I bought the Nikon F100 (a film camera) about this time last year for three basic reasons:

Lust!
In the 1980's I had an attraction to Nikon cameras, but they were way too expensive, as were the lenses... at least, for the likes of me. So a different route was followed. Move forward to 2011, and I could now buy a very high-end model, for a very reasonable price - much less than any low-end DSLR. It would also work well with the majority of lenses I had acquired for digital cameras.

Too big?
In the digital world, full-frame Nikon's DSLR's were available, but at extremely high prices. Whilst wonderful and advantageous in various regards, they were beyond justifiable in their price. There's also the matter of losing the benefit of the smaller cropped sensors with telephoto lenses. I do a fair amount of telephoto work. An excellent film camera would be a good test to see if I'd get along without that crop sensor advantage, and do it cheaply. If okay, I might be able to afford the likes of a D700, say, in a couple of years time, when they'd have been long since replaced by something "bigger and better" (allegedly in the next fortnight).

Black and White photography
For colour there's no competition, digital wins easily (IMHO), at least in the small formats it does. For Black & White, film is still hard to beat. So this camera would be great for some B&W fun. Going out with a camera that is only going to record B&W makes you think, and look at the world differently. Colour can be such a distracting temptress, that's hard to resist... or I'm just weak! Sunrises and sunsets have to have something else to make them attractive in B&W. And gaining the ability to recognise those ones, then you're also more likely to be able to recognise the ones that would be excellent in colour... as opposed to merely good! You become more discerning... well, maybe! (That recent Ben Wyvis dawn wasn't anything like as good as I'd hoped...)


So there was a plan. And it would also use up that B&W Ilford film, that had been in the fridge for over six months - ordered for some fun shots at a couple of friends' wedding, it hadn't arrived in time. Another part of the plan was to upgrade the camera used today (a D200) to a secondhand D300, primarily for it's better high ISO results, and improved auto-focus. That was the plan...

Less than month after acquiring the F100, I was looking at D300's, and came across a refurbished full-frame D700 on Amazon, for what could only be described as a ludicrously low price. At easily £400 below market value, it was less than a new D300, or Canon 7D. Gulp! Did a few rapid checks on the legitimacy of the company, and other issues raised by my disbelief. Then promptly jumped at the chance, and wasn't disappointed... more amazed at my good fortune. Immaculate, save from a couple of stubborn dust spots on the sensor (removed them on day 2), and less than 1400 shutter actuations - have taken near enough that many at some weekend events!

Meanwhile, that poor F100 has languished somewhat, and I still haven't finished the first roll of film. And what have we here? A load of Kodak B&W film arrived today. Captured prior to going in the fridge. The huge company that was Kodak hasn't totally vanished. It's only just hanging on with it's protected status. So sad, that a company that had a part in capturing so many millions of families memories and special moments, should be almost gone, and so quickly. I used Kodak colour films almost exclusively before digital. Their Kodacolour slide film, giving me my best results. I've never used their B&W film, and following their recent woes, and so many enthusiasts raving about these films in the past, I though it would be good to have at least tried them.

The box on the left contains some B&W 120 film. More on that later...


[Apologies for the vastly extended ramblings! Was hoping for some parts to be delivered so had to stay in.]