How to do 35 mm Film

TO DO HOW

Film photography is a process that holds many elements in being whole. Many different choices lead to a finalized medium and various methods exist when it comes to recieving a desired look. Nothing beats the warmth and grain that film captures and this is what separates the method from any other. Light sensitivity is a huge part to film as a new section of the film strip is exposed as you shoot your roll. Delicate intentional choices with capturing, developing, and the overall process of film make the whole work more exciting and personal.

Shooting film offers a completely different experience than shooting digitally and opens you to the wonderful community of film photographers. Film has a beautiful grainy aesthetic and a completely different look to digital and pixels. It offers a different shooting process and methodology, forcing you to slow down and get fully absorbed in the photo taking, rather than lots of post editing work.

Why shoot 35mm film? In this case less is more! The limited number of exposures that come with 35mm film can work in your favour as it forces you to shoot more mindfully, carefully compose your shots and to think more before you shoot. Whereas with digital and the capability to shoot thousands of pictures, it is easy to get shutter happy and just fire away. This ultimately leads to a far longer editing time as you whittle down your shots. Having a limited amount of exposures with 35mm (usually between 24-36 frames) encourages you to learn and master your photographic skills as you only have so many chances to get ‘the’ shot.

Even with the thousands of filters out there, nothing quite beats the look of film! That beautiful grainy look far beats a pixel in our minds. There is so much choice with film, allowing you to get the vibes you are after in the shot, rather than spending lots of time in editing software. You can find films with high contrast, different colour washes, grain, special effects and more!

Shooting film feels nostalgic as you are using a medium with such a rich history, one of the joys of shooting film is being a part of its legacy. Film photographs have a timeless, classic look that can never quite be achieved through digital means. Nothing beats the experience of shooting a roll of film and the anticipation of getting your photographs back from the developing lab.

It is wonderful to use a creative process that has stayed the same all this time, from when our parents, and grandparents took photographs. It is so exciting to receive that email with your scans back, we imagine the same excitement as receiving your prints in the post from film labs back in the day!

As film has been around for so long, it has also seen lots of interesting developments including lots of awesome cameras. Everyone has a smartphone or digital camera these days, film cameras are the real conversation starters! Try pulling out a vintage point and shoot camera at a party, or doing some street photography with your grandad’s old SLR! Using cameras that have been handed down through generations make the whole shooting process sentimental and special. It is incredible to be using a camera that was also capturing memories decades ago or perhaps one that a family member used to use. There are so many awesome bits of analogue kit, with lots of history behind them- another joy of analogue photography.

One of the reasons I love film photography is because it forces you to get to grips with the basic understanding and foundations of what makes a great photograph. It is all too easy to stick your digital camera on auto and just fire away, but with a manual film camera you have to learn about ISO, shutter speed and aperture in order to get a good photo. You have limited shots as well so there is a greater emphasis on being patient, composing your photo and nailing that shot the first time around.

Why shoot 35mm film? It’s versatile.The majority of 35mm film cameras are light and compact, making them small enough to travel anywhere with you and great companions for all kinds of photoshoots!

AFFORDABILITY

Shooting 35mm is the most affordable entry way into film photography and offers the most choice in emulsions and most exposures per roll. You can pick up a roll of 35mm film for under £10 - and there’s a full range of cheap film that will allow you to experiment without worrying too much about money. 35mm is a very convenient format, coming in light tight metal containers that are easy to use and less fiddly than working with sheet film or medium format spools.

OPTIONS

As well as 35mm film being the most affordable film option, it also opens you up to the most affordable film cameras. You can often find 35mm film cameras in charity shops for next to nothing, or pick up a decent SLR online for $200 or less. 35mm film is the only format where NEW cameras are still available, we sell a few budget point and shoot options for those looking to get into film in an easy, fun and simple way (Without breaking the bank). See our 35mm cameras here. There are lots of reasons why you should use a 35mm camera. Due to the small and compact nature of 35mm film, the cameras also follow suit. You can get many small point and shoot style 35mm cameras that are lightweight, and easy to travel around with you. Some are even small enough to fit in your pocket! This makes them a great choice for beginners looking to get into film photography.

