View allAll Photos Tagged FerraniaSolaris400,
2013-01-28
model: Cora Deitz
wardrobe: Bob Smithey
At The Ritz Costume Rental
Nikon FE2
Nikon Ai 50mm f/1.4 lens
(expired) "Photoworks" Ferrania Solaris 400 35mm film
Something that has been on my mind for a while has been the increasing use of smartphone photo apps. At first I thought they were a good idea. I thought they served as a gateway to real film cameras. I am guessing this might be true for some, but I have noticed a lot of people shooting with them really seriously. I am a bit of a hypocrite as they are fun to shoot with and I use them myself for stupid daily life snap shots, but nothing that interesting usually.
For this rant I will focus on the iPhone app Instagram. It's basically a fake film app/social network all in one. My big problem with it is that instead of it generating interest in actual film cameras, it seems to have dragged a lot of previous film photographers into the app. I am not saying these people still don't shoot film, but a lot of people I follow here on Flickr are really sucked into the app, and rarely post photos on Flickr or elsewhere with real cameras anymore.
My problem with the app is that you are shooting with a camera phone. It's a huge step backwards in technology. The quality is at best like 2003 point and shoot. The camera only shoots in jpg, so when the app edits the photo it looks terrible. If the camera had a raw mode, then edited the raw image data, and produced a jpg the photos would look worlds better most likely, but it doesn't. They are also noisy jpgs if not shot outside. Another big gripe with them is that all the photos eventually start to look the same. You have only so many filters you can use. There is no changing aperture, so you can't control the depth of field without a very fake looking one. Hence everything starts to look the same and boring. To add insult to injury, the photos are only 72dpi images. This means that they aren't worth printing at any kind of displayable size. Yeah, I have seen there is a printing service for them now, but the book is about the size of my wallet, with the image printed even small on the page. Which then brings me to my next point that the photos are pretty much throw away photography. They are fun for now, but how many of them do you really go back and look back after a months time? None? I thought so.
I know this is coming off sounding a bit snobby, but it's been on my mind for a while and it's how I feel. I am all about having fun with photography because that's what it's all about, but putting your real cameras on the self to shoot with a camera phone as your primary camera is a foolish mistake.
For those that are interested, you can follow me on Instagram at: @the_real_jason_combs
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2019-04-25
Lomography LC-A+
Clark Color Film (Ferrania) 400, expired 2005, shot at ISO 200,
2019.b1.roll 36
I hanged with these guys after the "No Nukes" Demonstration on the 19th here in Tokyo. From left to right: James Hadfield (Writer/Editor for TimeOut Tokyo), Adrian Storey (Photographer/Documentary Film Maker), and TokyoRich.(Tokyo based Journalist/Analyst)
For those that are interested, you can follow me on Instagram at: @the_real_jason_combs
Currently Listening: