I got my first film camera in my early 20s and I always remember using disposables before that. It’s an increasingly expensive hobby, but for me it’s an essential one. You can use all the filters in the world but you can never replicate the feeling of analogue photographs.

I tend to have 1 roll of film on the go for day to day moments, it usually takes me about 3 months to get through one. Then every holiday I use at least 1-3 rolls of film. It’s such a special way to capture the essence of a place.

When you take a digital photo, there is so much information in it, it picks up everything, just the same as our eyes do. Versus a film photo which has all that information stripped back. It picks and chooses the light, shadow, colour, tones and detail. Which gives a really special and unique view of the subject or landscape. I just love it.

This is a hobby for me, i’m self taught and by no means an expert but its something i’ve been so invested in for years. I always get questions on what cameras I use so I thought i’d share mine with you.

Olympus OM10 35mm camera

This was my second camera and my favourite one today. Sourced on Ebay for about £80. This feels like a very delicate camera and takes some level of understanding to use it. It needs to be in a case and you can’t just keep it at the bottom of your bag on hols. I wouldn’t recommend as a beginners camera, but if you have some level of photography then its perfect. It produced the best quality images out of all my cameras. It’s manual focus which means you can create incredible depth of field and control over the image. In my opinion it works best with natural light. The sound it makes when you press the shutter is so beautiful and mechanical. Its one of my fave things about using it.

Here are some images i’ve taken with it, using Portra 400 and Kodak Gold 200:

Pentax Zoom 90 Camera

Another one found on Ebay, this time for a measly £20! This is an incredible camera. Its autofocus and only has a couple of modes, so you have less control of the image and need to depend more on good lighting, but the images are so crisp and have a real vintage film feel to them. The images change so much depending on the type of film you choose too. I recently used a B&W film and the grain and contrast was incredible when compared to some other film I’ve used. It also has an amazing zoom function which allows you to frame the photos more effectively.

Here are some images from France and Ireland using Kodak Colourmax & Gold 200.

Kodak Ektar Half Frame Camera

My most recent purchase was this Kodak camera. This mimics the feel and effect of a disposable camera, but its not disposable. Its sturdy but light, you can leave it in your handbag and not worry about it breaking. At only £50 its super economical, and you also get double the amount of frames! Its a half frame camera meaning it literally splits each frame in half. So a 26 exposure film will produce 52 images. It does mean that the resolution will be much lower, so you probably couldn’t blow the images up big but they do give even more of a grainy ‘film’ effect. A perfect camera for everyday use, and also works well indoors with the flash.

Here are some images from france using the half frame.

35mm Film

I’ve tried a few different films and my faves are;

Kodak Gold (for warm, golden light - it doesn’t work well in gloomy london)
Kodak Ultramax
Kodak Colourplus
Portra (this is v expensive so I only use this with the Olympus camera and I’m quite precious about the images I take)
Ilford HP5 (high contrast)
Kentmere Pan (good range of midtones, low contrast)

I buy film at https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/collections/bc-all mostly, or the photographers gallery in Soho also has a great range. Don’t buy film on Amazon or Snappy Snaps, its almost always overpriced.

I do tend to get film developed at Snappy Snaps however as its my closest shop, and I mostly just get digital copies, or there are loads of independent shops in London that also price fairly, faves listed below.

https://www.apertureuk.com/service/film-processing-london/

https://www.analoguefilms.co.uk/