c/film-photo-tales

Changed my mind about zone focusing after missing a shot at my daughter's recital

I was at the middle school gym in Portland last Saturday, shooting a dance recital on my Minolta, and I thought zone focusing at f8 would be fine for that stage. Every shot came out soft because the kids kept moving in and out of the 6-foot zone I guessed. Has anyone else found zone focusing unreliable in fast-moving indoor scenes?

Overheard a guy at the lab say film scans ruin photography...

I was picking up my 6x7 negatives from a local lab in Portland last Tuesday and heard two guys arguing about whether scanning film takes away the 'soul' of the medium. One said scanning just turns it into digital anyway, like why not shoot digital from the start. The other guy shot back that scanning lets you share prints without losing the original negative's character. Is scanning really just a compromise, or does it keep film alive for more people to see?

Dropped my Rolleicord in the creek up at Blue River last fall

I was up near Blue River taking fall color shots along a little stream. I had my old Rolleicord set up on a tripod trying to get a long exposure of the water. I went to swap out the film back and my hand slipped. The whole camera tipped forward and splashed into about six inches of water. I yanked it out within two seconds but it was already dripping wet. I dried it off best I could with my shirt and let it sit in the sun for an hour before I dared open it. The lens looked clear but I was sure the shutter was gummed up. I finished the roll anyway just to see what would happen and got about half the shots back with weird light leaks. The camera still works but now I keep a rain cover in my bag. Has anyone else had a camera take a dunk and survive?

Dropped my roll of Portra 400 in the mud at a creek in Vermont

I was down by the Winooski River last fall trying to get a shot of the leaves reflecting in the water. I went to swap rolls and my fingers slipped, dropping the fresh roll right into a puddle of brown mud. Fished it out and wiped it down with my shirt, but I knew some grit was stuck inside the canister. Loaded it anyway and shot the rest of the day, figuring I'd lose half the frames. When I got the scans back, about 12 of the 36 shots had these gnarly dust specs and scratched lines across them. Has anyone else tried saving a muddy roll like that, or did I just waste $12 on processing?

Told my story about that one guy who insisted on pushing film past box speed

At a camera swap meet in Portland last August, a retired photographer cornered me for 20 minutes about how he always shoots Tri-X at 800 and calls anyone who follows the box speed lazy. He said my shots would have no soul unless I learned to break the rules and that I was wasting my camera's potential by sticking to 400. Has anyone else dealt with a stranger lecturing them on how they should be shooting their own film?

My Yashica-Mat shutter jammed mid-roll at a flea market in Nashville last Sunday

Thought a 6-stop ND filter was overkill until I shot waterfalls at Silver Falls

Bought a cheap 6-stop ND off eBay for 15 bucks. Total impulse buy. Thought it was just for people who wanted to blur everything into mush. Then I took it to Silver Falls State Park last month. That place has 10 waterfalls. Set up my Pentax 6x7 with some Fuji 400H. Without the filter, the water looked frozen. Solid ice blocks. With it, I got 30 second exposures. The water turned into this soft silky mist. Totally changed how those falls looked. Made the whole scene feel dreamy. Now I get why landscape guys carry three different ND strengths. Has anyone else had a filter change their mind about a whole type of photography?

Noticed everyone sets their light meter to box speed without thinking

Been shooting film for about 3 years now and I kept wondering why my negatives looked thin. Finally tested my Olympus OM-1 against a handheld meter at the local camera shop and found the internal meter was off by half a stop at ISO 400. Checked a few friends' cameras and 4 out of 6 had meters reading differently than the dial said. Has anyone else found their camera's meter drifts from what you set it to?

Tried those vintage lens adapter rings and thought they'd be junk

I bought a cheap M42 to Canon EF adapter off eBay for like 8 bucks. Figured it would be loose or mess up the focus distance. But I slapped it on my old Pentax screw mount lens and it clicked right on solid as a rock. The pictures came out sharp with no light leaks through the gap. Anyone else find a cheap tool that actually did the job right?

Spent $60 on a giant pack of those white foam cores for framing prints and they warped within a week in my damp basement.

Now I'm out the cash and stuck with bent backing boards that won't sit flat in any of my frames, has anyone found a cheaper moisture-proof alternative?

My Minolta X-700 shutter finally jammed mid-roll at a swap meet last Saturday

I was lining up a shot of some old vinyl records when the mirror locked up and the shutter just stopped clicking. Had to finish the roll by manually advancing and guessing exposures with a phone light app, has anyone else dealt with a stuck shutter on the X-700?

A stranger at the lab told me my negatives were too thin and I got defensive but he was right

I dropped off a roll of Tri-X at the lab downtown and this older guy saw my negs and said they looked underexposed by about a stop. I told him I shot it at box speed like always but he pointed out my developer was probably cold. I went home, warmed my chemistry up to 68 degrees exactly, and the next roll came out perfect. Has anyone else gotten a reality check from a random person at the counter?

Can I fix a light leak on my own or send it out?

