Shooting film February 2016
I still love shooting film and I try to shoot a little each month but getting film developed in China is really difficult. I am almost at the point of buy all the equipment and start to develop the film myself.
Black and white is still my first choice when shooting film. Its unique look still cannot be replicated by any digital camera out there right now. The strange thing about film is when I show my shots to some photographers who have never shot film before, the first thing they always comment on is on the noise. “Wow, it is so noisy!” I have heard this so many times now.
Hong Kong is such a pretty and colorful city and it is easy to be over whelmed by all the color that assaults your eyes. Shooting black and white just gives the city that classical look that I love to see. For me it is a personal thing, this is how I see the city in my mind.
I only shot one roll of Xpan 100 through my Nikon FM, I was not sure if the camera was in good working condition as I had not used it in a long long time. I was surprised though, the camera was still in perfect condition, I had no problems with the metering, and the only problem that I had was manual focusing again. I had a lot of shots that I missed focus on. Manual focusing takes practice to get it right. I plan to try and shoot at least one roll of film a week on the camera each week for fun. It is fun to shoot with a film camera again, you have to shoot slower, take your time with composition and make sure your exposure is correct. This is no chimping, the only thing I can do is shoot and hope you got it right.
I also picked up another film camera recently to help easy some of my boredom with digital cameras. I bought a Yashica Mat 128G and I ran a roll of film through the camera as well.
I put through one roll of film to test the Yashica at my favorite testing ground in China to put the camera through it paces and it seems like it worked. Shooting with this camera was a pleasure but it is just such an attention grabber. I consistently got stopped by people asking me about the camera. This could be a good thing but it was annoying when i was trying to shoot some test shots quickly. But I think this camera would be a great ice breaking camera when you are shooting on the street. Just like the Nikon, I will be trying to shoot at least one roll of film with it each week as well.
Shaun.