Film Photography

[acromite53 | 337]

I've been having fun shooting on film ever since I found my Mom's film camera. Its a Ricoh XR-M. It has been difficult learning about aperture, shutter speed, and depth of field. I'm still experimenting trying to get it together. I am definitely a beginner. I've only finished 5 rolls so far. This week, my grandpa found his old Minolta XD-11 which I have been using since yesterday. There was a roll of expired film inside that I finished. But it was not a smooth process. Problems included wrong ISO speed, bug inside lens, expired film, I messed up with rewinding, lens was set incorrectly which made the shutter stuck, batteries weren't connecting, etc. We'll see how that roll turns out!  Thankfully I have learned the camera since then and have a new roll all set. Tomorrow I'm going to disassemble the lens and get that dead bug out of there. The only problem with the camera is the focusing lens. It has scratches or smudges on it. There are no replacements available unfortunately. I did remove it but I took people's warnings and didn't use liquids to clean it. I got some dust off it but it still looks pretty bad through the viewfinder. 

Do any of you shoot on film for fun? Or do photography in general? Let me know! I'm having a lot of fun with it.

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by acromite53

[RH | 4,903]

I never really got into photography much, even back in the 90s when there were no digital options to realistically consider.  I'm not one to hate on much technological advancement, but tehy past 20 years of photography have grown and gotten better in so many ways, I think it's really difficult for a younger generation to truly appreciate the work that went into older forms of photography.  Even the kids that have a strong since of cultural and historical appreciation will have it tough to truly understand how far we've come since the pre-digital era.

I mean, it's been so long since I've had to use a standard camera, they last time I played with one (about a year ago when my wife and I were showing are kids and gave them each their own roll of 35mm to develop) I had forgotten how crappy our photos always were with our standard point-and-clicks of the early 2000s, and of course "real photographers" like to be in control of their lighting.   That's still true today, but when you can do burst mode and preview your work from a view finder, you just can't understand what it was like to take 1 picture and wait a minimum of an hour to actually see the thing.

[fox | 1,665]

@acromite53

awesome to see someone learning and enjoying the process.  I don’t think many people today have the patience and understanding to shoot on film.

Maybe try taking the camera into a camera store, they should be able to give it a good cleaning.  They should be able to help you order some replacement lens or sell you different lenses you can play around with.

Keep it up and show us your photos!

[frankiesomethin | 12]

Nice camera! I don't remember where but I saw some of your photos in another thread and I liked what I saw!

I started shooting film around 7 years ago when I was a beer delivery driver. I was driving all around New York state and when I wasn't pressed for time I would take some shots. I watched some videos to understand exposure reciprocity, bought myself a cheap Pentax K1000 (a common beginner SLR) and started shooting with Kodak Ektar 100. I've been pretty happy with my photos but for me it's less about being artsy and mastering the craft and more about being in a moment and capturing it. I don't consider myself anything more than an amateur photographer and I'm sure any skilled photographer would confirm that haha.

I'll post some pics of the cameras I like using and some of the photos I took on Ektar 100 with my Pentax K1000 and Lomogography Konstruktor. I don't have any scans of photos I've taken with my Polaroid Automatic 100 land camera, but it's an awesome camera to use and I would absolutely recommend picking one up (with a AAA battery modification) but getting your hands on pack film is difficult nowadays since the last manufacturer, Fujifilm, discontinued production a few years ago. I think there are some companies who've decided to start producing their own version of pack film, so I guess it is still possible. Anyway, here ya go...

Taken with the Pentax K1000. Some pretty flowers at a greenhouse.

Taken with the Pentax K1000. My mother-in-law probably telling my wife I'm annoying her in French before I could speak it.

Taken with the Lomo Konstruktor. Salmon fishermen at Lower Falls in Rochester, NY. This location is only a short drive from Kodak tower and many of the Kodak factories at Eastman Business Park.

 

[Lincoln | 230]

My dad has a nice 80s camera he dug out recently and has shot a couple rolls.

How are you guys getting the film developed? He took a roll to walmart and they shipped it off and he got a cd back with the images but he wasnt happy with that process.

[frankiesomethin | 12]

14 minutes ago, Lincoln said:

My dad has a nice 80s camera he dug out recently and has shot a couple rolls.

How are you guys getting the film developed? He took a roll to walmart and they shipped it off and he got a cd back with the images but he wasnt happy with that process.

I brought a roll to Walgreens a few years ago and experienced the same thing as your dad so I decided to never go to one of those places again. None of those stores that once had in-house photo labs have them anymore so they send everything out.

Where I live there's plenty of options for getting film developed but it's usually people's private labs or specialty retailers. I go to a guy who has a studio and a film lab. It's definitely more pricey than it once was but I trust him and I have several options for what I want the final result to be (ex. you can pay a little extra to push/pull the exposure). With tax, I pay about $15 per roll and in return I get scans emailed to me and my negatives if I go to pick them up. 

I guess I'd suggest he look online for some local labs, check out their portfolios to see if he likes their results then consider the price. I know there are some online services where you mail the rolls in and choose what product you want back but I've never tried any of those services.

[fox | 1,665]

41 minutes ago, Lincoln said:

How are you guys getting the film developed?

Local mom and pop places are better.

Though stick a note for no color correction and no brightness correction.  These kind of “corrections” are stuff you could easily do yourself and often ruin whatever you were originally going for.

[RH | 4,903]

When we had our kids film developed, they were none the wiser and were fine with the results. My wife and I were a bit disappointed, specifically, because the photos were slightly-pixelated and you could tell that though we got back printed pictures, the photos were digital.  I wouldn't mind so much, but converting first to digital before printing changes the results, and being able to see the fine pixels made it worse. That's not old school photography.  That's just a sad hybrid.

