I always wondered what is like to shoot film. Millennials, including me, learns film through school, books, articles, and Youtube videos. In fact, majority of us start digital, then learn how to load, shoot, and process the film. For the past several weeks, I minimized my use of digital camera, and started shooting film only. The results were outstanding and it certainly changed the way I shoot. Let’s take a look.
I began my film journey at Zion National Park. I used expired Kodak Tri-X 400 and Kodak GC 400 along with Yashica Electro 35 GSN. The results were cool, but not satisfying. It was expected result since it was my first film shoot, but I wasn’t super happy with it.
After this trip, I realized my Yashica had some light leak issue. I decided to use film camera that is well known and bit more robust compared to Yashica. I was able to grab Pentax K-1000, and images from the camera was mind blowing. It’s super sharp, crystal clear, and most importantly, I can shoot in manual without relying on camera’s automatic exposure mode!
I decided to do some photo journal / street photography at the Las Vegas Strip. Pentax K-1000 was a hundred times better to shoot with. I was forced to use aperture priority using Yashica, but able to use full manual exposure control on Pentax was really handy and something I really craved to make a good looking shot.
I was brave enough to shoot film during the night as well. I learned reciprocity failure is a real pain and pushing your film during processing really helps for night photos, especially on an old film that was expired back in 1994.
Can you see the Alpha Ursae Minoris (aka. Polaris & North Star) on the 2nd image? I couldn’t see the stars through the viewfinder, so I had to trust my instincts when pointing my camera to the stars. The results? Phenomenal.
After all, I am super pleased shooting 35mm. In addition, I find 35mm superior than digital. Not because of the image quality, because of all the work and effort you get to put when shooting film. It is a completely different satisfaction and feeling when you see the images through your negatives after developing. I can easily say, I fell in love with the films.