You might see someone use a film camera on Instagram, you might have a friend who likes to pull out their disposable film camera, or you might have a grandfather who was a retired journalist and gives you his Leica as a birthday present… Okay maybe the last one is not so common, but whatever the reason you might be curious about trying this film camera hobby.
But where do you start? Should you grab an SLR, a rangefinder or a half frame? Should you go medium-format or stick to 35mm? There seem to be too many options!
But don’t worry about it too much – unless you’re a professional photographer, your first camera shouldn’t require you to max out your credit card.
A trusty point & shoot is the first point of entry for many aspiring film photographers. For the average Joe or Jenny, you don’t need to buy a tonne of gear to start making awesome pictures.
Fit for Purpose
Olympus mju is a great travel companion camera
Try to think what you’re going to use it for – do you want to capture your travels? Then you might want something compact and sturdy so that you can throw it in a bag and not worry about breaking it. A clamshell design such as an Olympus mju is great for keeping the dust and dirt off the lens. Are you on a budget? Then something like a Pentax Espio can fit the bill. Do you like to take photos at parties? Then you could splash out for a Contax T2 which has a flash and a premium build to match the price tag. There is a slightly more pocket-friendly Yashica T4 which can accomplish similar goals.
All of the above are AF or Autofocus cameras which take care of not only the focusing but usually also the metering and exposure.
Format? What format?
Choosing a camera format can be tricky with all the options
While there are several wonderful formats to try out including Half-frame, medium format and large format. Not to mention instant cameras like Instax or polaroid! When talking about point & shoots, 35mm or full-frame is undeniably the most common format, therefore giving you the widest options of cameras and not to mention the variety of available film brands – think Kodak, Ilford, Fujifilm and Lomography.
Staying focused
What if you are more of an intermediate and want to have a bit of control over the settings, then you can try out the Olympus XA (the original XA not the XA1) which is a pocketable rangefinder camera with manual focus but automatic metering. There is also the amazing Nikon 28Ti which is a real gem but almost bordering on the “advanced compact” category so not exactly a point & shoot.
Beginner favorite SLR: Canon AE-1
If you want to have the most control over your images and level up your photography, you should consider an interchangeable lens SLR like the beginner-friendly Canon AE-1 or Pentax K1000, which we will cover in a future article so stay tuned!
