Hello everyone, looking for film tips

Stormhammer · Mar 10, 2017

Hello everyone. I'm new to shooting on film and was hoping to get some tips and recommendations for a few things. I've always been interested in film and video editing and have done some of it in my lifetime but all of it has been digital. I've also never had real experience with any kind of "serious" cameras, and I'm not familiar with all the technical aspects of it all. So basically...I'm your off-the-street guy who's always used either a phone or point-and-shoot camera for most of his life but has dabbled in some Photoshop and video editing.

I'm still interested in DSLR cameras and I plan on getting one in the future, but at the moment I'm really looking to get into film shooting. I have an old camera that belonged to my parents when I was a kid (picture below) that I pulled out of storage recently and plan on take a few rolls of pictures with. But I'd like to get something with more features. I've been looking on eBay for used film cameras and really like the look of the old Canon A-1's, and they can be had relatively inexpensively and some are in great shape for their age. But I'd like to see if anyone else has any other recommendations on used film cameras as well.

I also don't know a lot about film stock. I purchased a few rolls of color (Amazon.com : Fujifilm 1068620 Superia X-TRA 400 35mm Film - 4x24 exp, (Discontinued by Manufacturer) : Photographic Film : Camera & Photo) and black and white (Amazon.com: Ilford 1574577 HP5 Plus, Black and White Print Film, 35 mm, ISO 400, 36 Exposures: Camera & Photo) film, but I don't know really anything at all about the differences between all of them, or what I should be looking for to do specific types of shots. So any recommendations on that would be a big help as well.

At any rate, looking forward to some discussion on the subject, and thanks in advance!