had a bit of free time today, so for the first time in 2 years I just made a video without any planning and not on my "youtube" day of the month. It was fun.
I think working on personal photographic projects to spark the enthusiasm for photography is always a good thing. It doesn’t really matter if the projects work out or not. Just doing it is part of it. As for choice of kit for these projects it really is what works for you. It doesn’t have to make sense but if it works for you then that is all that matters.
Best part: "I bought a red button because ........... someone else had it in their video and I thought it looked cool" made my day ;-))) ..... I will propably get one for the very same reason ;-) Great video + thoughts as always , Thankx and greetings from Germany !
I would really like to see you do a wedding. I think I use every genre when I’m doing them and it would be interesting to see how you’d attack the “product” shots there under the pressure and all. Flat lays and ring shots…ect..
My great grandfather died of a septic infection… thank goodness for antibiotics these days! Shopping on morphine is probably not the best idea… but glad you are doing better!
Take good care, health is EVERYTHING. Great that you've been able to turn your unfortunate illness into your next great adventure. Well done! Gives me a cozy feeling whenever anyone talks film photography.
That's a great choice! I also use a canon f1n and have 28mm, 35mm and 50mm 1.4 lenses! If you still want to use the built in light meter use a lr44 button cell battery, it works great for me! keep up the good work!
I still have my Canon A1 and FD 50mm f1.4 that I bought when I finished my apprenticeship. It was serviced and cleaned in about 1990 by a camera repair shop in Manchester that no longer exists, but it still works fine. Loaded with FP4 most of the time, that I used to buy in 30 yard rolls and "roll my own". Ahh the smell of the darkroom 🙂
Destroy a roll, and roll it on the reel in daylight. Practice. Then practice in the dark. Assuming you haven’t done it before. Make sure you tap after agitation to move the air off the emulsion. Miss doing it. Good luck. Good choice on the camera.
I just acquired a 50 year old minolta X-1, which is an absolutely incredible camera to shoot with. I ordered a couple of vintage ROKKORs on ebay to fill out the kit and I will be ready to go. And I spent a good deal less than your new Canon outfit cost.
this is a good opportunity to talk about the importance of insurance and that YOU are the only one keeping the ship afloat for you, your family and/or wife and kids. Alot of ppl dont realize that who want to be a photog.
Pretend you're just starting out Day #1 in your Photography career putting together your 1st body of work for a Professional Portfolio as a future video for all of us rookies out here just starting out. Thanks for your time and energy, Michael...
I think it would be cool for you to try macro photography. I was thinking maybe a fusion of your style with the saturated colors with a mix of nature. Maybe go to the woods with some bright color cards and put them behind some leaves with insects.
Reminds me of the the old Ricoh 35mm film camera I have and use for the same purpose. Short story: my best friend was getting married last year, I brought the camera to document from the best mans perspective (without intruding on the hired pro of course) The bride was sitting in the bridal suite gazing out a window before the ceremony have a relaxed and peaceful moment. I was able to capture that moment and it became my favorite image I've shot. Visually, it's okay, but it's an incredibly special image to myself and my friends. I'm ecstatic to have that on film.
Woould be great to see you doing Press & Doc work, especially in London - a lot of things have been postponed but after next week, things are going to ramp up again. helps having a Press card... I still need to get mine BUT for what i tend to capture, it's not needed... unless I'm caught in a Kettle, then problems might arise! 😅
You may like trying macro wildlife photography. Specifically I do Insect and Spiders. It's a nice mix of technical work, with some meditative, in-nature sort of time. Def fun, and way different than my usual work.
Would be cool to see you in landscape ahah I find it so relaxing. Looking foward for that video, every photographer should try film at some point. I've tried it when I was young with my father's canon camera then again when I was studying and also developed the film ( aaah the smell), haven't done much after that but maybe I will in a good occasion!
I love this idea. Get some street photography in as well, that's what I do when I get tired, overworked, or feeling burned out. It's completely removed from the photography I do for money and helps reset my creativity a bit. Also, I love the F1. I don't have one anymore, but I do have and shoot with an FTb I inherited and those old Canon's are fantastic to work with. I love my my little collection of FD glass. That's my one vintage camera I'd never be able to give up.
I loved my Canon F1. Used with a Speedfinder, it made it convenient to switch between waistlevel and eyelevel. Lousy X sync speed, but for anything not using flash, I used a couple of them for over 20 years. But, wow, film prices are crazy!
