Need help with absolute basics on film camera.

[JollyTimGiant]

That's great to know, I'll have to give the Epson V500 a look, gsgary. Thanks!

 

[otherprof]

Shooting with film requires you to pretty much have to know what you're going for results before you click the shutter. Unlike digital cameras where ISO speed can be adjusted from frame to frame, a roll of film has a single ISO (ASA) speed and is unchangeable from what the manufacturer specified. Hence, it's necessary to use 'faster' films for low light work such as indoors shots, and 'slower' films for daylight shots.

But central to all that is learning the exposure triangle and how all the pieces fit together. Changing any one of the three will affect the result either positively or negatively. "Playing Photographer" by making settings willy-nilly and hoping for the best simply won't work. So, the best place to start is with a good tutorial such as produced here: Cambridge in Colour - Photography Tutorials Learning Community Learning how to get good exposures is paramount. Using film to learn with, errors in exposure will get costly very quickly due to film and processing costs.

Perhaps one of the easiest ways I can think of to get good exposures nearly all the time is with a good incident light meter. I just checked eBay and there's 108 light meters for sale. The good news is you don't need the latest and greatest meter as your film speeds (same as ISO for digital) is in the 64-400 range. So, any of the 'vintage' meters in the under $20 range should be more than sufficient, as long as it is working AND has the full set of directions with it...or available online. By setting your film speed in the meter, the meter will provide a number of aperture and shutter speed settings that will give a good exposure for the light you are in. The decision to be made is then 'how fast' shutter speed to stop motion, and how much depth of field (DOF) (f-stop) do I need/want. That's the compromise. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes something has to 'give'.

Welcome to the world of photography! It's a great hobby and profession!

I recently bought a Canon AE-1 for a decent price because I love taking pictures and wanted to give film a try, but I have no idea what I'm doing. I think I've got a decent handle on shutter speed, but when I take pictures, I have no idea how it will turn out, I'm not great with variables and film photography seems to have a lot of them. I've been doing a ton of reading on film cameras, and watching Youtube videos and such as well.

I have trouble with short term memory from epileptic seizures in the past, (hence reading/watching a ton, at least a small percentage has to be remembered, right?) so I'm having trouble making any information from the manual or otherwise stick. I've read and watched so much, it all becomes overwhelming and muddled together.

So if anyone has a resource that could be considered a general consensus to read I should check out for basic film photography, containing information even an idiot could remember, I would be very grateful! Thanks! -Tim

Reading this over, maybe I should just get one of those "For Dummies" books?

Just to get some decent shots as you start to learn about metering, etc. try this. Check the ASA of the film. On a bright, sunny day, set the aperture to f 16 and the shutter speed to 1 over the asa. (If the ASA is 400, set the shutter to about 1/400 and the f stop to f16. See how that works. it should work pretty well. Then try opening up a stop or two OR slowing down the shutter speed one or two clicks, if it is an overcast or cloudy day. This should be easy to remember, and gets you thinking about the exposure.

 

[wfooshee]

Slides are just a different kind of film, then a different kind of processing. Instead of producing a negative image that is then printed to paper, they produce a positive (correct-color) image and then the film is simply cut to individual frames and mounted. The slide is the processed film. Nothing special about the film, it's the same size in the camera as color or B&W negative (print) film.

 

[JollyTimGiant]

That is so cool, lol. I just wish it wasn't so expensive! cheapest I've seen is 15$ for a single roll of 34(36?) exposures... 4 rolls of 24 color exposures is the same price!

 

[gsgary]

That is so cool, lol. I just wish it wasn't so expensive! cheapest I've seen is 15$ for a single roll of 34(36?) exposures... 4 rolls of 24 color exposures is the same price!

Film is cheap if you go to the right places I can get Agfa Vista for £1 a roll but I don't shot colour much most of mine is B+W which I buy in bulk and roll my own I must have about 700 feet of different films

 

[wfooshee]

Slide film is more expensive to purchase but much cheaper to process, as no printing occurs. Overall it's still cheaper.

 

[gsgary]

Slide film is more expensive to purchase but much cheaper to process, as no printing occurs. Overall it's still cheaper.

All film is very cheap if you do all your own processing and wet printing

 

[TCampbell]

Slide film is more expensive to purchase but much cheaper to process, as no printing occurs. Overall it's still cheaper.

All film is very cheap if you do all your own processing and wet printing

Developing the film isn't a big deal since the chemicals are cheap as are the light-tight developing tanks and spools. No dark-room necessary.

PRINTING, on the other hand, requires a dark-room (or at least something you can use as a temporary dark room). That gets a bit tricky because now you need a space for it and you have to be able to seal out the light leaks.