Newbie to film... help me??!?!!

travellingcello

travellingcello

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Hi all,

I've never actually shot a frame of film in my life ..shock horror, being a very late 80's boy.

And so I found a Canon FX and an EOS 300V lying in a cupboard at home and have suddenly got an urge to try either or both of them.

I want to try the FX in particular since its a beautiful piece of engineering, but don't really have a clue about film photography in general.

What film should I buy to start with, and where can i buy it? and also I'm guessing I'll need a light meter - what are good budget options?

My dad has already said that the light meter in the FX was erratic back in the 70's and I don't really trust it let alone know how to use it.

I would also appreciate any general tips or pointers to useful pages to read.

I'm sure these questions have already been asked many times before, I'm sorry! I did do a search but I obviously didn't look hard enough or in the right places.

Thanks!
 
Well a good cheap starting point would be to get yourself down to your nearest pound shop and pick up some kodak colour print film, surprisingly it should cost you a pound. It's got a wide latitude so for the time being just go with the camera's meter. Go out, shoot off the roll, it's a good idea to make a note of your camera settings, or if you have a digital you could take comparison shots with that. Then take a trip to one of the larger Tescos or Asda, check first to make sure they still process film in-house, drop your film off, do some shopping for an hour then pick up your processed film. It should cost you about £1.99-2.99 for processing and scanned onto CD. It's not the best quality but it will give you a good idea of what your camera can produce.
 
As Nick says, get out and give it a go I think you'll like it. Just be careful though it can become an addictive and expensive hobby when you see how cheap old film cameras are.....:thumbs:

Cheers

Andy
 
Andysnap said:
Just be careful though it can become an addictive and expensive hobby when you see how cheap old film cameras are.....
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I'm not an addict, honest. I could give up any time I like :help:
 
Andysnap said:
As Nick says, get out and give it a go I think you'll like it. Just be careful though it can become an addictive and expensive hobby when you see how cheap old film cameras are.....:thumbs:

Cheers

Andy
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oh I get a bad feeling about this :bonk:
 
RaglanSurf said:
Well a good cheap starting point would be to get yourself down to your nearest pound shop and pick up some kodak colour print film, surprisingly it should cost you a pound. It's got a wide latitude so for the time being just go with the camera's meter. Go out, shoot off the roll, it's a good idea to make a note of your camera settings, or if you have a digital you could take comparison shots with that. Then take a trip to one of the larger Tescos or Asda, check first to make sure they still process film in-house, drop your film off, do some shopping for an hour then pick up your processed film. It should cost you about £1.99-2.99 for processing and scanned onto CD. It's not the best quality but it will give you a good idea of what your camera can produce.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, think I will be popping down to the pound shop soon!
Is kodak colour print very bad quality then?
 
No its just that particular one that they sell in Poundland, its a very old emulsion from the 80's that is crap in comparison to modern emulsions but its cheap. Its not too bad but compared to today...

Modern consumer Kodak colour print films (Gold and Ultra) are much better in terms of grain, latitude, saturation etc and their professional colour print films (Especially Ektar, Portra 160 and Portra 400) are amongst the best in the world.
 
You were born in the 80s and you never shot film? Pft, i'm a mid nineties child and i got disposables all the time :p
 
travellingcello said:
Hi all,

I've never actually shot a frame of film in my life ..shock horror, being a very late 80's boy.

And so I found a Canon FX and an EOS 300V lying in a cupboard at home and have suddenly got an urge to try either or both of them.

I want to try the FX in particular since its a beautiful piece of engineering, but don't really have a clue about film photography in general.

What film should I buy to start with, and where can i buy it? and also I'm guessing I'll need a light meter - what are good budget options?

My dad has already said that the light meter in the FX was erratic back in the 70's and I don't really trust it let alone know how to use it.

I would also appreciate any general tips or pointers to useful pages to read.

