Fun With Film Photography | Yashica FX-3 Super
The Yasica FX-3 Super
It is a 35mm film SLR (Single Lens Reflex) Camera. The Yashica FX-3 Super was released in 1984 and was one of the first, if not the actual first, camera put out by Kyocera after their acquisition of Yashica in 1983.
It's a fully mechanical, fully manual camera, but it does have an inbuilt light meter to guide you by indicating if you're over or under exposed.
Camera: Yashica FX-3 Super
Lens: Yashica ML 50mm F/1.9
Film: AgfaPhoto Vista Plus 200
Having fun with film
Gone are the days when film was the only way to photograph. Now we have digital, and pretty much everyone shoots that now. However, there are people still shooting film. These people largely (but not completely) fall into these two main camps.
❶ Professional photographers - those shooting super-high quality / super-high resolution photos in Large Format. There's not a way of doing this in digital at the moment, except for algorithmically stitching multiple digital shots together.
❷ Enthusiast photographers - these are people who are mainly having fun with film, or are film camera lovers.
I fall in the second category. I both am a vintage camera fan, and a for-fun film shooter.
I love the Yashica FX-3 Super for many reasons. Firstly, it gives me full control of what I'm doing, being fully manual. Secondly, it has no dependance on a power source, being fully mechanical. The only thing that uses batteries is the inbuilt light meter which I hardly use anyway. Finally, it's size and design make it so portable and enjoyable as an all-day camera. This makes it ideal for my style of photography.
Technically speaking, most of the photos I usually get are far from perfect. You will see over-exposed photos, colour shifts, lens barrel distortions, dust, scratches, spots, and faded colour. All these things don't really matter much to me primarily because I'm not submitting these photos to a gallery or magazine or anything - far from it. They are just for fun. I'm really doing it for the process, and not necessarily the end results themselves - if that makes sense.
Having said that, now and again, I'd get a decent shot which makes it into one of my coffee table books, or a frame on my wall.
Look at that lens!
Yes, it's a beautiful Yashica ML 50mm F/1.9 prime lens. To begin with, I doubt anyone can tell the difference between an F/1.9 and F/1.8 aperture in a lens. For this reason, I class them as the same. In which case, it's a 'nifty fifty'. There is a little more to a Yashica lens, however, than the numbers. There is a kind of Yashica soul in those lenses that is well known in the vintage camera community.
F/1.9 means I can shoot hand-held at night, and also get some really beautiful bokeh shots. Bokeh refers to that blurry background or foreground in a photograph with the subject in a shallow depth of field.
Peace and Love ✌🏿
Adé
All copy and photos are original content by me.
© adetorrent.com
Interesting to see the different quality of the photographs taken with your old cameras @adetorrent.
I LOVE that gif/video(?) of you taking the photograph. Very creative.
Do you produce coffee books for sale or for your own consumption only?
Thanks @gillianpearce :) - Actually all these photos were taken on the same roll of film! Isn't it crazy how results can vary based on light/settings/subject etc?
The photo books are for fun too, and for people to look at when they come visit.
I've considered selling 'zines', but the process seems a little cumbersome.
The animation is a gif made from a video.
It is surprising how varied the results can be @adetorrent although I supposed it's to be expected with a camera where you have more options.
The light makes a massive difference with my phone but I only have three settings I think.
When I have time I'm going to have to look into this whole gif thing. They can be so effective. 😊
For an enthusiast, you know a lot of technical stuff! Loved the read and was surprised by the night photography! 💪
Hahaha. Perhaps there's another category just for me (fanatic) :D
Thanks.
Amazing shots! I don’t know much about photography, especially not about analogue photography but I really love the way those old cameras look :)
They do look really nice. They were so well made. Quite similar to classic cars.
Yes, I also like the look of older cars. 90s or 80s cars are so cool. I don’t like those modern shapes. They all look pretty similar these days :(
It is nice to see you so passionate about something like photography. I dont do photography but love to look at it. So keep the photos coming brother.
Thank you sir :) Yes I really am passionate about it. It costs money though, but most good hobbies do don't they haha.
Yes they do. I love coin collecting (not the crypto kind) and it can be real expensive.
Nice! I studied film photography in college and it became obsolete pretty much while I was at college and then I started painting.
That's awesome. I used to paint too, it's such a great thing to do. Hope you're still shooting film at least for fun :)
I sold my large format camera a few years ago, but still have my medium format and 35mm. But it’s been years since I’ve gotten anything developed I’ve got probably like 20 rolls of medium format film that been shot just sitting getting old
Oh, the magic of old ones... Have a SMC Pentax Takumar 55 1.8, and by God, it beats some of the new prime lenses of monsters like Canon or Nikon.
You're so right. There's some proper glass in some of those vintage lenses. And they have character too.