"Film Camera" Emulation

[pinholecam]

IMO, it all depends on what you want to learn and take away from the exercise.
Like what others have mentioned, it can be done with self discipline with any size of memory card.

What is the take away lesson from it?
That the camera has only 30 shots? ...duh... (pointless right?)

Instead, if the exercise is to be more conscious of the basics of photography :
Exposure; WB; aperture and shutter speed; framing and composition; Looking for good light
Then it can be done in a multitude of ways and in fact, reviewing a shot immediately after taking and/or experimenting with various angles/settings can be more beneficial.
At the end of the day, its about being thoughtful of what one is doing/setting.


Emulating the restrictions of film or using a film camera means nothing to improving one's photography.
I can just snap away 30 shots on film as well, or make wrong assumptions on settings and not know.
Did I write all the settings down so that upon review when the negatives are developed in a few days, I'd learn from it?

So in the end, to me, its one's discipline and conscious learning that is important.
Not an emphasis on the gear used (or rather the non-gear in this case) by using a smaller capacity memory card

 

[digitalpimp]

I hope the topic doesn't veer towards digital vs film.:nono:

Aside from digital, I also shoot with a Nikon F3/T and a Pentax MZ-L. I don't have my prints digitised because for me it ruins its beauty. I have no plans of showcasing them online. I just keep them in a photobook and put it in the living room for my visitors to see. Just like how we do way back when. From time to time I get stupid-looking photos, but when I nail a shot (especially long exposures), the feeling is priceless!


So basically, what I'm trying to say here is I let film be film and digital be digital. I don't find any gratification from interchanging both.

 

[Shizuma]

hi fellow club snappers, I just want to share my rationale for this thread, I was walking around China town area and saw a machine gun dslr user pointing his camera at everything and just burst mode. even mynah bird on road divider also shoot ten photos seemingly without composing

 

[rhino123]

hi fellow club snappers, I just want to share my rationale for this thread, I was walking around China town area and saw a machine gun dslr user pointing his camera at everything and just burst mode. even mynah bird on road divider also shoot ten photos seemingly without composing

And... I don't see anything wrong with that. That fella might have something in mind... and how do you know he didn't do any composing? He might be recording the entire taking off and landing of the birds... and he might be shooting panning shots of moving cars, bicycles, kids running, etc.

Plus, you have your way of improving your skills, others have their own way of doing it too... some people like thinking alot before shooting, some like to shoot a couple of shots at single subject, then go back and see through their monitor, then learned which angle, lighting, exposure etc works and what don't. There is no right or wrong in photography, it is something for people to enjoy and not stress out.

 

[Shizuma]

the birds cocked their heads to one side with the metaphorical question marks popping out of their heads.

 

[Unagidon]

Hi sempais, seniors and fellow clubsnappers!

I recently rediscovered a 256MB SD card in my old PnS.

I inserted it blank into my DSLR (500D). It gave me roughly 30++ shots (almost same as film)

I thought, would it be a good idea to pretend I had a "film" camera, and shoot without deletion (or peeking at completed shots) ?

What do you think? (sorry to emulate our DPM also) Do you think this is a good exercise for skill development (since I obviously need skill development) ? Or is it Futile Exercise :sweat:

This is my experience with a film camera.
My first vintage film camera is rollei 35 led w/o focusing and metering is down.
Take home
-sunny 16 rule,
-how to see light. (Wasted a lot of film with this)

Second film camera canon ql17 a rangefinder.
Take home
-how to use zone focusing so that you can focus fast enough in manual
-how to imagine a depth of view just by looking at it.
-how to effectively use an ael

3rd camera mamiya 645 pro tl
Take home
-the difference between a full frame and a medium format.
-Composition using a good depth of view.
-Discover multiple exposure

4th camera eos 3
-reappreciation of the auto system

As you can see there are a lot of basic things that can go manual and by fiddling with those it will improve your basic and then you can reappreciate what are the technology provides and why is that function there. By limiting to 36 is only part of the thing(actually the scary part is the cost not number of frame and unable to review after taking). And any way I still think digital is much way easier to use and film is simply fun to play with.

Enjoy learning