I shot a roll of Fuji C200 last weekend at Golden Gate Park and half the frames have this orange streak along the right edge. It's definitely a light leak around the back hinge of my Canon AE-1. I watched a few YouTube guides about replacing the foam seals but I've never done anything like that before. A local shop quoted me $60 to do the job which feels steep for a camera I got for $40 at a flea market. Has anyone here tried the DIY seal kits from Amazon and had them actually work?

Forgot to advance the film on a whole roll of vacation shots

Was at Yosemite last summer, hiking up to Glacier Point, and shot about 20 frames of absolutely stunning views. Got back home and realized I never hit the advance lever after loading the roll - everything was exposed on the same single frame. Ended up with one super overexposed mess of a photo that looks like a weird double exposure. Anyone else ever do something like that and actually get a cool accident out of it?

TIL I was loading film into my tank wrong for 6 years

I always thought I had to load the film onto the reel in complete darkness, which I did, but I was forcing it on with too much pressure. Last month a guy at my local camera shop in Columbus saw me struggling and asked why I wasn't wetting the reel first. He showed me how a tiny drop of water on the reel makes the film glide on smooth. Has anyone else had a simple trick like that save them hours of frustration?

I used to think you needed a sunny day for good photos

I mean, I was at the old train yard in Tacoma last month, and it was just gray and drizzly. I almost put my camera away. But I had a roll of Ilford HP5 in my Minolta, so I shot the whole thing anyway. The photos came back and the fog made the rust and metal look so soft and moody, idk, it just clicked. Now I look for cloudy days on purpose. Anyone else find their best shots come from 'bad' weather?

Burned through $40 on expired film from a flea market thinking I'd get a cool vintage look, but all I got were blank rolls and a sad darkroom session.

Has anyone else had a batch of old film that was just completely dead, and how do you test it before wasting your time and money on it?

This guy at the flea market saw my Pentax K1000 and said 'film is just for people who can't afford real cameras'

I was holding a shot of a rusty truck on Portra 400, and he just walked up and said that while I was focusing, which made me miss the light completely lol.

Heard a guy at the camera shop say he only shoots one roll a month now

He said it makes him really think about each frame instead of just spraying. I tried it with my old Pentax K1000 last week, and the photo of my neighbor's cat on the fence felt different, you know? Anyone else try slowing way down like that?

A talk with my neighbor made me see expired film differently

I always tossed any expired film I found, thinking it was just junk. My neighbor, an old teacher, gave me a roll from 1998 he found in a drawer and said, 'The flaws tell a story too.' I shot it on a cloudy day in my backyard, expecting nothing. When I got the prints back, the weird color shifts and grain made the ordinary fence and garden look like a faded memory. It completely changed how I view 'mistakes' in a photo. Has anyone else gotten a cool result from film that was way past its date?

That roll of Portra 400 I shot in a downpour last October

I was caught in a sudden rainstorm in Portland, my camera bag soaked, and I just kept shooting with my old Nikon FM2, sure the whole roll was ruined. When I got the scans back, the light through the wet streets and the muted colors from the damp haze looked amazing, totally by accident. Do you think bad weather makes for better film photos, or is it just a good excuse for happy mistakes?

Just learned my local drugstore still develops Super 8 film, which blew my mind

I was asking about 35mm at the counter in Asheville and the clerk casually mentioned they send the old movie reels out every Tuesday. Has anyone else found a totally random place that still handles a niche film format?

I've been loading my film wrong for two years and only noticed because of a light leak

So I got this old Canon AE-1 from a yard sale in Cincinnati, and for the longest time I thought I was a pro at loading it. I'd just drop the film in, pull the leader across, and close the back. I never had any major issues, just the odd frame that felt a bit off. Then, last fall, I shot a whole roll of my friend's wedding on Portra 400. When I got the scans back, there was this weird, thin orange line along the top edge of every single picture. The lab guy said it was a light leak, probably from the film not sitting flat in the canister. He asked how I loaded it, and I told him my usual way. He just shook his head and said, 'You're not catching the sprocket teeth, are you?' I wasn't. I'd been just laying the film over the take-up spool this whole time, not hooking it properly. All those slightly blurry shots I blamed on my shaky hands were probably from the film slipping. Has anyone else had a basic loading mistake that messed up a whole batch of photos?

My trusty Pentax K1000 finally gave up the ghost last month

The shutter curtain jammed halfway through a roll of Portra 400, leaving me with a dozen half-exposed frames of my niece's birthday. Anyone have a good repair shop in the Seattle area they'd recommend?

I used to shoot a whole roll in a day, now I take a month on one

For years, I'd burn through a roll of Portra 400 in a single afternoon walk, just clicking at anything. Last fall, I loaded my old Minolta and decided to only shoot when something really hit me. That roll lasted from October through November, and the last frame was this perfect shot of a rusty bike leaning against a maple tree in my neighborhood, the last leaf still stuck in the spokes. Slowing down made me SEE the shots instead of just taking them. Anyone else switch from a spray-and-pray style to a more patient approach?