Projection happens when light is focused onto a flat surface through a pinhole or a lens. We’ve used projections since before the 4th century BCE in constructions called camera obscura for religious purposes, entertainment, astrology, and to draw better reproductions.
Pictured: A) a real-world object, B) projection inside the camera obscura. Source: Wikimedia Commons in Fizyka z. (1910) / Public Domain.
A camera obscura is a dark room or box with a small hole or a lens which helps project the outside light onto the opposite wall. An artist may walk into such a room and trace the image to create an accurate reproduction of the outside world.
The 18th century saw the proliferation and miniaturization of this tool into a table-sized box for budding painters.
But tracing a projection with a brush and a tube of paint is not photography.
We’ve known for a while that some types of common materials may react to light; records of photosensitive slurries that create temporary images date back to the 1700s . Unfortunately, these images faded as quickly as they formed.
Finally, after years of experimenting with new chemicals, Nicéphore Niépce created the world’s first permanent photograph in 1826.
Merely 200 years in the past, long after optics were first used, 386 years after the printing press was invented.
The first cameras and photographic processes were bulky and often improvised. But the craft was quickly evolving into a science that powered mass production lines, thanks to inventions like the flexible film (which we still use today) by Kodak in 1889 .
As photography grew, it found its way into the hands of artists. Alas, they struggled to get their work recognized, as the tool they used was shunned for its automation and an unusual, for the time, look. This tension gave birth to pictorialism
“Fading Away” by Henry Peach Robinson (1858) is an example of pictorialist photography style. Curiously, this is also an example of composite printing (this image was created from several photographs 167 years ago!
Ansel Adams , one of the best-recognized names in photography, rejected pictorialism in the early 1900s in favour of hyper-realism , a genre of photography that concentrates on precision imaging and exaggeration of natural features with techniques like enhanced contrast.
World War II has changed our society and photography along with it. Film followed soldiers on the battlefields, and airplanes with top-secret aerial surveillance films that could capture infrared light in false colour to better detect enemy encampments.
The post-war era, spanning from the 1950s to the 1990s, gave rise to many prominent artists and documentarians like William Eggleston , Diane Arbus , Dorothea Lange , Henri Cartier-Bresson , and Robert Capa . It was also an incredibly productive time for film and camera innovation, which brought us advanced autoexposure features, autofocus, instant film, as well as massive improvements to image quality and ergonomics.
Many of the inventions of that last period still have no rivals despite the advances in modern technology. The smallest full-frame camera is a premium point-and-shoot made in the 1990s , the highest-resolving image medium is film, and true panoramic photography is only achievable on film.
✪ Note: I encourage you to dive deeper into the history of photography in the 20th century. This period has brought us tremendous technological advances, transformative societal changes, and defining cultural discoveries. Your local library is an excellent source; you can also find good articles about photography on Wikipedia , several blogs, and sometimes on YouTube.
Kodak Aerochrome, a colour infrared film developed in the 1940s, shot with Hasselblad XPan, a true panoramic film camera.
Film photography renaissance (2010-2026). Though digital cameras existed since the 1970s, they weren’t ready for their prime time until the 2000s. In those thirty years, their sensors improved, and the ergonomics became vastly better, allowing for cameras like the Pentax Optio E10 that could fit in a pocket and take hundreds of photos.
This new form factor, combined with tools like Photoshop, dense/rewritable image storage, and the exponential improvements in size and quality of digital images, flipped the photography market on its head.
A huge number of people abandoned their film cameras during the 2000-2010 period, which has demolished businesses, cut film production, and devalued working historical cameras.
A graph from Fujifilm’s Integrated Report 2017 shows a dramatic decline in film sales.
The world’s largest film manufacturers, Fujifilm and Kodak, reported catastrophic losses, while other established, well-funded businesses, like Ilford and Polaroid, went bankrupt.
The effects of drastic change, often referred to as the “digital revolution,” are still felt today. Fujifilm has been cutting its massive portfolio of films for the entire decade; the latest victim is Superia X-Tra . Kodak’s bankruptcy split the company in two, demolished its assets, and created a complicated dynamic that blocks it from selling some of its film to willing customers. The popular black-and-white (and now colour ) film manufacturer still licenses its name from another company . While today’s Polaroid has almost completely faded from existence, before becoming the Impossible Project and then Polaroid again.
Film is no longer suitable for most modern scientific applications. It’s not fast enough for reportage and many creative workflows. But thanks to digital technology, the same which nearly brought its demise, and the growing base of enthusiasts, ranging from young hobbyists to seasoned professionals, film photography is experiencing a renaissance .
Film-themed forums, pages, and blogs like this one began to spring up in the late 2010s. Numerous new businesses found a foothold within the analogue niche. The interest and new products began to trickle into the hands of excited film photographers with companies like Lomography and CineStill . That trickle gradually swelled into a pour with a new product launch announcement landing almost weekly on my “desk” as I began reporting on the state of film photography in 2019.
Some films, like Kodak Ektachrome E100 and Fujichrome Neopan Acros II , saw a reintroduction, while new films like Lomochrome Metropolis and Harman Phoenix made a splash as the first brand-new colour emulsions in a decade+ since the decline. As I write this, brand-new and resurrected film manufacturers are coming online as the established giants pour money into photochemical products.
The New York Times reported that sales of vintage camera brands grew 42-79% on eBay and 76% on Etsy in 2022 .
According to estimates based on data from the 2017 Time magazine article and historical film price data, there are now ~53.6 million photographers spending over $8 billion annually on film .
Harman Phoenix, a brand-new colour film, released in 2014.
Film in the digital age. Analogue photography owes its revival in part to digital technology. The same invention that has brought the film industry to shambles united the people who care about it. The internet made information like development times for black-and-white film widely available , linked up enthusiasts on forums, blogs, and social media, and popularized the aesthetic to the point where the words “film look” are used to describe any images that show grain or warm colour palettes.
Repair guides , mod projects, 3D print files, courses, chats, videos — all helped make analogue photography accessible again. As global commerce transitioned to online shopping, the film industry benefited by taking orders and shipping to places where brick-and-mortar stores no longer serviced analogue cameras.
Scanning has further democratized film photography by making it shareable and editable. Labs can now e-transfer files with a set look that needs no tinkering sooner, while relatively affordable home-scanning solutions offer tremendous editing flexibility and image quality without the need for a darkroom.
Tools like film Q true colours intact easier and faster than ever, while several companies are now offering devices that turn modern digital cameras into multi-format scanners.
film Q, an app for inverting batch-inverting film negatives while preserving their original colour fidelity.
