Lately, I’ve been back to shooting film, shooting both digital and film cameras on our recent trips to Anguilla, Antigua, and Barbuda. Along for the journey were several film cameras, including the Canon EOS 1v. The 1v was Canon’s last professional 35mm SLR camera, with a magnesium alloy body and weather sealing throughout. At 10 frames per second, it was a favorite of sports shooters for years. It is a solidly built camera, and fits perfectly in my hand like the later DSLRs that Canon produced. I have the HS version, which includes a detachable power booster, however given the bulk, I leave that behind.
The beauty of traveling with the Canon EOS 1v is that it uses all the same lenses as the current line of Canon DSLRs with the EF mount. To shoot film, I’m really only adding the size of the body and the rolls of film to my camera bag.
Canon 1v, Portra 400
When looking to purchase your EOS 1v, try to avoid purchasing one with a high film roll count. On the right side of the camera is a little door which you can open. Inside is a button labeled “M.Fn.” Press it and on the LCD screen on the top of the camera you will see a three-digit number which is the roll count. This number is also imprinted on the film leader when the film is loaded. Given that it’s only three digits, it will presumably reset at 1000, so you should also examine the total picture and the source from whom you are buying to assess its overall condition.
Canon 1v, Portra 400
The camera was originally packaged with a proprietary Canon cable and Canon’s ES-E1 software, which allowed you to download your shooting data. I tried for a while to locate the software and cable with no success. Even if you could get your hands on the software, good luck getting it to work on current operating systems. However, it appears someone with far greater technical knowledge than I has figured out a solution. The folks at Meta35 offer a cable and software system for the 1v, along with some other Nikon and Minolta film cameras, allowing you to access the metadata and write the data to your scanned images. I’ll be giving the Meta35 system a look and report back! [UPDATE: Check out our review here: Meta35 Review ]
Canon 1v, Portra 400
While some may ignore film photography given the ease associated with digital, it’s very easy for me to see the difference now, and appreciate the beauty that film captures. Keep shooting!
NOTE: Originally published on August 31, 2015 on our sister site, My Irie Time.
Since returning to film photography a few years ago, I make a point of taking at least one film camera on each trip. Part of the reason is that I love the look of film. I also love playing with my old cameras and trying different techniques. Traveling to Nevis, I packed two film cameras, the Canon 1v, which uses all the same lenses as my DSLR, and the Mamiya 645 Pro TL with the 80mm f/1.9 and the 45mm f/2.8 lenses. I decided to try some slide film, so I packed a few rolls of Fuji Velvia 100 RVP, along with my trusted stocks, Kodak Ektar 100, Fuji 400H, and Kodak Portra 400. Check out the results of our adventures in film photography on Nevis!
Velvia 100 v. Ektar 100
As to the slide film, I appreciated that there was a very small window for error in exposure. The tradeoff was incredibly vivid images. When the exposure was relatively even across the frame, Velvia is perfection. When there is a harsher difference from top to bottom, Ektar performed better, at least in some respects. For example, look at this shot of the beach. Velvia is on the left. Ektar is on the right. Both were shot at box speed. These were shot close in time, although not at exactly the same time for obvious reasons. In Photoshop, I used the color match tool to have the best comparison between the two images. Both were shot on the Mamiya 645 Pro TL.
It appears to me that the detail in the highlights has been lost on the Velvia on the top of the umbrella where it was overexposed. I do appreciate that I have a bit more shake on the Velvia image (you can see it’s sharper under the umbrella on the Ektar image), perhaps human error, or perhaps it was a bit of wind which shook the umbrella accounting in part for the difference. Regardless, I love the fine grain on the Velvia, and the depth of color is striking.
Where the exposure was more even across the frame, the Velvia was beautiful. I will definitely be shooting more slide film.
Human Error
My standby film stocks are my standby’s for a reason. They perform beautifully, even when I am not so precise on my exposures, and even when I made some grave errors. For example, I had a few rum drinks at Sunshine’s beach bar, and while changing the film out of my Pro TL, I dropped a roll into my lap. I thought all those exposures were completely lost as I fumbled to quickly roll it back onto the spool. Although there is evidence of light leak as a result of my fiddly fingers, the exposures survived. I cropped it square and applied a gradient and the shot was salvageable.
Double Exposures
I experimented with double exposures this trip, using my Canon 1v and a roll of Portra 400. On the 1v, you open the side panel and press the multi exposure button to enable multiple exposures. After you shoot the second frame it resets, so you don’t forget and end up shooting a whole roll of double exposures. This was my first try, and in the future, I will try to put the elements of the second shot just off the face.
Here are a few more film images from the trip.
All shot on Mamiya 645 Pro TL. Clockwise from top left: Portra 400, Portra 400, Ektar 100, Ektar 100, Ektar 100, Fuji 400H, Fuji 400H, Ektar 100
Overall, I was glad to bring all the extra gear to shoot film on this trip. It is fun to experiment with film photography, and even the failures are not so bad.
