When did you give up film?

[AAFO_WSagar]

My first year as a pylon photographer was 1997, I went at it with laughably inadequate hardware, I think first year we were flatbed scanning one hour prints and then uploading into the night on dialup! LOL

My question is: When did you give up shooting film at Reno and go all digital?

What was the first digital camera you shot on the pylons?

What year?

It is amazing how easy it is now, I'd wager the newest cameras can cloud/upload pretty much as you shoot!

I even brought my own coffee maker if I remember correctly to stay awake uploading via the dialup in the old media shack, just to the left of pit gate, now one of the race class HQ.. It wasn't much but I was there, I had electricity I had a phone line and damn those 14.4 uploads were painful!!!!!

I wish I or someone else would have taken photos! I personally didn't see the value (never have been a selfie guy) but historically, I wish I had more of a record than I do.. I think the uploads still exist, though buried in site "update" reformatting we did years ago.

Almost too bad I can type almost as fast as I talk... LOL It's pretty easy to type on a keyboard (as long as I don't have to look at it) but I tend to RUN ON AND ON AND ON!! LOL!

Back on topic.. I'm really curious!

[Pete]

Re: When did you give up film?

I haven't given up on film.

I shoot film when I go scuba diving with my collection of Nikonos cameras. I find a certain challenge in the thought process of exposure and composition and the limitation of only having 36 shots to use on a dive. And then only about a third of them are really keepers. Expensive though. Good film (fresh), a local high quality processing lab and a 4x6 print in hand is about $1.50 per frame. I found some flashbulbs on ebay for the late 60s Nikonos 1 setup... that added a buck per frame. It was a good dive, some good photos, but you spend a whole lot of time changing flashbulbs. And you really need to be really comfortable with the scuba diving part of it before you can free your mind enough to really think about the photography.


Pete

[RAD2LTR]

Re: When did you give up film?

When did I give up on film at Reno? 1990 or so. I only had a point and shoot digital when I came back in 2010, and I wanted my film camera back. My first pylon camera was a Nikon D600 with my 200-500 F5.6 lens in 2016. That said, I've brought my Hasselblad Xpan to Reno several times, but never pulled it out. I might try it again for PRS next year.

Will

[Lon Moer]

Re: When did you give up film?

I got my first DSLR, Fuji S9100, in ~2014 but I really never use it.
I do use my Nikon Coolpix for something almost everyday.

Coolpix. at Petaluma CA

[N22252]

Re: When did you give up film?

I gave up film in 2002. At the time a 2 megapixel Panasonic point-and-shoot was about $300, but it came with a free upgrade to a 64 Megabyte SD card!!!

My local Wal-Mart actually still sells 35 MM film. For about $20 you get a 3-pack of 36 exposure 400 speed rolls. I don't really know of any where that processes the stuff though.

[Lockheed Bob]

Re: When did you give up film?

Try walgreens to process the film?

[cheapskater]

Re: When did you give up film?

I tried still photos a couple of years in the 90s but started doing video in 1985 and it took a couple of years to get the hang of getting 400mph plus airplanes in the viewfinder of a JVC camera matched to a portable VHS recorder that ended up with a 12 volt gel cell battery and an external magnification lens. Since we were Cheapskate hill folks this meant standing on the top of my truck and balancing while Skip and Lefty buzzed each group on the hill on successive passes. Once we were booted we ended up on the Fenceline and over the years many of us swapped footage from around the race course to make complete laps from different perspectives. Only the privileged end up on the pylons year after year and truthfully they don't capture what it is that is great about the races, the sound, the passes, the maydays, the racing. I have over 30 years of video from mine and other sources. If the races die we will still have them on our big TV to enjoy with the sound cranked up forever. And we will always have our 80s stuff. Check out utube under reno 1980s from Fxar and you will see why video beats stills hands down. Now the real question is Tripod or hand held?

[Shawn Aro]

Re: When did you give up film?

i still have 3 film camera and a bag of bulk b&w film left a few years ago i was talking to the guy who works in the photo department at Walmart and he said they only put your pics on a disk

Shawn

[kennsmithf2g]

Re: When did you give up film?

Target used to send out film to be processed and printed in my area.(Cleveland)

[N22252]

Re: When did you give up film?

When film is outlawed, only outlaws will have film...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/times-are-tough-for-lovers-of-vintage-cameras-one-was-just-pulled-from-a-plane/ar-AAPDpBH?ocid=ientp

[Big_Jim]

Re: When did you give up film?

My first year as a pylon photographer was 1997, I went at it with laughably inadequate hardware, I think first year we were flatbed scanning one hour prints and then uploading into the night on dialup! LOL

I have some really good memories of those early AAFO years. You, Mark Kallio, Mark Daniels, me, Scotty G, a whole bunch of us who really didn't know what we were doing. But we sure had some fun. "What happens in the truck STAYS in the truck."

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: When did you give up film?

I have some really good memories of those early AAFO years. You, Mark Kallio, Mark Daniels, me, Scotty G, a whole bunch of us who really didn't know what we were doing. But we sure had some fun. "What happens in the truck STAYS in the truck."

Ahh yes, the trucki Those really were the days!!

[kiwiracefan]

Re: When did you give up film?

hmmm nothing like picking up a strip of light sensitive emulsion coated Acetate and looking at reversed colours..
I will stop shooting film when i die! If there is film available i will shoot it..

[kiwiracefan]

Re: When did you give up film?

I gave up film in 2002. At the time a 2 megapixel Panasonic point-and-shoot was about $300, but it came with a free upgrade to a 64 Megabyte SD card!!!

My local Wal-Mart actually still sells 35 MM film. For about $20 you get a 3-pack of 36 exposure 400 speed rolls. I don't really know of any where that processes the stuff though.

You can always process your own stuff... i do my own film at home, mainly black and white, and it gets the cost per frame down to around about 80c per frame for B+W, Colour is about $1.20 per frame as the chem kits are more expensive, and instead of getting around 30 rolls out of a 1L chem mix, colour is about 12 rolls on a good day.