The growing popularity of film has even spread beyond its boundaries into digital camera design. First, it was apps like Instagram that heavily borrowed from the Holga aesthetic, and later it was digital cameras like the Fujifilm X Half that replicate some of the colours, distortions, and limitations of a half-frame camera .
However, few faux film inventions benefited from the “vintage” aesthetic like Instagram and the X Half. Products like the Yashica Y35 and I’m Back!, which bet on aesthetics but against photochemistry, have never achieved broad commercial success and, in many cases, angered their customers over grossly underwhelming execution.
Some people even post AI-generated images made to look as if they were shot on film.
Of course, the cultural influence and innovation of the analogue medium aren’t limited to products. Photographers are now using film in new ways to create images and aesthetics, which quickly spread across the internet to inspire new creative trends. Some examples include car corners, gas stations shot on CineStill 800T, overexposure /pastel colours , and basketball hoops.
Pastel colours with Kodak Portra 400.
The future of film photography. Film photography’s unique qualities make it worthwhile and irreplaceable. There will always be people willing to protect and develop the analogue image-making process. Even its complete demise, however unlikely, would inevitably lead to reinvention.
The current upward trend in film popularity and availability is facing headwinds. Tariffs, supply chain disruptions , and inflation are driving up prices and affecting supplies. Yet I am confident that it continues to thrive in a world full of people yearning to touch grass and do something different.
Choosing and buying a film camera. There are many ways to make a photo, and no single camera can satisfy them all.
Some cameras feature all-metal bodies while others use ultra-light plastics. The smallest full-frame camera is a film camera , but a large format camera can yield much more resolution. Point-and-shoot cameras are easy to use, but SLRs offer more control and interchangeable lenses. TLRs look cool, but rangefinders make focusing faster.
Many film cameras were built to last: some of my favourite daily shooters are over sixty years old . There’s a vast global collection of these (working) tools that we have been inventing and reinventing for the past two hundred years. I’ve tried and reviewed over a hundred cameras so far, and I’m only scratching the surface.
Learning about all the different film cameras can be a lot of fun, but it may also feel overwhelming. If you’re feeling the latter, check out Best Film Camera Finder , a web app that helps you select a tool that fits your needs and preferences.
Although brand-new analogue cameras are still made today, the choice of vintage gear is much greater.
Vintage film cameras can be priced cheaply or they can be expensive, and they can have a wide range of condition ratings. If you’re buying from a seller located overseas, you should also consider taxes and the return policy at a minimum.
This guide will explain all the intricacies of buying vintage film cameras online and hand you several tips to save money and time. It’ll also cover common things to watch out for, like lens fungus and other issues.
Finding a lab. Unless you’re shooting instant film or developing and scanning at home, you will need to eventually drop off your rolls at a lab (or mail them). It may be a good idea for you to find one ahead of time.
Most major cities in the Americas, Europe, and many countries in Asia will have at least one lab to service your needs. The easiest way to find them is to search using tools like Google Maps, Apple Maps, Yelp, or whatever your local resource for looking up businesses is.
You may also try some of the pages that aggregate the list of labs, like Find My Film Lab , Kodak Lab Directory , and Kodak Alaris Film Finder . If you’re near Vancouver , Bangkok , Chiang Mai , or Bali , the linked guides will tell you more about each lab.
Once you find a suitable lab, be sure to double-check their hours, prices, and services. If you’re shooting colour-negative 35mm film, almost all labs will accept it. 35mm colour-negative film is the most common type of film sold at small shops, department stores, and some labs.
However, if it’s black-and-white, medium or large format, positive (slide) film, Kodak Vision 3 (motion picture film with remjet ) or any kind of specialty order, call ahead.
Your lab will typically offer a range of scanning options . They may vary by resolution, file format, and, perhaps, other options. Unless your lab can scan your film as a positive (which you can then invert using film Q This guide
The quality of your scans depends on many variables , not just resolution. If you choose to buy your own scanner down the line, you may save money and even get scan quality that’s better than your lab’s. The good news is that even if you opt for the lowest-quality scans, your negatives (i.e., developed film) will preserve the highest resolution possible — and you can rescan them later at any quality level you desire. This is why I highly recommend that you keep your negatives , even if the lab charges you extra to mail them back.
Choosing and buying film. Film photography is exciting in part because of the vast variety of camera choices it offers — but that’s not where the options end. There are over 270 film stocks to choose from
Your choice of film may vary depending on where you shop; a local lab may have only a few options, while large online stores may offer a larger selection.
There are several film formats: 110, 135 (a.k.a., 35mm), 120/220 (a.k.a., medium format), 4x5/8x10/… (a.k.a., large format), and various sizes of instant film . Larger film formats have more potential resolution (although it will also depend on how grainy the film is and how you are scanning the film).
Once you figure out the format your camera takes (most commonly, it’s 35mm), you’ll need to pick the process: black-and-white, colour-negative (C-41), or reversal (E-6, a.k.a., slide, a.k.a., colour-positive).
Instant film does not need any processing; as long as it fits in your camera, it’ll work. But all other film types must be developed; thus, you’ll have to confirm that the process your film requires is available at your lab. If you develop at home, your answer will depend on the chemicals you have; your lab will often list available services on its website (although it’s always a good idea to call ahead to make sure).
Most labs will develop C-41.
The next thing to decide is film ISO . Film ISO is a number that describes its sensitivity to light. It’s often printed in large type on the box . I will explain ISO in greater detail below (see: “ Film ISO ”), but as a shortcut, consider:
☀️ ISO 100 or less for bright sunny days outdoors
⛅️ ISO 100-400 for light shade and overcast weather
🌃 ISO 800+ may be suitable for both daylight and dim indoor lighting
While there are some exceptions, lower-ISO films tend to render fine-grained images, whereas the more sensitive films produce significantly larger grain.
You can also expect more contrast out of low-ISO films (exceptions apply).
Other film properties, such as dynamic range , the material of the canister, ease of scanning, and the curliness, may also matter, but aren’t especially important at the beginning of a photographic journey.
The best beginner-friendly films are colour-negative or black-and-white in the ISO 200-800 range, like Kodak Gold 200 , Ilford XP2 Super , and Lomography Color Negative 800 .
Lastly, you will need to consider the price of your film. For a beginner, the cheaper the film, the better (unless it’s expired or known to be low-quality). While all films will handle and perform somewhat differently, the difference in results may be hard to see unless you know what you’re looking for.
You can find a list of reputable, cheap films with Film Price Trends .
