One Pic Story: Once Again Reminded Why I Love Film Photography.

I have a two Rollei 35 film camera post in the works.

While capturing images, preparing for that pos,t I had a moment that reminded me. It reminded me of why I enjoy film photography so much.

Not the gear. Not the prestige or much-ballyhooed brands.The experience.

Yesterday I had an experience that confirmed, once again, why I love using film.

I love the problem-solving aspect, how involved you have to be, and how, in solving problems, you come up with methods that generate unique results.

The old Rollei 35 LED, more on this relatively inexpensive Rollei 35 variant in a future post, has a three LED light meter display in the viewfinder, hence the name. Technically functional, but as is usually the case with these older cameras, pretty awful. Lead batteries are no longer available, of course, and the bootleg replacement, three LR44 batteries stacked, does not seem to match the voltage, so it does not seem accurate. And even if it were accurate, getting the middle light to light up green by adjusting the tiny controls that are all on the lens with my beef mitts is challenging. The end result is a dance of lights flittering between the underexposure red light and the overexposure, with brief appearances of the green light in between. So I went with Sunny 16.

I was in our local little “downtown” area, and a train approached. Not much time available, but I sorted it out in my head. Was shooting ISO 200 film, so I set the camera up for 1/500s (Top speed as with many film cameras.) and compensated by closing down the aperture a stop. I knew this would still be too slow of a shutter speed to freeze a fast moving train, so I panned. Came up with all of this from the moment I heard the first bell. Result?

My favorite pic from the day.

Was so concentrated on tracking the train in the pan that I did not notice until I developed the film that I also captured an SUV, and it looks like they are racing.

That experience cannot be replicated with digital.

I could have technically done the same with the Rollei 35AF I had on me (Or any number of film cameras.). AF would have hit the train and I could have manually set the exposure as well… But as much as makes no sense it is not the same as setting everything for yourself. More to the point HAVING to set everything yourself. Because if tech is available, I will use that tech. So to really get the full experience I am better served by a hobbled device. Hobbled by original intent or technology limitations of the day, not an artificial hobbling.

But this only works for film.

At the end of the day, a hobbled digital camera seems ridiculous to me.

You mean you put a modern digital sensor in there, but you took away:

The ability to create color images.
The back screen.
AF.
The ability to create RAW files.

And you want to charge me as much or even more for hobbling my device?

Yeah. No.

Works for analog. For me, not so much for digital. Yes, I am as prone to get caught up in hype as anyone else, as has been well documented in this space.

This is largely why, after the M pixie dust cleared and I had my fun, I eventually traded my M for another device to put behind my M lenses. A different kind of unecessary foolishness. That little voice in my head says, you know you could just…

Fold in the rear screen towards the camera.
Shoot in JPEG B&W mode.
Put on a dumb adapter and focus for yourself.

And that is what I do with digital.

But for film it makes more sense, because there is no cost penalty involved. In fact, you can save a good chunk of change. Sure, you can spend many hundreds for a more beloved Rollei 35 example. But this unloved no front dial having little beast…