There’s a lot of focus on sharp lenses in this video, but bear in mind that’s not every shooters preference. Shooting film is a great opportunity to use vintage glass which may be the complete opposite of sharp, but can offer you extremely sweet and unique rendering at an often more reasonable price point.
I agree to all your tips, but I would add the following tip: enjoy and respect the slowness of film photography compared to digital photography. It's really relaxing.
Set yourself back to infinity focus in between shots, let it be as habitual as smashing your film advance lever. Game changer for me when starting off with manual focus lenses!
I think another really important thing to get better results is to get inspired by see others people work, search film works and try to find our style, because by doing that when you aprouch something you find interesting to shoot you will think about that shot, that angle and you can use those ideas to create a better work, or a work that suits you better
My tips : start develeping by yourself , when my lab was closed during the lockdown I could not wait anymore. I have started my adventure and I love it , of course few first times were very stressful but it's not a rocket science. Developing bnw films in caffenol is also suuuuuper easy and results are awsome. Another tip from me is to find camera which is easy to use for you, I'm having around 15 cameras and using only 3 because I love to work with them and give me always good results. My favorite is Nikon F301 with built in light meter plus lenses to Nikon are super cheap , for example wide angle Cosina 17-35mm , Zoom/macro lens : Sigma 70-200mm or Tamton 35-135mm this is my favorite camera gear :)
Just brought my film first camera. I decided on the canon A-1 I’m coming from a Sony a7iii but I grew up in the film era... so I’m extremely excited to be going back into my roots. Thanks for the inspiration bro keep up the quality content✊🏾❤️✊🏾❤️✊🏾 I’ve learned so much & I’m extremely grateful!!
Agree with all 4 tips . I normally shoot many cameras to gain experience . So far my path has lead me into knowing that As you mentioned in the video , Photography is also about eliminating the variants to achieve the desired results on the first shot . I ve been making a cheat sheet and noticed that tho my work horse if the Nikon F3 , for black and white my combo is the Nikon FM2N, 50mmf1.8 , yellow filter and shooting Neopan or Tmax 400 .
i appriciate you here.I started shooting film several years ago and i have been following you for a while.Now i'm back to shoot again after of the busy works.
KJ, it is just amazing to see your progress over the years I've been following you. Your advice for noobs is so spot on and clear. The examples you show in this vid are so spot on. Andy
To shoot good pictures with film camera shoot first with digital set to same film speed check out whole picture for exposure. Then set your film camera to these settings. I shoot with nikon f 65 it has electronic focus let's me use latest lens
i find fuji superia 400 pretty cheap at walmart and online too. When it's not back ordered moment has a 3 pack of 36 frame rolls for $20 after shipping
My tip would be to he careful when cleaning your older 70s SLRs or older with air. If you have the lens removed, the older foam pads inside the camera might be in brittle condition and may blow out foam in places that will be very hard to remove after. Did this one to a Minolta and regretted it. #minoltagang, #xd-11, #maxxum50
First thing I did when I got my srt-101 was remove the rotted light seals and foam mirror bumper. Replaced them with some yarn and felt and everything works perfect. I would definitely recommend doing that if your camera has foam that's falling apart it in.
the only thing I'd add is to get a cable shutter release...film cameras don't have IBIS so having a cable release (along with a decent tripos) is going to save you image when shooting in less than ideal lighting conditions
Thank you for the helpful input, really enjoy your entertaining way of presenting. You already helped me A LOT with the sunny 16 rule! Just ordered some new film to experiment with and downloaded a light meter. I'm excited!
Okay so tip 2 Just, wanna share, Rollei retro 400s Rodinal 1:25 20° It is an amazingly contrasty film but also has a weirdly insane dynamic range weirdly enough
With respect to point 1 and 4: use the lenses in their sweet spot. (Best performed focal length with zoom lenses and best performed Aperture ranges). Read lens reviews to understand the performance of the lens. Example for your Nikon F3: the Nikon Nikkor 135mm f/3.5 has a excellent optical performance from wide open f/3.5 upto and including f/11. Only the f/16 becomes very good because of diffraction issues. Hidden gem very cheap, very light, build in hood, very good portrait lens.
Lens you using on your F3 is the Nikkor 35mm f/2.8 AIS from 1984-1985, which very good in the center at f/2.8, excellent in the center at f/4.0 - f/16. In other area’s of the lens bad at f/2.8, fair - good at f/4.0, very good at f/5.6, excellent at f/8-f/16. A better lens is the heavier Zeiss Distagon T* f/2.0 ZF or ZF.2 lens, the lens is excellent from f/2.8-f/11 and very good at f/2.0 in all area’s of the lens center upto the corners.
I have a question about setting up your shot with the light metre - do you align the light metre together before pressing the stop-down button or after pressing it? (i.e., setting up the shot with completely wide aperture or your final desired aperture)
Which camera do you have? Most cameras will only decrease the aperture when you press the shutter button. If that’s the case, you don’t need to press the DOF-preview button. The light meter knows the aperture you have selected and keeps that in mind. You can test this by just pointing your camera at something at the widest aperture (like f2.8), look at the meter and then stop down your lens to like f16. If you see the light meter change, you don’t need to press the DOF-preview button. Edit: lol I thought this comment was only 10 minutes old, turns out it’s 10 months old.
exposing for your picture. you know like the light meter digital cameras have too that says if your image is too under or too over exposed? metering isn’t really just film it’s photography in general
Measuring how much exposure your shot needs to be properly exposed. You set your camera’s shutter speed, aperture (size of the lens hole) and ISO (film speed) to make sure your shot is well exposed.