Lens filters and specialty films. Lens filters are optional accessories that can become important creative tools.
Many vintage SLRs and rangefinders have a filter thread for screwing on coloured pieces of glass, whereas point-and-shoot film cameras will often have no way to attach one.
(Hack: You can hold a filter in front of your point-and-shoot camera’s taking lens in a pinch, as long as it also covers its light sensor. )
If your lens does have a filter thread (sometimes, it could be a bayonet-type filter mount, as is the case with the Voigtländer Vitessa cameras), you should confirm the filter size before buying or mounting a filter. Filter size can be marked on the lens itself, sometimes with an ⍉ icon (a line running through a circle). If not, you can look up your lens or camera model to confirm.
Lens filters come in a variety of densities. By their nature, they block some of the light that enters the lens, and the amount of light they block can vary depending on the density (i.e., how opaque they are).
Filter densities are often listed as filter factors. A filter factor is a number that describes the proportion of the light that gets blocked. For example, a filter factor of 2 means that half the light will pass through; a filter factor of 4 will let in just a quarter, etc.
To compensate for the filter’s decreased light transmission, you will need to adjust your camera settings. Cameras that use TTL (through-the-lens) meters will do that for you automatically — you can look up your camera’s model to verify the type of metering it uses.
However, cameras that have meters outside of the lens and manual film cameras will have to have their shutter speed or aperture adjusted manually. For a filter factor of 2, you will need to widen your aperture or slow your shutter speed by one stop (I will explain what stops are shortly ) ; a FF of 4 will require two stops of adjustment; a FF of 8 needs three stops, etc. Essentially, you will need to use this formula to convert filter factor to stops of compensation: log₂(filter factor)
If the above formula is confusing or you don’t have the filter factor number, you can use any light meter while pointing it at a flat surface like a wall. Note the values, and then place the filter directly in front of the light meter and note the values again. The difference should then inform how your camera settings should change.
☝︎Further reading: “ A Beginner’s Guide to Shooting Manual Film Cameras .”
One of the most common filters you may find on a vintage lens is a UV or a skylight filter . These filters are often completely transparent (they have a filter factor of 0 or near-zero, so no adjustments are necessary). These filters also have minimal or no effect on images, but they are often kept on to protect the front element of a camera lens.
Colour filters, like the ones pictured above, are generally used for black-and-white film or darkroom printing. Most black-and-white film is slightly more sensitive to blue light, which is why a yellow filter is often recommended to darken the skies , which can add back some of the missing contrast with the clouds.
The density of the filter determines the amount of the effect, while the colour determines the wavelength of light it affects.
The colour of a filter generally matches the colour it will boost on black-and-white film. For example, a blue filter will make blue skies brighter, meaning that the actual colour blue will become closer to the white of the clouds; the skies will appear bright and the clouds will be more difficult to see — this is the opposite effect than the one you’ll get with yellow, orange, and red filters. Whereas a green filter can make your foliage look brighter , while darkening the sky and red flowers.
Warming and cooling filters are orange and blue filters made specifically for colour film. For example, an 85C warming filter can make shooting tungsten-balanced colour films like CineStill 800T or Kodak Vision 3 500T easier in daylight, whereas a cooling filter combined with a regular colour film can help balance the yellow indoor light. These filters save time during image editing by correcting colour issues that cannot be easily resolved with digital editors alone.
ND (neutral density) filters aren’t coloured. They are designed to simply make your photos darker. This can be helpful if you’re shooting a high-ISO film in bright light.
Graduated filters will have a gradient. For example, a graduated ND filter can be mounted with its lightest (most transparent) end facing down and its darkest (densest) end up to darken the skies and lighten the ground when taking pictures of a sunset.
Mist, star, prism, and other effect filters are made to change how light and images appear on film in creative ways. These filters don’t necessarily change the amount of light that passes through and thus don’t have a filter factor (no changes to camera settings needed).
Close-up filters are quite literally loupes made for certain cameras to let you take photos closer than the lens’ nearest focusing distance setting. These filters can be tricky to use because you will need to either estimate or measure a distance using a ruler, and your viewfinder may not be helpful in framing the shot.
Infrared filters can be so dense that they appear black. These filters block most of the light except the infrared wavelengths for specialty films that render foliage as if it’s glowing. However, the world’s only colour-infrared film, Aerochrome , uses a simple yellow filter to render otherworldly images.
Wedgemount lake, photographed on Kodak Aerochrome (left) and Lomography Lomochrome Purple (right) films.
Some films, like Lomography Lomochrome Purple and Lomography Lomochrome Turquoise, will make your photos look unusual without any lens filters. These films have a unique structure that acts like a filter with a few additional properties that make shooting film a powerful experimental medium, practically irreplaceable with digital sensors.
You can also create your own effect film by loading a colour film “backwards,” a technique called redscaling
There are countless accessories for film cameras out there, from tripods to underwater flash units, cases, bags, wrist straps , external viewfinders , focusing screens, extension tubes , and more. But the main tools will always be the film and the camera.
On the left, the photo is taken with a fast shutter speed, allowing the camera to “freeze” the water droplets. On the right, the photo is taken with a slow shutter speed; the individual droplets are no longer visible — they have become smudged by motion blur.
Photography 101: The shutter. Point-and-shoot cameras make most of the necessary decisions to create fairly well-lit, sharp photographs. You don’t need to know how a shutter operates if you have one. But if you want to highlight certain aspects of a scene or photograph in complex lighting, a good understanding of how the lens, shutter, and film work can be extremely helpful.
A shutter is what makes the sound when you take a picture.
Most of the time, the shutter prevents the light from entering the camera. But when you press a button, it will open for a set amount of time, letting the light fall on the film surface before closing again.
If the shutter stays open for a short time, it will “freeze” the motion (see the left side of the illustration above). But if it’s open for longer, it will smudge the motion; in other words, it will add motion blur to your images.
A faster shutter will expose film to less light . Photographic film needs a precise exposure time, and thus, altering the shutter speed must be compensated with an aperture or a different film sensitivity.
For example, if you’d like less motion blur in your photo, you can increase the shutter speed by a set amount, which will let in less light into the camera.
Shutter speeds are marked on cameras in fractions of a second; they typically progress like this: 30, 60, 125, 250, 500 — where 30 is one thirtieth of a second, etc. Each increase or decrease in shutter speed (roughly doubling or halving) is called a stop aperture that’s one stop wider.
☝︎Further reading: “ What Is Exposure and How to Measure It ” — this guide explains what the fundamental photographic measurement unit, a stop, is in greater detail.
