Thinking of getting myself a film slr

joeconway

joeconway

joeconway

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After much thought I've decided it might be nice to try out with film. Problem is, after considering myself to be fairly in the know about dSLRs, i know nothing about film cameras!

So I was wondering what you lot thought about things I should consider/look out for/be wary of etc etc.

Anything you could think of that might be useful knowledge I'd love to know thanks
 
Have no idea if its any good or not, and not even sure if i can mention here, but i am looking to part with a Minolta Dynax 505si body and possibly the 28-80AF Zoom thats on it (only bought them as i wanted the 75-300 that came with it for my Sony Alpha!

Immaculate - let me know
 
joeconway said:
After much thought I've decided it might be nice to try out with film. Problem is, after considering myself to be fairly in the know about dSLRs, i know nothing about film cameras!

So I was wondering what you lot thought about things I should consider/look out for/be wary of etc etc.

Anything you could think of that might be useful knowledge I'd love to know thanks
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What brand of DSLR do you have..... as it would make sense to get the same in film, as you "might" be able to share lens between them.

How purist due you want to be with film.... Autofocus or older manual focus..... What subjects do you want to shoot.
For film my personal favourite is Contax... which is about as good as you can get, the build quality and optics are sublime.......
Then Canon and Nikon have made some great kit over the years....
Another king of the past was the Minolta X700, superb view finder and delight to use. (Manual focus)
For Auto Focus, a Nikon F80 I had for years was excellent (the base for the D70 DSLR I think) it did everything you can want really well...... Then you have Canon EOS5's etc
 
Using a film camera helps your photography no end, it means you have to think about each shot, not just point and shot 'till you get it right, after all film is getting quite expensive nowadays, and you only get 36 exposures per film

If its a Canon you're after the Eos 3 and Eos 30 are good bets, at ~£200 and ~£100 respectively from a decent camera shop like ffordes - they were the last of canons high end SLRs, I use a 30 as a spare body to my 40d, and really rate it

Have you considered a dark room and devolping your own prints? Its really easy, and if you shoot maybe 50-100 films a year it'll save you a lot in the long run - a corner of my room has been turned into on, for about £500. I use Ilford B+W film because 1) I like B+W and 2) its much easy to devolp yourself than colour

Good luck with it, if you get a negitive scanner, or just a regular scanner, I'd be interested to see what you come up with
 
9designs2 said:
What brand of DSLR do you have..... as it would make sense to get the same in film, as you "might" be able to share lens between them.

How purist due you want to be with film.... Autofocus or older manual focus..... What subjects do you want to shoot.
For film my personal favourite is Contax... which is about as good as you can get, the build quality and optics are sublime.......
Then Canon and Nikon have made some great kit over the years....
Another king of the past was the Minolta X700, superb view finder and delight to use. (Manual focus)
For Auto Focus, a Nikon F80 I had for years was excellent (the base for the D70 DSLR I think) it did everything you can want really well...... Then you have Canon EOS5's etc
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i have a canon 400d but i was under the impression that you couldnt share lenses, but then again i have no idea where i have that bit of knowledge from...

i think i would rather go for completely manual focus just i think if im going to be a bit of a purist i may as well go all out.

also i mainly do portraiture, in fact its essentially all i do.

I will have a look into a minolta x700 as i'd be getting one second hand and I'd rather have an old camera.

griffo_001 said:
Using a film camera helps your photography no end, it means you have to think about each shot, not just point and shot 'till you get it right, after all film is getting quite expensive nowadays, and you only get 36 exposures per film

Have you considered a dark room and devolping your own prints? Its really easy, and if you shoot maybe 50-100 films a year it'll save you a lot in the long run - a corner of my room has been turned into on, for about £500. I use Ilford B+W film because 1) I like B+W and 2) its much easy to devolp yourself than colour
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thats one of the reasons why i want to get into it, i hate how im slipping slowly into the take 1000 shots and one will be good approach.

We have a dark room here at uni, i would definitely use it. It seems as though it would be hard but very rewarding.


as an aside, have any of you got a holga? i have contemplated getting one as theyre so cheap and i love the light leakage so much
 
I was in a similar position to you and I've now got a nikon F5 and Canon 50e both of which get regular use.
 
what lenses do you have?

You can use any EF lenses on a film Canon EOS, you can't use for example the 18-50mm, the 17-55 2.8 IS, 10-22.
 
Raymond Lin said:
what lenses do you have?

