Digging into Analog Photography

Tarek
Tarek
Jul 25, 2017 · 4 min read

I’m taking digital pictures for a long time now. But this year changed everything. I switched from digital to analog film.

Western Building

It all began with a crapy old antique Smena 8M, labeled “Made in UdSSR”. I found it at my grandparents house (and they got it from St. Petersburg decades ago). However, this robust little mechanical thing struck my interest.

Smena 8M, Made in UdSSR

Because it had not been used for 20, 30 years, the film advance mechanism was damaged. Therefore I opened up this little box and not only repaired the camera successfully, but also got to know how analog photography works on a technical level.

So I started taking photos, with no electronic assistance whatsoever. It is kind of hard but also rewarding to set the shutter, f-stop and even focus without any indicator — Just the Smena 8M, a simple Kodak film and me. Kind of idyllic? Yeah, but also kind of intense:

Is the subject in focus? I don’t know, I just have the marks on the lens (half a meter, one meter, two meters and so on). And what about the f-stop? How much light shall be able to pass through the lens onto the film? Should there be field of depth? And if so, how fast does the shutter speed need to be, so the image won’t be over- or underexposed?

I still feel the thrill, answering those questions for myself, when taking an analog photo. Luckily, I had already gathered a certain expertise regarding these technical questions when I was shooting digital. Otherwise it would have been very difficult — however, there is an easy way for beginners to master this problem (i will talk about it in another post).

And now I am proudly presenting my first analog pictures (btw. yes, as nearly every analog photography noob, I also screwed up my first film roll. #lightleak).

Carousel in Paris, France.
Train Station in Paris, France. (I like the enigmatic lighting and that little awkward lens flare at the top)
Double Exposure. (This happens if you forget to advance the film after taking a picture)

After my first few rolls I switched from my beloved Smena 8M to a Yashica FX-3 Super, a Japanese manufacturer, which btw. went out of business 35 years ago.

However, with my “new” Yashica camera, I got some useful goodies like focus assistance, exposure counter and the possibility to attach a flash light. And all of that for little money.

Keep your eyes open at flea markets and garage sales. I got a whole Yashica bundle for 12€ at a local flea market. It contained a not working Yashica camera, which isn’t as severe as it sounds because of the included accessories:

A zoom lens with macro functionality (worth around $60–90 bucks on eBay), an original Yashica flashlight (worth $25), a camera bag and other useful stuff. As you can see far below value, but because it’s not needed anymore (for most people) you get a great deal out of it. The risk of mal- or disfunction is present, but if you get it right you can win a lot or — in the worst case — lose just a little (for my instance it would have been 12€).

Flowers. (Taken with the macro zoom lens from the flea market)
Dandelion.
Sunshower in Weinfelden, Switzerland.

As you may have noticed, the quality of the images taken with the Yashica is fairly higher (and the look in general is very different). But that’s the nice thing about analog photography. There are so many components: the film you use, the specific gear and most importantly the exciting uncertainty.

As I started taking analog photos, my personal focus for subjects and the general composition of the image shifted. At this point, I can’t really tell what makes the difference between a digitally shot image and an analog. But there definitively is one.

Tours, France. (Smena 8M)
Café in Tours, France. (Smena 8M)
Train Station in Zurich, Switzerland. (Yashica FX-3)
Yashica FX-3.

Tarek

Written by

Tarek

Web Creator, Photographer, Musician

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