✪ Note 1: If you plan to make long exposures, i.e., photos with the shutter open for longer than one second, you will need to consider reciprocity failure , a special property of film that makes it less sensitive in these scenarios.
✪ Note 2: There are several different shutter types , each affecting how an image may render in certain scenarios.
Northern lights near Vancouver, BC on October 10-11, 2024. This is a long exposure (30 seconds) that required reciprocity failure to be factored in. Shot with a wide 24mm FD 𝒇2.8 Canon lens.
Photography 101: The lens and the aperture. Camera lenses are defined by their focal lengths, aperture ranges, focus ranges, and other less impactful but complex properties (like sharpness and bokeh ).
A focal length can be classified as fisheye, ultra-wide, wide, normal, long, telephoto, or supertelephoto. The wider the lens (fisheye being the extreme here), the more of a scene it can fit on film, but as the lens’ wider angle of view includes more of the surroundings, it has to make the details look smaller and often distort the image as well. The longer the lens, the narrower its field of view, which can, for example, magnify small details at a distance.
Normal (lens) is the most common focal length on a film camera. This type of lens renders images similarly to how our eyes would if we covered one of them.
Lens’ focal length is measured in millimetres. A normal lens typically has a 50mm focal length (sometimes noted as 5cm, which is equivalent to 50mm). By comparison, fisheyes are typically 10mm and shorter, ultra-wide lenses are 17mm and shorter, wide lenses are 35mm and shorter, long lenses are 85mm and longer, telephotos are 200mm+, and supertelephotos are 400mm+.
✪ Note: The angle of view of your lens will vary depending on the film format you are shooting. For example, a 150mm lens for a large format (4x5) film camera will have the same 47° of (diagonal) field of view as a 50mm lens for a 35mm film camera.
The focal length of a lens also affects its background separation or bokeh — an effect that renders parts of the scene that aren’t in focus in a variety of levels and qualities of blur.
The lens aperture diaphragm is seen in the middle comprised of the triangular-shaped petals. In this photo, the aperture is closed down to f/16.
An aperture can also affect background separation and the total amount of light that enters the camera.
Lens apertures are conveniently metered in stops, like shutter speeds, so that they can be used with shutter speeds to compensate for exposure changes. For example, if you’ve increased your shutter speed from 125 to 250, you should increase your aperture size from f/16 to f/11 (which is one stop) — that way, you will get less motion blur in your image (due to a faster shutter speed) without changing the brightness . Yes, the smaller the aperture’s f-number, the larger the actual lens aperture is.
The aperture values printed on most lenses are separated in stops, like shutter speeds, but their numbering sequence looks different (due to math reasons ). Here’s an example of a sequence of apertures, from widest (which allows the most light and has the smallest number) to least wide: 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16.
In an example above, we’ve increased the shutter speed to lessen the motion blur, and we widened the aperture to let in more light to compensate; however, a wider aperture may introduce background or foreground blur (a.k.a., background separation, depth of field, lens blur, bokeh ). The amount of such blurring will depend on the aperture value (smaller aperture values blur more), focus distance (closer focus blurs more), and lens’ focal length (longer lenses blur more).
☝︎Further reading: “ What Is an Aperture and How Does It Work ?”
Background separation (bokeh). The background is more blurry on the right than on the left because the right-hand-side photo was taken at a closer distance (which increased its background separation). The significant amount of blurring is largely due to the use of a 64mm lens on 35mm film at distances closer than a foot (30cm).
☝︎Further reading: “ What Is Bokeh and How to Get It on Film ?”
Many vintage lenses have the closest focus distance of one meter or three feet. Certain lenses on film SLRs can focus much closer. When a lens can focus so close that the size of an image on film is as large as the object the camera is photographing, it’s called a macro lens . This means that an object one inch in height will take up the entire height of the photo on 35mm film.
Photography 101: film ISO. Shutter speeds are measured in fractions of a second, aperture sizes are measured in f-numbers, and film sensitivity is measured in ISO units. As a photographer, you can control and synchronize all three, which is possible thanks to the relative light measurement unit: stop
Let’s recall that increasing the shutter speed from 125 to 250 is equivalent to decreasing the amount of light that enters the camera by one stop. To compensate, we increased the aperture size from f/16 to f/11, which added one stop of light. But the same amount of light that falls onto film through the shutter and aperture can also have a varying effect on how bright the final image appears based on the sensitivity of the film. That is, a film that’s rated ISO 200 will render an image brighter than an ISO 100 film with the same camera settings.
Lucky for us, film ISO progresses in stops , just like shutter speeds and apertures. This is helpful because we can use this information to select the most appropriate film sensitivity (a.k.a., film speed) for our camera and lighting conditions.
Film ISO numbers double as their sensitivity doubles, and they progress in stops just like apertures and shutter speeds — except that a larger ISO number will make images brighter, whereas a higher shutter speed number or an f-number will make images darker.
☝︎Further reading: “ What Is Exposure and How to Measure It .”
Unlike digital cameras, which can alter the sensitivity of their sensors electronically, film cameras can not change the ISO of the film once it’s loaded . Thus, if you’ve loaded an ISO 100 film and shot a few frames, you’re stuck with it until you finish shooting the entire roll, rewind the film back into the canister, and load your other, preferred-ISO roll. Luckily, most film cameras have a good range of shutter speeds and apertures that can work in a diverse range of settings. See “Choosing and buying film ” for advice on choosing film ISOs.
✪ Note: Photographic film can also tolerate some overexposure , so if you’re shooting at f/11 instead of f/16, your images may still look fine.
For a visual preview of the various film ISOs, apertures, and shutter speeds — and their effect on the image brightness — see the Sunny 16 Calculator .
RETO Pano reusable film camera.
Photography 101: Types of film cameras. Plastic disposable, “toy,” or “reusable” cameras , like the RETO Pano (above) , are cheap, fun, and don’t have many controls to learn. They aren’t as sharp as some of the high-quality vintage glass lenses, but the photos can still look great, thanks to their casual designs, unique features , and all-natural lens and film effects.
Unfortunately, toy cameras usually have just one shutter speed and a single aperture. This can limit the number of well-exposed photographs on each roll unless you use a light meter or the Sunny 16 rule and know your camera’s speeds (usually, it’s f/8-11 and 60-125 for shutter).
An onboard flash can help in dim light, but at a set distance (depending on your film ISO, see “ Making photographs: using flash and choosing light . ”)
A photo of me taken with RETO Pano reusable film camera.
