Shooting on Film

I have been taking photos for a lot of years. I got my first SLR at the age of 15 and it was advanced for the time – it had an integral light meter – so you guessed it everything I shot was on 35mm film.

There are a couple of recent events that have made me reflect on the differences between shooting on film and on digital:

• A friend gave me an old 35mm Olympus OM10

• I just updated my camera to a Canon 77D

• Wim Wenders hitting out against phone photography

It really made me think about how both my and society’s attitude and approach to taking photographs have changed over the years.

When I started at 15 I have to say I was a bit “point and shoot” and sometimes got lucky but as I got older and more experienced a combination of understanding the camera functions and a shortage of cash to pay for film and processing made me become a little more discerning about the shots I was taking; what did I want them to say? What about the composition, lighting, etc? In short, I was putting thought into it and making deliberate choices about the images. I never got to the stage of recording settings and matching them back to the images when I got the film developed but the overall result was I had fewer “duff” images in the roll.

I scroll forward to my current camera and with a fast burst shutter speed in the first month of ownership I took over 300 images – 10 rolls of film!

But is this bad?

In some respects it could be as it could reflect a “click and hope” approach – however, in general, I am still putting as much thought behind the image as I was before – and if anything can be too “frugal” with the shot count on occasions.

The difference is now I get immediate feedback on the image I have taken and can tweak and improve as I go – a great example is that I have always wanted to take a photograph of a kingfisher. That dream was fulfilled at Slimbridge in 2017 from a long way away with a 300mm lens – I have to point it out to you it is so small in the frame! Since then I have found a spot locally where you can see kingfishers using the car as a hide from a roadside pull in and I have been slowly refining my technique through trial and error by taking some photos and then refining settings etc and then taking some more. This constant learning/adaptation is not nearly so readily available with film.

Overall which do I prefer?

I would have to sit on the fence and say both – sometimes the freedom that digital gives is invaluable bot in taking the image, tweaking it with post processing and sharing it widely on social media. However, it is equally satisfying to be restricted by film – the number of shots, the ISO and the cost – and have to really think about the images you are capturing.

The proof of this is that on an upcoming holiday I will be going old school and taking the Olympus OM10 with 2 rolls of Fuji Film – a total of 48 shots for 10 days holiday. I need to make each shot count!

A quick update - I didn't have space for the camera in the case so had to use the phone. Still got some great images!