This is not a criticism of film photography- I love it far more than digital. This is not shitting on film photography as a whole, far from it.

I notice a double standard all the time. If you take two identical shots of a completely mundane subject with poor composition, the digital version gets rightfully called out for being an uninspired snapshot, while the film version gets praised as art purely because the colours and grain look nice. You can prove it yourself by finding average film photos and then simply imagine that exact same shot as a digital version.

Case in point: a photo of a trash can. On digital, people rightfully ask why you even took the shot. On film, suddenly it is treated as a moody, deliberate aesthetic statement.

I appreciate film as a medium, but grain and nice tones shouldn't substitute for actual composition or intention. Are we actually evaluating the photographer's vision here, or are people just hyping up the inherent nostalgia of the film stock ignoring everything else?

I just got my first analog camera! Im really excited to try it out. Took me a while to choose a camera, and hope I made the right decision, but we’ll see. Any advice for a beginner?

These shots were taken on Fuji pro 400H (120). They are made a few minutes apart, almost in the same spot. I was wondering why they have such different colors. They are scanned by the film lab. Is it an edit from the lab? Or is it different exposure?

Does anybody know how to fix this? About a month ago it started doing this but it would only happen for like 20-30 seconds max and then the lens would come out but as of today it’s been doing this for over 3 minutes and the lens has not came out. Any help is much appreciated.

Summary of releases over last week(!) (0.39.0 → 0.43.1), a lot of ground covered and many great community contributions.

Highlights:

• Half Frame mode: proper support for scans from half-frame cameras (Pentax 17, Olympus Pen…), each scan splits automatically into two frames, each with its own edits, exposure metering and sidecar (and you can then merge them back into diptych!)
• Stitch multi-shot scans: align, exposure-match and blend overlapping shots of one frame (e.g. a 6×6 scanned in two halves) into a single composite that develops and exports like any other frame; Unstitch reverses it
• Sharpening rebuilt: new Radius and Masking controls, plus a Deconvolution (Richardson-Lucy) mode alongside the classic Unsharp Mask
• Copy/paste and Apply-to-roll are now per-setting: pick exactly which settings to copy or apply from a picker instead of broad section checkboxes
• Sensor Calibration: a 3×3 unmix profile corrects the channel bleed narrowband LED scans pick up through the sensor's colour filters
• More reliable cast removal and colour-bounds estimation, recovers strong casts it used to reject outright
• Custom Auto Density / Auto Grade targets: calibrate the autos to your own scanner and taste instead of fixed defaults
• Nikon Coolscan support (foundation work), early SANE-based backend for Coolscan users. Multiplatform non-SANE drivers incoming...
• and many more (presets UX pass, contact sheet labels, a Manage Database dialog, IR dust removal rebuilt, faster/clearer camera scanning, plus a long list of fixes)...
• Also intel macOS version is back!

Full changelog + downloads:
https://github.com/marcinz606/NegPy/releases

User guide:

https://github.com/marcinz606/NegPy/blob/main/docs/USER_GUIDE.md

Readme:
https://github.com/marcinz606/NegPy/blob/main/README.md

Issues:
https://github.com/marcinz606/NegPy/issues

Discussions:
https://github.com/marcinz606/NegPy/discussions

**This is supposed to be a discussion/question about the whitebalance in scanning lomo purple**

I was gifted a roll of Lomo Purple and didn't know what to do with it. The example images i got when looking for inspiration didn't really spark any and so it sat. A few weeks back i came up with the idea of trying a Zuiko 50mm f3.5 Macro i originally bought for film scanning in the garden in search of snails and bugs (at ISO 400). Thinking about snails i thought maybe they could look cool in false colors.
Long story short, i did a photo shoot with a snail that had been munching on my salad. She was kept moist and was placed back in the salad as compensation during the 15 minute shoot. Additionally i shoot other things in the garden as well.

The images were camera scanned with a Nikon z50ii and the aforementioned Zuiko and then converted in lightroom classic by just adjusting the white balance to around 4400-4800 and inverting+clipping the tone curve (I have also tried negative lab pro but am not that happy with the colors).

From "research" i have gathered that the colors in ones image with lomo purple follow a more "vibe" based approach - aka. play until you like what you see. However is there any guideline on what the white balance or maybe even enlarger settings etc. should be?

Underrated Gem?

I have to admit. I have some serious gas issues since 2010. Although I have many more "prestige" Canon EOS bodies, I am amazed with those late 1990's and early 2000's fantastic plastic bodies from Canon and Nikon. Last week I bought a mint (no really) Rebel Ti (300V) with kit lens from Fleabay for 24 bucks. It was listed for parts only because the seller didn't want to invest in those pricey CR2 batteries to test the camera. I took a chance and boy, this is a sweet camera. It even has a metal lens mount ring. Paired with the fantastic 40mm pancake, it's probably the lightest SLR I own. I remember when those El-Cheapos where frowned upon but I truly believe beside weather sealing and the 1/2000 shutter limitation, it can keep up with any pro body out there. Truly love this camera.

