Expired 35mm film - what can you hope to get from it?

Got Some Expired 35mm film – Let’s Shoot it

So you’ve got some expired 35mm film! My first inclination is that if you’ve got some expired 35mm film – let’s shoot it. Shooting with expired film can be highly rewarding. There are however ups and downs associated with the journey, some you might expect, others not so obvious. Whatever you do though, don’t let …

The Pentax Espio 928 is a cracker | The Creative Camera

I’m a sucker for good film gear and the Pentax Espio 928 is a cracker!

I’m a sucker for good film gear and the Pentax Espio 928 is a cracker! Before I tell you why I thnk that the Pentax Espio 928 is a cracker, I want to talk about the particular problems I have found with film. Basically  this is, one camera, one film. Until you’ve shot to the …

5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Shoot With Film

5 Good Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Shoot Film

I first started shooting and developing film back in the 1980’s. I remember those first experiences and in particular, sitting in a cupboard loading film into a developing tank. Great fun and very nostalgic when I look back. I wish I still had access to those early negatives. This being said, I certainly wouldn’t class …

5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Shoot With Film

An old Olympus Trip and a 35mm Film Disaster

An old Olympus Trip and a 35mm Film Disaster Relying on your experience as a photographer doesn’t mean that you are not going to suffer disasters as my recent encounter with an old Olympus Trip camera loaded with 35mm film proves! Background Recently I found an old Olympus Trip camera in one of our unused …

Why White Balance, Colour & Highlight Roll-off matter in film simulations

Putting aside for a moment the really important requirements for a good photo, that is content and composition, without either of which your photos will immediately fail, if your photo is trying to mimic a particular film stock then to be truly believable it has to provide a believable colour pallet. While there are many …

A walk with Ilford FP4 Plus 125

This is the second roll of film I have put through my aging Pentax KM and I’m very much more pleased with these results than for the Kentmere 400 (also an Ilford product) that I tried first. Now, that could be down to inexperience, it was the first roll of film I had developed in …

Nailing the Film Experience

Not being able to accurately digitise film makes it pretty difficult to work out if you actually took good pictures or not. Was the focus off, was the lighting good, was the subject matter sufficiently interesting to even bother! This is exactly the position I found myself in recently when I decided to experiment with …

Lomography Digitalizer 35mm Film Scanning Mask

I’ve mentioned the Lomography Digitalizer 35mm Film Scanning Mask (Lomography Digitalizer) in a few of my blogs but I thought I’d focus specifically on it for this one. Firstly, the Lomography Digitalizer is a simple scanning mask which can clamp and hold a strip of up to six 35mm colour or B&W negatives. You could …

Digitising Film The final solution – almost!

Digitising Film The final solution – almost! Over the past week or two I’ve been experimenting with ways of capturing digital images directly from film negatives. I’ve been trying to do this as cheaply as possible by using as much of the gear as I have to hand to keep costs down. I’ve already created …

Is Ilford FP4 Plus 125 still the darling of film photography

Is Ilford FP4 Plus 125 still the darling of film photography

Is Ilford FP4 Plus 125 still the darling of film photography? A recent shoot using Kentmere 400 resulted in decidedly indifferent results so yesterday morning I decided to shoot and process some Ilford FP Plus 125 B&W film that I have in the fridge using the same camera as for the Kentmere but with a …