Film Photography In a Digital World

Back to basics

In 1839 as the first tea leaves arrived in the UK from India, a Frenchman named Louis Daguerre announced the first commonly used method to capture images using a chemical reaction. He used a silver-coated copper plate treated with fumes that made the surface sensitive to light. This method was called Daguerreotype.

There was an earlier attempt to create such a method developed by Nicephore Niepce. In 1929 Daguerre convinced Niepce to tell him the details of his work. He agreed, but only after Daguerre was sworn to secrecy under penalty of damages. This effort resulted in the process known as physautotype.

After Niepce's death, his son recognized that Daguerre significantly improved the original method resulting in a completely new process. Hence the secrecy and penalty did not apply anymore.

At this point, anglo-french politics made a presence. Daguerre gave France his invention in exchange for a lifetime pension for himself, Niepce's son, and his wife. However, he wasn't keen on letting the British people use it for free, so he registered patents in England and Wales. I wonder if Scotland and Ireland did have patent offices or if Daguerre was trying to make a point.

On January 1st, 1839, Daguerre took the first photograph of the moon, unknowingly starting the genre of astrophotography. And on January 9th of the same year, he announced his invention publicly.

And with that, modern photography was born.

Early Years

Film photography formed part of my early life, childhood and teenage periods. I bought my first camera, a 110 film Agfa when I was fifteen.

I also used my father's Olympus Pen-E. Later in my life, I bought a 35mm Canon and Minolta. Film photography was a method to capture snapshots of my life and family. Nothing more.

Little did I know that the photography bug would catch me years later. In 2008 I started my period as a serious photographer. Just as the boom of affordable digital DSLRs was beginning.

I never really used film in any artistic way. And this was sitting in the back of my mind for a long time. It was only a matter of time before I was going to look back and decided to give film photography a try.

Leap Of Faith

In December 2022, while browsing ads on Facebook Market. I spotted a nice film camera for sale in my city. I did not think twice and bought it.

A piece of advice for you is to browse ads sites if you need something specific. Temptation is the devil :-)

Back To Basics

So I now own a beautiful Mamiya C33 camera with 65mm and 135mm lenses. This camera takes 120 films, a 6x6cm medium format. It is unique as it has two lenses, one used for the viewfinder and the other to expose the film, which gives them the name of Twin Lens Reflex camera, or TLR for short.

This camera is entirely mechanical, and it has no light meter mechanism. You have to measure the light and calculate the exposure compensation depending on how far away the subject is. It focuses by moving the front plate that holds the lens forward. When you extend the bellow to focus, less light will reach the lens. This means you have to calculate the exposure adjustment. If your camera doesn’t have marks in the viewfinder indicating this, you have to measure the distance between the film and the lens plane. If this distance is equal to or smaller than your lens focal length, then you don’t need adjustment. But if it’s longer, then you have to use a formula to determine how much extra exposure you need (1.5x, 2x, etc.). The exact details are a topic for a later article.

And then we have the parallax issue. The parallax error occurs when a measurement is made from different viewing angles. In other words, what you see through the viewfinder differs from what the primary lens will capture. Before taking the picture, you must move the camera up. This adjustment will depend on how close your subject is.

Buyer's Regret?

It's been only a few days since I purchased the camera, and I'm even more excited about this. I digested several YouTube videos about this camera and similar models like the C330 and C220. I found the original manual in PDF. A company that sells focusing plates with exposure adjustment marks for the viewfinder and another one that sells light seals if I ever need to replace any. 

I can buy 120 film rolls in my city, both Ilford and Kodak. And I even found a local photographer who runs his own development studio for black and white and colour film. 

Summary

I learned that although I didn't take photography seriously when I was young, the seed was there. I started this journey in 2008 and haven't stopped ever since. I keep looking for new things to try and learn.

There's value in reading about the history of the things you enjoy. Learning about the origins of photography, from the Camera Obscura to Daguerre's process, adds meaning to my passion.

We are lucky that we still have many film cameras from the golden era of photography. A testament to how well these were made. We must keep this tradition alive; I'm glad I'm now part of it.

What's Next?

I'll document my experiences with my Mamiya C33 in future articles. Right now, I will have to buy a few rolls to practice. Make errors and learn.

How about you?

Do you use film cameras? Have you experienced the joy and pain of film? I would love to hear your stories.