Film!

Austin Lane

I keep buying cameras

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. I started watching some photographers on Youtube because I wanted to learn more about using my camera (Canon R10). Naturally, most of my video recommendations are less about photography and more about gear. It was the same as with synthesizers. I decided a full-frame camera would be fun, and on my trip to Seattle ended up with that Canon 5D Mark IV. Amazing camera, had a blast shooting with it. I still just stare at it on my shelf when I’m supposed to be working. If I had one complaint, though, it’s that neither camera was super portable with the big lenses I was getting for it. Even the R10 with a nifty fifty was a handful, and was always a tight squeeze in my camera bag. My back and shoulders absolutely ached after hiking with the 5D and a 24-105. I love them, but I don’t necessarily want to travel with them again.

I had been seeing plenty of videos and social media from Fujifilm users, and I definitely noticed how compact (and stylish) those cameras were. Of particular note, was that because all their cameras were APS-C (outside of the medium format line), all their lenses could be fairly compact. Canon doesn’t seem really interested in making APS-C equivalents of their main lenses, so there are only a couple options for small lenses that can go with the R10. I grabbed a silver Fuji X-T50 with a 15-50mm lens, and it’s all I’m going to be taking with me on my next trip (well, that was the plan at the time). I do have my eye on the upcoming Sigma 16-300, which will give me that much more without needing a second lens. I tried the Tamron version and was really impressed with it.

One thing I really like about Fuji is the film simulations. When they say you can shoot with one of the simulations and just take the JPEGs straight out of the camera, they really mean it. I’m still shooting in RAW as well, but for the most part haven’t felt the need to edit any of the shots.

Of course, playing with built-in Velvia, Eternia, Acros, etc. is nice. And I found recipes for CineStill and Kodachrome that look pretty great. Obviously, it gets you thinking about what real film is like. At this point half my Youtube recommendations are for different old film cameras, so I was already getting some ideas. I decided to grab another Canon, something that would let me keep using all the EF lenses I already had. The Elan 7NE ended up popping up for a pretty decent price, so I took the plunge. I was pretty much smitten after the first couple shots. I think there is something pretty magical about the shutter sounds on older cameras. It was the same with the 5D. Probably the hardest part now is waiting for film to develop. There are a few shops around town that actually do development, some faster than others, so I’ve been going around and trying them out with different rolls.

Naturally, once I had my film SLR I was perfectly satisfied…

Those old rangefinders look pretty cool though. I would love to have a Leica, but that’s a lot of money. I would need to know that I actually enjoy using something that limited before I could sink several thousand into a camera. Turns out the Canon P is the “Japanese Leica”, so why not? I found a pretty good deal for one with a good 50mm lens and once again took the plunge.

It’s pretty great! It’s a completely different experience from even the SLR. Fully manual, I had to buy a small external light meter just to make sure I wasn’t completely messing it up. You have to learn to really nail focus with the rangefinder view, or get comfortable with range focusing. I’m still trying to figure out if one of the speeds (maybe the 1/1000) isn’t firing correctly, or if I just left the lens cap on for a few shots, but overall the camera couldn’t be in better condition, and I keep this one right on my desk to I don’t have to turn to stare at my beautiful cameras. It even came with a fancy leather case, where the bottom half stays on the camera.

I’ve gotten one roll back so far out of the P, and I am genuinely impressed with the quality. I think my impression of old cameras is that everything was soft and out of focus, or maybe just with film in general, because my entire life I used cheap disposable cameras or little 35mm point and shoots with flaky autofocus.

Since this hobby is only getting more expensive, I’m scanning my own negatives as well. There are a lot of options out there, but I had the fortune of getting a 100mm macro lens from my dad that was perfect for the job, and decided to dip my toe in with a cheap JJC camera lens attachment. It honestly does a fantastic job (just have to put a light right behind it), and the scans look great with the 5D at 30MP.

So what’s next? Well, I already ran around one night a few weekends ago with some CineStill 800T and tried my hand at shooting neon signs around town. I would say it’s a mixed success.

I brought the Fuji as backup to take test shots until I knew I would be confident in the settings, and that helps a ton. Here are a couple comparitive shots, with some light editing in Lightroom. Combining the CineStill 800T recipe with a Tiffen Glimmerglass 1 filter really produced some extreme results with lighting that I needed to tone down a bit.

Still, nailing exposure with darkness and very bright lights is tough. I think I need to try relying less on the autofocus at night, it definitely struggled.

I took the 7NE and the P out last weekend to shoot around downtown during the morning. I was hoping to catch some morning sun (it was pretty overcast, but still got a few nice shots) and then practice on the brunch crowds with some range focusing so I could just walk by and snap shots without looking. We will have to see how those turn out later this week.

In the mean time, I’m seeing a lot of video recommendations for medium-format film cameras…