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Grainery: the new Instagram rival for film photographers

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He never writes, he never sends flowers, he just doesn’t seem interested anymore. I don’t know, since the beginning of the year he just seems kind of obsessed with watching videos, he never makes time for us anymore. He, of course, is Instagram. And it appears that we are in a very toxic relationship.

It’s no secret that more and more stills photographers are feeling disenfranchised by the once-loved app as it tries to compete with video-centric app TikTok. However, there are other options. And if you shoot film, you might want to check out this new app aimed just at film photographers called Grainery. In this video, Chris Chu walks you through what he likes about the platform.

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This is how they apply light-sensitive chemicals to film inside the Kodak Factory

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We’re back in the Kodak factory in Rochester, New York today with Destin from Smarter Every Day. It’s the second part of a three-part series looking into exactly how Kodak makes its film stock for photographers. In part one, we saw a general overview of the mechanical processes involved in making the blank film base and in part two we find out how they actually make it light sensitive.

As with the first video, part two is almost an hour long and goes into a lot of depth into not only how the process is done but why certain choices are made during manufacture, depending on the needs of the final product.

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This slow motion Apollo 11 launch footage shot in 1969 still looks absolutely incredible today

This is a video we’ve actually featured before, way back in 2014, but it appears to be making the rounds on social media again and it’s well worth a revisit. It was shot by NASA, obviously, and it’s footage of the Apollo 11 launch, shot on 16mm film at 500 frames per second in 1969. Now, that might not seem like a lot compared to the crazy slow motion cameras available today, but 53 years ago, that was pretty impressive!

When shot at 500 frames per second and played back at 30 frames per second turns that ~30-second real-time clip into an 8-minute and 22-second sequence that you just can’t take your eyes away from. The Saturn V rocket that launched Apollo 11 was an extremely powerful Heavy Lift Vehicle. It was the heaviest rocket ever to ever fly successfully, weighing in at 6.2 million pounds fully loaded.

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Street Candy Film calls it a day and shuts shop citing rising cost of production

Well, this is sad news. film company Street Candy Film, founded in 2018 by Vincent Moschetti is calling it a day. In a post to their Facebook page, the company announced that while they had great hope for the future, rising costs from their suppliers have given them no choice. They say the manufacturer who produces their product “decide[d] to triple the price of film overnight” there was nothing left for them to do.

The company released two films. ATM 400 in 2018, which was made from security surveillance film and offered a fantastic contrasty look and MTN100 in 2021, another black and white film made from motion picture film stock. As of the Facebook announcement, they said there were 174 rolls of ATM400 left, but now both films are now listed as discontinued and out of stock on the Street Candy website.

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Fujifilm confirms price increases for film, paper and related print products

It looks like yesterday’s post about Fujifilm price increases has been confirmed directly by Fujifilm. A press release on the Fujifilm website, states that film prices have increased as of today from 20-60%, with more increases to come on paper, chemicals and lab products and services over the next two months.

They say that the price increase comes as a result of a recent rise in costs for raw materials, as well as transportation, and the decline in demand for photographic-related products. Perhaps this must just be a Fujifilm thing because film’s more popular now than it’s been in years.

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Fuji is ramping up its film prices by up to 60% from next month in Japan (and maybe everywhere)

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It almost always seems to be bad news when it comes to Fujifilm. Well, ok, not so much when it comes to their mirrorless cameras but it tends to be when their film stock is the topic of the conversation. If they’re not killing them off completely then they’re ramping the prices up and it looks like that’s what they’re about to do according to a note published to Twitter by Japanese camera shop, Print Koubou.

In a tweet, Print Koubou posted a photo of the note along with a description stating that the prices for paper, chemicals, processing fees, etc. is going to go up from their Fujifilm suppliers and that they’re obviously going to have to pass these costs along to the customer. They say that they’re going to try alternate supplies to keep the prices down but also recommend customers stock up on film rolls as soon as possible.

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This fascinating documentary takes you on a journey through the Kodak factory to see how film is made

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Film’s popularity has been on the rise for a few years now, gaining more and more ground each day. And as Destin Sandlin at Smarter Every Day points out at the beginning of this video, it’s not just us photo geeks that are getting back into it, either. I wouldn’t say it’s becoming “mainstream” again, but it’s regular normal everyday people who are experimenting with film again now.

The 56-minute video is the first of a three-part series in which Dustin takes us on a tour of the Kodak Factory in Rochester, New York where they still have production lines making new rolls of film to keep the growing market happy. Kodak isn’t the only manufacturer of film that’s still around today, but they’re one of the oldest and most legendary.

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Shooting Brenizer method portraits on medium format film to simulate a large format look

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The Brenizer method has been around for a while. In fact, it’s been around since long before it was called the “Brenizer method” – he was just the guy who made it popular so the name stuck. Essentially it’s a way to simulate the look of medium format film when shooting a small sensor camera like an APS-C or full-frame DSLR or mirrorless camera.

It’s a popular and well-known technique these days, but what happens when you shoot it with medium format film? Will it look like it was shot on large format? That’s what photographer Steve Schultz wanted to find out, so he shot some with his Mamiya 645 AF medium format film camera to see what happened.

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Watch: How film and developing actually work – It’s both magic and science

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This is one of the deepest dives into film photography and the developing process I’ve seen. Not surprisingly, it’s from Destin at Smarter Every Day. He says that he went looking to find a definitive video that explained it all and he couldn’t find one. So, he made one.

Destin begins by talking of the “magic” of film and the unique look and character it has that’s impossible to reproduce digitally. He also mentions film’s resurgence of late (I guess it’s mainstream now – the hipsters will be disappointed). But it’s not magic. There’s actual science behind it and Destin takes us to visit Indie Film Lab to see how the process works.

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This video explains the science behind photographic film

I think many of us agree that there’s still something special about film photography even in the digital age. Film photos have some magic to them, and there’s a lot that comes before we see their final look. In this video, Destin Sandlin of Smarter Every Day shows you the magic and the science behind shooting, developing, and scanning a roll of 35 mm film.

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