I'm sure these questions have already been asked many times before, I'm sorry! I did do a search but I obviously didn't look hard enough or in the right places.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Well I wouldn't have a clue on how to set up and use a DSLR :lol:......after a few rolls of film you'll get the hang of it as it's as simple as you want it to be, and as Kodak used to say "you press the button, we do the rest". for the processing bit (well if you get really interested you can do it all yourself).
 
First things first. Have a look at the manual for the FX at this link. That'll give you a starting point.

Second, check the battery. If it's been left for a long time with a battery in the chamber there is a possibility that it's leaked. If so, it'll need cleaning. Otherwise you should be ok.

Your father mentioned the meter was erratic - this could be caused by a battery running out of charge, that usually messes with the meter as it doesn't have the right power any more. Your FX took a mercury battery, which aren't available any more because mercury causes squirrels to cry or something. The Small Battery Company sell modern alkaline replacements. You can get an adapter to drop the modern 1.5v to the 1.35v required by your meter but it's not worth bothering until you know whether the additional voltage is causing any problems and you'll only find that out when you run a film through the camera.

Of course, the other possibility for an erratic meter is the position of it on the FX's body - it's in a place where it's quite easy to get a finger over it.

Anyway, welcome aboard and keep us updated on your progress :thumbs:
 
Andysnap said:
As Nick says, get out and give it a go I think you'll like it. Just be careful though it can become an addictive and expensive hobby when you see how cheap old film cameras are.....:thumbs:

Cheers

Andy
Click to expand...

Tell me about it - just started the film thing myself, and we don't have poundland or tescos here.

Ilford HP5 400 36 - £7

Neg development - £25

scan to disk and/or prints - £35 scan, £35 for 36 6x4 prints

Total £67, or if I want prints as well as scanning £102

Film processing is now classed as highly specialist here, everything needs to be sent to one of the few places in Switzerland that acually do film processing - there are no discount places anymore.
 
Slaphead said:
Tell me about it - just started the film thing myself, and we don't have poundland or tescos here.

Ilford HP5 400 36 - £7

Neg development - £25

scan to disk and/or prints - £35 scan, £35 for 36 6x4 prints

Total £67, or if I want prints as well as scanning £102

Film processing is now classed as highly specialist here, everything needs to be sent to one of the few places in Switzerland that acually do film processing - there are no discount places anymore.
Click to expand...

Wow... I was actually nervous just now for myself, before I finally made sense of where you lived.

Hopefully its a bit cheaper here, otherwise I'm abandoning ship for the sake of my finances.!!!
 
Strappy said:
First things first. Have a look at the manual for the FX at this link. That'll give you a starting point.

Second, check the battery. If it's been left for a long time with a battery in the chamber there is a possibility that it's leaked. If so, it'll need cleaning. Otherwise you should be ok.

Your father mentioned the meter was erratic - this could be caused by a battery running out of charge, that usually messes with the meter as it doesn't have the right power any more. Your FX took a mercury battery, which aren't available any more because mercury causes squirrels to cry or something. The Small Battery Company sell modern alkaline replacements. You can get an adapter to drop the modern 1.5v to the 1.35v required by your meter but it's not worth bothering until you know whether the additional voltage is causing any problems and you'll only find that out when you run a film through the camera.

Of course, the other possibility for an erratic meter is the position of it on the FX's body - it's in a place where it's quite easy to get a finger over it.

Anyway, welcome aboard and keep us updated on your progress :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Thanks for those very useful links-

Having looked at the battery link, which replacement should I get? I've just been reading about the advantages/cons of the alkaline, silver and the 'WeinCELL' and I'm a bit confused now.

Should I pay £5 and get the Weincell? I guess its the best option.. aside from the cost? I think it'll be difficult enough for a newbie without trying to figure out exposure compensation on the fly.

I've been cleaning the camera today and luckily there doesn't appear to be any battery leak, I removed the old one and it was clean.

