analog

Sounds cooler than saying "film" in my opinion.

The thing about analog photography I really enjoy is that you can find a scene, you can see what you wanna shoot, and you can compose your shot with your camera and just fire your shutter. However, in that moment, that's just it. There's no going back to shoot a better shot because this is the only chance ever that you will get a scene like this. More importantly, you don't even know what your picture even looks like until you get your film developed and scanned. So what you get is what you get.

pain.

The thing every film photographer fears and dreads. The boogeyman that crawls into our asses and strikes when we least expect it.

Let's have a moment for our fallen roll of Cinestill 800T, the film that I traveled to some farm near Hamilton and paid $80 for, as well as to Ripley's Aquarium and the CN Tower which costed another $100. They were some of the coolest locations I have ever shot at and the most excited I have ever been when thinking about getting my scans back.

I guess you could tell how heartbreakingly devastated I was when I saw this in my photofinishing order email:

Yes, I sent in three rolls for development and only one of them failed, but that was the only one that I cared about. Now, I really didn't care about the money wasted to get a blank filmstrip, but I was definitely sad that the pictures I thought I captured are lost forever.

What prompted this failure? I mean, when I was loading the roll I definitely made sure to see that my rewinding crank was spinning when I advanced the film. I do that with every roll of film I load. Did my camera just malfunction? A malfunction that caused every single frame to be blank, but was perfectly fine on every other roll of film I put through? Unlikely. Did the lab just fuck up? Considering they are using the same batch of chemical soup to develop the rest of my film that turned out okay, probably not. What then?

It doesn't matter. At the end of the day, there is no saving the photograph, no matter where the error occurred. All you can do is think back to when you were shooting your shots and thinking how cool they could've turned out, then fall into a state of depression while you dwell over it. Or you just go out and keep shooting. And make damn sure that doesn't happen again.

some of my favourite scans

These are just some the film scans that I personally thought were really good. Check out the rest of my scans here! Or, well, whenever I get around to making the page to view all of my scans. If you're savvy, you can just check them out on my Git repository. I swear I'm gonna find a better way to manage my photos T_T

Odyssey

2022-08-07

Nikkormat FTn, Portra 400, Tamron 19-35mm

One of my first times shooting analog and I think I just got the best singular photo I have ever captured. I love how the composition of the shot allows it to guide your focus to look at different parts of the photo and notice the smaller details off to the side. Right away, you notice the silhouette of the bird that is sat right in between the bright parts of the sky. Incidentally, the shape of the clouds form lines that narrow into the Torontonian skyline, putting a specific focus on its most defining part, the CN Tower. The cityscape itself forms another line that sweeps across the scene back the other way, leading your eyes to notice the distant buildings shadowed by the darker sky and thicker haze which is just where the bird is flying towards.

Odyssey

Nikkormat FTn, Portra 400, Tamron 19-35mm

2022-08-07

One of my first times shooting analog and I think I just got the best singular photo I have ever captured. I love how the composition of the shot allows it to guide your focus to look at different parts of the photo and notice the smaller details off to the side. Right away, you notice the silhouette of the bird that is sat right in between the bright parts of the sky. Incidentally, the shape of the clouds form lines that narrow into the Torontonian skyline, putting a specific focus on its most defining part, the CN Tower. The cityscape itself forms another line that sweeps across the scene back the other way, leading your eyes to notice the distant buildings shadowed by the darker sky and thicker haze which is just where the bird is flying towards.

download - not working atm lol

Gaze

2022-08-09

Nikkormat FTn, Portra 400, Tamron 19-35mm

I wasn't even planning on coming here to shoot. I went to Scarborough to meet with a guy on Kijiji to buy this sick vintage Kodak jacket and since he figured that I was a photographer of some sort, he suggested I come here to take some shots. He was right - everything here was calm and quiet (except for the GO Trains that come occasionally), a stark difference from what you'd get on Harbourfront in Toronto. You just look out, and just see water.

