An abundance of film photographers in today’s market are not newcomers; rather they are experienced users returning to analog after years shooting digital. Given all the advances in computational photography and computational photography, many photographers want to return to shooting film where skill rather than computational processing power plays an essential role. If you’re considering picking up old film cameras again here are five things to keep in mind.
Bernt Sonvisen created this image.
1. Your Favorite Films Have Disappeared
When shopping for film, it’s evident that some popular products such as Kodak Plus-X and Fujichrome have been discontinued; but there’s plenty of new stocks from manufacturers such as Cinestill which specializes in adapting motion picture film for still camera use; Lomography which specializes in quirky-shaped images and Foma (also sold under Arista brand), a Czech manufacturer with over a century of history that now sells B&W film products in America; but overall there has been little change overall in terms of film options available since there were so few options in previous decades compared with today compared with what there used to be in terms of film options available compared to what used to exist previously available in terms of manufacturers;
Start off slowly, with something familiar: Kodak, Ilford and Fujifilm offer plenty of tried-and-tested emulsions like Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100 II that has been modified for easier scanning. Many companies are renewing their commitment to film photography with both discontinued emulsions coming back into circulation as well as newly produced ones – giving filmmakers plenty of options today.