You can use any EF lenses on a film Canon EOS, you can't use for example the 18-50mm, the 17-55 2.8 IS, 10-22.
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aside from the stock 18-55 i just have a nifty 50 so that would be transferrable, in a way i wouldnt mind not being able to use that lens as its the only one i use and all my photos are ending up looking the same

thanks though!

Do you know if you can get an adapter for lenses to use them from different makes? EG if i had a minolta camera but managed to aquire some pentax lenses
 
Raymond Lin said:
what lenses do you have?

You can use any EF lenses on a film Canon EOS, you can't use for example the 18-50mm, the 17-55 2.8 IS, 10-22.
Click to expand...

You can't use ANY EF-S branded lenses on a full frame dSLR [5d mk2 etc] or film camera because they're designed for the APS-C sized sensor from most of canons low-mid range dSLRs - make sure any lens you buy for a film Eos is an EF

Also, the most expensive part of the film printing is the paper, I think I paid £40 for 100 sheets from the only larger camera retailer on your highstreet, its Ilford 10"x8" of some description and pretty nice.

Uni's like ilford too, its relatively easy and cheap to cater for, my uni certainly use it a lot.

A manual SLR such as a Canon AE-1 will take you even further to the 'proper' style of shooting - manual focus, shutter speed, and aperture control. They're great, I've got one of those too, but it doesnt get used as much as it should - Get a good one and stick a fixed 50mm [FD mount] on the front and go nuts - Great fun :D
 
joeconway said:
aside from the stock 18-55 i just have a nifty 50 so that would be transferrable, in a way i wouldnt mind not being able to use that lens as its the only one i use and all my photos are ending up looking the same
Click to expand...

It should be transferable if its the 50mm f1.8 or f1.4 or f1.2 - all are EF [Its says so on the front of the lens] and have all been arround for AGES

Also for portraits consider a longer lens [50mm on a dSLR is about 35mm on a film SLR]

My advice is, for now, get an Eos film camera, they can be had for £20 [Not a great one mind, it'll try to do everything for you, which is kinda defeating the point], use the lenses you have for your 400d and go from there
 
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These were both shot with Ilford HP5 400 ASA [ISO equivilent], which is a pretty usable film for most situations, I shot a wedding with HP5 too, but my scanner is dead, so I cant upload them :(

PS ignore all the rubbish marks and spots - my scanner was aweful
 
Personally I don't use HP5 much, prefer the finer grain of either FP4 (125ASA) or Delta 100(100ASA) . Or even Pan F is you can live with 50 ASA !!!
But then it depends how big you want to blow up the image ! ........ Basically anything Ilford makes is excellent ! :)....

I think the manual focus idea is good, if you get the latest type of Film camera from the EOS range etc, if feels the same as using a DSLR, all automation, makes you lazy and snap away again... Is why I really like using some of my old Contax stuff, makes you work..... Hell I even have to wind the film myself on the 159 !!! LOL...... That and the Carl Zeiss Lenses are the best about !!!!...... Who needs L glass ;):p
 
just missed out on a minolta x700 on the bay with 6 lenses bunch of flashes couple of filters and a bag went for £74, meh!
 
personally I'd grab a photo mag and have a look in the back for specialist used camera places - you'll get a warranty that way [usually 6 months], plus you know it all works, although I do admit you can get some bargins off the bay if you're lucky
 
yeah I figured it was a bit of a gamble because I'd never actually held one before but I figured it was heading to be such a bargain for all the equiptment i found it hard to resist.

does the paper you make have a huge impact on the final image then?

I'm going to the library tomorrow to check out some theory books and go camera shopping, how exciting!
 
most paper is ok, it more the devolper that will affect the style of the print, i dont experiment too much with different papers or devolpers, so cant answer that very well sorry :(
 
I do and develop my film. Sounds like you're going to process your own films? If so, this might help

I use:
HP5 Film
Agfa Rodinal Developer
Ilford Ilfostop
Ilford rapid fixer
Light proof dev tank (not needed if you have a dark room).
Thermometer (for measuring temps).
Expanding/contracting bottle x2 for the made up solutions of stop and fixer
measuring jug
scissors
dark bag for putting film in tank (not needed again if you have a dark room).
film squeegees for drying wet film
couple of measuring cylinders
bulldog clips (for holding film to dry and one at bottom to weight it).
funnel

I used the times from ilfords timing guide on their website.
Think that's all.

Film slrs are fun. More manual controls the better imo.
 
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