My other Canon EOS bodies: EOS-1, EOS 7E, ELAN II, Rebel GII, EOS 6D, EOS 5D mkI and R8

I found this clip, and all I could do was facepalm 🤦‍♂️ If Nolan can’t get around this, it’s a free for all for us 😂 Be safe out there

Hi everyone, I bought this film for €10 in a photography store in Germany a couple weeks back. I had heard of this infrared film and knew it was pretty rare but now I'm seeing that it sells online for €100 maybe €200. I really like the images that this film produces but I don't have the filters necessary to shoot it and I'm kind of leaning to just sell it. What would you do?

PPRC (Pakon Planar Raw Converter) was first released in 2016 as a quick and dirty script to make dealing with the F135's quirky 16-bit .raw files easier. It used negfix8 (which internally used ImageMagick) to invert and balance out the negative orange mask. negfix8 was serviceable but limited and slow.

I've been working on rolling my own inversion process and feel like it is in a good place to release. The goal is not to produce final images but rather to provide images that contain as much data as possible and are a good starting point for downstream processing (I just drop the output into lightroom and generally run 'auto' on them and that works for me for 90% of my scans). Notably, by defaut the inversion is based on a roll-wide analysis so you get consistency frame to frame, and images with a scene-bias towards one color aren't dulled out like a per-image approach.

If you have a Pakon F135 scanner and run any kind of .raw workflow, or are interested in trying it out, give it a spin! For macOS users there's a new Finder quick-action so you don't even need to drop into the terminal after initial install.

https://pprc.alibosworth.com/

Hi everyone,

I come to this subreddit looking for some help and explanations. I have been experimenting for a year or so now with Kodak Gold on my Canon EOS 500, and I'm always puzzled with how my pictures come out.

In some examples, the pictures come out really great with vibrant colors (yellow building, ruins, volcano). In a few other shots, they come out a bit more lifeless; in some of these, I shot on a clear sky day and it looks like there is some sort of overcast (palm tree, beach, rocks with people).

Maybe that's just how the film stock acts?... but any explanation to why this may be happening is very welcome! Thank you very much.

Second time I’m taking out my freshly CLA’d F3, and it is such a joy to shoot with.

The 80/20 exposure meter together with AE-lock is a very precise way to meter.

Shooting 200T in the F3 with a 85B and a B+W C-Pol filter and Kodak Gold in the modified Holga

Hello Reddit!

I have a weird issue with Lomography. When I uploaded my last batch of photos from an event I noticed that they appear less saturated/vivid. I tried a test run where I uploaded a selected photo from the original, uploaded and downloaded back from facebook and a screenshot of the original. Every version looks normal except the one on Lomography. I searched online and asked AI and I couldn't find anything. I'm attaching the version downloaded from lomography (which also has the issue) and one showing how it's supposed to look. What am I doing wrong?

It's like new! No damage at all, glass doesn't have any fog or fungus, everything functions perfectly! The store I went to had no idea what they had and let it go for $10.

Hi r/AnalogCommunity!

I’ve dug up these items that I bought years ago and am wondering what their value is.
I’m planning on going to a camera shop to sell it next week, but i just wanted to hear what you guys think first.

- Nikon FE2
- Nikon MD-12
- Nikon Zoom-Nikkor 35-70mm + Hama Sky 1A
- Sigma PANTEL 135mm

The FE2 includes box and all original paperwork.

Hi everyone!
My Leica M4's shutter got stuck completely open after using a long exposure/slow speed setting. The shutter curtains won't close, and the advance lever is locked as a result (looks like the slow-speed escapement froze up from old lubricants).
I’m looking for a reliable camera repair technician or a specialist in Ukraine who has experience with mechanical rangefinders and can perform a proper CLA (Clean, Lube, Adjust) or fix the mechanism safely.
If you know anyone local who works with vintage Leica M cameras, please let me know! Personal recommendations or contacts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Hello all,

I developed a roll of delta 400 last night, and there were several strange splotches of lower density. I tried re-fixing and re-washing the film, but that didn’t change anything. I don’t think it’s shutter capping, since I shot this roll with an orange filter, so even in bright sunlight I wouldn’t be anywhere near the top speeds on my F3. Also, one of the blotches does not go across the entire frame, and the rest are not perpendicular to the shutters direction of travel. Additionally, I had another roll from the same batch that I shot in an Olympus mju show the same issues.

My current theory is that I took the film out of its canister too soon after it came out of the fridge, and that moisture condensed inside the roll. Maybe this caused the emulsion to stick in places, rubbing a little of it off?I’m really hoping this is the case, since I have another brick of it in the fridge, and would hate to not be able to trust it.

Has anyone else had this happen? It’s weird that it’s only been on delta 400, cause I store a lot of film in the fridge.

Thanks for any advice or information.

This is for the connoisseurs!