[JamesRobot | 5,797]

Very cool.

Used to do tons of b/w photography back in hs and college.  Developed my own film and printed my own pictures.  I really miss the process but it's also a pain in the ass.  Now that everyone has a camera in their pocket, "photography" is too damn cheap and easy.

Edited April 28, 2020 by JamesRobot

[acromite53 | 337]

On 4/27/2020 at 2:00 PM, frankiesomethin said:

Nice camera! I don't remember where but I saw some of your photos in another thread and I liked what I saw!

I started shooting film around 7 years ago when I was a beer delivery driver. I was driving all around New York state and when I wasn't pressed for time I would take some shots. I watched some videos to understand exposure reciprocity, bought myself a cheap Pentax K1000 (a common beginner SLR) and started shooting with Kodak Ektar 100. I've been pretty happy with my photos but for me it's less about being artsy and mastering the craft and more about being in a moment and capturing it. I don't consider myself anything more than an amateur photographer and I'm sure any skilled photographer would confirm that haha.

I'll post some pics of the cameras I like using and some of the photos I took on Ektar 100 with my Pentax K1000 and Lomogography Konstruktor. I don't have any scans of photos I've taken with my Polaroid Automatic 100 land camera, but it's an awesome camera to use and I would absolutely recommend picking one up (with a AAA battery modification) but getting your hands on pack film is difficult nowadays since the last manufacturer, Fujifilm, discontinued production a few years ago. I think there are some companies who've decided to start producing their own version of pack film, so I guess it is still possible. Anyway, here ya go...

Those shots look nice! Is there a particular type of film you like using for what you do? 

[acromite53 | 337]

18 hours ago, JamesRobot said:

Very cool.

Used to do tons of b/w photography back in hs and college.  Developed my own film and printed my own pictures.  I really miss the process but it's also a pain in the ass.  Now that everyone has a camera in their pocket, "photography" is too damn cheap and easy.

That's cool. We've got an old photo enlarger which I think would be interesting to learn. Learning processing and building a darkroom isn't something I'd do though.

I hadn't used a dedicated camera before that wasn't a phone. Going out with a purpose to take pictures really makes you think about composing the shot and looking for interesting subjects. What kind of things did you photograph in B&W?

[acromite53 | 337]

On 4/27/2020 at 2:49 PM, frankiesomethin said:

I brought a roll to Walgreens a few years ago and experienced the same thing as your dad so I decided to never go to one of those places again. None of those stores that once had in-house photo labs have them anymore so they send everything out.

Where I live there's plenty of options for getting film developed but it's usually people's private labs or specialty retailers. I go to a guy who has a studio and a film lab. It's definitely more pricey than it once was but I trust him and I have several options for what I want the final result to be (ex. you can pay a little extra to push/pull the exposure). With tax, I pay about $15 per roll and in return I get scans emailed to me and my negatives if I go to pick them up. 

I guess I'd suggest he look online for some local labs, check out their portfolios to see if he likes their results then consider the price. I know there are some online services where you mail the rolls in and choose what product you want back but I've never tried any of those services.

Yeah all the big stores/drug stores like Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, etc. don't give you back the negatives. The negative is the whole purpose of using film. They can give you back a scan but you'll never have the original source from which to archive. Plus you can go back to the film and do high quality scans of it yourself.

[JamesRobot | 5,797]

2 hours ago, acromite53 said:

That's cool. We've got an old photo enlarger which I think would be interesting to learn. Learning processing and building a darkroom isn't something I'd do though.

I hadn't used a dedicated camera before that wasn't a phone. Going out with a purpose to take pictures really makes you think about composing the shot and looking for interesting subjects. What kind of things did you photograph in B&W?

My best photos were probably landscapes. Which is a little odd, because my best drawings are portraits.  I'll see if I can hunt any down.  I don't think i have much left though. 

[frankiesomethin | 12]

3 hours ago, acromite53 said:

Those shots look nice! Is there a particular type of film you like using for what you do? 

Thank you! Yeah, but I've only ever used Kodak color films (Ektar 100, Gold 200, Ultramax 400). My favorite has been Ektar 100. It's a low ISO at only 100 so you need a good amount of light, but I love the mood of the finished product. I initially determined which films I would used based on images I liked that people had posted on flickr, but I haven't been there in a long time and last time I visited, the site was unrecognizable (sounds familiar haha). 

[acromite53 | 337]

3 hours ago, frankiesomethin said:

Thank you! Yeah, but I've only ever used Kodak color films (Ektar 100, Gold 200, Ultramax 400). My favorite has been Ektar 100. It's a low ISO at only 100 so you need a good amount of light, but I love the mood of the finished product. I initially determined which films I would used based on images I liked that people had posted on flickr, but I haven't been there in a long time and last time I visited, the site was unrecognizable (sounds familiar haha). 

That's good to hear. I bought a roll of Ektar 100 but I haven't used it yet. I've only tried Ultramax 400, Ektachrome 100, and Ilford HP5 Plus 400. I wasn't too happy with my Ekrachrome shots. A lot of it had to do with bad lighting. Not enough light or pointing towards the light source. I am currently working on a 1991 expired Kodak Tmax 100 which my friend's dad had left in his fridge for years. No idea if it will work out, but its for fun.

Ultramax 400:

Ektachrome 100: 

Ilford: 

[acromite53 | 337]

This month I finally finished scanning all of my grandpa's color slides dating from ~1958-1991. It was over 1,000 pictures that I had been working on since November. I am amazed with the color and clarity of them. He said he always used Ektachrome or Kodachrome. I also had his 13 8mm films scanned.

3m Dynacolor - 1966: