In recent posts (here) and (here), I've talked about starting to shoot film again - with a Minolta Dynax 7 and a Canon EOS 300V. I've been able to put a roll of Fuji Superia 200 through each camera in the last month, and recently had the film developed during a trip to Christchurch. Let's have a look at the results....
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| Cobden Lagoon. Minolta Dynax 7 with 35-70mm f/4 (@ 35mm). Fuji Superia 200. |
First things first - both cameras work! Yay!! Of the two rolls I shot, under varying lighting conditions, the exposures were bang-on. So that's the first hurdle out of the way. Two fully functioning camera bodies.
Second, how do the images actually look? And again - no problems there. All the photos are sharp (or at least sharp enough for 35mm film scanned on a flatbed scanner) and have good colour rendition. In terms of the colour, I did find that all the photos tended towards a blue tint with the Fujicolor Superia. With almost all of the scans I removed some of the blue from the midtones and shadows to get the colour a bit more 'neutral'.
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| Lagoon Reeds. Minolta Dynax 7 with 70-210mm f4.5-5.6 (@100mm). Fuji Superia 200. |
Since having decided to shoot some film this year, I have been thinking about how to digitize the negatives. As mentioned above, the photos here have been scanned on a flatbed scanner (Epson Photo V700). I just happened to have one, and so that's what I have used to digitize almost all of my 35mm negatives. But there is a lot of buzz on the interwebs about using your digital camera and a macro lens to 'scan' your negatives. This is, they say (whoever 'they' are), the better - and quicker - way to go.
I just happen to have a full frame 24MP digital camera, and a Sigma 105mm macro lens. So this is definitely something that I will be giving a go in the near future. I may even do a 'comparison' with the flatbed scan and the digital camera scan.
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| Brunner Mine Bridge. Canon 300V with 28-80mm f4.5-5.6mm (@50mm). Fuji Superia 200. |
If I'm honest, I'm not quite sure of what I think about scanning 35mm film with a digital camera? You might argue that if you are going to do that, why not just shoot with a digital camera in the first place? And you might have a point.
But (playing devils advocate), if you want to show your photos on a digital platform, then you are going to have to digitize your negatives at some stage. So why not use the best re-productive system available to you? And if that happens to be your digital camera, then so be it. Having used a film scanner over the years, I have to say that they are a bit of a faff to use, and don't always produce the sharpest results - especially with 35mm.
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| Cobden Pigeons. Canon 300V with Canon 28-80mm (@80mm). Fujicolor Superia 200 |
Speaking for myself, the 'fun' of shooting film is in the actual process - and in the cameras I get to use. I enjoyed using both the Minolta Dynax 7 and the Canon 300V. Both very modern cameras - and yet both very different shooting experiences. The Minolta has a more 'pro' feeling about it - with a rugged magnesium-alloy body and lots of dials, whereas the Canon 300V is certainly a more consumer-grade shooting experience.
I didn't really 'prefer' one over the other - although if I'm honest I liked more of the photos I shot with the 300V. But that probably has more to do with the places I went to photograph rather than the camera's themselves.
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| Taylorville Bus. Canon 300V with Fujicolor Superia 200. |
Thoughts of scanning aside, my first rolls of film through my two film cameras was definitely a success. I got images that I really liked from both cameras - enough to want to repeat the experience. I have a trip away to Nelson for a holiday coming up, and I'm deciding whether to shoot it all on film or not. The only thing that really gives me pause is the film stock situation. I have a lot of black and white film, but no more colour. I'm not sure I really want to shoot everything on black and white, so I may end up just taking the digital and leaving the film cameras at home until I can find some more cheap colour film? Anybody know where I can get some cheap colour film from?
