Film Photos

[dsmith]

I have recently gotten into film photography, and there are a few problems ive been having with the way my photos come out. First, it seems that no matter what brand or speed film i use, every photo always comes out really grainy. id like to do night photography, but there are times when you cant tell the difference between stars, and film grain.
Second, some of the pictures i have taken during the day come out with colors being very dull and old looking. the colors are not bright and vibrant like id like them. hopefully someone can get me on the right track. thanks!

 

[T-town photographer]

Are you using "pro" films or are you buying the multipack at the corner store for 9.99 for four rolls.

What type of film are you using and what is your gear?

Michael

 

[PatrickHMS]

...never mind

 

[dsmith]

a 1984 Canon AE-1 with the standard lense that comes with it. I started out using multipack film cuz i didnt want to spend a lot of money till i accually learned how to use the camera. now i use pro film, but no matter what the type, or speed i get the same results. the film ive had the best luck with was kodak Ektar 100, but its still not as good as it should be. ive tried using a polarizing filter, which helps a little with the colors, but not much.

 

[ann]

without an example i am going to take a stab, your not exposing properly. underexposed negative have lots of grain,

perhaps the camera needs a good cleaning and a shutter test to be sure everything is working properly.

 

[gsgary]

It must be down to your exposure Kodak ektar is one of the best,
This is Ilford FP4 pushed to iso400

Ilford HP5 at iso400

HP5 pushed to iso3200

Delta 3200 pushed to iso6400

 

[Gaerek]

If your film is underexposed, the lab might try to compensate and bring the exposure up. If this is the case, the prints will almost always turn out grainy. I have an AE-1, and I was having a similar problem years ago. It turned out that the aperture on my 50mm 1.8 'kit' lens was stuck wide open (it wouldn't stop down) and it over exposed basically every shot. I brought it to a local photoshop and they managed to unstick it for a small fee. If it is a problem with the lens, it might be cheaper to simply replace the lens than to get it fixed. You can pick up the f/1.8 for about $50, or the f/1.4 for about $100 or so on eBay.