Monday, April 13, 2009

How far has film fallen?

Everybody knows that digital photography is rapidly replacing film, but just how far out of favor has film fallen? Here's a clue: I recently bought these items at an auction along with other less notable cameras, all thrown into one box. I paid $15 for them all.

Canon TX, manual SLR camera with 50mm f 1.8 lens. After putting a $3 battery into it for the light meter, it works perfectly.

Nikon MD-11 power winder for Nikon FM series cameras. Excellent working condition.

And the most amazing of the bunch, a Mamiya RB67 body with back and prism finder. Admittedly, the body is in rough, non-working condition and is missing a dark-slide. But the back and especially the prism finder are in excellent condition. Even the body is still good for parts.

On to eBay they go. There we'll find out what all this is REALLY worth.


  1. Strangely, or maybe not, the only part of using film that I miss is the wonderful tones one could get in the darkroom with certain paper and developer combinations. Although I don't miss at all the time it took to generate an acceptable print.

  2. It comes awfully close in inkjet B&W when using variable tone carbon inks in six and seven color printers, but yes, there's still something missing.