January 5, 2013 - Going Old School...

Nikon FE2, Nikkor 50/1.4, Nikkor 105/2.5 AI, Nikkor 24/2 AI, Ilford XP2 400 B&W film

I learned my photography using a film SLR, and shot film for many years until I made the switch to digital in 2005. There’s no doubt that digital has changed the way we take photographs, and in some ways the capabilities of DSLRs have surpassed what we could do with film. Today’s digital sensors provide clean, usable images at high ISO settings that would have been inconceivable with film.

I still like shooting black and white film from time to time though. Part of this is the user experience of using an old-school manual film SLR. Focus, aperture, shutter and ISO settings are controlled using dials that rotate with a satisfying mechanical click. Manual focus with a bright ground-glass screen is satisfying, though challenging some times. And there is the solid clunk of the reflex mirror when you click the shutter. There’s a reason that retro-styled SLR-like cameras like the Olympus OM-D E-M5 are being received so well by the market; they combine the user experience of a quality film SLR with the advantages of digital. These are the kind of digital cameras we wished existed when we switched from film to digital.

Empress Hotel, Victoria British Columbia

So every now and then I shoot a few rolls of black and white film using an all-manual film SLR body.  I decided to take my Nikon FE2 on a recent trip to Victoria, BC, along with my DSLR, and shoot a few rolls of black and white along with my usual digital images. The FE2 works well for me because it has Aperture Priority, which is what I use most of the time. (A bonus is that it works with most modern Nikon flashes)

In terms of lenses I decided to take the following:

• Nikkor 50mm/1.4 – This is a non-AI version from 1976 which I had AI converted
• Nikkor 24/2 to cover the wide end
• Nikkor 105/2.5 AI – A lens which I love because of the classic look and bokeh

In retrospect, I could have left the 105/2.5 home, because I left it out of the camera bag most of the time, electing to lighten my bag and use the 85/1.8 AF in my bag instead. In general the 50mm and 24 mm got the most use when I was shooting film on the trip.

Waiting For Tourists...

For film I went with Ilford XP2. Though I would have loved to have stuck to my favorite black and white emulsion, Kodak Tri-X, with so many photo labs closing down it’s getting harder to find places that process black and white. XP2 is black and white C-41 film that can be processed in any color film lab. (As it turned out, my plan to have my XP2 processed and scanned at Costco didn’t work out either because they don’t do film any more either.)

It was definitely a bit of a change in mindset using a manual SLR – for one I caught myself automatically looking at the back of the camera after I shot, and I didn’t always remember to wind after shooting as I used to do automatically years ago. My manual focusing skills are definitely a little rusty too. But it did feel good to close out 2012 in retro-style, and I like the results I got.

Rogers Chocolate, Victoria