Why I shoot in film and things you may not know about film photography

Sure, digital photography has given a lot of conveniences and cost savings to photographers, pro and amateur alike.

You might be thinking, why would anyone still shoots in film in today's digital workflow, where photos can be shot, edited, and published in just a matter of seconds right in the palm of your hand?

Well, I can't say for everyone, but here are the reasons that got me into film photography.

1. Film 'look'

One of the reasons Instagram got popular because of the beautiful filters that you can apply to make your photos look nostalgic and aged, just like the photo albums you have in your family collection. It brings back the memories associated with photographs that you have taken in the past with old film cameras.

Photos produce from films have exactly this kind of look straight out of the studio without further editing required. In fact, to mimic such look in digital can be quite challenging, as film gives a distinctive feel and colours that can't be quite imitated perfectly with digital editing.

2. Relearn the Basics

With digital, it is fairly easy to shoot an acceptable piece of image. Most digital cameras and all phone cameras have an 'auto' mode that does all the thinking for you, while you just need to compose your shot with your subject.

However, if you want your photos to stand out, you will have to be really creative and play around with the settings. But most often than not, we are spoilt by all the bells and whistles in modern digital cameras, which ironically, may have been limiting our creativity.

In film, you can get a fully manual camera that will require you to compose every single shot depending on the situation. Every shot will require you to set the shutter speed, aperture, and focus to ensure your shots are exposed correctly. This will not only train you to become more meticulous but also allows you to revisit and relearn the basics of photography. You will quickly learn how close and important the relationship between light and photography are.

3. Improved Photo Quality

Usually, in film, you don't have the luxury to reshoot your shots, as you have limited number of shots per roll of film that you try to conserve. This makes you think twice and to be more thoughtful in every shot that you intend to shoot.

With this increased attention to your shots, the quality of your photos may improve before you even noticed!

4. Delayed Gratification

In digital photography, we have the luxury of previewing the shots in split seconds after we shoot. This has given many of us a powerful feedback and productivity increased especially to many photographers. However, the downside of this is that it may have caused us to value the photos less. I mean, how often do we really do something with the photos that we have taken with our phones like printing them out or even producing a digital slideshow? We would probably leave them in the cloud until we have forgotten about them or they have gone.

In film, however, there's no easy way to preview except if you are shooting with an instant film camera. But even that doesn't allow you to 'delete' your previous shot and reshoot. Once you have completed shooting a roll and sent for developing, I can guarantee you will appreciate every single shot in it and will cherish them as tho they are your precious artefacts from the past.

5. Simplicity

Most film cameras can still shoot without its battery, especially those that are fully mechanical. Batteries in film cameras are mostly needed for the light metering and keeping track of time & date in some models. Even so, those batteries will last for years if being stored in normal conditions.

With film cameras, you don't have to worry about losing power. It is reliable and durable in almost any conditions. The only thing you need to prepare enough roll of films and proper casings to store them.

There are also no fancy features in most old film cameras to distract you from taking your shots. Sometimes, limitations can actually bring out the best in you. You will try to push the limit of your camera to achieve the desired shot. Once you are able to do that, you will reach a whole new level of understanding and appreciation of your camera and in film photography.

6. Full Frame & HDR Ready

When you shoot in film, you shoot in full frame. 35mm film is what the industry calls the "full frame". As you may have already knew, only high-end digital cameras come with comparable full frame size sensor. A 35mm film is large enough to capture all the details you need.

Film is also able to capture "whiter than white" and "darker than dark" colours. This is called High Dynamic Range in photos. The JPEG images produced by a digital camera has an upper limit of white value and lower limit of black value. If the natural world, the spectrum of visible light is much wider than what is capable to be represented in a JPEG image. That is why photographers prefer to shoot in RAW, as it can retain the dynamic range of the scene in their photos.

7. Future Proof

Digital storage media can deteriorate and go obsolete. Films, however, can retain details forever if stored correctly. Not to mention the details on a digital image is limited by the megapixels of the sensors being used to capture it.

There's no limit of "megapixels" in film, as such concept only applies to digital sensors. Since film captures image details from light onto the chemical molecules on the film surface, we can safely assume that the "resolution" or the details retained by the film is very close to the actual scene without much loss of details. If there's a need to scan the films into digital images, the resolution will then depends on the sensitivity of the scanner or any image capturing device that was being used.

That is why old films shot back in the days can be "remastered" into HD format, and blockbusters today are still being shot on film. And as technology improves, we use better resolution scanners to bring out more details from the film stock.

8. Aesthetic

If you are someone who appreciates vintage and old technology, then you need to get a film camera into your hands right now. The moment I got my Nikon FM camera, I was so in awe of the overall aesthetic and masterfully designed piece of device. It is such a beauty to look at and feels solid to hold in your hands at the same time. Not to mention it is very fun to shoot with it as well with all its mechanical knobs and switches to fiddle around. In fact, I may regard this to be one of the best cameras that I have ever owned.

What is your reasons?

If you have never bothered about film photography before, or are thinking about jumping into it, I hope the above information that I shared may have helped you understand a little bit more about film photography in general.

If you are already shooting in film, maybe you could share how you first got into film photography in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

More to come..