What I'm Shooting Film With

July 27, 2014

For me, film has come back in a big way.  Slowly but surely I started adding film cameras back in to my arsenal.  One of the first cameras I brought back was the Nikon FE.  To this camera I added the motor drive which gave it that very cool retro sound.  I must confess: it wasn't just for that.  Having got used to the bulk of a DSLR that has a grip on it, it filled my ample hands much better than without it.

Besides the standard 50mm lens I also added a 135mm f2.8 lens.  This is similar to the camera I used when film was the standard - the Nikon FM.  The difference between handling a film camera and digital camera is like reading on a tablet or Kindle as opposed to a real book.  There's something just wonderfully tactile about the whole experience.  When I would pull out this camera and explained to my subject matter that I wanted to shoot a few frames of film they were intrigued.  It brought something about in them that was different than if I had continued shooting with my digital camera.  You could see it in the images.

When I was shooting only film I loved my medium format camera.  These cameras used 120 film and created a 6x6cm negative.  My medium format camera of choice was a Bronica SQ-A.  I loved that format of film and the versatility it offered, but I didn't want to make a large investment in my experiments with film.  So, for less money I found a camera that would give me that format again - the Yashica Mat 124.

 But what I wanted was a little more control and versatility in my medium format images.  My Bronica definitely gave that too me, but even when I had that camera I always wanted to experience the bigger negative of cameras like the Mamiya RB67.  So, this is the last one I've added to the line up.  I've shot and processed a few rolls with it and I must say - I'm in love!

I will be incorporating images from these cameras, especially the Mamiya, into my photography from now on.  There's just nothing like it.  As well I'm having a lot of fun with old Polaroid cameras like the 440 and the 600.

Lately I'm staring to feel like I can't satisfy my lust for these film camera beauties.  And, since the prices have come down a lot today, I hope to add one more to the armoury and that's a large format camera. This is the next one I have eye on.

by: Brian Tremblay