Film photography basics

Film photography is going through a bit of a revival, rather like vinyl amongst music buffs, and it’s been going on too long now to be dismissed as just a brief craze. Film manufacture is being restarted or expanded, vintage cameras are thriving and makers like Lomography are even releasing new ones. So what are the basics of film photography today?

35mm cameras and film

This is probably the most accessible format for film fans and newcomers since the cameras and lenses are still widely available and quite affordable. These cameras have a negative size the same as full frame digital cameras – in fact it’s where the idea of ‘full frame’ sensors came from, since they have the same dimensions as a 35mm negative.

35mm film comes in a long roll of 36 or 24 exposures that comes in a small cylindrical canister. The film has sprocket holes along the edges which are used to wind the film through the camera as you take pictures. You can get film in different types – black and white negative, color negative or color transparency film. Film comes in different ISO ratings, typically ISO 100 for best quality in good light, ISO 200 general purpose film and ISO 400 and above for lower-light shooting.

35mm cameras come in different types. One of the most popular is the SLR type, which is just like a digital SLR but with film instead of a sensor. 35mm SLRs up until the 1990s tend to be simpler to operate than today’s DSLRs with more manual control and simpler focusing.

You can also get 35mm rangefinder cameras which focus through a separate viewfinder. These are more expensive, especially those from prestige brands like Leica.

For a while, 35mm point and shoot cameras were popular, with motorised film advance, autofocus and a fixed focal length lens. There is a market for these cameras, which are often associated with childhood and family events, but it’s probably the more upmarket camera typles like 35mm SLRs and rangefinders which are most sought after today.

Medium format cameras and film

Medium format cameras use a larger film size approximately 60mm wide and with no sprocket holes. The larger negative size gives much better quality than 35mm film and was preferred by professional photographers and serious hobbyists.

Medium format cameras show the most variation in design and type. They include scaled up SLR designs like the Pentax 6×7, modular SLR designs like those from Hasselblad where you can swap out film backs to change films mid-roll during a shoot, and highly desirable (today) TLR, or twin lens reflex cameras, that use a pair of matched lenses, one above the other. The lower lens is the ‘taking’ lens while the upper lens is used to form an image on a ground glass screen on the top of the camera for framing and shooting.

You will often find vintage medium format shapshot cameras in charity shops and thrift stores. These simple plastic cameras have very simple controls and limited quality, but they do have a certain vintage charm.

You can also find folding, or ‘bellows’ cameras which fold flat for storage but have a drawbridge mechanism on the front which lowers to extend the lens for shooting.

Medium format film is used in a number of different ways by different cameras. The classic use is to capture 6x6cm square images, where you get 12 images per roll of 120 film (or 24 on 220 film, where available). Some cameras, such as the Pentax 645 system, take rectangular 6×4.5cm images, which is a more efficient use of film but the negatives are smaller. The Pentax 6×7 takes images 6cm high and 7cm wide, while Fujifilm made wide-angle rangefinder cameras that capture 6x9cm images.

Many medium format cameras use waist-level viewing systems which offer a unique approach to picture taking that has largely disappeared (tilting screens don’t offer quite the same experience). This flexiblity has made medium format one of the most interesting and varied film formats, and 120 film is still widely available today.

Interestingly, today’s ‘medium format’ digital cameras have sensors smaller than these classic formats, despite their name. Phase One makes cameras with sensors close to the old 6×4.5cm size, but current Fujifilm and Hasselblad cameras use smaller sensors roughly half way between full frame and the 6×4.5 format.

Large format cameras and film

Large format cameras work differently. They expose single sheets of film at a time in ‘dark slides’ inserted into the back of the camera. Photos are framed and focused on a ground glass screen on the back of the camera. This image is quite dim, which is why you see photographers disappearing under capes or hoods to set up the shot. You put the dark slide in when you’re ready to take the picture.

Large format cameras are typically on monorails, where the camera back and lens panel are separate units joined by expanding bellows. Both the back and the lens panel can typically be moved left and right, up or down, or tilted on both axes for advanced perspective and depth of field control.

You can also get folding ‘field’ cameras. These fold flat but open out so that the lens is extended and joined to the camera back by bellows. These are still being made and typically feature beautiful wooden construction and brass fittings.

Large format film comes in two main sizes. 5×4” is the smaller and most common format (smaller, but still huge by most standards!) but you can also get 10×8” cameras with negatives four times the size.

Large format photography is where the engineering is most basic but also most accessible to photographers who want to experiment both with camera designs and processing techniques. You really can build your own cameras and develop films in your shed.

This has been just a brief overview of different film camera types and a lot has been left out to keep the explanations simple for those who are relatively new to this field.

Film types and processing

Analog film falls into three main catetogories. There are many more specialised types that I’m leaving out for the sake of simplicy.

Black and white negative film is common, even today. In fact, many new brands and types are now appearing. It’s popular not just for creative and artistic reasons, but because it’s easy to process at home. It requires a developer to bring out the image, a fixer to make it permanent and that’s it. The chemicals work at room temperature and you can adapt the development time for cooler or warmer conditions. You’re left with a negative which you can scan to bring it into your digital workflow or take into a traditional ‘wet’ darkroom to make prints under an enlarger.

Color negative film is even more common today, and tends to be very forgiving of exposure errors and high-contrast scenes – back in the day it was designed with these qualities in mind for the snapshot cameras in use at the time. The processing is more complex, though, because it uses a larger number of processing steps and chemicals and at higher temperatures which need precise control. You can do it at home, but most photographers would probably just send the film to a lab. Typically you would order a ‘develop and print’ package so that you’re sent both tne negatives and a set of prints. Color negatives can be scanned, but correcting the orange color cast of negative film needs a bit of know-how.

Color transparency (slide) film was once extremely popular but has now declined in both availability and support from processing labs. The Kodachrome process has long since disappeared and even the near-universal E6 process for other slide films can be quite hard to track down now. Transparency film produces positive images which can be projected directly on to a screen, and can also be scanned. Compared to negative film, slide film can be a little tricky to use, with higher contrast and little exposure latitude. You have to be quite precise with your exposure measurements.

This has been a very brief and simplified introduction to film cameras and film. There’s a lot that’s been simplified or missed out, but these are the basics.