First roll of film ever.

georges

georges

georges

Soldato
Joined
5 Apr 2006
Posts
3,084
Hey,
having never shot with an SLR and rarely with anything other than a digital camera; let alone film, I went into the deep end a bit (OK there is some automatic functions, but it's manual focus and aperture control), with my Pentax ME-F (with Tokina 28mm).

Anyway, I shot a roll of film dated June 2003, so ever so slightly out of date, as I didn't want to spend money on something I didn't know worked (the last roll shot with this by my parents was terribly over-exposed).

I went onto a pentax forum and found one problem which is a pretty common one to this model, is that the ISO selector is a potentiometer, so if it's old and dirty it can cause the light meter to be metering for a different film speed.


Still, I think they came out ok, and it was quite fun taking them, but not knowing whether they'd even come out; unlike digital where you see instantly.

At £2/film for processing + CD it's not really expensive when the camera was free

For other film-shooters, when you get them processed and scanned to a picture CD, do you find the full size scans to be incredibly grainy, or is this just a product of 5 year out of date film?

You can C&C these if you like, but I'm just happy they came out ok really :p Some pointers wouldn't be a bad thing though!

First shot on it, I decided to go for a double exposure, but forgot to halve the shutter speed..


Then I messed around with a large aperture photo (or is it small? It's the biggest opening, but the smallest number :p).


Photo10_6_Custom.jpg


Photo13_9_Custom.jpg


Photo12_8_Custom.jpg


Photo14_10_Custom.jpg


Photo16_12_Custom.jpg


Photo17_13_Custom.jpg
 
Photo22_18_Custom.jpg


Photo23_19_Custom.jpg


Photo24_20_Custom.jpg


Messing around with DEPTH OF FIELD YO!! :p
Photo25_21_Custom.jpg


Yes, we have lots of old BMW estates.
Yes, our garden is overgrown.. doing up the inside of the house ATM and it's taking ages, so mowing/burnination is on the back-burner.

How bad are they? :o
 
Oddly enough I quite like the depth of field photo. I also like the photo of the shed (6th photo) I think it is because of the grainy photo it looks like it is a set from a horror movie.

Also the photos are really grainy, it makes all the photos look like its from the 80's! :p
 
I like 4th (with the house), the gum shot and the last shot. The colours are very nice, gives it a somewhat 80s / 90s feel (especially with them old BMW...). I've never really done filmed photography, at least not an SLR, so can't comment on the "noise", what ISO is the film at?
 
Yeah I kinda like the look.
I've got two more rolls of film from the same box, might keep using them to be honest for now :D

For the depth of field one, I was just trying to think of something to get the effect with but couldn't, so settled on my hand :p

It's 400 iso
 
Maybe (really) expired 400ISO films have more grain than a fresh roll of ISO200? I don't know, might be talking out of my arse for all I know. Still, don't let time destroy those 2 rolls, head out there and shoot!
 
Couple more.. had to do them at 4s shutter speed, so used the tripod I was given.. They're still not brilliantly exposed so I guess it's the meter being a little old.

Photo26_22_Custom.jpg


Photo27_23_Custom.jpg


Photo28_24_Custom.jpg


Photo29_25_Custom.jpg


The films only had 24 pictures on, but I was a bit overzealous with the loading of the film, so wound over the first picture and only got 23 actual pictures out of it.
 
Dr Jones said:
Maybe (really) expired 400ISO films have more grain than a fresh roll of ISO200? I don't know, might be talking out of my arse for all I know. Still, don't let time destroy those 2 rolls, head out there and shoot!
Click to expand...

It looks like a really crappy old film, expired, and stored in rubbish conditions. The right film, exposed well, will give a in image quality not dissimilar to that from a 10mp dslr
 
Glad you are having fun with film!

The excessive grain and the colour and exposure abberrations are almost certainly due to the out of date film - particularly as it is 400 ASA which would have been a bit more grainy to start with.

Use those other rolls by all means - they will give you valuable practise in handling your new toy but don't judge the results until you have put a roll of something decent through it.

For colour print I like the Fujicolor Professional - rated at 160 ASA this is fast enough unless you are taking action or low light stuff.

If you really want to see what your camera is capable of then you will need to try colour slide film. With Velvia 50 and a lot of care a 35mm camera can produce images which approximate a 25 megapixel equivalent. The theoretical maximum resolution for 35mm is closer to 50 megapixels but in the real world that is not attainable.

It has to be said that the scans you have posted are fairly low res - was there another folder on the cd with better scans? If not you need to go elsewhere to get them processed.
 
I'll definitely use these rolls first.

I'm going to pop into town later to see if jessops have this "ilford B+W C41 Iso 400" film to see how that comes out as I want some proper film and not out of date stuff for my results day tomorrow.

The scans I have are 1908x1272, but at that size the grain is pretty terrible. I resized them for the forum.
 
Yeah I picked up 2 rolls just now just for ease really. I heard they're quite hard to over-expose which is quite good and can be used with the camera set from iso 200-800, and still get reasonable negatives, which is what I'm after.

Is it worth keeping films in the fridge, or rather after what kind of time of non-use used does it become a need to store them in the cold?
 
Depends on the Film. It will last longer, and there is normally a temp guide on the side of the box. If its not a professional colour emulsion, and its less than a month or 2, then it wont make a noticeable difference, as long as you dont keep it somewhere warm, like in direct sunlight, or your car glovebox.
 
Color print film /is/ grainy. Even the 200 kind will give you quite a bit of grain. In comparison, if you are willing, do try something like Provia400F or X because that is a 400 /slide/ film that gives incredibly smooth grain, even on 35mm. Thats the only film I shoot for color on 35mm !

Otherwise, your shots are great and give interesting images.. for example the shoes are just great and make nice images, even tho the same shots might look boring with a digital. Somehow the "pictorial" effect of the film helps a lot here...
The images themselves could use a fix for their "black point" using levels, here most blacks appear grayish, and that increases the impression of grain in the shadows...

Excellent effort tho, I started shooting film after such an experiment and now I'm rather totally bored with digital and look forward to grain in my images :-)

If your family is really unlucky you night start to lug around that sort of cameras in a short while :-) (1947 Crown Graphic, my first large format camera 2 years ago :-))
IMG_0665s.JPG
 
Heh yes these are fun tho, the 8x10 is a LOT larger. Not for the happy snapper :-) In any case you can get fantastic film cameras for peanuts these days. Stuff which amateurs of 20 years ago could only dream of are available for < £50. I compare the situation to being able to go into a "Classic Car" shop and leave with an old Jaguar for £100.

And yes, if you are patient and can overcome the "want it now" syndrom film is such a great medium :D

BTW, THE place to buy film is 7dayshop.com; Also, (maybe as your next experiment ?) you could possibly get one of the Ilford "process and print" envelope and try B&W like that -- you shoot the film, send it off to them and they to the B&W process for you, and send back the film and a nice set of "old school" prints. I haven't used it myself but I heard nice things about it there
 
Wow. thanks for that link! The XP2 film is about a quarter of the price there than at jessops..
I'll look into the processing. I take it they develop them in a dark room and not digitally (the prints)?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom