Shooting Film has always been seen as the purists’ form of photography. All mechanical and get it right in camera. Today with digital photography film is seen as the ultimate test of your abilities as a photographer. If you can shoot film you are great at photography. Today I talk about the stigma that shooting film has and whether or not shooting film is right for you!

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Full Episode Transcription:

Disclaimer: The transcript was transcribed electronically by Temi.com and may contain errors that do not reflect accurately what the speaker said. Because of this, please do not quote this automated transcript.

Its been a tough week for me. The Dodgers, the most winningest team in baseball this year... lost in game 5 of the devisional series to the washington nationals. The game started off strong but with back to back home runs thrown by Kershaw of all pitchers who in his 11 year pitching carear has never allowed back to back home runs during the regular season... caused the dodgers to tie the game and then a grand slam in the 10th sealed the dodgers hopes for a third attempt at a world series win.

Im heartbroken. We were so close. We were a shoe it. It was a done deal.

But you go to bed and wake up the next day and the world just isnt as... rich as it was the day before. But you have your cup of coffee and you keep moving forward.

Oh sure you still think about it. How could you not? There are memories all around you. Hats, shirts, the sticker on my car, the coffee mug Im currently drinking out of, the photo of the field at dodger stadium that hangs above my computer to look at every single day... and its painful but... you cant change the past. so reluctantly you force yourself to move on.

so there you go.

If you have been in the fb group youll know that as of recently Ive been shooting quite a bit of film.

Ive taken my film camera out at weddings and a few family events and people often ask why.

Why Im shoting film.

With digital workflows being seamlessly integrated into our lives, why shoot film?

Some ask with genuine curiosity and some ask with a sense of superiority with digital but either way Its a solid question

Let me preface by saying there are a lot of different paths in photogrpahy.

There is no one answer

What works for some wont work for others especially if you have a clearly defined goal attached to it.

When I graduated film school my mom gave me my Dads 1987 Pentax k1000 with the 50mm f2 lens that they bought at Sears

I shot with it off and on for 2 or 3 years and loved it but one day the light meter broke, and I was broke so I couldnt fix it and I didnt do much shooting

Earlier this year I found a roll of exposed film, didnt know what was on it, developed it, fell in love. (feel, light, colors, texture) I mean truly loved it. I posted some of those photos in the show notes of this episode, check them out! Beginner photography podcast.com episode 169 or just swipe up if youre in apple podcast app

So I went to buy some more film and while at the camera store... bought another film camera a Mamiya 135AF shot 3 more rolls

Then I went to get them developed

Development and prints were $65 for those 3 rolls. way too much to be sustainable. For that price digital is a no brainer.

But I thought, If I want to shoot filml thats the price I have to pay since I dont have a spare room in my house to convert into a film dark room.

A few more months went by and I shot a few more rolls of film. Still loving the rawness and feel of the photos.

so one day I was on youtube and the internet gods delivered exactly what I needed to see. A video by Willem Verbeck called develop film color film at home

that video is in the show notes as well.

I watched it and I was amazed at how easy it was!

And how... you didnt need a darkroom!

Now, you do need a Dark Room to load the film but I just use my bathroom with the door closed and hang a blanket over the door to prevent any light leaks.

But thats easy and quick.

I bought everything needed to start developing my film at home and I was set!

Lets talk about the pros and cons of film.

Pro

Because youre limited by how many photos you can take you have to Slow down, More intentional, More in the moment

No editing if you have a lab scan the photos (need to convert negitives to positives in lightroom if you scan them yourself)

Film cameras dont go obsolete and they can be found with GREAT lens for CHEAP!

Con

cost of money

Cost of time if you develop yourself. The whole development process from warming up your chemicals to development to drying, scanning, and converting takes about 3 hours from start to finish per roll.

Consistency is hard to achieve unless you develop and scan yourself.

The biggest myth I hear about shooting film is people think shooting film in itself will make you a better photographer and thats simply not true. Unless youre hyper focused on learning film photography its possible you wont learn a thing. Many times I get back photos and think "I wish I knew what my settings here were, because this isnt the photo I was looking for"

With digital your settings are baked into the photo and you can learn from them.

Plus go back and look at your parents old film prints, you WILL find bad photos. so simply shooting ON film will not make you better.

Why do people say it makes you a better photogrpaher.

There is something psycological when you know you only have 24 or 36 photos you can take. You ask yourself even if its not consious weather or not what your looking at is worth a photo. If it is, you take one or two photos. Not 20. And its its not worth a photo, you take 0 photos. not 20 photos.

When you imagine someone taking $1 out of your pocket everytime you take a photo, it makes you slow down.

