It didn’t take many rolls to get me hooked in shooting film. Once I got the taste of the first results (despite that one full roll was underexposed), there was no turning back.
With a little help from my (Stocksy) friends, I’ve got acquainted with the Yashica Mat 124-G, which is an amazing square (120) film format camera, despite the fact that that it is all-mechanical and all manual. The same with the Nikon F100 which I got used off ebay for 35mm format film. The F100 accommodates every Nikon lens I have, and it works, feels performs exactly as the Nikon D7100 its digital counterpart.
I still shoot digital, there’s nothing wrong with that, the Nikon D7100 is still my workhorse, but believe me, there a certain creative vibe happening when you know have any sort of film camera in your hand.
Because of the limited frames per roll aspect of analog film photography, and obviously the cost of developing, it slows me down, and forces me into a more disciplined mindset, questioning several times every frame I am about to capture.
This in exchange gets my creative juices flowing, and helps imagine the composition and the result before I even press the shutter button. Not to speak of the fact that shooting all manual, with no immediate visible result as in digital, will have you learn the ins and outs of manual mode, making sure you have the right exposure using the proper shutter speed/f-stop combination. The Sekonic L-398A light meter
will be your friend.
After a while, you’ll find yourself getting familiar with the right settings you need on the camera according to the light you have available.
Film is the opposite of instant gratification. Your film shots will stay in a black box, literally until the day they get developed and scanned (sometimes 2 weeks at least!). Waiting, drums up expectation, expectations gives you something to look forward to.
And your patience will be rewarded.