Film SLRs are among the most versatile types of cameras out there; depending on the kind, they may offer eight or more stops of aperture control (e.g., f/1.4-16), shutter speeds up to 8,000, and a direct view through the taking lens . This can help you preview depth of field (bokeh), as well as shoot macro and telephoto scenes. Most SLRs also let you change your lenses, so you can pick your focal length and price range.
A view through an SLR viewfinder. Note the circle in the middle with a split image. The split image is not aligned when the lens is out of focus (left); once you correct the focus, the split image lines up (right). Source: Dave Fischer, Wikimedia Commons.
Film SLRs are easy to identify by a bump on the camera body above the lens. This is where a prism is located that inverts the image in the viewfinder. The other part of rendering a preview of your photo in the viewfinder is the ground glass component with a focusing prism, which works by aligning parts of an image.
The downsides of using an SLR are its relatively large size, fairly loud shutter sounds, and difficulties in focusing certain lenses in dim light or with a dense lens filter.
A TLR is an SLR’s precursor. You will recognize this camera by its two lenses stacked vertically and a top-view (waist-level) viewfinder. Most TLRs are made for medium format film , although a few, like the Bolsey Model C , are made for the common 35mm film.
Focusing on a TLR requires getting used to the image mirrored horizontally.
A view through the Bolsey Model C film TLR’s waist-level finder.
Rangefinders linked article for a more detailed explanation of how these cameras work.
Voigtländer Vitessa L2 — a foldable rangefinder camera.
Other types of cameras by focusing mechanism are view cameras (large format cameras typically use this system) and viewfinder cameras (which let you compose through a window but require you to guesstimate the focus distance ; most toy cameras are viewfinder-type).
Point-and-shoot film cameras typically have autofocus and autoexposure, and they are often made to fit in a pocket. These are the easiest film cameras to shoot film in: they automate most of the fiddly tasks, leaving just the framing and timing up to the photographer.
Olympus Mju I point-and-shoot film camera.
Instant film cameras, such as those that use Polaroid and Instax film, deserve a category of their own, even though they can come in a viewfinder, rangefinder, and even SLR types . Their defining characteristic is an integral film design that pops up in frames ready to display — no need to develop or scan.
Polaroid Go instant film cameras.
Polaroid Go instant film print.
There are yet more camera types, like pinhole , which is often the focus of DIY projects.
Making photographs: loading and unloading your camera. To make a photo using a film camera, you’ll need to first load your film.
Before you open the camera’s back, make sure that there is no film inside that hasn’t been rewound yet. You can try advancing a lever to see if there’s resistance or try rewinding to see if anything is moving inside.
Each camera has its own quirks when it comes to loading film. Usually, there would be a latch on the side or the bottom of the camera, or you may be able to pull on the rewind crank to pop the door.
From the instruction manual for Voigtländer Vitessa A cameras.
Most film cameras, especially 35mm film cameras, open and have a film loading system that’s more or less the same across models. However, you may find it helpful to look up a manual for your camera online for precise instructions.
Once the back of the camera is open, you will need to fix the tip (leader) of your 35mm film to the take-up spool. Older cameras will have a slot on the take-up spool where you can slide the film leader into. Once it’s in, hold the tip down with your thumb, pull the film canister into the chamber across and advance the film once or twice while the camera is still open to ensure that the film is securely fixed and that it winds onto the take-up spool. You can now close the camera back and advance one more frame to begin shooting.
Point-and-shoot film cameras make this process easier. For further instructions on loading 35mm film, see this guide
Loading medium format cameras is a slightly different experience , as is large format and instant film. Camera manuals and instruction videos on YouTube can help you get started with those — neither is particularly difficult.
Making photographs: metering light and focusing. You don’t need to worry about metering light and focusing your camera if you’re using a point-and-shoot.
Most of the key concepts for shooting manual film cameras were covered in the Photography 101 sections above. For a dedicated guide with tips and tricks for all types of cameras, see “ A Beginner’s Guide to Shooting Manual Film Cameras ”
Or see “ How to Use a Light Meter With a Film Camera ,” a guide that gets to the point directly.
Also, see “ How to Zone Focus Quickly and Accurately ” “ Prefocusing ”
A scene with strong sunlight illuminating the graffiti message on a train car, framed with stark shadows.
Making photographs: using flash and choosing light. Light is an important component of any scene in photography. It can highlight or hide elements, render depth, contrast, and set the mood for the viewer.
Your light can be natural, i.e., sunlight, or artificial, such as studio lights or a flash. As you progress with your photography, you’ll learn to use any type of illumination to tell a story with your photography using your personal style and techniques.
There’s an abundance of material online that can teach elements of composition with light by offering techniques. I learned by researching the works of photographers I like, their methods, and then experimenting with incorporating the elements of their style into my images.
If you’d like to learn by observing like I did, you can find inspiration on social media, websites like this one, in printed photography books and zines, in museums and in libraries, by looking up historical photographs or paying attention to light in movies that you love. It’s possible to incorporate elements from any type of visual media into film photography; for example, the pastel aesthetic is a direct imitation of a physical drawing material and techniques.
No-sync flash photography with Voigtländer Vitessa A.
Technically speaking, natural light is the easiest to work with, as there’s no setup, and if it’s full sun, it will work with the easy-to-remember settings on your camera, as outlined by the Sunny 16 rule . But basic flash is not difficult; with a manual camera, you’ll only need to adjust your focus and aperture (see “ A Simple Guide to Using Flash on Manual Film Cameras ” ). Of course, if you’re shooting with a point-and-shoot camera, these sorts of decisions will be made for you automatically.
Film’s dynamic range /contrast varies by brand and make. High-contrast, low dynamic range film will add punch to your images, especially in high-contrast lighting (e.x., sunlight reflected by a bright surface next to deep shadows). You can also combine high-contrast film with low-contrast scenes, like fog, to boost contrast or use low-contrast film to preserve more details in shadows and highlights.
Low-contrast/high dynamic range film’s advantages are its ability to preserve more details in shadows and highlights, and being more forgiving of exposure mistakes. Low-contrast film is also easier to edit.
An example of a “frame within a frame” composition technique.
Making photographs: about composition. Now that we’ve covered the history, the tools, and the operation, let’s talk about the content of a photograph . What makes it compelling, besides being well-focused, lit, and exposed?
Of course, it’s the subjects, the items, and the story that are being photographed, which can draw viewers in and satisfy the picture-taker. But the photographer has more control than just focus, light, location, and exposure — the position of the camera and timing can often have a profound effect on the final image. And so can be the photographer’s actions (e.x., making the subject feel comfortable in front of a camera).