I just like how with this photo, you kind of are able to imagine yourself strolling along the curved line of the path into the right, but then quickly lose a sense of scale when your eyes continue to follow the line as it comes back around and realize just how much distance there is to this view. You also notice a little mound positioned parallel to the shore, but then you see more of them being repeated off into the distance, each one becoming smaller and smaller.

Gaze

Nikkormat FTn, Portra 400, Tamron 19-35mm

2022-08-09

I wasn't even planning on coming here to shoot. I went to Scarborough to meet with a guy on Kijiji to buy this sick vintage Kodak jacket and since he figured that I was a photographer of some sort, he suggested I come here to take some shots. He was right - everything here was calm and quiet (except for the GO Trains that come occasionally), a stark difference from what you'd get on Harbourfront in Toronto. You just look out, and just see water.

I just like how with this photo, you kind of are able to imagine yourself strolling along the curved line of the path into the right, but then quickly lose a sense of scale when your eyes continue to follow the line as it comes back around and realize just how much distance there is to this view. You also notice a little mound positioned parallel to the shore, but then you see more of them being repeated off into the distance, each one becoming smaller and smaller.

download - not working atm lol

Gonna feature some more of my favourite scans but here are some for now!

Also disclaimer: the content following may seem out of place. That's because I just copied over from another page where it would flow more nicely. Just trying to actually organize what goes where for now and it'll be something I'll fix.

my film camera collection

Any hobbyist photographer has at least once considered trying out film photography, and the outcome is either one of of the following:

1. They realize the investment into film is just not worth it when digital photography and a little work in Lightroom can achieve the sane thing for less.
2. All of their money suddenly vanishes and then notice, gobsmacked, that they own their own body weight in film cameras and they completely normalized the fact that 👏 every 👏 single 👏 time they press the shutter button an additional $1.50 disappears.

Guess which one I'm in.

Nikkormat FTn

I was shopping around for an F3HP or an F2, but they were all well above what I could reasonably afford, especially since I had tuition to pay. Then, I found this gem for only $50!!! I mean, I looked on eBay and other sites and that is about what is camera this is worth these days but it's still an amazing little guy. Sure, it doesn't have any sort of shoe mount, only goes up to 1/1000s, and has a light meter that only works with 1.35V batteries that you can no longer find today, but shooting with this camera is still a pleasure.

Now, I absolutely do not know a lot of what I'm talking about since I am very new to analog photography but as long as I am having a good time with it, that's all the matters right?

A very, very handsome camera.

You can see the Peak Design plate I put on the base.

This particular Nikkormat features those little rabbit ears on the mount ring. To be honest, I have no idea what are they used for and what it means in terms of lens compatibility.

Disappointed there was no film tab holder. Not because I'll forget what I put in there, but I just think it looks cool.

The viewfinder is one of the biggest and brightest ones I have ever tried. Easily beats out my D810, even though it's roughly 60 years older.

The camera looks a bit ridiculous with my Tamron sitting on it considering it's an AF lens, and doesn't match the aesthetic at all.

It's a look that's grown on me.

One thing I love about this camera is that it's entirely mechanical. Unlike the F3, everything will still function (imaging wise) with or without a battery. It makes me appreciate that what I'm shooting with is all powered by its inner workings of whateverthefuck designed by engineering geniuses, rather than just a mundane electric circuit.

Of course, like I said, the only thing that does need the battery is the light meter. And since you have to use 1.35V batteries which are not manufactured anymore it'll be pretty rare to have the opportunity to consistently shoot with a working meter.

However, any self-respecting film photographer will probably use their own intuition to accurately meter the exposure themselves, rather than rely on a tool. I guess that's what I'm currently doing when I do go out and shoot with this camera, but since I have never had the need to think about what settings to use when shooting (thanks D810 aperture priority) my judgement is still very rudimentary. I've just been using the sunny 16 rule, and making the recommended adjustments under different lighting conditions to guess my exposure.

Also, to set shutter speed you have to turn the ring around the mount. I'll admit, it's a pretty neat spot but I think I would prefer to just have the controls on the top like most other cameras. Also, with how much hardware you're moving it can get a little tough to push adjust it.

