I find shooting film is a fulfilling experience, especially if you develop and print your own rolls. But what does it take to make the rolls of film you shoot, the chemicals, and the photographic paper? ILFORD Photo has recently published a beautiful short film which takes you “behind the scenes” of its UK factory. If you’ve ever wanted to see how all things film are made, this movie lets you take a peek inside the facilities and see what happens before the film reaches the shelves.
Shooting film isn’t vegan-friendly, and Ilford explains why
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Shooting film isn’t vegan-friendly. If you are a vegan, you might have already been aware of this, as film contains gelatin. But on a special FAQ page, Ilford helps you learn more. The company explains why shooting film isn’t vegan, but also tells you more about their other products, animal by-products in them, and about testing chemicals on animals.
Ilford’s crash course teaches you how to develop black and white film
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Despite all the new, high-end digital cameras, film photography has been regaining popularity in recent years. So, perhaps you’d also like to grab an old film camera and shoot a roll of black and white film. If this is the case, Ilford Photo has a great crash course for you. In this video, they’ll teach you how to develop your very first black and white film at home.
Use a bulk loader to massively cut the cost of shooting film
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If the cost implications of shooting photography on 35mm film are putting you off, then worry not. The two biggest expenses to shooting film are the acquisition of the film and then developing it. A few days ago, we showed you how you can save some money by developing your own. Now, here’s Nick Mayo to show us how we can cut down the cost of the film itself.
These are the top 10 film stocks that photographers prefer
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When a new film photographer asks the community which films are the best, all voices tend to agree on Porta, Tri-X, and HP5 but are these the most favourite? In this article, we are going to look at the top 10 films photographers prefer.
If you’ve been following the blog for a while now, you’ve certainly tried at least once the Film Dating tool I’ve developed. It’s been a few month since I launched it and its popularity went way beyond my expectations.
2017 will be the year that film makes its big return
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I just came across a very interesting set of interviews posted on Zorki Photo. In the post, photographer Stephen Dowling talks with the bigwigs at Ilford, Kodak, Film Ferrania and others. He wanted their thoughts on the current world of film potography. They all agree, the market is definitely growing. Of course, they sell film, so they’re bound to be naturally optimistic. But, we’ve seen an upsurge in interest for film related content recently here on DIYP, too.
Kodak have just announced a re-release of Ektachrome. Film Ferrania have released a P30 reinvention. Bergger have released an entirely new black & white film. They wouldn’t be doing that if there wasn’t a genuine interest. Especially in an age when some manufacturers are killing them off like there’s no tomorrow.
This neat animation shows how a Single Lens Reflex camera works
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Ilford Photo have been popping out some new videos lately. Amongst them is this cool little animation that shows, in simple terms, how a 35mm film SLR works. The 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera was a revolutionary development for photography. It was the ultimate compromise of quality and portability. But most importantly, it allowed the photographer to see through the lens of the camera and know exactly how the image would be captured on film.
Up until this point, most small portable cameras had separate viewfinders. They gave you a rough idea, and sometimes they were close, but never perfect. These days, much of the world has shifted entirely to digital. Although many still shoot film alongside digital. While the recording medium may have changed, the principle still remains the same.
How to get the best contrast and most detail when developing your own black & white film
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The World of analog photography keeps surprising me every day a bit more! I recently read about a technique called Stand Development so I have decided to try it myself. For those of who never heard of it before, let me explain you the differences between a normal development process.
When developing, as recommended by manufacturers, we are supposed to make regular agitations to ensure that the exposed film is always in contact with fresh developer. This is because the developer exhausts itself after a while and is no longer able to transform the particles of silver on the emulsion. Agitations also ensure that all the tonalities are evenly revealed.
This may be the last Cibachrome image ever taken, and it’s a hand built camera
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Have you ever tried Cibachrome (Ilfochrome) processing? The materials for it are not produced any longer, and I suppose most of us will never get to see or make such photos. But artist and engineer Tim Hunkin was lucky enough to have some of the papers left in stock. He chose quite a strange DIY camera, developed the photos inside of it, and achieved remarkable results.
Shooting large format on a budget with 4×5 direct positive paper
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There’s little question that getting into film photography can still become rather expensive, especially if you’re going large format. But it doesn’t have to be. Sure, you can spend a fortune on a large format view camera and complete darkroom setup, but do you really need it? I’ve been following Joe Van Cleave’s YouTube channel for a while now, and in this recent video he’s going to help answer that question.
Joe regularly posts videos documenting his adventures with film, with some great tips for the rest of us. From compact darkrooms to DIY 35mm film canister pinhole cameras, Joes videos cover a wide range of film related topics. In this video, Joe takes a look at the minimum requirement required for shooting 4×5 large format Harman Direct Positive Paper.
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