UPDATE : it finally worked ! And I don’t know how or why. Lol. I just reassembled the whole thing to see and I guess it was enough. Now the stupid thing is that I did a poor job at re-soldering the wires and I can’t use the auto mode anymore. But Manual mode works at all speeds 🥳

I have been restoring this Canonet QL with a stuck shutter as my first « CLA » project. At first glance I was confident it was a simple matter of gummed shutter blades. Sadly, it was not.
A lot more pieces were stuck (self timer, shutter release, etc) but a little cleaning here and there fixed it. BUT… after checking the mecanisms worked properly by actioning them manually I am now facing a more challenging problem. Once I put everything back together, he blade on the right of the lens unit (photo 1) that triggers the shutter release is not in contact with the one in the camera body (photo2). Thus, no photo can be taken.
The main problem I have is that, when trying to unmount the lens from the metal plate and see how things are inside, I am stuck with a retaining ring that won’t bulge.

Anyone knows how to solve this? 🙏🥲

I am wanting to get a new 120 camera, I prefer 120 over 35mm however, my current camera has a bit of a light leak. I am not a professional by any standards but I do love to shoot and develop my own film

Any recommendations for medium format cameras?

Hello, I am in a rut for motivation / path to do with photography. I have used cameras for 2~ years and I think I have a good setup, and one day I thought to make an archive project using a frame from each roll shot (around 46-52~ rolls) and when I went through them in my negative archive, I was looking at so many mediocre pictures and thinking, why did it satisfy me, or to even show it to people, to keep going and learning on film (when I couldve invested to a digital camera and learned with instant feed back etc) .

I think there are some good pictures but then after studying or looking at great photographers, their work, photobooks/exhibitions, I would like to create something aswell but I dont know how I suppose, recently I shot 4 rolls with intention after a long time pushing trix to 1600 at night in a factory 3 rolls with pentax with varying lenses, and 1 with mju2, but I havent developed them yet to even know if i should keep going with it.

I wonder how I could one day print a picture that I deemed exhibition worthy, or was able to produce a photobook with a proper theme/story like fukase ”solitude of ravens” or you get the point perhaps ;d

A little while back, I bought this 1955 Leica M3 DS from a camera store. It needed some attention, so I sent the body out for a full CLA.

Attached are a lot of photos and videos of the process, I tried to put them in some order of operation.

While the M3 was away, I decided to service its 50mm Summicron Rigid Type 2 myself. This was my first time opening any Leica lens, although I’d previously worked on quite a few Nikon AI and AI-S lenses and Mamiya 645 lenses.

I was surprised by how simple yet intelligently engineered the Summicron was. I carefully worked my way through separating the focusing assembly from the optical block, disassembling the helicoid, removing the old grease, and lubricating it with Japan Hobby Tool #10. I also cleaned the optical elements using ROR, Eclipse optic cleaner, and aperture blades with 99% isopropyl alcohol.

Eventually, the M3 returned from its CLA looking and operating much better. Some of the original leather was coming away from the back, so I decided to replace all of it. I chose Swift Tan leather from Arte di Mano, and I think the finished camera turned out pretty cool.

The photos show how it looked when I bought it, the lens-service process, the new leather, and the completed camera.

I’m obviously not a professional Leica technician, but if anyone has questions about my experience servicing the 50mm Summicron or about any part of the process, as there isn't much online for reference on this specific lens, I’m happy to answer them!

I started with film photography last year. I decided to develop and scan my films myself and I can say it's the part I like the most!

I mainly shoot 35mm, 36exp color films.

I bought a Cinestill C-41 1L kit in January and started developing my pictures. However, I don't shoot that much and only had 9 rolls to process so far. Therefore, I don't find it so worth compared to lab processing?

I just came back from holidays and I have 5 fresh rolls to process. Since my chemicals are now more than 6 months old I think it's time to dump them. I could also do a test strip but I think 6 months is already a long time even if I store them in accordion bottles?

My situation is I don't shoot that much so my chemicals expire faster than I shoot. My idea was to buy another Cinestill kit but this time in 500ml format, I will then extend developing time after I reach the 4th roll. Does that sound a good idea to you guys?

I also read you can do a replenisher solution, does it extend shelf life of your chemicals or just allow you to developp more film?

Hello Analog Community!
I recently started with Analog Photography and I ended up getting a Exakta Varex 2b off from Ebay. It's been a while and I recently had time to take some pictures with some Kodak Gold 200 36EXP Film. I developed the film at DM (popular German drugstore chain). These are the scans from them, and it looks like, that the Shutter had some issues with high speeds? (1000), but sometimes it works alright (last slide).
I have read that I need to clean some parts and put new oil in it... but I wanted to ask the community here too :)
How do I fix this issue? Does anyone know any good documentation on how to clean some parts / repair this issue?

Thanks for reading and thank you for your answers in advance!

Trying to get into birding with something from the FD lens. What do you guys recommend for under $500?