Last November, on our first trip with film in eight years (#filmroadtrip: Road Test – Anguilla), we learned a lot of lessons. One of my missions on this trip was to correct at least some of the mistakes I made. So on this #FilmRoadTrip: Road Test – Barbuda & Antigua, I tweaked a few things, shot more film, and was pretty pleased with the results. As always, though, there is still room for improvement.
Traveling with a lot of gear is not easy. I wanted to shoot both medium format and 35mm, along with my digital, but I wanted to watch the weight. I knew that on our flight to Barbuda, a small prop plane, they would be weighing everything (including us!) so I had to be mindful of the load. Here is the film gear I packed:
Mamiya 645 Pro TL
Mamiya 80mm f/1.9
Mamiya 45mm f/2.8
Mamiya Extension Tube 3-S
Canon EOS 1v, plus these lenses, which are also used on my digital camera:
I did not bring my light meter. I planned to rely on the built-in meters, having used them in the past and found them to be predictable.
Canon 1v, Portra 400Canon 1v, Portra 400
The Film
This year, I brought only two film stocks, Fuji 400H and Kodak Portra 400. They were my favorites in Anguilla, and I saw no reason to bring others. I brought more than I needed and ended up shooting 5 rolls of 35mm and 13 rolls of 120. I did not utilized lead-lined bags and did not ask for a hand check given that I was using 400 speed film. All shots were processed and scanned by Richard Photo Lab, and tweaked by me in Lightroom.
Mamiya Pro TL, Fuji 400H / Mamiya Pro TL, Portra 400
Canon 1v, Fuji 400H / Canon 1v, Portra 400
Mamiya Pro TL, Portra 400 / Mamiya Pro TL, Fuji 400H
The Road Test
This trip was to two separate islands. First was four nights on Barbuda, which we reached by three flights, the third being a small prop plane. Then we flew back to Antigua and took a boat to Jumby Bay Island. I expected lots of sunshine and lots of reflective sand and water, so circular polarizers were the rule, rather than the exception. I was limiting film shots to daylight, up to sunset. I didn’t want to pack more gear, and prefer digital for shots of the night sky.
Mamiya Pro TL, Fuji 400HMamiya Pro TL, Fuji 400H / Mamiya Pro TL, Fuji 400H
The Results: The Good
1. Lots more keepers!
Woo hoo! Probably my biggest accomplishment is wasting less film. When you shoot film you are VERY aware of the cost of each shot, keeping in mind the cost of the film itself, plus the cost of processing and scanning. My biggest criticism of my shots are related not to the use of film but to poor composition or execution, meaning I would have screwed up the shot even if I was shooting digital.
Canon 1v, Fuji 400HCanon 1v, Portra 400
2. I remembered the circular polarizer.
With all the excitement of shooting film in Anguilla, I forgot some of the basics, including the need for filters, particularly the circular polarizer when confronted with all that glare. This trip, I had a circular polarizer in all the filter sizes for my lenses. This made the biggest difference between my shots on that trip versus this trip.
Mamiya Pro TL, Fuji 400HCanon 1v, Fuji 400H
3. I cut down on the number of repeat shots.
One of my problems shooting in Anguilla was a lack of self-confidence. I was so afraid of not getting a shot that I burned a lot of film shooting the same scene. This time I was very aware of how many times I shot the same subject or angle. If I repeated this time, it was because I knew I pooched the focus or because the lighting changed and I wanted to capture it.
Canon 1v, Portra 400Mamiya Pro TL, Fuji 400H
4. My manual focusing improved.
Although I messed up from time to time, my manual focusing improved considerably on this trip. I still need to remember to account for the super shallow depth of field when using the extension tubes, but overall, my ability to focus manually improved.
Mamiya Pro TL Fuji 400HMamiya Pro TL, Fuji 400H
The Results: The Bad
1. Several shots were VERY underexposed.
I remember while walking back from lunch that I noticed the aperture on my Mamiya 80mm f/1.9 was all the way up at f/22. Always check your settings. It’s easy to slide the dial on a manual focus lens and pooch a bunch of shots.
Mamiya Pro TL, Fuji 400H
2. Great shots on the wide angle lens. Too bad you forgot to pull the lens hood back.
Now I have a lot of very nice oval shots. I always put the lens hood on to avoid dinging my lens – – just have to remember to fold it back on the wide angle lens. Oh well, you’ll see those on Instagram once I crop them down to squares.
Mamiya Pro TL, Portra 400
3. One of my legs must be shorter than the other, or I don’t compensate for the slope when shooting along the beach.
My medium format shots were better owing to the crosshairs which are visible through the viewfinder. I need to watch this on the 35mm.