I’ve had a TON of fun photographing at events I’ve gone to. Air shows in particular, got some AMAZING shots of the fighter jets (at least for a beginner). I’m now having an absolute blast photographing haunted houses and Halloween events here in the States- they tend to use dramatic colored lighting that really fits well with my personal style/preference. Hopefully you find something that sparks the joy again because I love the feeling of stretching my comfort zone and just seeing what I can make 😁
Good Luck! Your video's on the ETRS made me dig mine out, dust it off and buy 10 rolls of film (5 colour, 5 B&W). Its going to be fun .... but .... wow you are not wrong when you complain about the cost of film!
A roll of Kodak Ektar in 135, now costs about £17.00, nearly 100% more than what it did last year. That is before processing and scanning costs. I really don't know what they think we Brits are made of, but money is not it? But, so long as we go on paying it, they will keep on increasing their stupid prices.
Hey, nice one. I love the old Canon bodies, in fact I've got an F1, an F1N and a couple of FTB. Regarding the F1, depending on the year, they can come with the "button" 1,35v battery or they can use the much preferred 6v mini-torch battery. As you said, Canon was very good in designing their bodies but FD lens quality is quite poor unfortunately. Recently I've moved on to a Contax RTS, the body is quite affordable, it comes with aperture priority, the meter is precise and Zeiss lenses are really great. Looking forward for your next video...
I shot film for 30 years and did most of my on processing and printing, only shoot a roll every now and then now, digital has come a long way since I made the jump from film.
How about sports photography outdoors with flash? Skate photography or something similar, long lens, wide angle, 35mm, medium format leaf shutters at 1/500th, 35mm at whatever sync speed your canon is, I’m guessing 125th and why/ how flash freezes the frame. One, two or three flashes off camera. Technically there is so much for you to get stuck into. Your delivery and intonation lends itself to explaining a genre of photography that can seem quite daunting to some photographers. Those new to film photography often avoid flash due to not having the comfort blanket of a screen on the back of the camera. Maybe look at demystifying the dark art of flash photography why. Shooting film? Maybe film development could also be a topic to cover. Ilford HP5 is my go to black and white with the film mostly being shot at ISO 800 and development being in microphen 1+2 or Perceptol 1+3 So maybe something on how and why you develop the way you do and the difference that it makes to the results. There’s so many creative , aesthetic, technical paths to explore and whichever you choose, I’m already looking forward to watching them.
i truly feel all of this. the difference between film and digital and that feeling of having something to inspire outside of regular work. it's actually why i shoot nikon cus I take my collection of non-se film era nikkor glass and mount it to my boring digital bodies for personal work just to feel something. when i can afford film i bust out my nikon f and others to get the same things you're getting from that beautiful canon =)
My first camera in 1980, unfortunately stolen in Caracas in 1995. Lovely sound of the mechanical shutter. A beautiful piece of equipment and very well made.
Glad you're on the mend! The idea of getting out and doing something outside our comfort can lead to all kinds of cool discoveries. It would be interesting to see your take on race photography (auto, motorcycles, or 4x4 races).
I bought a used F1 (2nd style, basically the same as yours) in the mid 1990's. I had it overhauled at International Camera Technicians in California (I didn't know at the time, but ICT was Ansel Adams' preferred repair shop!) and used it for many years before mercury cells started getting too difficult to acquire in the US. A previous owner had put their thumb into the titanium shutter, but that didn't seem to cause any problems. When I sold it, it still worked fine, even with the shutter dent. The owner of ICT said that the F1 was the best mechanical SLR ever made. He called everything made since then "peece of sheeet" in a thick Russian accent. I replaced it with an F1-N but eventually sold that too. I don't regret selling them, I wasn't using them any more. For film photography, I use my Ebony 4x5" and that I'll never sell. Somewhere, someone else is using an F1 with a dent in the shutter that's still going on just fine, although it may have needed a CLA since then.
I’m so excited to see what you capture during your photography exploration outside of your professional work. Hope you get feeling 100% again. Just for fun street photography I think would be interesting to explore.
Thank you for doing this exercise. I think it is, as you Brits might say: utterly brilliant. And I cannot wait to see the results. I have watched nearly all the available footage from Her Majesty’s day of passing right on up through today, (much of it more than once) and intend to set an alarm for tomorrow morning for around 5:30a.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time, so as to catch as much of the proceedings of the funeral procession on to the bitter end, although some necessary business will necessitate me missing parts of it. Good luck, mate. Will see you on the other side.
