Hi everybody, Just wonder, as a amateur, how many roll of film you can shoot per week. Why this question? I have two children, supposed to have enough target for shooting, but sometimes still unable to finish one roll of 36 exposures. Maybe the kids are still young and thus require more time from me to take care of them so I have less time to go out street shooting. How about you? Regards,

-- tom tong (tom.tong@ckh.com.hk), December 09, 2001

Answers

On a trip it's one roll a day (on average). At home maybe a roll every month or so (B&W in one camera, Color neg in another).

-- Wiulhmemn (bmitch@home.com), December 09, 2001.

Earlier, with one child in the home, about 2-3 rolls a weekend, mostly shot-off in a quest to get the right moment i.e. a sort of practice. Now I'm more purposeful, I do about a roll a weekend, sometimes two or three, especially if we are out of the home quite a bit.

2 rolls a day on vacation, on average. Some picturesque places in South East Asia, while on vacation, it goes up to 5/day.

Speaking 36exp/135 film of course.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), December 09, 2001.

I should have added, regardless I shoot fewer rolls in a day than there are variations of Bill Mitchell's name.

;-)

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), December 09, 2001.

During the quarter, maybe 5 or 6 rolls a week for art class. During holidays, a lot more, but i only start counting recently. :)

-- Ken Kwok (kkwok@stanford.edu), December 10, 2001.

It's not quantity but quality that counts. Sounds trite but it's true. If I can get only two or three really good images on one roll that's good enough for me.

-- David Killick (Dalex@inet.net.nz), December 10, 2001.

I shoot about four rolls a week. I "Freelance" for several small weekly newspapers. I know four rolls a week doesn't sound like much, but here's the story: I became interested in spot-news photography when I first joined my Long Island N.Y. volunteer fire department. The department needed someone to photograph fire department activity and make submissions to the local weekly newspaper. I was trained and coached by a veteran volunteer firefighter who was also a long-time photographer employed by the City of New York. He would allow me to shoot only three or four frames at any given incident. Anymore, and he would rant and rave about the total waste of film. He trained me to look and compose before shooting. We processed the TRI-X and made prints in a large firehouse closet. He was also totally devoted to Leica. "Absolute Junk" is what he called any other brand of camera, (except Contax and Hassy). He even contributed a Leitz Focomat enlarger for use in our makeshift darkroom. To this day, I still shoot just a few frames at any event. This is why I only shoot about four rolls a week. Regards, Don

-- Donald A. Wansor (wansor@optonline.net), December 10, 2001.

at the moment with a fairly new camera i shoot about a roll in two days. i try to force myself to develop that roll before i finish the next one. it is somtimes hard, but i manage.

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), December 10, 2001.

at the moment with a fairly new camera i shoot about a roll in two days. i try to force myself to develop that roll before i finish the next one. it is somtimes hard, but i manage.

stefan

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), December 10, 2001.

Minimum of 1 roll a week. More than that if some type of 'event' takes place. If I am traveling, probably 2-3 rolls a day. I shoot color negative, color slide, and black and white negative film. This translates into several hundred rolls of film a year. This is a very expensive hobby! :-)

-- Muhammad Chishty (applemac97@aol.com), December 10, 2001.

I number my negatives to keep track of them so as a by product I know exactly how much film I use. I'm not sure why you are looking for this information but here is another data point:

Year to date - 128 rolls combined of 35mm or 120, 64 4x5's

-- jeff schraeder (jeff@circlesofclarity.com), December 10, 2001.

One to three rolls of film per week, in anything from Minox to 6x6 format. On trips, typically four or five rolls of film per day.

-- Godfrey (ramarren@bayarea.net), December 10, 2001.

I shoot approximately 2-6 rolls per week in general. Unless I'm with Sarah then I shoot about 10-15 rolls that week with her :)

Alfie

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001.

I shoot in waves. During trips, I have shot 30 rolls in two days, (in San Francisco when the sky was unbelievably clear), 75 rolls in three weeks, (in London when the weather was uncharacteristically sunny). When I cover special events, like Bike week here in Florida, I average 20 rolls in a couple of days, (all candids and portraits of the bikers). When I hang around the house, I try to shoot a roll or two a week, (portraits by available light and candids) to keep my hand / eye coordination up.

In the '80s, I had a friend that had a trip to Korea (March), a trip to Germany (November), Christmas (December) and all of his kids birthdays on one roll of film. He was complaining that he couldn't think of how to burn up the last few frames so he could get it developed.

Our priorities were a bit different.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), December 10, 2001.

I usually get two Christmas seasons per roll, plus the stuff that happens in between. Of course I use 36-exposure rolls, the choice of professionals. And, that's why I buy film for my Leica at 7-11, because I know that both will hold true-color even when I leave them in the glove box of my F-150 all summer in Fort Worth.

Dan

ps (actually about 2 rolls per week)

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), December 10, 2001.

At home: none, unless there is something to photograph. On vacation or travel 5-15 rolls a week depending on the subject. I shoot much less than you lot - I guess I must be a bad photographer. I am not sure quite what this question is asking. Is it a good thing to shoot a lot, or is it bad...?

