So I just shot a roll of film for the first time in over 10 years and had it developed today. I recently acquired a Canon film SLR camera. A friend of mine had the camera sitting around collecting dust. It is a Canon Rebel 2000 and had two kit lenses. I wasn’t very excited about the lenses, and I shoot Nikon, so none of my professional lenses would do me any good on this film camera. I went to a local pawn shop and picked up a practically-new Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens for $45. A new pair of batteries and I was in business. Total cost $55.
My friend had a couple of rolls of film with the camera and I recently bought a hand held light meter, so I had some fun. Now I don’t plan on switching to film any time soon. It is more like a hobby. Kind of funny that I am a photographer, and I consider shooting film a hobby. However, there is definitely something to be said for film. It is actually making a big comeback and some photographers never left film in the first place. The last time I shot film was over ten years ago and my experience was entirely with a point-and-shoot camera. Film is a whole new world that I am having fun exploring right now.
My 5 year old was very interested in this new camera. He is like me. Very excited about new things. It was an interesting experience trying to explain the concept of a film camera to him. Had to tell him that he couldn’t just start taking pictures of just anything, you only have 24 shots, and you can’t look at the picture after you take it. You have to wait until you use the whole roll of film and then you have to take it to a store and have it developed. Despite that warning, he still snuck the camera away today and took 10 frames of random crap. At least I taught him how to shoot in manual mode and had it dialed in to a decent exposure. His photos were at least exposed properly.
Unfortunately, the digital revolution has put any local camera stores/film developers out of business. To get your film developed and scanned digitally by someone who knows what they are doing, you have to mail your film off to a trusted photo lab. The Walmarts and Walgreens of the world have no clue what they are doing. Their equipment is probably capable of doing a good job, but the operators have no clue. They are monkeys trained to push buttons. For instance, film is capable of being scanned at really decent resolutions. The photo discs you get from Walmart/Walgreens (et all) are barely enough to put on the web. No way you could make a decent print out of their digital files. They also look really crappy. So keep that in mind as you look at the photos below. Being my first roll of film in 10 years, I was not patient enough to send it to a lab that knows what they are doing. I dropped it off at Walgreens and got one of their photo discs. The scans are crap, but I’m posting them here anyway.
Photographers that grew up on film are probably rolling their eyes at me right now. “What a fascinating, modern age we live in.”
This is turning it to quite the lengthy post. If you want to read more of my thoughts on film, scroll down below the photos.
There is no such thing as white balance on a film camera. The color you get is entirely dependent on the film you shoot and how you expose it. That means consistency. Skin tones and colors will be consistent on film, something that us digital photographers struggle with. In digital we have to set our white balance for different lighting situations. Ever taken a digital photo inside and everything was super orange? That is because the white balance wasn’t set properly. So why do some photographers still shoot nothing but film? Because of the look they get with film. You can get close to reproducing it the digital world, but it takes extra time and post processing tweaking to get it. I would argue you can’t reproduce the film look 100% accurate though.
The other huge benefit of film is probably considered a drawback for most. Digital cameras have made us lazy. We run and gun far too much. Why do we need to take multiple pictures of the same thing? Because we can. That, unfortunately, is a crappy answer, but that is our reason. Film makes you slow down and think. Makes you think more about your exposure and composition. Talk about a good way to improve your photography. It is an eye-opening experience when you pick up a film camera and can’t rely on an LCD screen to help you know what you are doing.
Film Drawbacks
So the biggest drawback of film for me is price. It is a lot more expensive to shoot on film. However, you can pick up a professional film camera, a fast lens, and stockpile of film for far less than a professional digital camera and lens. You might even save enough money to pay for the film processing for a while too. I already have a big investment in digital equipment and sending a roll of film off to be developed and scanned can add up very quickly.
Other things to consider with film is that there is no immediate feedback. There is no meta data embedded in the photo. If you can’t remember what settings you used or look at the photo and guess, you will never know what f-stop, shutter speed, lens, focal length, ISO, etc. they were shot with. When was the picture taken? You better remember, there is no date embedded in the photo. (Don’t get me started on those nasty film date stamps). This may seem silly to some, but seriously, I’ve not had to think about this stuff for 10 years!
Low light performance is also a drawback of film. However, Kodak has a brand new film out called Professional Portra 400 that has amazing capabilities and qualities. It has minimal grain and can be pushed to ISO 3200 with little change in the grain. That is a bomb-shell in the film world.
One last thing. If you want to be remotely serious about shooting film, you HAVE to have a hand held light meter. You better get the shot right in the first place.
Final Thoughts
I am excited to shoot more film. I think it is a super fantastic way to improve my photography skills. I can hardly contain my excitement to shoot Kodak Portra 400 and have a real photo lab develop and scan it. I’ll be sure to blog about it when I do. For now, 35mm Portra 400 is on back order for the foreseeable future, so I can’t even get my hands on it yet.
Dad - December 11, 2010 - 7:39 pm
Yes, it is fun and challenging. I have done a few rolls of 220 semi-medium format with Grandpa’s old Yashicamat. It does a great job with just lining up the two little needles in the window. I had a few of the transparencies scanned by a pro shop in SLC – they turned out really great. I printed a shot of Cedar Breaks and I like it a lot. I’d like to spend more time doing film – with a light meter.
John - December 15, 2010 - 8:20 pm
I have a Pentax film camera with a 70-300mm zoom and a doubler. As soon as I bought my first digital (Olympus point and shoot) 5 or 6 years ago, I haven’t taken another picture on my Pentax. I used to spend $4-5 on a roll of film (more than that if I wanted professional stuff), and then 10 or so more on developing. If I was lucky, I’d have 6 or 7 pictures that I liked. I’m definitely a digital fan. Such instant gratification.