Ten Reasons Why I Love Film.

[raytoei]

(Was approached by Catus Jack to post here)

I love Film because: #1 I love Negatives

Holding a piece of Negative is like holding a Vinyl record.
It is tangible, and yet prone to scratches if not handled properly.
A negative is proof you were there and you shot the picture.
A negative is irrefutable.

(Picture taken in 2011, Bangladesh, on the Olympus Pen-FT Half-frame camera,
with the 38/f1.8 lens and Kodak Tri-X, if I remember correctly)

 

[raytoei]

I love Film because #2 I love Contact Sheets

A contact sheet is a photographer's work in progress.
It captures how a photographer shoots and how he approaches the subject.
It also captures all the mistakes and images that didn't quite make the cut,
it also helps him choose the frame that makes the picture.
Picture: August 2013, Fomapan 400 captured on the Leica Minilux,
and developed in XTOL 1+1 for 6mins at 30c

 

[raytoei]

I Love Film Because #3 I love Black and White.
Shooting B&W is a different experience, it is
about textures, light and shadows, it is about
composition, it is about contrasts.

When I shoot B&W, the quality of light excites me.

Picture: Women buying inner-garments.
Bazaar in Tehran, Iran 2013.
Leica M4 with 35/f2.8 Summaron
Neopan 400 pushed to 800 iso.

 

[raytoei]

I love Film because #4 I love Grains.

In digital, Grains is noise and noise is a bad thing.
In Film, Grains adds texture to an image.

Picture: Merchant at a Grains store (no pun intended).
Kabul, Afghanistan 2011.
Tmax 400 developed in Tmax Developer,
Olympus 35SP Rangefinder

 

[raytoei]

I love Film because #5 I don't worry too much about blown highlights.

Everything being equal film likes overexposure more than under exposure.
How much ? Well films like Tri-x typically have a film latitude of about 7 stops,
2 Under and 5 Over. In Digital, this is the reverse, it handles underexposure
better than overexposure, a digital blown highlight is very hard to recover.
This makes film quite stretchable, although there are limits.

Picture: View from Hotel Room, Habana, Cuba. Leica M6 TTL with 50 Summicron v.4 and Kodak Tri-X.

 

[raytoei]

I love Film because #6 I love Mechanical Cameras!

A fine mechanical camera is like a manual watch.
A thing to behold and a thing to enjoy. I love my mechanical cameras,
some of them with an optional battery for metering.
And they store value pretty well too, witness the recent prices of the
Leica M8 going below the Leica M7 prices and touching into the M6 territory.
I really dunno how long I can repair them if they ever fail, but they tend
to be built for longevity rather than for planned obsolescence.

Picture: Camera Hospital @ Sunshine Plaza, Singapore.
Agfa APX400 on a non-mechnical Panoramic Camera.

 

[raytoei]

I love Film because #7 because the process of taking a picture drives the enjoyment of photography.

Despite the "limitations" of not having a preview screen,
I really enjoy the act of taking a photo with a film camera.

The manual focus, the 36-frame per roll, the film advance lever,
the winding of the roll, all enhances the enjoyment of taking a picture.

In a way, the anticipation of finally seeing my pictures after development
is a strange feeling in this era of instant-gratification.

Picture: Shinjuku 2013. Kodak Tri-X on the M6 with 35f1.4.
How does one shoot with a shallow depth of field with moving objects,
at night at iso 800? If I had shot this in digital, it would have been
deleted in preview. Somehow, the motion blur and compositional mood works for me,
does the lack of critical sharpness work for you ?

 

[raytoei]

I love Film because #8 because I love Medium Format.

There is something quite magical about a Rolleiflex
Twin Lens Reflex camera. The output from this old 1960's
camera is approximately 6cm x 6cm negative, about 3-4 times
that of a 35mm neg. The tonality of a large negative is richer
and it allows a larger enlargement.

Picture: This was shot on the Rolleiflex MX with 3.5 Tessar lens.
The film is an obscure Ultrafine Extreme 400 film. This was shot
handheld at 1/30 and f3.5, not terribly sharp but quite a moody shot.

 

[raytoei]

I love Film because #9 I love Prints from the Darkroom.

Darkroom prints, also known as Silver Gelatin Print,
is getting pretty rare, as there exists only a handful of darkrooms
left here in Singapore.

What we film photographers do now is to scan the negatives into
digital format, but nothing beats the look and feel of the darkroom
enlargement of negatives and printing onto light sensitive paper,
the very act of seeing an actual image appearing before my eyes still
excites me.

Just think, every print is different as they are handmade, no two prints are alike.
In consolation, I buy prints from the web from Eastern
european artists who still print by hand.

Picture: This is a print I bought from a Russian photographer Arnold Mariashin.
He still prints with silver gelatin as well as with alternative methods
like hand painting, palladium and tin-type printing.

 

[raytoei]

I love Film because #10 It isn't easy to shoot film
but it is straight forward (Last of the series).

It isn't easy to shoot with film cameras, many are manual focus,
some lack a light meter, some don't even need a battery to operate at all.
Compared to the camera in your handphone, a film camera is
downright archaic.

But it is straight forward, only three things matter:
aperture (how much light to let in), shutter speed (how long to let the light in)
and ISO (how sensitive is the film).

Once understood and practised, it doesn't matter what
type of film cameras you use, it is simply a lightbox with
the three attributes.

Picture: The Alcohol trolley only appeared once the plane took off.
TG 346 From Lahore Pakistan to Bkk. A 1957 Leica IIIf screw-mount
camera with a 35/f2 Canon LTM and External Viewfinder.

Last of the series of why i love film, Thanks for viewing.
FIN

 

[AlmightyTallest]

Awesome reasons! Next time some of my digital-wielding friends who dangle their fully auto cameras that actual value can be very well under our mechanical babes, I have one more strong comeback. This thread! Thanks, ray

 

[newghost]

Nice one Raytoei!

Certainly there's room for one more, also because I can play with colour filters! :bsmilie:

 

[virtualme78]

Love! Your 10 reasons reminded me why I have decided to give up my DSLR and go for film. They have also made me put down my A7 and want to hold my M6 again. Thanks!

 

[anerjee]

Good start to the year. Nice pics too!

 

[larrytok]

nice shots ray toei, like #5 & #7. where are the color-films and girl shots from shinjuku lolol.

 

[SurrealDreamWalker]

AWESOME :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Thanks for sharing your film shots and workflows

 

[keithwee]

Excellent series I've zero proper experience with film but reading your series has been inspiring.

 

[leafster]

Good stuff Raytoei!

 

[mazeppa26]

Always wanted to go into film but worried about running costs.
Mingthein posted a good article on his blog.
Wonder if other Sifus here have more advice?

 

[Fulgaralis]

10 beautiful reasons for shooting film that I agree with. It gives me the courage to keep using and developing film.