7 rookie mistakes not to make when starting film.
When I started shooting I film I was super excited to get started I recall not really knowing where to start and also making some mistakes along the way. I have now been in the analog world for about a year and a half and every day I feel like I learn something new but I wanted to share some of the rookie mistakes I made when I started shooting film.
Forgetting to set the ISO
The biggest rookie mistake to make when starting film is forgetting to set the ISO. This actually happened to me once I was so excited to put in a fresh roll of film in my camera that I completely forgot to change the ISO on my camera. I had just finished a roll of Kodak ultra-max 400 and decided to put a roll of Kodak color plus 200. I simply forgot to dial down the ISO to 200 and shot my entire roll of Kodak Color plus 200 at 400. This means I pushed my Kodak color plus one-stop the outcome was not great I ended overexposing my entire roll of film it was very disappointing since I was hoping to get great photos at the beach at day. The photos were either all washed out or the colors were completely off. Since this happened the first thing I do is set the ISO before putting in the film. This rule does not apply if I am pushing film but still I want to make sure that once I am down with a roll of film to always double-check the ISO. On another note always shoot the entire roll of film at the same ISO do not change the ISO mid-roll analog does not work like digital. The reason this will not work is once the roll of film is developed it will need to be developed at box speed or if the film was pushed. The development time is different for box speed and pushed film if half the roll was shot at box speed and the other half was pushed adjusting the developing time is impossible so the images on the roll will half perfect and the other half dark and underexposed.
Starting with 120 Film
My journey into film started with 35mm film and it was honestly the best decision I made since it saved me a ton of money in the beginning. A roll of 35mm film contains between 24-36 exposures depending on the film stock this means I can mess up a bunch of times with little to no regret. Starting with 35mm allowed me to grow and understand the basics of film photography and it gave me a ton of room to experiment. The growth to medium format film(120 Film) will happen with time I would not recommend starting with 120 film. Starting with medium format would not be the best idea for the following reason, the cameras and film are expensive. A good medium format camera can start in the 500-1000 dollars which are almost 3 times more expensive than a traditional 35mm film camera. The film can start around $10 and a roll can produce 10-12 exposures per roll which is not a lot of room to mess up and practice. If I would have started with medium format I am pretty sure I would have gone broke the first month.
Starting with expensive films
The quickest way to go broke when starting film photography is to jump right into the Cadillac films that are expensive. When I started film photography I would often hear Porta 400, Potra 160, Porta 800, Cinestill 800T, and 400H Pro all of which are very expensive each costing 11-18 dollars per roll. I started with the lower end films like Kodak Color Plus 200 or the Kodak Ultramax 400. These were the best films since they were affordable and helped me understand how to expose a shot correctly. These cheaper films helped me understand the world of film and it was all without breaking the bank. After about a year of understanding these cheaper films, I jumped into the more expensive films which in my opinion helped me optimize my picture quality and composition. This should also be followed for black and white film.
Forgetting to rewind the film
Let me go over a nightmare scenario I was at the beach and just finished a roll of Ilford HP5+. I was rushing things since I really wanted to load my camera with a fresh roll of film I should also mention that I was putting in a new film stock I had never tried. I carelessly opened my camera and like that exposed the roll of film to sunlight. I immediately shut the camera back and thought to myself “uggghhhhhh” I forgot to rewind the film into the canister. This mistake cost me 13 exposures on that roll of film it was by far one of the worst feelings especially since I worked hard composing the images and getting too tricky parts of the coast. This was such a rookie mistake I honestly still think about that day and the pictures I lost. Although opening the back of the camera is not the end of the world since some of the pictures will salvageable it still sucks knowing that images will be lost forever. Always double check before opening the back of the camera.
Thinking expensive Film cameras are better.
When it comes to film camera hunting buying an expensive camera will not help in creating better images. Most people have this idea that if the camera is expensive then it surely must take great pictures. In film photography that is not the case usually, the expensive cameras will the rare and limited made models. Photography has been around for well over a hundred years this has made some cameras considered antiques or collectibles. The camera I own which is a Pentax K1000 was about 120.00 and my Canon AE-1 was around the same price. These cameras take amazing pictures and are very affordable. Just remember it’s not the camera that makes the photographer its the photographer that makes the camera.
Choosing a camera that too easy or difficult too use
When it came down to choosing my camera I wanted a camera that would challenge me but not be too complicated. This is crucial for success if the camera was too easy chances would be I would get bored and if the camera was too difficult it makes things frustrating. When it comes down to choosing a camera make sure it’s in the middle nothing too easy nor hard. For example, when I go camera hunting I always look for cameras that have some kind of built-in light meter so overtime I start to understand the aspect of light metering. This also assists me when I am out shooting and it provides peace of mind knowing that I exposed the shot correctly. Cameras to avoid coming into film are ones that are complicated, I am talking about cameras that have no ISO setting or light metering cameras that have limited shutter speeds or complicated lenses. After getting comfortable with 35mm film I went ahead and found an awesome TLR camera. The camera I got was the Eastar 120F this camera is a challenge to use there is no ISO selector, the max shutter speed is 1/300 and the highest F-stop is 16 on top of all that I have to manually advance the film via a little knob on the side. Also, I have to open a little window on the back while I advancing my film to make sure I line up the exposure correctly. This would be a perfect example of a camera to avoid coming to film.
Developing Color Film First.
I don’t think this is a rookie mistake but rather a learning curve. The art of developing color film can be a pain since everything is temperature-regulated and has to done very carefully. I would have preferred to have started with black and white film since the process is a lot easier and it honestly would have prepared me better for color processing. Also black and white developing costs a lot cheaper than C-41 (color developers) and it lasts a lot longer. It is honestly a lot harder to mess up black and white home development since it’s done at room temperature vs color development can be easy to mess up since all it takes is a sudden change in chemical temperature. I have been developing color film for well over a year now and I am still learning how to make the process better each time. In the past year, I have now gotten 100% conformable with the entire process.