There are several popular photographic techniques that are believed to improve images and are cited often: rule of thirds (i.e., placing your subject to the side of the frame), symmetry, depth (can be achieved with bokeh, light, or fog), frame within a frame, leading lines, textures, patterns, negative space, and several others . Some of these techniques, like the leading lines, have limited supporting scientific evidence , while others, like the preference for images following the rule of thirds, appear to be learned behaviour in expert photographers only .
Knowing the names and definitions of the above techniques can be helpful if you’re collaborating with other photographers and need a way to communicate how a scene should be framed. However, they will not guarantee a more likable photo, certainly not based on the scientific evidence at hand.
This is not to say that cultural trends and group preferences should be ignored. It’s fun to participate and see your creative work be accepted, which you can do by following the advice of your favourite photographers and testing various approaches in your own practice.
I like to arrange my compositions in a way that directs the viewer’s attention to a single point on or off the frame, using light, blur, or leading lines. I often seek motion. But once in a while, I let the texture completely take over without any single focal point.
This photo is mainly comprised of texture and context (“It’s spring!”) without a single definitive focal point.
Making photographs: scanning and editing. Many photographers choose to scan their film at home, even if their lab still develops it. Scanning film at home can save over half of the costs of developing film, and, with the right setup, yield higher fidelity images that are easier to edit.
There are three general types of scanning methods: 1) a flatbed scanner, 2) a dedicated film scanner, or 3) a digital camera with a macro lens.
Flatbed scanners are common; you may have one attached to your printer. They can have a decent resolution, and most can be found for less than $500.
Unfortunately, flatbed scanners are prone to rendering Newton’s rings unless you mount your film in a special holder. Unfortunately again, the air gap between the film and the scanner glass surface that prevents Newton’s rings can also place the film out of the scanner’s optimal focal distance, which can make fine details like individual film grains appear blurry.
Features, like bit-depth and optical resolution, may vary on flatbed scanners, depending on price, but better-quality scans are possible with dedicated film scanners and digital camera setups.
Dedicated film scanners are devices built specifically for digitizing photographic film and nothing else. They can be very affordable, with some units under $100, but the quality of low-end dedicated film scanners can be no better than that of low-end flatbed scanners.
Premium dedicated film scanners like Pacific Image PrimeFilm XAs can cost up to and over $1000. There are also vintage scanners on the market, built 10-20 years ago, that cost as much or more and a few newer models that use holders and cost a few hundred dollars.
(I’ve recently switched to a twenty-year-old Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 5000ED ; despite requiring ancient software to run, the hardware is as capable and faster than the modern PrimeFilm model .)
Dedicated film scanners can be significantly faster than flatbed scanners since they have optimized film transport and there’s no need to crop a single large scan into individual frames.
The downside of using a dedicated film scanner is that most models can only accept a certain format of film. For example, both Prime Film XAs and Nikon 5000ED can only accept 35mm film. There are multiformat dedicated film scanners, but they can be expensive and not as fast as single-format scanners.
Using digital cameras with a macro lens is a relatively new method of scanning film. Many film photographers come from the digital photography world with a good camera in hand. A suitable stand, light, and a macro lens can yield images that are almost as detailed as those made with some of the best dedicated film scanners, but faster.
The downside of the digital camera method is a large number of accessories (which aren’t always cheap), an assembly that requires more space than most dedicated film scanners, and challenges focusing on film, finding an optimal backlight, and inverting the negatives.
The majority of the film that you shoot will likely be negative-type. Simply flipping the colours after the fact, especially for colour-negative film is usually not enough, and thus scanners are often equipped with software that can invert negatives for you automatically (although I recommend you let film Q do the job ). There are also ways to invert your film negatives manually using standard software like Photoshop without any additional plugins.
Because there are so many options, there’s no single accepted method for scanning film. Over the years of research and practice, I’ve developed mine, which involves scanning a high-resolution digital negative (i.e., setting up the scanner software not to invert the film ), creating an inverted copy of that scan with film Q
☝︎Further reading: “ How to Edit Film Scans ,” “ Future-Proof Your Film Scans With Digital Negatives ,” and “ How to Store & Organize Film & Film Scans .”
In addition to scanning and optionally editing your images, you may need to clean up dust and scratches that may have found their way onto film. This guide explains how.
Making photographs: developing film at home. Whereas home scanning can save you half the cost of developing film and give more control over the image, home development will save you even more money and give even greater control over your results. Once you start doing everything yourself, you’ll also save time waiting for the scans (labs can take weeks) and travel or mail expenses for dropping your film off.
The colour-negative (C-41) process is the easiest process to learn for beginners. Though it requires more tools and a bit more time to set up than black-and-white development, it is a straightforward set of instructions that’s a standard for all colour-negative films.
☝︎Further reading: “ Developing Colour Film as an Absolute Beginner ” — this guide explains everything you need to know to get started with colour-negative film development at home.
Black-and-white film development requires fewer tools and space; however, you will need to research development times, dilutions, agitation methods, and, sometimes, temperatures for each individual roll of film (and it’s different for various types of developers also).
The upsides of developing black-and-white film are lower costs, a wide range of options for developers and processes that can yield different contrast levels and grain properties, and experimental possibilities. For example, you can develop your black-and-white film in coffee, pine tree tinctures, or even weed .
☝︎Further reading: “ How to Develop Black-and-White Film at Home .”
Other photographic development processes include E-6 (for slide film), ECN-2 (colour-negative film for motion picture films), cyanotype, and a range of historical processes, like K-14 (Kodachrome), which are either extinct or rare.
If a process not originally intended for a particular film is used to develop it, it’s called cross-processing (which may or may not work, depending on film and process type).
You can also modify your development times, concentrations, and agitation to push- or pull-process your film
Your choice of developer and film will determine how many stops you can push or pull before the image degrades significantly.
When you develop your film at home, you will need to monitor the expiration of your chemicals (you can use the Chem Log app regularly test them to avoid disasters.
A photo shot with Ilford HP5+ 400, pushed eight stops to ISO 100,000.
Preventing common film photography problems. Many film photographers welcome the imperfections of the process. Errors in development, slight overexposure, large grain, expired film, dust and scratches may be considered an asset to the story a photo is telling. Others like to produce clean photos with perfect exposures and tack-sharp focus. No one likes to completely lose their images.
