Film Should we have a film emulation forum?

[Amin]

Should I create a subforum for digital photos with film emulation applied? I think it would be cool to have, but on the other hand film emulation is not film .

 

[pdh]

I'd say not.
there's a million digital forums for that, and you run several already !
if we're going to have a film forum, lets stick to film.
"film emulations" are really chimeras, but then I suppose that's a discussion for another thread really.

 

[Luke]

so part of a film forum dedicated to photography done without film?

 

[pdh]

Exactly ... it hardly serves the raison d'etre of a film forum to encourage people to use the forum as repository for digital images and discussion.

 

[Lawrence A.]

Agree with the above. I think there is a fairly active discussion about kodachrome emulation on Photo Lounge at this very moment. I don't have to emulate film on my E-M5; I can shoot it on a variety of film cameras.

 

[Kay]

Film emulations are one of my favorite topics but I can perfectly understand not to have them discussed on this forum, even though we're discussing some digital technologies like scanning etc. I'd prefer to keep this place centered around the real deal.
Emulations might be worth their own sanctuary though if you ask me, e.g. a (sub-)forum over at the lounge - something more specific than 'color'. At the moment I see discussions on Kodachrome and that new (non-)Fuji chrome sauce all over the place.
Why not have a go at it, Amin?

 

[Jesse_S]

I see no reason not to give the subject it's own subforum as SnapDawg suggested above. While I'm not terribly interested in emulating existing film stock, there's a lot that is lost to history. I will never be able to shoot and develop real Kodachrome, after all, but I like the look. Who better to discuss and find solutions than people who actually used it and still use film? I think the generally even-handed and pleasant atmosphere of your forums makes it quite doable, Amin.

I would hate to see this forum go down the path of another well-known analog photography forum where the mere mention of digital is met with near outrage. Modern film photography exists in the digital world like everything else these days and digital offers a lot of interesting new ways of using and complimenting film.

 

[pdh]

I would hate to see this forum go down the path of another well-known analog photography forum where the mere mention of digital is met with near outrage.

You mean APUG of course, no need to be coy.

I'm active there and I agree - the attitude of a small but vocal minority of members is perfectly absurd.

Nevertheless, there is something (more than something) to be said for preserving a film-only ("analogue" if you insist) flavour to a film-focused forum. Otherwise where's the USP of the forum?

"emulations" don;t have any real meaning anyway. There's really no such thing as a "Tri-X look" or even a "Kodachrome look" - in the latter case (as someone has pointed out in another thread) people shot it at different EIs, and the result would be a dfferent "look" anyway ...

There's a "Foveon look" ... but you can "emulate" it from a Bayer sensor, and we don;t see "Foveon emulation" subforums at TPL ...

Anyway, whatever.

Tomorrow I'm making salt prints, and I'll be using negatives I made on lith film from an enlarged 2mm square of a 35mm frame of Acros via 6x6 interpositives on lith film ... what emulation is that ?

 

[Amin]

I can see both sides to this. I get that this is a film site and that there aren't many such sites. On the other hand, I'd like this site to be overall open and think @Jesse_S makes some great points. I'll hold off on creating a subforum for film emulation, but I think it's worth revisiting at some point.

 

[RichardB]

I like film emulation software, and I'd like to discuss it here with other people who appreciate the look of film. Having its own subforum would help prevent software discussions from polluting other subfora.

 

[Kay]

Another aspect that comes to my mind is that I'd personally prefer to discuss emulations with folks who actually know, shot and maybe processed the real stuff over an extended period as opposed to people who just like the looks.
On a side note: I've been working on emulations of my favorite Kodak films for a while and just recently started all over again. IMO you learn a lot more than just clicking your way through a number of prefabs. At the moment I'm busy with some of my own chrome masalas for some of my ongoing series - a pretty rewarding process, even though to me any emulation is but a starting point - no more, no less.

 

[ean10775]

I think you open the site up to a wider array of photographers if you offer the ability to post digital photos with film emulations applied to them. Perhaps for those that visit specifically to post in that subforum, seeing other actual film theads may also spur some to pick up a cheap film camera and go out and shoot some film themselves. I say why not.

 

[phigmov]

<dons mandatory photo-enthusiast-forum hat of intolerance>No, no, burn it with fire !!</removes hat>

Just kidding - I'm ambivalent.

I was waiting for someone to just create a digital thread under 'All Other Cameras' anyway (presumably this is primarily intended for Large Format, Camera Obscura etc).

Or create a subforum with a sticky pointing people to Amins other digital forums but allowing digital threads underneath.

 

[Brian]

Put the Film Emulation Sub-Forums on the digital Sister sites, Photo-Lounge is a good candidate. Specifically designate it as Film-Emulation, both examples and techniques.

I don't think it belongs in a "Film-Forever" site.

Some film is "lost forever", like Infrared Ektachrome. Trying to attain that look is difficult without "faking it completely". I'll start with that one once a sub-forum is established.