In the US, 35mm film is still widely available as general merchandise in chain stores. 120 (medium format) is available in most camera shops (though camera shops are increasingly less common). Large format 4x5 may or may not be available in a camera shop. All of it is available over the internet. Most pinhole cameras are medium format or large format because a tripod is required anyway so the convenience of 35mm is pretty much lost.
Between B/W and Color, C41 color negative development is still widely available. E6 color transparancy, i.e. slide film is less common. B/W is also a specialty development service, but it's the easiest to do yourself but non-trivial. The internet is again an option.
I buy film from Film Photography Project, B&H, Adorama, and FreeStyle Photo. Most of the brick and mortar camera stores that still exist sell some film. For development I do black and white at home and send color out to thedarkroom.com because I don't shoot enough color to make the chemistry cost effective. I print black and white in my bathroom darkroom.
I'm still able to find 35mm, 120 and 4x5 film easily. I have a 127 camera that is a bit harder to find film for.
Film has had a big resurgence since 2020. Just ask your local photo lab - yes, there's probably one still hanging around. Just one, though. And yes, they probably still develop color negative film in house. They'll even digitize it for you, as long as you bring a flash drive!
I'm part of the trend - I have a couple Minolta SLRs, 8(?) lenses, a couple point-and-shoots, and even a medium-format camera. There's a Yashica Electro 35 sitting in my lap as I type this.
If you want to play around with film, do the planet a favor and dig up your (or your parents') old 35mm camera instead of buying disposables. It's better off used than collecting dust in a basement. That's just my two cents, though.
I really only shoot B&W so its still pretty cheap. There are also relatively inexpensive C41 color negative films. Slide/Chrome films on the other hand are all expensive. As for convenience, sure, there are no more drive through 1hr photomats, but the entire reason I went back to film is to immerse myself in the process, so I develop everything at home. I print B&W at home, and I scan at home (with a Pentax K-1ii mounted on a copy rig made froma Sinar P2). If you want snapshot, digital is certainly better in most ways, but if you want to understand and participate in a fascinating optical and chemical process, film is quite amazing.
I'm a rather frequent photographer myself, but I shoot solely 35mm film and Fujifilm instant photos. There's still a thriving market for film and there are plenty of labs around to develop your films at. You can pick up various old cameras and lenses for fairly small amounts of money on eBay and similar (or you can spend a ridiculous amount, your call haha).
Film has a certain quality to it that I adore. You don't get insanely crisp images like you describe, you don't get to edit your photos, you just get what you pointed your camera at. And you get something meaningful and physical that you can pick up and hold when you're done. It's wonderful.
If you do medium format there is not really much choice for medium digital format. And lets not even talk about large format. The world of photography goes beyond 35mm.
Developing at home (even color) is easy, especially if you have a sous vide machine to maintain temperature. Scanning 120 is also easier than 35mm because the larger negative means you can actually get away with using something like an Epson flatbed (whereas with 35mm if you want decent quality you need a dedicated scanner). Film is really fairly affordable for a hobby if you don't outsource development and scanning to 3rd parties.
At this point, I think the magic is in black and white and the darkroom (not that I have much of the wherewithal to do it these days). C-41 or E-6 color means you still need someone to develop and then scan them which just seems like digital with extra steps. I worked in a photo lab in the waning days of film and really enjoyed shooting it when I had access to all that equipment, but it just isn't the same since I've moved on.
Whatever people decide to do, I agree with you about skipping disposables and getting something vintage. There are a lot of gems out there - your Electro is certainly one of them, though I'd probably look at a lot of the Olympus point and shoots, though pricing seems to reflect the fact that they were quite good and are becoming a bit scarce; it seems like we're long past the point where the mainstream has unloaded all their 35mm gear for cheap.
DCP is de facto standard for a few years now. It is pretty rare to see 35mm copies around except on festivals. It is even rare to see film cameras on set, even on commercials which are usually ripe with, what would one call, 'hipsters'.
It's not film, it's the paper would project the negative onto to make a picture using an enlarger.
It's not as readily available in this digital age but you should still be able to find it at a "good" camera store. I'd look for maybe single owner dedicated to craft type places vs chain dedicated to tech.
You'll be wanting the B&W stuff, easier to develop and you can work with it under red lights instead total darkness. You'll also need 2 chemicals called "developer" and "fixer" suitable to the paper and distilled water to bath it in.
Pinhole cameras are fun because you can build them in less then an hour for nearly free and it gets you hands on with the underlying principles of photography.
It's a good thing for photography that even though Kodak is fading out of film, film itself isn't quite dying. Last year at PMA there were 22 new emulsions announced and demoed, and there's still a market for even very large format film sheets (up to 12x24, that I know of). There are also new large-format cameras appearing on the market yearly, so the medium isn't dying.
Calumet ran an industry survey a few years ago, and discovered that large format film was actually a GROWING niche in the photographic industry, primarily with amateur fine art landscape photographers, and it is still common among current fine art landscape photographers.
And there are still people shooting portraits and still lifes with view cameras.
I sprung for a stable of medium format (120 film) cameras some years back. eBay makes it easy to get decent quality cameras made over 50 years ago (many of the ones I bought came direct from Japan — surprise).
It was a modest investment in learning and money to take the next step and develop my own film. B&W at first (easy, forgiving) and then even color (sill easy but less forgiving).
I guess I was not interested in the darkroom + enlarger thing. I did that when I was young (elementary school, middle school) so I know what's involved. It could be fun but is less modest a move up in terms of cost (and space since you do indeed need a dark room — just processing the film was easy with just a changing bag).
Instead after processing the negatives, I go next to flatbed scanner and we're digital for the rest of the trip.
Raised on analog film (spent many hours in darkrooms both in high school as well as in elementary school). 35mm was the largest film size I tried.
When I went back to analog a few years back I introduced myself to medium-format as well as the tried-and-true 35mm. I think I was surprised at how inexpensive (eBay) and yet capable the older medium-format cameras were.
I confess to having put down the 35mm cameras though after I saw what the medium-format could do [1-3]. By all means, if you want to dabble in analog, consider an old waist-level, "box camera" and a roll of 120 film (the original Instagram square format, ha ha).
Where do you have your large format slide film processed? I purchased a Jobo tank recently so I could do 4x5 C-41 at home, since neither of the shops in Seattle that still develop film are willing to do sheets.
I'm not sure if that has ever been a thing in the US but here in Germany you can drop off 35mm film at most drug stores for less than 5€. They even give you a 9×13cm printout.
This has been a thing for a long time, I remember going with my mom to the drugstore after a holiday to develop a bunch of them. I bet they've thought of axing this for cost saving in the past but are now more than happy that they didn't do so with the resurgence of film photography over the past years.
Consumer film cameras are extinct as they have been replaced by digital. They are only carried by specialty stores now as people only use it as a hobby.
Between B/W and Color, C41 color negative development is still widely available. E6 color transparancy, i.e. slide film is less common. B/W is also a specialty development service, but it's the easiest to do yourself but non-trivial. The internet is again an option.
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