1980’s Canon F1 Newer Model with 85mm f/1.2 Lens

I got my first real film camera for Christmas in 1981 at the age of 15. It was a Pentax ME Super. I remember my dad and I talking about the Canon AE-1 Program, but I think that was out of budget at the time.

There were many times in the early to mid-80’s that I loaded my own black and white rolls, shot it, developed the film and did the printing. There was a darkroom in the school library and I doubt anyone used it more than I did. It was a different world with cameras and photography in those days than it is today.

Fast forward 40 years later: I recently bought a Canon F1 to shoot with in 2022. It’s a camera that I could not afford when it was released. The one that I have now ( pictured left ) is not the original F1 version that was released in 1971, but the 1980’s newer F1 version. 

Yes, you can still buy file and get it processed. It’s not cheap though. My first roll of color film was a total of about $45 for the film, the processing and the high resolution files being put on a USB that I provided.

The images on the right are some of the images that I shot with the Canon F1 and I do love the colors and contrast straight out of the camera with these images. I must admit that there were some out of focus images ( not pictured ) purely because of relying on manual focus. It amazes me to think that I once shot high school sports with a manual focus film camera and actually got some nice results.

You may be thinking the top of 3 images are out of focus? Well, that’s actually all intentional. For the first two images of just the trees, I slowed the shutter down to get the snow to be blurred to create a sense of motion. The image with the truck was at a slow shutter speed to create an effect. There are cases that an out of focus image can work for what you are trying to accomplish.

The interesting thing about shooting film is that there is no instant gratification and you will not know what you have until several days later. Although I can get my film processed locally, the days of the one hour photo lab around every corner are long gone.

Why shoot film? I love going back to my roots of how I started in photography. I love the colors with color film. I love black and white film which is about a 2 week wait to see results, so that post is still to come. Shooting film also teaches me patience and forces me to slow down. I cannot shoot as fast with film and I have to wait to see the results. It really is different in a good way. I’m looking forward to shooting several rolls of color and black and white film in 2022.

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Mamiya 645 (45mm Lens) Kodak Ektar 100ISO 120 Film and MeFOTO Globe Trotter Tripod – Images Above Taken With iPhone

I’ll repeat that both images above were shot on an iphone. I have included an image at the end of this post that I shot professionally in studio.

Film is not dead and it’s a great way to learn about photography. You’ll have to actually wait a few days to see the results, so you’d better take some notes on how you took the shots.

I like shooting medium format film which I first shot in the 1980’s. I’m not all that old. I just started young and logged plenty of darkroom hours back then. 

The Mamiya 645 above has a negative size that’s 3X larger than a 35mm negative and there are a few other things that are different from a 35mm. Medium format cameras are larger in size, the film is a roll that has a paper feed and is sealed shut when finished by licking the adhesive, it has an insert that pulls out of the camera to hold the time (many medium format film cameras have film backs that can be attached and detached), most lenses are prime lenses (meaning one focal length) and the focal length is different in compared to a 35mm lens. That’s only a few of the differences in medium format film vs. 35mm.

I mentioned the focal length of the lenses being different. For example, in the image above and below, I have a 45mm lens on my 645. That is a wide angle lens for this camera because the 50mm equivalent on a 35mm camera is a 75mm or 80mm lens. That’s because of  the negative size. The Mamiya RB67 which has a negative size much larger than the 645 below needs a 90mm lens to create the 50mm standard lens of a 35mm camera.

To this point, I haven’t said anything about the MeFOTO Globe Trotter Tripod. It’s a fantastic travel tripod that folds neatly into a very small travel case. It also converts into a monopod. It extends to be tall enough to use like most standard tripods (not as much as a full size pro tripod) and goes down low enough to get shots much closer to the ground. I never know when I may need a tripod and the MeFOTO Globe Trotter is one that’s easy to keep handy.

Taken in North Raleigh Studio with a Canon 5DMarkIII

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“Tucker” – Kodak Tmax 100 ISO – 120 Film

The image above was taken with a Mamiya 645 Medium Format Film Camera. I used an 80mm f/2.8 manual focus lens set at either f/4 or f/5.6. An 80mm lens on a 645 Medium Format Camera is equivalent to a 50mm lens on a 35mm Camera.

