So why film in this digital era?
Welcome and thanks for visiting this section of my site
This page is developed with the idea of taking you down the road of discovery which is film photography. I am going to try my best to share a roadmap from starting out to moderately advanced. This will deal with film photography and also film development and further post-processing.
This page will very likely run parallel with some blog articles where I will share some more practical bits.
Conventional photographic film is experiencing a huge new popularity among photographers of all ages, walks of life and levels of experience.
The very clean and clinical image files produced by digital cameras are OK when that is required. Despite this, more and more people are either returning to film or embarking on a journey of discovery experiencing what (recent!) real photography was and still is all about.
Yes, film is still available. New films are launched on occasion and old discontinued films are brought back onto the market. Most of what you need is available from the good people at Cape Film Supply here.
Right here in Port Elizabeth and surrounds an ever-growing handful of people are enjoying the adventure.
Sure, photography did not start with film as we know it. Earlier methods used glass plates and before that metal plates. Methods such as wet (glass) plate collodion is gaining huge popularity among many. More info on wet plate collodion can be found here and also many other places Those are, however, rather interesting and potentially dangerous methods and not to be attempted by the average beginner...
A simple Google search will yield lots of info and there are plenty videos on Youtube. I am not brave enough yet so here and now I will move on to conventional film photography.
The great news is that good film photography equipment can be acquired for very little money or even for free if you are lucky. People are, practically daily, throwing away good equipment. Some end up in a charity shop where bargains can also be had if you know what to look for.
So where to start?
It would seem that most people start with the 35mm format. Films in 35mm format mostly offer 36 frames to a roll.
Now I found this image in a quick Google search. It is one of my favourite 35mm format cameras and was also the first camera I bought myself when I started working.
This is not my image but I thought I should at least credit the owner so clicking on the image will take you to his blog article about the Pentax K-1000. Alternatively you could click through to his site here...
You could also visit the home page of the owner, Daniel J. Schneider here.
The Pentax K-1000 is a great starter camera. Some don't like. Some have valid arguments as to why other Pentax and other brands and models of cameras of the era are better. The vast majority of people love this very basic, very manual little camera and you might too.
My photographic journey started with one around 1991 and I still love it!
Here is a great short video that shows more about loading a 35mm format film into a Pentax K-1000.
Another great video about the Pentax K-1000 and 35mm film generally here.
Sure, there are MANY more options in 35mm film cameras. Now let me be very clear that, like most others, I too have my likes, dislikes and personal preferences. I will only speak about gear I know and own or have owned. I am also not bound to any brand my means of any sponsorships or any other benefits and that means I can say it as it is...
Or, rather, as I believe it is...
The picture of this beast is from the site of Ken Rockwell. Clicking on the image will take you directly to his review of this beast.
You could also visit his home page here at Ken Rockwell.com.
Yes, it is a film camera.
This is Canon's EOS 1V. It was still produced as recently as 2018.
It looks a lot more like the conventional D-SLR cameras we have known for the last two decades or so, right? Much more familiar than the vintage Pentax K-1000.
The more modern they are, the more challenging it often is to learn photography using them. There are so many fancy features built into these late model film cameras. This makes it a daunting task to learn photography rather than the features of the camera.
Of all the distractions in fancy modern film cameras, probably the biggest problem is the light meter. I HATE them. They also influence most other functionalities in modern film cameras. The light meter in a camera is, in my opinion, the single biggest frustration and reason why folks give up on the idea of film photography. It is probably THE greatest obstacle in learning photography.
More about that later...
OK, so once you get a camera you start shooting a few rolls of film and now you have a few options.
What to do with your exposed film?
You could send them to a GOOD KNOWLEDGABLE photo lab for processing and scanning,
You could dabble with developing yourself. This will mostly save you money in the long run. You could also scan them yourself at home.
The next step for most is often trying larger film formats such as medium format on 120 roll film. There are even larger options called...you guessed it...Large Format. Big surprise there, right?
Large Format film photography works with sheet film negatives and roll film stops with medium format film photography on 120 roll film.
Please check back regularly as I develop this section of my site over time.