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001.

Tom, I'm weather-dependant. My very favourite shots almost always involve snow or desert sand or pouring rain or wind storms etc etc etc, but... the better the weather the bigger the number of films. Then it would even be a film a day (like on vacation in the Tuscany). I too have two kids but I cook every day, and this often takes more time than shooting film...

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), December 10, 2001.

Not enough!

About 1 roll per week. On trips I'll shoot 5 rolls 120 and 2 rolls 135-36 per day. Shot 70 rolls in September while in Italy for 2 weeks.

-- Tony Oresteen (aoresteen@lsqgroup.com), December 10, 2001.

To Robin: You're being way too hard on yourself. There is no such thing as a "bad photographer"; only bad photographs. Sometimes, really, really bad photographs. Regards, Dennis

-- Dennis Couvillion (couvilaw@aol.com), December 10, 2001.

Not doing photography, one or two per week, if on an asignment or a entire day dedicated to photograph, eigth rolls per day on a good day. The least I īve done is one roll in one month, the most 138 in two weeks.

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001.

Hi friends,

Why I was asking this question?

Sometimes I feel I am lucky to have owned such a good quality camera and a few of the best lenses. But sometimes I feel I am not lucky enough to have enough time to shoot. I think the luckiest would be those professional photogs who on one hand can enjoy their hobby at all times whilst making the money on the other hand. I just want to know how the amateurs here to spend time to shoot to see if I am already lucky enough. Regards,

-- tom tong (tom.tong@ckh.com.hk), December 10, 2001.

I also shoot "in waves". I might not shoot for weeks or months, but when opportunity and subject present themselves I can shoot any number of rolls. On outdors outings I average at about two rolls per day, but again, this can vary. If I shoot some event (not profesionally) that will double.

-- Alexander Grekhov (grekhov@wgukraine.com), December 10, 2001.

I usely shoot 2 or 3 rolls pr. week but on my last trip to London I shot 9 films in a week en Lappland (sweden) I shot 10 films on 10 days. The reason could be that my N**** is easy to reload... (but i n my mind im related to Leica-shooters).

-- thomas Marker (thomas@advokat-marker.dk), December 11, 2001.

I find it interesting that most people only take lots of photos when they are away from home. I think it is harder to see and photgraph quality images in your everyday surroundings, but I don't think you have to go on vaction in order to find good subject for images.

I seem to run hot and cold on amount of film used--a roll or two a week is probably average for a whole year. Ever add up what you spend on film and developing over a long period of time?--on the other hand, maybe that's not a good idea.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), December 11, 2001.

The amount of rolls per year is not very important.
I have been shooting regularly since 1974 and achieved as few as 30 rolls (1977-1980, 1986-1989) and as many as 180 rolls (1981-1985, 1990-1993) per year, depending on locations, travels, events and commercial assignments. My daily job keeps me too busy now, I have two children of 7 and 9 years and mainly take pictures for my own pleasure, keeping a pace of 50-70 rolls a year, not including some commercial shootings for old friends and 1-2 weddings or baptisms per year. My wife and I use 2 rangefinders for B&W (M3 and Hexar) and 2 SLRs for colour (Pentax MZ5N).

I believe that the total amount of "keepers" or the "keepers ratio" is more interesting!
I noticed that no matter how many films I shoot during a two-week vacation, usually 15-25 rolls, I always end up with less than 200 keepers.
Worst example: 12 days in Russia in 1997, shot 26 rolls of slides, 95 percent technically perfect, edited ruthlessly for weeks and finally presented a slide show with only 120 of them (keeper ratio 1/8)... How come?

Results over a long period of time? At an average of 3000 pictures/year, my archive comprises only 5,000 keepers slides out of a total of 50,000 (i.e. a 1/10 ratio). Regarding my approximately 20,000 negatives, it is difficult to keep track with the keepers, though I am sure that less than 200 have been enlarged to bigger than 20x30 cm (1/100 ratio for enlargements).

How about you? I am just curious...

-- George (Gdgianni@aol.com), December 11, 2001.

Saint Ansel maintained that 12 keepers in any year was a very good year. HC-B shot prolifically but edited ruthlessly. Gene Smith said that the most important photographic accessory was the waste basket.

-- Wihuleum (bmitch@home.com), December 11, 2001.

Saint Ansel maintained that 12 keepers in any year was a very good year

He didn't sell much stock, did he?

I don't think he's much of a Saint and I don't think his shooting characteristics have much relevance to other photographers.

I shoot a lot, but I'm selling stuff so maybe that makes a difference.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), December 11, 2001.

George's comments, three posts above, are interesting. My "keeper" ratio is much lower than his, but it may be related to format. When I used to shoot slides, I would keep and show a higher % of shots. Now I shoot only B&W and do the processing and printing myself. I spend from 15 mins. to a couple of hours getting a print "just right." Consequently, I only commit to printing a frame if I think it has solid potential. I had a high "keeper" ratio from a recent trip to the UK -- out of about 13 rolls (468 frames) I printed about a dozen frames. But they were good frames.

-- Douglas Kinnear (douglas.kinnear@colostate.edu), December 14, 2001.