Maybe I should write a little article about my experience with shooting film as a complete noob. You know, like a blog ಠ_ಠ

Nikon L35AF

Did I mention I was a Nikon shooter?

Supposedly a legendary camera, they usually go for $300-400 on eBay. However, I got lucky with mine and found it listed for only $80 on Etsy. Lucky me.

So it arrived and guess what! Basically the thing is broken. The batteries do power the thing but it's always doing things it's not supposed to be doing; it's very erratic. Took it to Downtown Camera and the guy told me that since it's a point-and-shoot camera, fixing this thing will be next to impossible, let alone at a decent price. The shipping itself to the repair center itself is $80! That's what I f-wording paid for this camera!!!

Simple, elegant, stylish. Also really grimey.

The back is minimal yet gives you just enough of the information you need. Love the little window.

Although the "L35AF" branding is a bit corny, it's tasteful in my opinion.

Interestingly, you can see the outline of where the quality control sticker used to be. I mean, it's kind of fitting.

This was probably the first camera Nikon made with the power switch dial on the shutter button. They've been using that design ever since, along with some other camera manufacturers.

The flash pops automatically whenever the light meter detects that there's low light. It's cute.

So the mounting points for the strap on this camera is actually on the side. Allows the body to hang down vertically when wearing the strap cross-body.

The bottom features a two-step film rewind button so you don't accidentally trigger it.

One thing that drew me to this camera was the fact that it took your standard AA batteries!! No need to source some sort of obscure obsolete batteries.

It's a shame that it's not in a functional state _(._.)_

So yeah, in short, it's not in a functioning state. The Etsy seller didn't rip me off or anything, she's not knowledgeable in cameras and told me I'm able to return it if it doesn't work. Currently debating returning it or keeping it and trying to fix it myself. Could be a fun little side side project. More content for this mess of a site.

Fujica 35 ML

Calm down, yes, this isn't a Nikon camera. However, this was the first film camera I decided to pick up since it was only $20 on Kijiji. Now I know why you don't just buy film cameras for $20 and expect to salvage it, let it have it function. The aperture blades are stuck, and the shutter won't even open if I try to take a shot. Took it to Downtown Camera to get it looked at and get this- a $250 quote to get this thing maybe working since it's such an old niche camera. But hey, it makes for a very stylish paperweight.

Also a very, very handsome looking boy.

Interestingly, the film advance lever is at the bottom. The guy I had look at it called it "silly."

THe inside is mint. A stark contrast to the worn, corroded, fungal outside.

Another quirk is that in order to focus, you must spin a dial on the back. There's also these unusual focus markings for different "openings."

One cool thing about this camera is that you can couple the aperture and shutter speed controls so that the overall exposure stays the same.

This thing is built like a tank, though. the build quality is astonishing and feels way heavier than it looks. It's almost as heavy as my D810 without a lens. They really didn't mess around with film camera construction back in the day. So yeah, now it's retired to being a paperweight.

Nikon L35AF

Yes, another one. A working one this time. I mean for $225 it sure it shit be working.

So funny story the guy I met on Kijiji who sold me this camera actually recognized me. I am pretty much a regular at Downtown Camera in Toronto and turns out he works there. Pretty sure he is even the same dude who sold me my reasonably priced Peak Design backpack at the store.

UPDATE: The rewind button does not work. Not reliably at least. So every time I want to rewind and load another roll of film into the camera, I have to lock myself in a pitch-black room and manually roll those 36 shots into the cartridge which takes forever and probably scuffs up the film ALKHJFSKHDJGHFSFDLSDGHJ

naming my film scans

This is only for my personal reference.

YYYY-MM-DD Camera-Body Roll-# Film-Stock Title-Description ##

Example:

2022-08-06 Nikkormat-FTn Roll-1 Portra-400 Taro 01

2022-08-20 Nikon-L35AF Roll-2 REFLX-Lab-800T CNE 13

Reference video: How I organize my film scans