Canon 1v, Fuji 400H
4. A few shots were ruined due to light leaks.
It was my own fault. I forgot I had a roll of film in the camera before I packed it and I opened it up, exposing a few frames. Make sure your cameras are empty before you travel.
Canon 1v, Portra 400
5. Manual focusing is really tough when you are using an extension tube.
That depth of field is wafer thin with the 3-S extension tube on the Mamiya 80mm f/1.9. Close that aperture down!
Mamiya Pro TL, Fuji 400HMamiya Pro TL, Fuji 400H
But remember, not all mistakes are that bad.
I kind of like this shot. I focused on Antigua in the distance and overexposed the shot. A mistake, but still kind of cool.
Mamiya Pro TL, Fuji 400H
NOTE: Originally published on July 7, 2015 on our sister site, My Irie Time
We took the film on the road and the results are back.We took the film cameras to Anguilla, the Canon 1V and the Mamiya Pro TL.We took a variety of film stocks, Fuji 400H, Kodak Portra 400, Porta 160, and Ektar 100.We experimented and burned a lot of film.Many lessons were learned.Here are my impressions of our efforts and the results.
1.Digital has ruined me for film – shooting the same scene again and again.I am so accustomed to shooting RAW and shooting multiple images to try to nail the shot that I wasted a lot of film.For example, I had the sense when shooting a sunset on Rendezvous Bay that I was not getting the exposure right.In digital, I shoot and adjust, and reshoot, and repeat until I feel comfortable. What I need to do is more thinking and less shooting.I found that I went from one mistake to another and never really nailed the shot.In the end, my favorite shots were the ones where I took one shot, and my least favorite were the ones where I somehow knew I wasn’t nailing it, but just couldn’t nail it, despite many, many efforts.
Canon 1v, Canon 135mm f/2, Fuji 400H
2.Digital has ruined me for film – part two – settling for OK because I can fix it in post.I was so excited to get out and shoot film that I found myself forgetting the basics.Errors in digital can be corrected.If I shoot RAW, and I always do, I can correct most mistakes in exposure. It promotes laziness.I can take the sunset shot without using my ND filter on digital and recover a lot in post.Do it with film, and I lose a ton of color. I need to strive more for perfection.Fewer shots and better shots.
Mamiya Pro TL, Mamiya 80mm f/1.9, Fuji 400H
3.Manual focusing is tough, especially when you have impatient subjects who want to get to the beach.I have been spoiled by my autofocus cameras.I took both an autofocus (Canon 1V) and a manual focus film camera (Mamiya Pro TL with 80/1.9 and 45/2.8).I used the Mamiya with the 80mm lens on our Christmas card photo shoot.It’s really tough focusing manually with any accuracy when the subjects are accustomed to getting in an out of a shot quickly.
Mamiya Pro TL, Mamiya 80mm f/1.9, Portra 400
4. My favorite film stocks were Fuji 400H and Portra 400. I went through my film scans to pick my favorites, not aware of what film stocks they were shot on. I just got my negatives back from Richard Photo Lab, and of 23 favorites, 7 were shot on Portra 400 and 16 were shot on Fuji 400H. Ektar 100 and Portra 160 did not make the cut.
5.I will travel with film again.It was not difficult to travel with film, especially with the Canon 1V.It uses all the same lenses (and filters) that I use on my Canon 5D Mark II, so it was hardly adding anything to my bag.Traveling with film was easy.I kept it in my carryon to avoid the high x-rays of the checked luggage.I never asked for handchecking by TSA given that my film ISOs ranged from 100 to 400and there was no compromise of the film, having gone through scanners three times.
As for my mistakes in exposures, I could spend more time on my shots and think more while shooting. I didn’t use my Sekonic meter, relying upon the meter in the camera for ease of use. I was not mindful of my need for my filters, circular polarizer and ND filters, and I will be more aware of that next time.I will take more time for my shots, and will shoot less.
Canon 1v, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8, Fuji 400H
Despite all the failures, I will travel with film again.A mistake is not tragic if you learn from it.I plan to keep the film thing going.It was worth the extra gear just for the portraits alone.The skin of my teenagers looked so much better on film than digital.I shot our Christmas card photo in both, and I preferred the film hands down. Even the shots of silly things, like signs along the way, I loved the look of my film shots far more than digital.The digital versions looked sharper, almost to the point of being too sharp, if that’s possible.I can see why people love film, how it brings across more of the feeling of the scene, rather that the technically perfect reality of the situation.Sometimes I need a little less reality, and a little more feeling, particularly when the snow starts to fall here and I look back on my shots of my favorite island.
The “Colony’s Colony,” Charleston offers a wealth of history, great restaurants, and stunning architecture. For more on the connection between Charleston and the island of Barbados, visit our sister site, My Irie Time for the story of The Colony’s Colony, The Barbados-Charleston Connection.
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