Despite initially being hesitant about digital photography, I upgraded my SLR camera – the Canon Rebel G – to digital when the Canon 350D was released in 2006. Whilst I’m no longer a Canon user (I defected to Fuji in 2022) I’ve hardly used a 35mm camera since. I quickly realised the benefit of being able to immediately see the photos I’d taken and not be limited to how many I could take, something that has now probably gone to an extreme as my photography archive overflows.
However there is something about 35mm that still appeals and we do often talk about taking our old cameras out with us instead of the digital ones. I don’t because I’m scared nothing will come out. Oh, and because the price of film processing has, perhaps unsurprisingly, sky rocketed in recent years.
When we went to Chicago in 2019 we took a couple of black and white disposable cameras with us. It was fun taking them but the results were not great.
Last weekend I went on a brutal day out in Croydon. A few people in the group have been using thermal printer cameras, the ones aimed at kids, which have had some interesting results. I haven’t bought one yet (I’ve got my eye on a duck one) so I thought it would be good to use the disposable camera I got from Santa in 2022. Afterall, why only take two cameras (my phone and my Fuji mirrorless) when I could take three.
It felt really weird using it, partly because I’m not used to having to use the viewfinder, but it was fun looking for different details and angles to use it for.
I took the film to be processed on Wednesday and that evening the digital files came through. There are of course some complete miss shots, especially at the end when I didn’t realise there were still photos to be taken, and I possibly should’ve used the flash occasionally. But there are some that I quite like, and there is without doubt something about the texture of film photography compared to digital that I’d forgotten about. It’s also great to actually hold prints in my hand as I very rarely print any of my digital photos.
Other than rotating them where needed I’ve not edited any of the disposable camera photos. I’ve not straightened the ones that clearly demonstrate I can’t take a straight photo. I’ve not brightened those that are a bit dark. Just because I have them as digital files doesn’t mean I want to treat them like digital.
I know that 35mm film cameras are en vogue at the moment, with 20 somethings keen to embrace this old school technology despite not having a clue about it works. Adam’s stories of customers asking “how do I download the photos to my camera” or “can I use half the film now and then save the other half for later” are some examples that demonstrates how people who have grown up in a digital world have no idea how the analogue world worked.
The cost of the camera and processing must’ve come to circa £40 which shows how pricey 35mm photography is these days, but it has made me want to take my 350D (or one of the other 35mm cameras that I’ve inherited from family members) out with me one day. I enjoyed having a limit on how many photos I could take which made me think more carefully about the shots I took. I was excited about getting the film processed and seeing the results in a way I’m not when it comes to downloading digital photos.
It’s possible I may be making more trips to my local snappy snaps over the coming months as I experiment more.
You can see my digital photos from Croydon and the other brutal days I’ve been on here.