Aiming to come and see you at the photography show on Sunday. However the rail service is dire assuming the train is not late will have 7 mins to get from the station get in and find you. Will probably be late so don’t be offended! :)
What a great exercise! Can’t comment on genre though… anything you try will be brilliant, I’m sure. And I know what you mean about mechanics… my first SLR was an Olympus OM-1 and I loved the feel and sound of winding it on to the next shot. :D
GOOD CHOICE. I have only recently acquired the Not so mechanical 2nd Version F1 Very nearly purchased your same model,just that mechanical timer deterred me. You did well on Purchase Price Not so sure about Red Shutter release,mm. But then I never was a fashion victim-ha ha. Have rekindled my passion for Black and White Photography. For me the choice you have made is Photography. Nothing rivals the Class of Black and White. Looking forward to your result's with a Real SLR Well Done 👍 A Most Appreciative Robert
I think macro would be great. Doing commercial work and macro both allow control and creativity. BTW, I stumbled on your channel a few months ago, and because of your video, I am now the proud owner of a Canon 5dsr. For $1500 brand new! Keep up the videos.
also about the archival thing. although kept correctly you still should make replicas of the negatives and obviously scan them and back up on nanoncrystal
Maybe photos of fresh Tattoos? Our studio is located near the entrance to Southwark Park in London, in which the queue to see the Queen Elizabeth lying will start at the weekend. Maybe you can start your reportage from there?
That's super awesome your a Pro level Photographer and love using your 7 year old Professional Camera bodies. Bad Ass Hardcore-101... I love my 4 1/2 year old Fuji X-H1 & going to buy another one in the near future and start off my Professional career with that set up plus maybe add the Fuji XS-10 or X-T4 next year if needed?
Film is great, it's all I had ever used for my photography but at the same time it's challenging, unforgiving and expensive and.... the return time is slow. The wait to see the images along with the disappointment of often messing up when exposing or developing is all part of it. As a camera collector, I have used just about everything camera-wise out there and still have boxes full of them. When I started using digital I almost felt like I was cheating. I have started adapting my vintage lenses to my digital camera and in manual mode I can still control things pretty much like an analogue camera set-up. I also have rolls and rolls of film that I have yet to develop but due to the costs, they have yet to see the darkroom. On film every image is a much bigger decision than with digital. The Mamiya RB 67 and the Rolleflex 3.5 were my MF tools and the Canon F1 and Nikon FA were my two main 35mm cameras. Your channel is awesome and your work is top notch.
Great! i have to take food photos for my restaurant - mainly digital but that lead me to getting into film photography as a hobby in a very similar thought process and I've been really enjoying it and actually was surprised that I got some pretty good film food photos too. I have been using the Canon a1 with some Fd lenses - 28, 50 and 85, really love the mechanical feel ad manual focus, I feel more involved with the process somehow. Recently also got the canon 1n which I have loved too, it feels closer to a modern digital camera to use so maybe less vintage appeal but it takes my EF lenses so I have great glass for it and have been able to some images I really love with this set up shooting on portra mostly. Overall its also re-ignited my enjoyment of digital photography too, it just all adds some fun and variety and I think shooting manual film has helped me improve my photography. Look froward to seeing more of your film stuff and different genres of photography on the channel :)
I shoot the EOS R most of the time and _thinking_ about the R5. But a couple years ago, I bought an AE-1 for $50. I posted that I bought it and a local guy sold me a box full of misc. FD lenses for another $50. Inside that box, he threw in an A-1. I love my film cameras but I'm REALLY not skilled with them. I mean... I'm good with the exposure triangle, DoF, etc. I'm literally just not familiar enough with the cameras to make them do what I want them to do. (You start to realize how much you rely on the tech of new cameras.) My heroes like Bailey, Duffy, etc. shot great pictures that we still look at on film so the fault is clearly mine. So I decided a few weeks ago that I was going to learn how to work my cameras and rock some film. I'm currently trying to shoot different films to figure out what I like. I really like Kodak 100 TMax but I have some Ilford FP4 Plus coming today as well as a roll of Kodak ColorPlus. Ektra has its place but it's too bold for my general taste. I don't think I've tried Gold yet. I'm not doing my own development. I'd like to. But I have so many things lined up that I'd like to do.. sometimes your limitation is time over ability. That F1 looks and sounds solid. I just had my A1 serviced and the AE-1 is going in next. I found a guy who does good work. Anyway.. thanks for the videos. I'm working my way backward thru them all.
