Trying Film
A few days ago a film camera dropped in my lap, out of nowhere, and I decided that I need to give film photography a try if I can get it to work. I drove to the city, got a battery and lo and behold, as I winded the lever and snapped the shutter, I could hear the mirror inside the camera snap loudly. The damn thing works, even though my uncle who gave it to me, said it’s jammed. I just think he didn’t know that the camera is completely useless without the battery. My next stop was to get a film for the camera, just one roll of Ilford 400 black and white, you know, just to try it out, dip my toe into the film photography pool. Just shoot one roll, have it developed, see what I can do with it and if the camera and lens even work. Not big deal.
After I got the Canon AE-1 into operating condition, in the back of my mind I already knew that I’m going to be in trouble with this new (to me) venture in photography. I once (or twice) swore that I will not get into film photography, that it just isn’t for me, I’m too impatient and unsure of my photographic abilities.
I came back home, and searched for how to load the film into the camera, and how to operate it. I usually shoot in manual mode anyways, so I’m familiar with ISO, shutter speed and aperture, and that is basically all there is to a simple film camera. Kind of.
Once I loaded the film, I got very intense stage fright! I am so used taking a picture, checking it, adjusting exposure and taking another shot, that when I knew I would have to get it right at the first try, and not even know if it was right, I got so scared to take a picture. It took me over half an hour to snap the first one, because I was so scared of wasting film. I kind of cheated and took my Fujifilm next to me, tested the setting first to get it somewhat right, and then took the picture with the Canon AE-1 film camera. I won’t be doing that all the time, but I needed it to hold my hand for the first shots.
I have quite a few friends and acquaintances that shoot in film, but I think they are shitty fucking friends to even suggest that I get into it too. Those assholes just want me to feel the same kind of pain they do.
Who in their right mind wants to go through all the trouble that shooting with a film camera is!? What kind of a fucking masochist wants to shoot film when there is are cheaper, faster, better, idiot proof cameras available for pretty much anyone!? Are our lives so damn easy these days that you gotta be all hipster and shit and make your life intentionally harder!?
Film is expensive, developing, printing and scanning it is expensive. You can miss shots so easily, especially with manual focus, and you can get the settings horribly wrong, and you won’t even know until you have waited weeks and paid a pretty penny to see the image. OR or, you develop the film yourself, which is cheaper but another thing to learn, and what about the printing, need all sorts of solutions, gear and a dark room.
This is fucking torture, TORTURE I tell you!
I have now searched the internet for all sorts of film related content, Youtube videos and technical explanations on how things works with developing film and printing it, different techniques, great masters, different styles. I have learned soooo much over the past 24 hours, and I have a newfound respect for film photographers who know their shit, and I’m blown away by how at the same time it’s so simple, yet such a great art form. Like you know this Photoshop thing we do and people like to say that real photographers use film and don’t create their images in Photoshop. That’s all bullshit! Most of the tools in Photoshop actually come from how the film is developed and printed. All that dodging and burning, that is from film, and you have like 10 seconds to do it all, and there is no undo button. THE MORE YOU KNOW (the more you wanna learn) GOD DAMN IT!
It’s safe to say that this might turn out to be my newest obsession. Fuck. I don’t want to! And I have only taken six shots with a film camera!
I have 30 more shots to take, and then have the film developed, to see if there is anything to it. If it’s a completely catastrophe, I’ll abandon the whole thing and be best buddies with my digital cameras. If I by some fucking miracle get good shots, I am going so far down the rabbit hole that I might not ever get back, I really don’t know which outcome I prefer.
i think that Canon AE-1 has a light meter?
my first ever camera was smena 8 when i was maybe 10-12 years old. remember once i took it to an excursion and got maybe 6 usable shots, because smena 8 can take double exposures and triple exposures if you don't rewind the film :D then i had an "idiot" with no settings. it had decent photos for what it actually was.
Now i have zenit 12xp and zorki 4k, and i am embarrassed to say i have a film in zorki for more than a year :)
they don't have light meters so i used an app on a phone, and it is ok.
Never developed film myself.
Yes it does have a light meter, which is pretty fun compared to the modern one. I don’t think I can take a double exposure on the AE-1, but that would be kind of fun. I’m interested to see the first roll because I really have no idea how it will turn out. I have anxiety about handing over the control of my images to a studio that will just use an automated process for the development.
feel that film is a bit more forgivefull (feel that is not a word in english :D ) with exposure.
i do understand that but i don't have the time and space (and probably will power) to do it myself. it is for sure an exciting part of the process and would be fun to develop yourself.
Haha! I shot film for 40 years. it's expensive! Metering is way easier than most people let on. Film boxes used to have all the settings right on them. They had little diagrams for front lighting, back lighting beach lighting on and on. You could just use those and everything would turn out fine and dandy. Now i wish i would have kept that some of that stuff. The hardest part was focusing but even that isn't so tough if you're used to manual. Having a darkroom was never an easy thing unless you owned a home and could afford a ton of gear and chemicals and paper. I always wanted a studio like the guy in Antonioni's movie Blow Up!
Photoshop? What an insane creation. Sure it's cool and you can change the molecular structure of the known and unknown universe, but seriously? When i first saw it and tried to use it it seemed to be designed by computer geeks who had never even held a camera let alone taken a photo. People who were not photographers at all. But i digress. Film snobbery is joke. Expensive glass has always been expensive and film won't make an artist of anyone who isn't already going there.
Hell no!
I vaguely remember my parents using film cameras when I was a kid. Many shots turned out garbage because they didn't know how to get all the settings right.
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