Thanks for all your replies so far, very useful!
 
travellingcello said:
Having looked at the battery link, which replacement should I get? I've just been reading about the advantages/cons of the alkaline, silver and the 'WeinCELL' and I'm a bit confused now.
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Personally, I'd spend the least and buy the alkaline battery, the LR9. The voltage will be constant enough for you to run a few films through the camera to check the meter's working ok. Worry about exposure compensation once you've got a clear idea of what might need to be compensated ;)
 
Strappy said:
Personally, I'd spend the least and buy the alkaline battery, the LR9. The voltage will be constant enough for you to run a few films through the camera to check the meter's working ok. Worry about exposure compensation once you've got a clear idea of what might need to be compensated ;)
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Does that mean I'm going to get a few rolls of severely under/overexposed photos??? :thinking:
 
No it'll only be about a 1/3rd of a stop, with negative film thats nothing although it could potentially be a problem with exposure concious slide film. Just decrease the ISO by 1/3rd of a stop, i.e select 80 for ISO 100 film.
 
Based on the difference between 1.35v and 1.5v it's unlikely. Meter a shot with your 60D, then meter it with your FX. Ensure that the aperture and shutter are as close to each other as you can. If there's a vast difference in the readings, you'll know that something's wrong, otherwise you're good to go.

If the readings are all to cock, you've spent about £2 to find out your FX needs a CLA.
 
Strappy said:
Personally, I'd spend the least and buy the alkaline battery, the LR9. The voltage will be constant enough for you to run a few films through the camera to check the meter's working ok. Worry about exposure compensation once you've got a clear idea of what might need to be compensated ;)
Click to expand...

That's what I'd do also, use your dslr to check the exposure readings on the film camera and adjust the ASA dial to compensate.....I've always done this with my old SLR cameras as IMHO why spend money on a special battery when you can't guarantee the accuracy of the shutter or lens iris etc after many years, and anyway negative film has great latitude and also printing and scanning can adjust for some under or over exposure.
 
Slaphead said:
Tell me about it - just started the film thing myself, and we don't have poundland or tescos here.

Ilford HP5 400 36 - £7

Neg development - £25

scan to disk and/or prints - £35 scan, £35 for 36 6x4 prints

Total £67, or if I want prints as well as scanning £102

Film processing is now classed as highly specialist here, everything needs to be sent to one of the few places in Switzerland that acually do film processing - there are no discount places anymore.
Click to expand...

?? Why are you paying that :thinking:

B & W 36 exp dev, print and scan for £12.95 here: http://www.thephotoshoponline.co.uk/black.htm. Postage to Europe is £4 per 500g which should cover 2 or 3 films.

or you could go for B & W C41 film get it even cheaper. I use Ilford XP2, get it developed for £3.45 and scan it myself - just printing what I need.
 
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Slaphead said:
Tell me about it - just started the film thing myself, and we don't have poundland or tescos here.

Ilford HP5 400 36 - £7

Neg development - £25

scan to disk and/or prints - £35 scan, £35 for 36 6x4 prints

Total £67, or if I want prints as well as scanning £102

Film processing is now classed as highly specialist here, everything needs to be sent to one of the few places in Switzerland that acually do film processing - there are no discount places anymore.
Click to expand...

at those prices, ship the roll to the UK for develop/scan to PhotoExpress
 
ianjmatt said:
?? Why are you paying that :thinking:

B & W 36 exp dev, print and scan for £12.95 here: http://www.thephotoshoponline.co.uk/black.htm. Postage to Europe is £4 per 500g which should cover 2 or 3 films.

or you could go for B & W C41 film get it even cheaper. I use Ilford XP2, get it developed for £3.45 and scan it myself - just printing what I need.
Click to expand...

Maybe because he doesn't want to post it from Zurich :thinking:
 
TheBigYin said:
Maybe because he doesn't want to post it from Zurich :thinking:
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Why - it is probably only a few Swiss Francs to post it with a signature at the other end, and £4.00 to have it returned. Still a whole lot cheaper!
 
IIRC Swiss tax is quite high, what I'd advise him to do is to hop across the border to Germany, buy loads of film/chems/tanks and then learn to do it himself. If he can source Diafine it's going to be super easy and economical.
 
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