I love my Canon F-1 and Nikon F2. Although I prefer modern Nikon digital cameras there's just something about the older Canon film cameras. I also completely agree with you about documenting events on film. I picked up a Canon AE-1 Program a few years ago and use it for holidays and events where I want something super easy to use. Put it in Program mode and go :)
I started off with Nikon going to school buying used gear Nikon D-40X, D-200, D-700FX, & D-7000 crop sensor. Only 1 lens that works well with them all and some manual glass as well.
I'd love to see you do an outdoor lifestyle shoot with a model featuring some product! I feel like that may be way out of your comfort zone, but I'm curious to see your attention to detail with models.
Interesting. Film for archival purposes. My color transparancies - not quite the same thing - lasted for around 40 years. The last 20 years of which they spent in the utter darkness of a large carboard box at room temperature. A couple of years ago I found out that they were being attacked by some sort of fungus. I cleaned them up and digitalized the whole lot. Now I am in the same place as everybody else - continually fighting against the dreaded digital death using hard-drives and cloud spacage. I really do wonder what the better archival solution is. At least film offers direct viewing, i.e. no tools or format decoding needed.
I'm lying here in rehab waiting for insurance to approve my prosthetic leg. I've spent the time buying vintage film cameras. That I can't shoot cuz I'm lying here in rehab 😂
Great video mate, surely appreciate what you say, especially about the Italian bikes, as I used to race bikes back in the day and had a pair of matched Campagnolo road bikes, super brilliant. Likewise with the cameras, however for me having companies in a number of countries, I never put any roots down until I got old, so EVERYTHING was on a constant conveyor belt, including wives. Don't get too busy that you lose focus at what you're good at!!
Got my F-1n a while back. I love it for all the reasons you listed Love my A-1 and its light meter and program modes, but when I hiked inca trail, I took the F-1. Sunny 16, basic light meter, "Kentucky windage" all made it more... me. I was taking the picture, not the camera program. Something more personal, maybe.
Although I don't use it as much as I should (especially now since film prices are crazy) I do enjoy using my Canon FX (was my dad's). Built like a tank and weighs like it too. Lens is a FL 55mm f1.2. If only I could nail focus consistently. Always interesting to see what the final results are.
How about macro insect photography? If it were winter I'd suggest snowflake macro work too. It's a fun technical challenge, and can be done without a huge equipment outlay - I use old macro bellows and adapted manual focus lenses.
Film is so ridiculous. The egg compartment in my fridge is slowly being depleted of film. . . however I had several friends gift me offcuts of their cinema film (kodak vision 3). I have about 800 ft of film to bulk roll and I'm pumped to shoot it. (I've already put about 10 rolls through my Minolta CLE)
Hope you feel better. Hope you don't overdo it during recovery. Regarding the Queen's service and any funerals, I find myself looking at the kids. How did their parents dress them, what do they understand, what's their behavior during a serious event to their parents but not to them , and in this case there's a whole cultural knowledge transfer during a very rare event. Also, I hope you get your passion on. Remember there's your experience, the process and the results, all related but independent. Looking forward to the new direction of the channel, whatever it may be.
I changed from Canon to Nikon because I preferred the handling and the metering on an F5 over my EOS-1v. You have to speak as you find and if Nikon isn't for you then fair dos. Not so sure that Nikon lenses are better than Canon overall. But again you may have a different experience then me.
I love this !! Hearing and seeing non media documenting! Also love landscape , beauty, skincare, liquid/textures photography also some of the street photography can be good if done right .. ! Looking forward to this change on here !! I want to upgrade my gear :( lack of funds though just building on skills first ! Learning studying ! 6 months in and still learning between full time job and spare time !
Sigh. Your videos are always interesting. Quirky, but in a wonderful way. While I would love to see your process with any genre, I would prefer landscape.
Nice project ... I hope it turns out. My only experience with film was back when I was in university but I only shot photos for reference for paintings and just snaps for personal stuff. I never developed my own film. I honestly don't even remember the brand of the film camera I had at the time. It might have been a Pentax. I look forward to you exploring different types of photography. Street, landscape, astro are all fun but challenging in their own way.