Preparation
Look for some basic controls on the camera. Not all cameras will have all of these, and some might not even have any of them, so don’t worry if you see something described that isn’t on your camera. We’ll be referring to these later in the article, so it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with them now.
The shutter speed dial sets the shutter speed, i.e. the time for which the film is exposed to light. More modern (1960s and onwards) cameras will show this in regular increments like 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, etc. Older cameras use weird and seemingly arbitrary values.
The aperture ring controls the aperture, which is a small opening near the front of the lens.[1] These are usually marked in standard increments, and nearly any lens will have settings of f/8 and f/11. The aperture ring is usually on the lens itself, but not always; some later (1980s and onwards) SLRs will allow this to be controlled from the camera itself, for example. Some systems (like Canon EOS) don’t have aperture rings at all.
A larger aperture (smaller number, as the size of the aperture is expressed as a ratio against the focal length) means less depth of field (i.e. less of your scene in focus), and more light being let onto the film. A smaller aperture will let less light onto the film, and give more depth of field. For example, with a 50mm focused to 8 feet, at an aperture of f/5.6, the portion of your scene from about 6.5 to 11 feet would be in focus. At an aperture of f/16, the portion from about 4.5 to 60 feet would be in focus.
The ISO dial which may be marked as ASA, tells the camera the speed of your film. This may not be a dial at all; it might be a series of button presses. Either way, this is necessary for cameras that have automatic exposure mechanisms, as different films will require a different exposure; ISO 50 film will require an exposure twice as long as an ISO 100 film, for example.
On some cameras, this is not necessary, and sometimes it’s not even possible; many more recent cameras read the film speed from electrical contacts on the film cartridge itself. If your camera has electrical contacts inside the film chamber, then it’s a DX-capable camera. This usually “just works”, so don’t worry about this too much.
The mode dial sets various automatic exposure modes, if your camera has them available. This is common on fully-automatic electronic SLRs from the late 80s onwards. Sadly, all cameras call their modes different things; for example, Nikon call shutter-priority “S”, and Canon inexplicably call it “Tv”. We’ll explore this later, but you want to keep it in “P” (meaning program automatic) most of the time.
The focusing ring focuses the lens to the distance to your subject. This will usually have distances in both feet and meters, as well as an ∞ marking (for focusing an infinite distance away). Some cameras (like the Olympus Trip 35) will, instead, have focusing zones, sometimes with cute little symbols marking what the zones are.
The rewind release allows you to rewind your film. Normally, while shooting the film is locked so that it can only move forwards and not backwards into the canister, for obvious reasons. The rewind release simply unlocks this safety mechanism. This is usually a small button located on the base of the camera, slightly recessed into the body, but some cameras are weird and have it elsewhere.
The rewind crank lets you wind your film back into the canister. It’s usually on the left-hand-side, and more often than not has a little flip-out lever to make it easier to turn. Some motorised cameras don’t have this at all, and instead take care of rewinding your film all by itself, or have a switch to do it.
Change your battery if your camera has one Nearly all batteries for every 35mm camera ever made can be obtained very cheaply, since they don’t use proprietary batteries like most digital cameras, and they last nearly forever; you can’t afford to not change them.
A few older cameras will expect 1.35v PX-625 mercury batteries, which are very difficult to obtain now and have no voltage regulation circuits to cope with the widely-available 1.5v PX625 batteries. You can get around this by either experiment (shoot a roll of film and see if your exposure is out, and compensate accordingly), or use a piece of wire to wedge a #675 cell into the battery compartment.
Load your film Even though 35mm film cartridges are meant to be light-proof, it’s still a bad idea to do this in direct sunlight. Go indoors, or at least into the shade. There are two kinds of cameras you’ll have to worry about, and only one that you’re likely to encounter: Rear-loading cameras or Bottom-loading cameras
Set the film speed. Usually, you should set it to the same as your film. Some cameras will consistently over- or under-expose by a certain amount; shoot a slide film to determine this experimentally.
Shooting
Focus your shot. We’ll detail this first because some old SLR cameras need their apertures stopped down in order to meter; this makes the viewfinder much darker, and makes it harder to see when you’re in focus or not.
- Auto-focus cameras
- Manual-focus single-lens reflex cameras
- Manual-focus rangefinder cameras
- Viewfinder cameras
Set your exposure Remember that older cameras have stupid meters; they only read a small area at the center of the screen. So if your subject is off-center, then point the camera at the subject, meter, and then reframe your shot. The specifics of getting a good exposure differ from camera to camera.
Frame your shot and shoot. The artistic elements of composing a photograph is well outside the scope of this article, but you will find some useful pointers in How to Take Better Photographs and How to Develop Your Photography Skills.
Shoot till you hit the end of the roll. You’ll know when you’re there when either the camera refuses to wind on (for those cameras with automatic winders), or otherwise when winding the film on becomes very difficult (if this is you, don’t force it). It won’t necessarily be when you’ve used up 24 or 36 exposures (or however many you have on your film); some cameras will allow you to milk up to an extra 4 frames above the rated number. When you get there, you’ll need to rewind the film. Some motorised cameras do this automatically as soon as you hit the end of the roll; some other motorised ones will have a rewind switch.
If you don’t, don’t worry. Press your rewind release button. Now turn your rewind crank in the direction indicated on the crank (usually clockwise). You’ll notice that near to the end of the film the crank gets stiffer, and then becomes very easy to turn. When you hit this, stop winding and open the back.
Get your film developed. If you’re shooting negative film then fortunately you can still get this done nearly anywhere. Slide film and traditional black-and-white film requires very different processes; check with a local camera store if you need help finding someone to develop your film for you.
Check your film for exposure problems. Look for obvious under- and over-exposure. All films tend to look horrible and murky when underexposed; slide films will blow highlights nearly as readily as digital cameras when overexposed. If these things do not indicate poor technique (such as metering on the wrong part of your scene), it means that your meter is wrong or that your shutter is inaccurate. Set your ISO speed manually, as described earlier. For example, if you’re underexposing on ISO 400 film, set the ISO dial to 200 or so.
Stick another roll of film in and go shoot some more. Practice makes perfect. Go out and take as many photos as you can afford to take. And don’t forget to show your results off to the world.
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