You can find such a variety of choices with 35mm cameras, from point and shoots, to SLRs, pinhole cameras and even some quirky, colourful underwater ones from the 80s! 35mm cameras have a variety of differences between them, some can shoot with ISOs up to 6400 some are only up to 800. Some have detachable lens whereas others have fixed ones, this range of choice gives you lots of room to play with and to learn about film photography. No matter the shooting situation, there will always be a 35mm camera that can suit the task.

Another benefit of 35mm cameras is that they are affordable. 35mm cameras offer the most budget friendly option to get into film photography, whereas medium or large format cameras can set you back hundreds if not thousands. You can buy 35mm point and shoot cameras from $30, or even a decent SLR camera for around $100.

(Story by Emma Lloyd)

PICK YOUR STOCK

One of the first choices of many when it comes to 35 mm film photography is picking which roll of film to shoot on. With this type of film, the choices come down to how you want the images to look after developing.

The categories break down into black and white or color film and the ISO which determines the amount of light the film captures and how this is translated after shooting and getting the film developed. The first choice is choosing black and white or color film to shoot on. There are different stocks availabe in each so the decisions don’t end there. After deciding this, you have to figure out the amount of light you want the film to control depending on your shooting environment. I like to purchase 400 film because it is versatile enough to work in low light situations as well as bright, direct sunlight. If you’re shooting indoors let’s say during a concert, the higher the ISO the better at capturing the moments correctly. To be safe, I reccomend beginners to shoot with 400 film as it works beautifully in both situations and anything in between.

The next thing to figure out is what brand to shoot with. There are many brands out there selling film stock but my favorites are Portra and Kodak because they capture beautiful contrast and warmth as well as grain. Doing your research based on the overall style and feel you want your images to capture is the best way to decide. Different brands and types of film they carry have various amounts of grain, warmth, contrast, and other factors which can make or break an image in the eyes of a photographer. It is important to see film as a trial and error process that takes time to learn.

To break it down simply, 35 mm film can be shot on point and shoot cameras or SLR cameras. The difference is based on how much you want to control the image settings and how skilled you are with working with cameras. Point and shoot cameras are better to start off with because the camera is deciding all of the settings for you automatically besides your choice of ISO for the film you buy. SLR cameras are similar to DSLR cameras which allow you to change the settings of each individual shot to get a desired look.

You can find film cameras of all sorts online or in vintage or thrift stores. I personally found both my point and shoot camera as well as my SLR camera that way. It is so fun to think about who had the camera you are using before and how they shot film. The whole entire process of film is so rich in history that deciding on which camera to choose is just as powerful and important.

The choice to go with a point and shoot camera can be made to make the process go more smoothly or easier for a quick shooting experience. Most point and shoot cameras are easy to load. First you want to make sure there isn’t any old film inside of the camera. Most camera’s have a small button or lever used to rewind the film once every exposure has been shot. By pressing this, your camera will make a noise indicating the film is rewinding back into the canister. Once it is finished, you are safe to open the back of the camera where the stock of film will be back inside and ready to take out. To load film, start off with an empty camera and place the barrel of film into the opening. Carefully pull out enough of the film itself and tuck it down into the side of the end of the opening to where film is covering the entire back of the camera. By closing the back of the camera, it will automatically push the film inside and pprepare the camera for the first shot! To know that this worked, the display on the top of the camera should advance to 1 or 0 depending on the model!

The same sort of method works for SLR cameras except the body is a bit more delicate and intricate. You will most likely have a lever on the camers which will need to be manually spun to load and unload film. Once the inside is clear, you place the film barrel in and this time, hook the square opening in the film onto the inside lever to make sure it advances. With any type of film camera, you can tell that you loaded it correctly based on the noises it makes and the indicator on the top of the camera. With some SLR cameras, you must advance the film after each shot manually yourself. You can also change the settings that you shoot in.

Even after shooting film a few times, I still need reminding of how to load and unload cameras and making sure I am operating the camera itself correctly to make sure the images turn out in the end. After getting your film camera, I reccomend searching it up on social media and the internet to become more knowledgable about it and to learn from other people who have worked with the camera already. There are plenty of videos out there on specific film cameras that are helpful even after knowing the basics to film.

