The Beauty of Imperfection: Analog Camera
Hi!
It’s been quite the hard years for us with this pandemic. Not being able to go to work and going out really takes a toll on everyone. We need to think twice just to go outside. Including me, don't get me wrong I hate being out in public places but I can't really hold the urge to look for some scenes to capture with my film camera.
Speaking of film cameras, I have been interested in film cameras since a friend of mine talks about them in the office. I was already interested in photography but shooting with a smartphone doesn’t give me the feel so I decided to try. My family should have at least one.
Now, what is a film camera?
It is basically an old camera that your grandfather used back in the day or if you were born before the year 2000 your parent’s camera. The machine inside the camera is mechanically assembled so it doesn’t have any sensors. You don’t need batteries to be able to take pictures as long you load a film in.
A film roll is photo-sensitive sheets that have been pre-rolled by the manufacturer in a cartridge that blocks light to reach the sheet. You can take a varied number of shots from 27 to 36 from one film roll (some custom rolled Kodak vision have 27 shots). After each shot, you have to turn a knob to wind the sheet so the next film frame is ready to be exposed. The knob is usually on the top right and depends on your camera because the more modern model used a battery and it can automatically move to the next frame and unwind your film back to its cartridge by pressing a button.
You cannot see the result immediately. Exposed film rolls have to be developed and scanned before you can see the result.
Every film rolls have an ISO number in the box and in the cartridge. It’s basically the light sensitivity of the sheet. The higher the number the more sensitive it is to light also the more noise it would have.
An old unused Fujifilm point-and-shoot camera was the first analog camera that was given to me by my father because I asked for it. In terms of age, it is old. Older than me. But looks clean and brand-new to me since there are barely any scratches that can be found on neither the surface nor inside of the camera. In terms of build quality, it’s like your baby cousin’s toy; made out of plastic.
I got 12 blanks out of 36 from my first roll. I’m curious about what’s inside so I open the back of my camera and stupidly take shots before my dad came and slap some senses to my tiny brain on how a film burned when exposed to direct sunlight. The blanks gave me some white box picture files.
After you run out of shots you need to unwind the sheet. Usually, it’s on the top left of the camera. Pull it up you’ll find a lever to help you unwind the sheet inside. Just twist it until you cannot feel any tension then you may open the back and retrieve your film. Only one film can be loaded at a time.
The above is one of my pictures scanned from my first film. Kodak Colorplus with an ISO of 200. You can see it’s not a high contrast, there’s a lot of noise in it; it is not a perfect photo but still the tone makes it beautiful. At least for myself.
I tried to replicate this picture with filter apps but can’t seem to find the natural look. The natural and imperfect look of it. I think there are possibilities that you can achieve this kind of light leak with a photo editor such as photoshop, but it will take a lot of works for sure.
Another thing that I also love in analog photography is the surprise. You don’t know how the result would be. You don’t really know if it's exposed correctly, is it too dark? is it too bright? Nobody knows before it’s developed and scanned.
Like the digital camera, there’s also SLR (Single Lens Reflex) and rangefinder-style. Since they are the predecessors duh.
In its prime, this SLR has what it called a built-in light meter. It’s basically how to measure your light so you know that your photos won’t be overexposed or underexposed.
All those dials are responsible for the exposure (Triangle of Exposure theory).
It is simply explained by imagining a three-legged stool. All three legs should have the same size to make the stool stable right? One leg too long or too short will make the stool unusable. And the light meter will tell how long each leg should be.
I know the theory but can’t really put it into my photos.
All camera I have has not light meter. it doesn't work due to old age. To compensate for that I use a light meter app. Not perfectly accurate but still give a relatively good result said internet. It’s just me that doesn’t have the brain to do the light meter and exposure calculation.
It still has the same body shape as today's rangefinders. Light and easier to use than the SLR but I still need to practice to find the focus.
These models have different shapes but still walking on the same principle; Triangle Exposure and Rule of Three and other photography rules.
I believe the majority of people will try to eliminate any noise in their photos and tweak a lot of sections of the photo. Push the contrast, control the shadow, turn up the light to get their perfection.
Personally, I don’t think that’s the point of using an analog camera. I found that the noise, the tone, the flare from light leaking in, that all piques my interest in film photography. Okay, I did edit my photo by changing the contrast and adjust the light but only a tiny bit it doesn’t change the fact that I keep what makes it imperfect yet beautiful.