I shot my first roll of Medium Format Film in the mid-80’s. Although I have never shot a wedding in digital and no longer do consumer photography, I shot a lot of weddings in the late 80’s to early 90’s on Medium Format Film.

The image at the top of this post of our Golden Retriever “Tucker” is not edited. Other than cropping the image is as I shot it. There is just something about images shot on film that digital does not provide without doing some editing in Photoshop or a similar software.

I’ve literally photographed thousands of people on medium format film in my career, but that was many years ago. My goal going into 2015 is to add Medium Format Film Photography back into the mix of service offerings. It’s just one way of providing clients something unique and different. For me, it’s just going back to a format that was once a core part of my business before digital was anywhere near the primary way to shoot.

The post Medium Format Black And White Film Photography – It’s Awesome! first appeared on .

Image from Lomography.com

I was on a phone call the other day with a photographer that said he would like to photograph a few weddings a year but has no desire to be a big time wedding photographer.  He mentioned how stressful it is photographing a wedding which brought back memories of shooting in manual, on film and not knowing what I had until the film was processed.  The stress level of shooting weddings on film is a little higher in my opinion than on digital.

I have never photographed a wedding with a digital camera.  Although I no longer do wedding photography and now focus on corporate photography services, I did photograph my first wedding in June 1982 on film.  I was a teenager then, but I did get paid for it.  I have photographed numerous weddings on film in my consumer photography days.

Most of the weddings that I shot in the 80’s were on a completely manual medium format camera.  The Mamiya C330 pictured to the right is one of the cameras that I used.  It was a square negative, so there was no need to turn it horizontal.  I also used a manual flash.  I knew what my various f/stops were at certain distances based on the film speed that I was using.

Although I no longer photograph weddings, I do know two wedding photographers in the Raleigh area  that I keep in touch with.  They are at two different price points and I would be happy to put you or someone you know in touch with either of them:  Just fill out my ONLINE CONTACT FORM.

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The post Photographing A Wedding In Digital Might Be Stressful But Try Photographing A Wedding With Film first appeared on .

Image from Whitemetal.com

The photography bug bit me in 1981 while still in High School: I asked for a camera that Christmas.  Wow! That was 32 years ago.

I originally wanted a Canon AE1 Program which was made by Canon from 1976 to 1984, but it was more expensive than the Pentax ME Super which was made by Pentax from 1979 to 1985.  However, looking back, I have no regrets getting the ME Super. It was a great camera and served me well.

Back then, I had no clue how a camera worked.  The first several rolls of film that I sent via mail to Clark Color Lab for about $2 a roll (who remembers?) were blurry from trying to shoot high school basketball games handheld with slow shutter speeds.  I thought auto mode was the cure all back then.  I also thought auto would auto wind the film and didn’t realize that I needed a separate auto winder.  Those were the days of flying by the seat of my pants.

In addition to shooting High School Sports (or trying to), I loved photographing people (portrait photography).  I always had a camera with me and photographed people in High School all the time.  There was and still is something about portrait and candid style portrait photography that I truly love.

Somehow, by a miracle, I knew enough about my camera that I got paid to photograph my first wedding in June of 1982.  It was for a family friend, but I was the main photographer plus I got paid.  I think that I got paid $50.  In 1982, $50 would pay for another piece of basic equipment.  I believe my camera body was around $125 to put it all in perspective.

Fast forward a few months, I ended up being the lead yearbook photographer at Wake Forest Rolesville High School, processed numerous rolls of black and white film at school as well as printed what I processed and ended up loading my own black and white film rolls for future shooting rather than using store bought rolls.  I also got paid to photograph Wake Forest Rolesville High School sports for The Wake Weekly.  I loved (and still do) photographing people.  I began to get more interested in portrait photography which likely came from all the sports and candid photography that I did.

In closing, if you have been bit by the photography bug, you should pursue your passion if that is truly what drives you.  However, know what makes you different (Hint: not price), use that to propel your career.  Also, be sure to learn as much as you can about how business works, it helps to understand business no matter how boring you might think business is.

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