Blank film. Film can come out blank after development because of one of the three reasons: 1) Problem with a camera — perhaps the film wasn’t loaded properly, the shutter failed to open, or the settings on the camera were set incorrectly, 2) Problem with film — which can happen with certain expired or damaged films, 3) Problem with development — wrong chemicals, incorrect time, temperature, sequence, or expired chemicals.
You can avoid blank rolls by checking that your camera shutter and light meter (if it has one) work properly. See “Taking care of your gear ” for tips on how to do that.
To ensure that your 35mm or medium format film is loaded correctly, you can observe the film rewind crank as you advance to the next frame. If it doesn’t rotate when you advance to the next frame, you may not have loaded your film correctly.
Light leaks can happen if your camera or film canister fails to protect the film from outside light. This can happen due to deteriorating light seals (which are easy to replace ) or by an accident, such as opening the camera back when the film isn’t rewound, or mistakes during development.
Light leaks are preventable with proper equipment maintenance and diligence when handling film. You can also use tools like Film Log
Of course, light leaks may sometimes be a desired, purely analogue effect.
The blue and red blobs of light near the top and the bottom of this photo are light leaks during development. I have accidentally opened my changing bag before securing the film inside (luckily, the damage remains minimal and arguably aesthetically pleasing).
Bad exposures can be images that are too bright or too dark. It’s not uncommon to forget the film ISO that’s inside the camera and use the wrong light meter settings. Problems with the camera’s meter, user error, and issues during development can also cause some images to appear too bright or too dark.
Keeping your camera in good working order with fresh batteries (if it takes batteries), practice, and diligence during photography and development can help avoid bad exposures.
☝︎Further reading: “ How to Make Perfect Exposures on Film .”
Unintended over- and underexposures may be the most common types of issues in film photos, as many vintage cameras lack reliable autoexposure systems. Although controlled exposures, made to look darker or brighter than seen, can be used deliberately and creatively.
Blurry images can result from incorrect focus, slow shutter speeds, a soft lens, or a subpar scan.
It’s possible to completely miss focus without realizing it, especially on rangefinder-type cameras. However, frequently missed focus on photos shot with an autofocus camera may be a sign that it’s not functioning properly.
Photos taken in dim light may look blurry on low-ISO film and cameras with small apertures. To prevent motion blur and camera shake at slow shutter speeds, use a tripod or flash.
Rangefinder cameras require periodic adjustments , which can solve certain focus issues. Other issues with the lens system, like misaligned elements, may require a trip to a repair shop.
☝︎Further reading: “ How to Make Sharper Photos on Film .”
This photo is a result of cross-processing and pushing expired Ektachrome 64T film. That chemical soup resulted in severe colour shift, excessive grain, and uneven development.
Issues with the chemistry or physical damage to film can appear as uneven development, fuzzy edges, colour noise, excessive grain, or patches of dust and scratches. Handling film with care, keeping it cool in a fridge or freezer, and avoiding expired film can help prevent those issues. However, some artists deliberately “mishandle” their film to create unique visuals, which can be an effective visual for certain projects.
Overlapping and missing frames may be a sign that your camera needs repair. Like other issues mentioned above, overlapping frames can be used creatively.
Scanning issues can appear as excessive pixelation, blurry edges, banding and overly saturated or flat colours. You may need to do further research to resolve these issues for your specific scanner model.
The screwdriver is pointing at a screw, turning which would move the rangefinder patch horizontally.
Taking care of your gear. Most film cameras ever made are vintage or over twenty years old. Lucky for us, many of them were made to last, but they, too, need occasional maintenance or repair.
Some cameras, like the electronic point-and-shoots made between the 1980s and 2010s, may not be repairable . Skilled technicians can be tough to find; their labour is not cheap, and some issues simply can’t be solved. (I’ve owned several point-and-shoot cameras: despite the risk, they can be indispensable for travel and casual photography .)
The best thing you can do for point-and-shoot film cameras is to periodically check that the batteries are fresh and not corroded, and take them out to shoot at least once a year . Because film cameras use mechanical components with points of lubrication, they benefit from regular “exercise,” which can self-clean the joints and fix dragging shutter speeds.
Film cameras that are a little older (pre-1980) can have light leaks unless they’ve been recently serviced. You can have them repaired by a technician or fix the light leaks yourself with about $30 worth of tools and materials.
The rhombus in the middle is the rangefinder patch that helps focus the camera. It occasionally requires adjustments on vintage and even new cameras.
If you’re shooting with a rangefinder , its patch may drift with time or if you bump your camera. The mechanical assembly, which holds an intricate system of mirrors, arms, and a beam splitter, has been known to lose alignment over time. This is why manufacturers often include easy-access screws for recalibration.
If you find that your rangefinder patch does not align objects 200m/600’ when your lens is set to infinity, it’s time to adjust your rangefinder. Most analogue camera-servicing businesses would be able to help you, or you can do it yourself with a microscrewdriver (here’s how ).
☝︎Further reading: “ Home Film Camera Maintenance and Basic Repair Guide .”
If you follow the above maintenance suggestions, use your cameras at least once a year, keep them away from dust and moist air (do not store in a damp basement or you’ll get lens fungus! ), and regularly check that the batteries aren’t leaking acid, your camera can last you for decades to come .
Taking care of your film. As a sensitive physical medium, film can degrade due to excessive heat, cold, contamination, X-rays, and background radiation.
Canadian Conservation Institute recommends storing undeveloped colour film at 2℃ (35℉). Cold-storing your film can keep it free of colour shifts and other issues for years beyond the expiration date, but it’s not necessary for fresh film. On the other hand, prolonged exposure to temperatures greater than 30℃ (85℉) can cause visible colour degradation.
Whatever you do, don’t store instant film in a freezer. Doing so can dry or crystallize the chemical gel stored inside the frames.
Water, especially saltwater, and other liquids can damage film in various ways. Keep your film dry.
If you’re travelling with film, beware of the X-ray scanners at airports and other transit terminals. Repeated X-ray exposure can render wave patterns and colour noise on your film.
☝︎Further reading: “ How to Travel With Film Through Airport Security .”
Once you develop your film, it becomes very stable. It can last for decades without showing any signs of degradation at room temperature. In fact, film is sometimes used to archive digital photos as it’s often considered a more reliable long-term medium.
Kodak Ektachrome 200, expired in April 1994, 30 years ago! Shot normally at box speed, developed in E-6.
Finding and shooting expired film. Film is not a food product, and thus it’s usually safe to try an expired item to see if it works.
The danger of using expired film is issues in development. A picture may not come out, appear to have weird colours (which you may or may not want), or show other kinds of damage. The upside could be inexpensive film of excellent quality that uses chemical formulas no longer in production to create unique colours or grain structures.
