Ever since I started taking my photography seriously and pursuing it professionally, I’ve always had several nagging questions in the back of my mind. "Am I missing out on truly understanding photography by not shooting film?" and "Would it make me a better photographer if I did shoot some film?". Recently, I made several purchases / acquisitions that will help me to come a bit closer to answering these questions.

My (Brief) History with Film
Before I dive into my talking points I want to give a brief history of my various…let’s call them ‘encounters’ with film. As with many other people growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, I had access to various 35mm film cameras. These ranged from my Dad’s SLR to the el cheapo disposable cameras you could pick up at the local grocery store. So I wasn’t exactly a stranger to film, but I never took photography seriously during that time. I would take snapshots here and there, but usually on family trips and vacations.

Fast forward to college. Even though my program (visual communication tech.) was all digital by 2003, I did have the chance to shoot film by taking a cinematography class via the theater department at BGSU. In this class I shot 35mm black and white stills, and super 16mm motion film (both black and white and color). This class opened my eyes in terms of really thinking critically about exposure and light, which directly translated to my digital work. Additionally, my knowledge of exposure for still capture benefited me tremendously when beginning to shot motion film, allowing me to first think about a scene in terms of a single exposure, then translating that exposure over a set period of time.

(A couple quick snaps of me shooting Super 16mm Film)

After that cinematography class, my love affair with film was seemingly over. I had my experience with it…’been there done that’…or so I thought.

Rekindle the Flame
ImagingUSA 2010 in Nashville. I heard two photographers speak that sparked my interest in film again. Jose Villa and Joe Buissink. Jose and Joe are both based in California. Jose shoots 100% film at his weddings. I can’t imagine that. He’s got this look that is so bright and clean which got me wondering what kind of film he shoots. Luckily he told the crowd exactly what he shoots. More about Jose Villa here. Joe shoots a mix of digital and film. He is a Nikon guy, and I was very curious as to what film camera he used. His shots are absolutely amazing and they have this look that I can’t seem to put my finger on. I suppose that’s what makes Joe one of the best photographer’s in the world. More about Joe Buissink here.

Going Forward
After hearing Jose and Joe speak in Nashville, I decided that it would be a good idea for me to start shooting a bit of film again. I did some research and decided to purchase four rolls of 35mm film to test out and see what I like. Those films are:

Fujifilm Pro 400h
Kodak Porta 160nc
Kodak Porta 160vc
Kodak Ektar 100

Top Row: Fuji Pro400H, Kodak Porta 160NC, Kodak Ektar 100
Bottom Row: Canon AE-1 35mm SLR w/ Kodak Porta 160VC loaded

I chose to test out the Fuji because its the same film that Jose Villa uses. I also wanted to see that 400asa looks like vs. 100/160asa. The other three Kodak rolls are a fairly good representation of Kodak’s line of films. I am particularly interested to see how the Ektar 100 works out as it is a relatively new line of film from Kodak. It was re-introduced last year after an 11-year hiatus.

My plan is to shoot all four rolls of film and have them developed and scanned. After that I can evaluate the details of each, and decide on which film (or films) that I want to shoot going forward. I’ll post the results here when I’m done.

Until then, please enjoy these film scans that I pulled from my archives!