Picking out a camera and getting aquainted with it is the hardest aspect to film photography in my opinion. Every camera is slightly different or more sensitive to different things so it is important to be patient and work hard to understand the process. Learning from others and from practicing the craft is so important and can be very beneficial in film photography.

SHOOT YOUR SHOT

After picking and loading your film camera, the most exciting part about the process begins. With film, there are different amounts of exposures that rolls can have (typically 24 or 36) which means you can take that many pictures for each roll of film. Because of the limited amount of shots, the process to shooting film is more important and setting up the perfect shot is done so through the view finder and artistic choices.

Like normal cameras, film can be shot at different times and doesn’t have to be used in one sitting. Although outside of the camera, film does expire (this can be checked on the film’s box), it can give a cool look to photos after they are developed and a technique that some film photographers use is shooting with expired film.

There are many methods when it comes to shooting film and this can be explored based on what type of photos you are after. Film photography can be used for fun, for business, and for anything in between it is really a versatile medium and can be changed through every person.

Another cool technique is called double-exposure film. This is done tyoically using manual SLR cameras and not advancing the film after a shot. Double exposure photography is when one exposure meshes with the next, creating a piece of art that can be really cool and interesting.

I accidentally did this method the first time I shot film with my point and shoot camera when the counter reset. My pictures came out double-exposed because of this but sometimes it makes the image more cool. Film cameras as well as all cameras are super delicate so making sure to be gentle with them is important.

DOUBLE EXPOSURE

PORTRA 400 / POINT + SHOOT

Once your film exposures have all been shot on and used up, it is time to get your images developed. Like mentioned before, unloading film can be a delicate process and if done incorrectly, can result in film stocks that don’t even process. After your final exposure in the camera, you should rewind the film back into its barrel. On point and shoot’s it is pretty simple where pressing the tiny button on the bottom of the camera will automatically do it for you. On the other hand, manual SLR cameras are a bit harder where you must rewind it by hand and make sure the exposures are within the barrel so that nothing is exposed to light or ruined.

A mistake that I made the first time I shot film was opening the back of the camera before rewinding the film so a few exposures got ruined and didn’t develop properly. Sometimes this accidentally happens and depending on the amount of light that hits the open film, the images might turn out but with a light leak or other discoloration instead. Sometimes nothing happens at all, depending on the amount of light that hits the film and for how long.

There are different options when it comes to developing film and these usually are chosen based on when the images are needed back or how skilled a person is who could learn to do it themselves.

There are kits for sale online which can be used to develop film at home or if you have access to a dark room or know people who can do this, asking for help is for sure an option. I’m sure with time and experience, developing film by yourself or through people you know can be a cool process to learn about and do. It would probably save money as well because you wouldn’t have to pay for the service everytime, just the equipment once.

Although it is a goal of mine to learn to develop film, as of now, I mail my film to a lab in California that I have worked with in the past and love. There are options to get film developed locally but each comes at different prices and wait times. The one that I send my film to is family owned and they send back film within a day or two which is crazy good.

Places like Walgreens and Walmart also do film developing but they tend to take a bit longer and aren’t as high quality based on experience.

Again, doing research on local businesses that develop film can help you decide how you want to do this.

PATIENCE IS AVIRTUE

The hardest thing about film photography is the waiting game. Regardless of where or how you get your film developed, you can’t see how the pictures turned out until after they are developed so being patient is relavent through the entire process.

Places usually offer an option to either get back digital scans of the images, physical copies of them, or getting back negatives, or a combination of the three. These come at different price points and usually depend on where you get the service done.

Lately, I have just been getting back digital scans of the images after being developed because it is the cheapest with the store that I do it with. Places like walmart usually give back physical printed out images which takes longer.

As a whole, film photography is something that takes a lot of practice and patience throughout the entire process but the outcome is so worth it. You get back images that are rich in color and the whole task of doing film photography is very rewarding and fulfilling as well as unique.

CREATED BY RACHEL MONTOYA