Review: Film Photography
I’ve been doing photography since I bought a DSLR camera on October 2017. I grabbed any chance to take photographs of flowers/wild animals, people’s expressions in events, and stage performances. I loved doing these fields because I’m not very good at directing people in photoshoots. Besides, I love seeing natural expressions in my works (if people are in frame).
So far, DSLR is quite convenient for me. I have no problem finding and using lenses I need for specific photo styles. I already have my own telephoto lens for stage/event/non-dangerous wild animal photography. Also, there’s a live preview, which helps me see which photo is the best. The only downsides are: 1) lens-switching is basically quite impractical (since I only had one body until I bought another camera body recently), and 2) it’s heavy.
Recently, I was intrigued to learn film photography. I wanted to know the feel of taking photos without a live preview. Before I decided to get a film camera and a roll, I did some research. I searched for film cameras and the rolls available in Indonesia, watched some camera reviews, and learn the dos and don’ts.
In April, I decided to buy Kodak Ultra F9. It’s a point-and-shoot camera, so I didn’t have to set everything. Just directly point the lens somewhere, then shoot. My first roll was Lapan BW 400. I didn’t know about a ramjet roll until I already used the roll. It was much heavier than non-ramjet.
My first attempt at taking photos with a film camera was a complete fail. The roll was jammed in my 33rd or 34th exposure (it had 36 exp). I tried to rewind, but it was jammed again. Foolish of me, I opened the back lid to see if it had completely rewound. Turned out it hadn’t, which meant now my roll was burnt. When I came to a devscan service, they couldn’t develop BW since it took longer time and they had a week off starting on the next day.
They offered to develop using color. I hesitantly agreed, because there was no other time. Many services were taking a week off starting on April 29. The guy who received my order said the file would be sent to my e-mail a few hours later. As you might expect, I couldn’t see anything. Most of the results were blank.
My second attempt was successful. I used a color roll this time (Xtra 400). I tested the roll by hunting in the morning. The results were much better, although I still needed to perform color correction on Lightroom. No burnt exposure. I uploaded the best ones on my Instagram. You can check them out here.
Thoughts
I can say film photography is quite challenging. You can’t see a live preview, so you don’t know whether you’ll get a flop or an amazing result. Not to mention its unique problems, like jammed rolls, blank photos, and other stuff. The rolls are pricey, too. I have to spend 70.000–180.000IDR (4.76-12.24USD) per roll to get 27–36 shoot attempts. Like, the camera unit is way much cheaper than DSLRs and Mirrorlesses. You can get the cheapest camera on the marketplace (around 150.000–300.000IDR, which is around 10–20 USD). However, the additional expense can be a pain.
If you’re a digital photographer, you might already know how things work. You know how to produce a great photo. Everything comes naturally, except you can’t see previews yet. With limited amounts of attempts, you’ll try your best to make every shot count. However, if you’re new to photography, this experience may be challenging or a little bit bothersome.
I personally recommend anyone do some research before purchasing film cameras. Get to know the difference between SLR and point-and-shoot cameras. Find info about rolls — how to take care of them, ramjet vs non-ramjet, dos and don’ts, etc. This helps you from regretting after making a big purchase and it doesn’t meet your expectation.