Ok its not exactly $1 but Ill get into a cost break down in a second

When you slow down youre more intentional with your photos. You ask yourself if this is the best photo you can take. You pay more attention to how you frame your photo, you question if 2.8 will be enough DOF or if f4 is the right answer. You look at your backgrounds and colors diferently. youre more aware of that bright red background or that telephone wire that cuts right through someones head.

And simply being aware of those things will help you make better, more intentional decisions. Because you know youre limited by frames and cost.

Every year indianapolis hosts an event called motorcycles on meridian where an estimated 30,000 motorcycles show up. Growing up I was an avid rider and decided to go to the all day event and shoot some film.

I brought 2 rolls of film. 36 frames each, 72 total photos possible.

I was there shooting for 4 hours and shot a total of 40 frames.

If I was at a wedding for 4 hours I would shoot close to 1000-1200 frames.

But I had a hard time shooting those 40 frames! Why?

Well how many shots do you need to tell a story? You need a beginning, middle, end, and you need wide shots, medium shots, and closeups. You want some environment and you want some details.

Thats 8 different photos right there, then some photos you take a few shots off just to make sure you nailed exposure or the moment. So even if I took 3 of each photos thats 24 photos. Then I just started experimenting with composition and looking for moments to anticipate action. After 40 photos I was toast!

I got home, developed the film and I have to say Im pretty proud of the photos.

You can see some in the show notes of this episode.

Are they the best photos Ive ever taken? no

You might look at them and think they are garbage.

Photography is subjective I get it.

But did it teach me anything about photography?

If you think about an event or a shoot, analytically (map out the who what when where and why) (what shots you need, what lens you would use for those shots, what you will say to your subject, if you need any additional lighting, where it will be placed ect) then you can achieve great things with those limited resources and dont have to go in to debt to shoot film!

And make no mistake, this is how you SHOULD be shooting digital. With Intention.

Ok covered that now... Cost

Its not quite $1 for every photo but lets break it down as if you were starting from scratch today, as I did.

I shot 40 frames becuse I had to finish up my previous roll before I loaded a fresh roll. So lets break down the cost for 36 photos. A standard roll. $8

Lets assume you have a camera, if not you can get one online for under $100 and remember film is the full frame. So you can shoot full frame for $100 with film!

Ok so then you need to develop it.

You need a tank, a reel, chemicals and bottles to hold the chemicals.

The chemicals cost me $40 shipped and last for about 16 rolls of film.

Eveything else you only have to buy once and cost me about $60

So we are at $100 to get started and be able to develop 576 photos.

and then just $40 in chemicals to develop every 576 photos after that.

so $128 for 16 rolls of film and $40 for chemicals is $168 / 576 photos = $0.29 per photos.

Is that a waste of money?

I dont think so An entry level DSLR is about $500. You could shoot more than 1200 shots on film for that price, which INCLUDES the camera.

Plus is anything a waste of money if youre trying something new? No.

If you dont like it you have gained so much experiance. And I will gladly buy your unused film!

If youre a hands on person. Someone who loves to really know how something works in and out. Someone who likes to try new things and do fun experiments. Someone who is curious. Then I think shooting film is a fantastic option for you.

That why I listed it in my free ebook 46 creative photography ideas which you can grab by signing up with the link the show notes or heading over to the resource page at BPP. com.

But is shooting film the key to greatness? not any more than shooting digital would.

So this episode is a bit clickbaity because as you now know. Shooting film is neither a waste of money or the key to greatness.

It all comes down to shooting with intention.

If you shot digital with the same attention to detail as you would naturally do when shooting film, then your skills as a photographer would grow just as fast.

If youre just shooting photos for snapshots, casual photos of the kids things you want to remember than maybe film isnt for you. But if you want photography to be your artisic expression. your creative outlet, more than grip and grin photos then I cant stress the potential benifits shooting film has for you.

If youre interested but totally lost on where to start, to look for a film camera

or what to look for, I would stick what whatever digital camera you have.

So if you shoot canon, the Canon ae1 is a great choice and will work with your canon digital EF lenses. And if you shoot nikon the Nikon FE2 is a great choice. Both cameras can be purchased for under $100. When buying used gear online I always use KEH. They test the gear and stand behind it if something is wrong. You can go to KEH.com or use my affiliate link in the show notes of this episode which really helps the show out at no cost to you.

And if youre interested in shooting film but dont want to develop it yourself then there are several places online to get your film developed and scanned. The darkroom .com is one and it will cost you about $12 per roll.

So as I said, shooting film is neither a waste of time, nor is it the key to greatness.

Shooting with intention is the key to greatness.

Thats it for this week.

Get out, keep shooting, stay safe and focus on yourself.