, Fred Herzog, Vivian Maier, Elliott Erwitt, Shirley Baker and Sarah Moon, oh and Robert Capa, Fay Godwin and of course Cartier-Bresson. Not that I'm as good as any one of them but I like to try. Perhaps time was a little slower back then so they were able to capture the decisive moment more easily, who knows. I think there's a lot to be said for loading a film camera, setting the lens to F8 then pre-focusing so that you're ready to grab those oh so fleeting moments we miss all to often. Fortunately, for this image my subject wasn't going anywhere soon so I had those few extra moments more to nail the composition.
Although Nikon are trying hard to upset the Fujifilm applecart, the new Nikon Z fc falls a long way short of what Fuji has manage to achieve with its most recent cameras, including those such as the Fujifilm x-T1 going back to 2015. To prove a point that it's not all just about having a camera with analogue style dials, here are some of the images I have taken recently with my 6 years old Fujifilm x-T1 based for the most part on a Classic Negative emulation, or simulation as it is often called, that I like to use. The resulting straight out of camera (SOOC) jpegs offer an insight into what Nikon need to focus on to make the Nikon Z fc a real winner. Click on any image to see the full set of SOOC jpegs captured.
All images copyright Dave Collerton
Jonathan, who lives in historick Fredericksburg, Texas in the USA has recently joined Pixtures and his first work has gone live. I'm sure that we are all going to enjoy some fascinating photography of that region in future months.
I can only really speak for myself here but recently I have been beginning to re-think my love affair with Facebook. The problem for me is that Facebook doesn't really care about my photography, it's just a huge blotter sucking up images like ink never to be seen again after a day or two. And it's not just me, it does the exact same thing to countless of other photographers. Even the very best of my photos drift into obscurity within a few days unless a Facebook Memory pops up in a year or two and I share it. I have to ask myself, am I so engrossed with likes as to not think it's important to do more with my images? is it really enough just to have five minutes of fame?
Some interesting pinhole camera images created using NIK Silver Efex, my favourite B&W processing tool. The basic images were taken on a Nikon D600 with a variety of lenses including the Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro which is a good quality portrait lens. In hindsight, particularly given the poor lighting conditions, I would have been better served with my 50mm f1.4 but regrettably, that stayed at home in my cupboard.
The Camera. A series of photographs from the National Library of Australia
Pixtures AdminThese images along with many others of historical and cultural importance can be found by visiting the National Library of Australia's Flickr page here. If you are interested in viewing some amazing historical images related to Australia then we urge you to visit their Flickr Archive using the link above.
Every so often you see an image you just love. This is it!
Pixtures AdminI've know Stuart Chapman for about 4 years now and his sheer enthusiasm for photography never ceases to amaze me. This image is just one reason why I love his work
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If you are a photographer and not using Flickr, perhaps it's time to think again!
Pixtures AdminI am amazed that many photographers still don't know about Flickr or perhaps they simply don't want to use it. For me, it's a treasure trove of ideas and inspiration plus of course, a place to find and share some great photos. It's also a place to share my photos and because it integrates so perfectly with Pixtures, it's how we prefer to pull content from our members in order to populate their photo portfolios. It's also free for the first 1000 images so another good reason to use it it to store your best or most interesting images. Even the Pro version is relatively inexpensive, currently just £4.66/m on the annual plan with unlimited storage and loads of freebies and low cost offers.
Image (c) Aldussault. No ownership of this image is either implied or inferred. It is purely used to illustrate the potential of Flickr.
Living with what you saw? Nah, create something you like more!
Pixtures AdminOn this particular day I was with an old friend visiting Exmouth to get his saxaphone serviced. That was going to take a couple of hours so we headed to the beach to laze around and grab a coffee. While watching the 1000's of people on the beach I saw a guy carring a surf board and I thought, that would make a nice photo. The only problem, there were a lot of people in the frame and since I was only sporting my little Canon G7x ii I was never going to get close enough to him to get rid of the clutter. Was I bothered, not really because I know that I can simply take out the bits I don't like to create what I do like, in this case something resembling a scene reminiscent of On The Beach with Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. Now, for those that don't know this film, it's based on the novel by Nevil Shute and tells the post-apocalyptic tale of a submarine commander and his men who travel to San Diego in search of survivors. Anyway, a good movie and the basis for my thinking. I'll create my own post-apocalyptic tale of the demise of mankind and wipe out the population spoiling my photo. One of the great tools I have in my arsenal in On1 PhotoRAW and for this job, I know it was going to be perfect.
What is Pixtures? Well, it's a common question and the answer tends to be is different if you are buying photos or artworks or you are wanting to promote, show and sell your photography. If you haven't already done so, now is a great time to browse the site and take a look before I launch into what it does and how it does it in more detail.
Simply put, for photographers Pixtures is a collaborative platform, an online photographic gallery if you like. for the display and promotion of their work to a broader audience. For buyers of art, Pixtures offers the opportunity to buy unique art pieces directly from the photographers and artists who wish to market and sell their work. That doesn't mean that if you use the Pixtures platform you have to sell your photography, it's just an option for those that do.
Well, it's taken a while but our first collaboration between a dozen photographers has gone live. We chose The Torbay Airshow as the basis for this project because many of the local photographers here in the southwest have great images of the various airshows spanning the last 4 or 5 years so we knew we were onto a winner with this content. We also know that everyone loves a good airshow. Sadly, the next time we will be watching the Red Arrows live (weather permitting) will be in June 2022 when I am sure that some of you reading this will be here with us to capture the event. Here are a few images to wet your appetite - click on any one to look at the individual images making up the exhibition or here to go to the slideshow we have created for the full exhibition itself.