Since film can degrade due to improper storage, cold-stored expired film may have the greatest chance of working (although it may be difficult or impossible to prove that something has never left a working fridge for several decades ).
A better method for verifying if an expired roll will work is to search online to see if anyone else has tried it.
Seeing others succeed with a particular expired film is not a guarantee that your roll will produce the same results, but you can increase your chances of success when you have several rolls. That way, if the first roll is too dark or too bright, you can adjust your settings or development accordingly for the second roll. Additionally, you can bracket your exposures (shoot the same photo one stop darker, normally, and one stop brighter). That way, one of the three photos may turn out well.
It is often recommended to add a stop of exposure for each decade past expiration for colour-negative film. In other words, you should rate your ISO 200 film, which expired in 2010, as if it were an ISO 100 film. You can apply the same rule to black-and-white film, but you may like to always shoot expired slide film normally — according to the same lore. Unfortunately, the above advice, though often helpful, does not always work.
Lastly, don’t expect all expired film to sell at a bargain price. Certain unique expired films that are no longer in production, like Fujifilm Pro 400H , Fujifilm Natura 1600 , and Kodak Aerochrome , now cost significantly more than they did when sold fresh.
Polaroid Photo Box(es) for instant film storage.
Taking care of your photos. Though film and prints can last for decades, they must be stored properly for that to happen. Excessive moisture, heat, and dust can degrade your negatives, whereas your digital scans can get misplaced, corrupted, or difficult to restore.
Instant film, particularly Polaroid, can fade after prolonged exposure to the sun. The change can be dramatic and accumulate over just a few months (This creative technique for drawing patterns on Polaroid prints uses the sun-bleach effect and illustrates the extent of the damage to the affected areas).
To keep your Polaroid and Instax film frames from fading , do not hang them directly in the sun and store them in dark, dry, acid-free containers .
Film negatives (and slides/positives) should be stored in special plastic sleeves somewhere dry at room temperature. The sleeves will protect your film from dust, but you should also handle it with care when scanning and archiving: avoid touching any part of the film but the edges, ideally in gloves; do not crease, scratch, or spill liquids on it.
Film strips stored in labelled PrintFile plastic sleeves.
Developed film is the primary source of a film photograph ; it can last longer than digital files and contains more information than a typical scanner can extract. Meaning that you may get higher-quality images if you rescan your old negatives with upgraded hardware.
But film scanning is a cumbersome process that requires space, time, and patience. Keeping your digital archive well-organized can help you avoid unnecessary rescans and make finding a photo you took on a summer trip last year easier.
I store my film in PrintFile sleeves in binders, labelled with year, month, film, and camera name.
On a computer, my scans are organized in nested folders, like this: year > month > film_camera_name > scans > image_01.tif. This makes it easy to find a matching film strip if I’m looking to rescan a particular frame and vice versa.
To further protect the integrity of the scans, I store them in a Dropbox folder that has a copy on remote servers in case something happens to my computer or the files on it. The above file structure works very well with film Q , which automatically inverts my digital negatives into positives as I scan.
☝︎Further reading: “ Future-Proof Your Film Scans With Digital Negatives .”
Average film prices tracked since 2018. Source: Film Price Trends.
How much does it cost to shoot film? Film, film cameras, and film development vary greatly in costs. Your expenses can range from $0 (I and many others have gifted film cameras, film, and developed film for free) to thousands.
Today, a roll of 35mm film can cost anywhere between $5 and $30 (the cheapest being black-and-white, and the most expensive being slide film).
Despite storing a max of 36-42 exposures, a single roll of 35mm film can be enough for a month of photography (or more) for new and casual shooters, whereas professional photographers may go through a dozen rolls of film in a single eventful day.
If you’re shooting instant film, a pack will set you back $10-20 , depending on the type (although certain rare and large instant film frames can sell for hundreds of dollars ).
Instant film is a larger and more capable format than negative film, and thus it costs more per frame. Larger formats, such as medium format, 4x5, etc., also increase in price with dimensions.
Film cameras can be very cheap , a few bucks at a thrift store, $20-50 plastic/reusables, as cheap as $5 for some vintage cameras, or as pricey as $10,000 for a rare and highly-prized world’s only true panoramic flat projection camera, Hasselblad XPan (with some items costing even more).
The quality of the images you’ll get on film varies between the price ranges of the cameras; however, the resolution does not. Whether it’s a cheap plastic toy camera or a Leica rangefinder, the film is the same: you can get the same scan resolution and benefit from the same advancements in photochemistry (especially with premium films) with both cameras. Of course, the cheap plastic ones will produce fuzzier images with more distortions, but that could still be enough or even considered a positive thing for certain works and most casual events.
As with film and film cameras, film development and scanning costs vary greatly. Premium service in expensive locations can cost as much as $50 per roll, whereas labs in countries with lower property prices, like Thailand , may charge as little as $2 .
Regardless of where you live, developing and scanning film at home is usually much cheaper ; however, that too requires an initial investment in tools, chemicals, and a scanner.
A bulk loader can deliver significant savings on film.
How to to save money on film and film cameras. Several film manufacturers, like Kodak and Ilford, sell their film in bulk rolls, which you can split into ~19 36exp. canisters. Shooting film like that can save you up to 50% on your costs .
☝︎Further reading: “ How to Bulk Load 35mm Film .”
Film prices can fluctuate significantly between brands and stores. You can use apps like Film Price Trends
Developing and scanning colour-negative film at home can cost as little as $1 per roll or even less if it’s a black-and-white film.
Lastly, shooting reliable yet inexpensive mechanical film cameras , like the Voigtländer Vitomatic I , can help you save money on maintenance, issues with focus/exposure, and replacement costs should anything happen to the camera.
Film photography is a relatively young medium when compared to classics like painting and written records. Yet it enjoys a rich and nuanced history, with countless innovations on the technical, social, and artistic sides. No single book, not even a whole library, can teach the entirety of photographic craft; thankfully, the chemistry can be forgiving, whereas discovering new things is a joyful given when it comes to film photography.
Have fun on your journey and feel free to ask any questions in the comments or elsewhere ! 👋
Printable PDF download. Feel free to print and keep a copy of this book for personal use.
➜ Download : A Beginner’s Guide to Film Photography 2nd (70MB PDF).
The included PDF file is conveniently split into 73 pages, with page breaks inserted where appropriate. You can print it in colour or monochrome. If your printer supports duplex printing (double-sided printing), select Flip on short edge. It can take a while to print!
