Film is God
Controversial title, however my absolute opinion and no amount of “logic” or “financial advice” will sway me on this. However just because film is the best thing in the world for me does not mean it is the best thing for you. I am also a firm believer that film has to be both earned and learnt before you can even step foot into what in my opinion is the best photography format ever.
Film can make you look like a bit of twat sometimes.
First things first before you even contemplate buying a 35mm point and shoot because your favourite Youtube dickhead has one or “insert fairly famous person” gets theirs out at the MET Gala or some other vanity fest. Do you fucking research. I do not mean going onto some social media and asking pointless multiple answer style questions I mean going and actually learning some history on what film is. How it works , why there are different stocks ect ect. Research is your best friend in the world of film. It will save you money and also stop you looking like a bit of a knob.
Oskar Barnack and his chaotic desk, rumour has it film is 36 exposures because that was his arm-span.
Now lets say you’ve researched heavily. You have fully locked in on emulsion, silver halide and now worship Oskar Barnack. You now start looking into cameras and quickly work out all cameras are basically light tight boxes and the choice now depends on what lens mount you will prefer along with build quality and ease of use for the light tight box. Now this is actually a hard choice. Most will fall foul of the Canon FD system. The AE1 was a favourite of most and being honest it’s actually a really solid system. However the F-1 ( old version) is the choice I would go for. The FD system as a whole however has shot up in price to the point now where I’d say there are definitely better options for a newbie into film. I personally went Nikon F mount. The cameras don’t really matter but for honesties sake I use Nikkormat FT2’s and Nikon N8008’s. One mechanical body one electric with solid metering just in case. I also see a lot of newbies go for Pentax K again really solid and will be relatively cheap due to the billions of ME supers that were made.
Lots of options and none of them really wrong as every system has pros and cons however here are a few things to note. If you are unsure of your metering with either your eyes or an external meter look for a more “modern” film camera that has an internal meter that is known to be reliable. There is absolutely no shame in using the technology. Camera manufacturers pump in millions of Dollars/Yen in R and D so use their money and make sure your film gets exposed correctly. Doing this will also help you start to learn how to meter simply with your eyes also. If you want a nice tactile “slowing down” experience then you will probably have to sacrifice a bit of the technology in favour of a much nicer shooting experience in my opinion.
So you’ve figured out how film works, decided on a camera system maybe even decided you just want a shit point and shoot, now it’s time to get some film go out and make some photos. Watch videos of people loading your camera, read the manuals, I can not stress this enough so many people forget there are manuals for all cameras ever made. Working in a camera shop I spend most of my life reading manuals. Please read them they are literally there for you to read. Now you know how it all works ( or you think you do) head to your local film lab. For example mine is Chemistry film lab here in Brighton. Home to the cheapest film developing in the UK ( we think). Film labs do not exist as much as they should or even used to so if you don’t have a local one I truly feel for you. Analogue Wonderland is a very good substitute and get somewhat close to the feel and community of a local lab.
Labs are there to help. They should make you feel good about shooting film and provided you have done the research and don’t walk in asking for a 3 hour long free lesson on what to do they will give you all the time in the world. Provided they aren’t busy developing or scanning. Please buy film from them and then develop and scan from them and give them money rather than posting off from somewhere, that is a public service announcement by the way.
Essentially that is it, after your first few rolls you will learn and you will fuck up, it is important to fuck up but learn from the fuck ups. A really big thing however is learning that maybe film is not for you. Obviously you can’t really figure that out without shooting film which is why I leave this point to last. Film currently is being treated as a trend and I get it we can not control what becomes popular it’s just how the world is. I will say I have seen professionals who have been shooting for years try to jump on the film trend and simply not be able to shoot it the way film should be shot. This is not a slight at them or their technical or even artistic ability they are just very much used to digital work and as such film doesn’t fit their work flow or style.
Summing up I have only one request for this world. Please respect film. You don’t have to shoot it. You don’t have to enjoy it. Hell you don’t have to even care but film deserves respect and knowledge before just jumping into it.
