Upcoming Project: With A Roll Of 35mm Film And Camera

Although I currently own a couple of old 35mm film cameras, the Olympus OM10 and Canon A1, I’m thinking of buying a new film camera for a project. It’s going to be a specific type of camera for a very specific reason, to capture a specific subject. Let’s discuss. 

The Camera 

I’ve looked at a number of cameras to fulfil my needs. I don’t want to use a large SLR because of its size and the way modern film is developed and distributed (more on that later). So I’ve decided on the Kodak M38 point and shoot camera.

It’s an updated version of the Kodak M35, offering exactly the same features, but with a stronger flash and a better film loading mechanism.

• Fixed focus from 1m to infinity. 
• F/10 aperture.
• 1/120 shutter speed.
• 31mm focal length lens.

It has simple controls, a button for the shutter, a dial to forward the film and a switch to turn the flash on and off.

Why this camera? 

There is a very specific reason I want to use this camera. Firstly it’s relatively small and very light, and secondly it uses what is basically a disposable film camera lens (basically like the lens in the Retropia lens that I reviewed this year). That lens was a lot of fun, and the focal length was perfect on a full frame camera. 

However, it’s promise of reliving film on a digital camera just missed the mark because… Well… Digital is digital. 

Another reason is I want that nostalgic look. For that reason I want to avoid as many clinical things as I can for this experience. I want it to be as if I was back shooting film in the 1980s through to the early 2000s on the cameras that captured the moments in our lives while out and about, at children’s parties, at play and at family gatherings.

I also never really see any images these days taken with a film camera that can’t be taken with a point and shoot. Film photographers seem to play very safe with their images.

When you see images shot on film these days, they are so clinically perfect, that they may as well be digital images. In fact, for many it is just digital images with the extra step of using a film camera instead of a digital camera. Film literally doesn’t look like film anymore (because its a digital file!), and certainly not the film that childhood memories were captured on (this is because of various reasons, such as many cameras back in the day were simple point and shoots, the SLR images were not shot with the technicality that we use today, film was cheap and abundant so we didn’t care as much as we do now etc). For this reason, I’m going to follow this criteria: 

• Images will be captured only handheld with the camera. 
• Flash will be used when needed outdoor and always indoors. 
• I will only receive the printed images (unless there’s no option at the developing company I decide to use).
• No editing (*) at all, no cropping, no highlight/shadow adjustments, no white balance corrections, no noise reduction even if they’re scanned.

(*) This is based on if digital TIFF files are received as part of the developing.

The project

(1) To capture minimalistic daytime images and collect 14 of these images to be project worthy. Plus a minimum of 6 family images to be framed around the house. All from one roll of film.

(2) To hunt down a developer still using older technology, where modern flat bed scanners are not used.

(3) To have fun with film, and make it as authentic as possible with little to no digital interaction.

*** This project is fully planned, the items are ready to buy in my basket online. I’m just waiting for a busy week to pass and then it will go from there ***