The Physics Cat Corner
I got a film camera!
August 14 2023
So, yea. I got a film camera. Also, on a slightly unrelated note, I have now stopped my annoying habbit of typing without capitals. mostly. Anyway, onto the camera. This past month, I've been back home from university. While digging through old stuff to pass time, I found my dad's old film camera. a Yashica MF-2 Super. I've held it before, but this time, I kinda wanted to use it. Like properly, and not run around the house flashing people. Plus, a friend from uni also got a disposable film camera because they were giving them out to graduating seniors and she bagged one as well. I'm not sure how, she's not a senior. But yea, so we could develop the films together if I also had some, so. I decided to get some film. After some researching, I found that this camera used 35mm film. I looked for some on amazon and damn bruh, is film expensive. Anyway, thinking this would be a one time thing (foolish old me), i bought a roll of Kodak Super 400. I then went onto youtube and looked for some tutorial or something so that I knew what to do when the film arrived (I know, i probably should have done this sooner, im dumb like that sometimes). And that's how I fell down into the rabbit hole of film photography.
Mostly because of this one youtube channel run by a guy called Teo Crafword. He has a sereis where he walks around with a gopro and a camera and documents his process of taking photos. And I loved it. I binged like all of it. It's very soothing, the way he talks and shows you what he was thinking when composing a shot. I really liked it. 10/10, would recommend. After I finished all of those, I stumbled upon a video of his where he goes through all of the cameras he has. A bunch of SLRs and point and shoots which he found on ebay or which were gifted to him. And the prices which he got those for very cheap. very cheap. so cheap that i got tempted. I looked for old film cameras online, and sure enough, I found some which were dirt cheap. Plus, watching these videos on film photography on youtube really created an appreciation for the format within me.
The idea that you can capture the result of the light form a scene PHYSICALLY on a sheet of film is very, idk how to put it, i find it very attractive. With digital photography, once the image is converted to ones and zeroes by your cameras sensor, it. i think, loses uniqueness. Not so film. The negatives that you get at the end of the film photopgraphy process are unique in that photons from the scene hit that same physical object. In a sense, that piece of film has captured a piece of the time and place where the photo was taken and preserved it for us to see in the future. And you might say that once you san that film and digitize it, then that uniqueness is lost. And you'd be right. But still, you can preserve those negatives. Plus, there's other aspects of film photography which I find very interesting. The fact that you have a limited number of photos you can take, for example. Some might think that this is a big downside, and for some applications it is. But I think that this limitation makes every single photo you take much more valuable. I take take hundreds of photos with my phone in a seconds notice, and that's why I don't really value those photos anymore. I almost never go through the photos in my phone. I just have too many. Also, because of this limitation, each shot has to be thought out. Because if you take too many photos, you might run out of film when you come across something you really want to take a photo of. Also, the experience of using a film camera is so tactile, for the lack of a better word. Especially older cameras which don't need a battery. It's all mechanical. You advance the film and cock the shuter. Setting the shutter speed is done by moving a dial which controlls an intricate mechanicsm. Presing the shutter on an old SLR and feeling the mirror move, hearing it slap, the curtain opening and closing, all within a second. Like that. Using something like that in a day and age where every single thing is digitally controlled is extremely joyful. I cannot exprees this feeling properly, mostly because I suck at writing, but the idea that I can take a photo with a purely mechanical device on a piece of plastic is INCREDIBLE to me.
So, after thinking about it for aronud a week and looking at different cameras I could buy, I settled on a Zenit EM. I found a seller who was willing to sell one to me for a very low price (12 USD). I got a Helios 44M lens with it, which was 4 times the price of the camera, but oh well. So, I paid the seller and he shipped the camera. And it arrived. And it was not the Zenit EM.
So, turns out that the Zenit EM which the seller agreed to sell me wasn't working correctly. So he just decided to send me a different camera. Without asking me. Which is, kind of a shitty thing to do. Anyway, I had a call with him and we agreed on him selling me another body for a discounted price. Don't ask.
Anyway, now I have a Zenit B! Which is just a Zenit EM but without a light meter. Which is honestly fine since I was planning on using a phone app for metering anyway. I wouldnt' trust a 50 year old light meter anyway. It works. mostly. All speeds except 1/500th of a second work correctly. I think. I have no way of testing the speeds, so ig i'll just sacrifice a roll and fint out. There's also a Chinon CS on the way, so I'll update this thing when I get it.