Film for 2012

Bessa R4A Rangefinder with Cosina Voigtlander 21mm f4 lens

One of my guiding principles for 2012 is to not waste time or money if it is not getting me to an end goal. Today, I share with you one of my goals, that is to become a better photographer. I have read several stories on shooting film everyday for a year makes you a better photographer. It makes you slow down. It makes you understand exposure. It makes you focus on composition as opposed to gun and run digital photography. In the end, I bet I get as many "keepers" as I do with digital.

In the past few weeks I've been researching just about every type of film camera, film type and film scanner. I've gone through my old college books and read countless old reviews, forums, and online opinions on film photography. While I'd love to find a used Leica M6 TTL, I just can't afford one of those. I also don't want the high roller image of the red dot...Even though I know many true artists and not so wealthy photographers shoot with Leica. Nope. I've set my sights on a used Bessa R4A Rangefinder with a wide angle 21mm Voigtlander lens.

Beyond price, how did I land on this set up? Well...I have a bike photo project that I am exploring that I believe needs to be shot using film. Assuming the set up works the way I envision, this project could take me 2 years to complete. Yep, that's right, 2 years but that is another story for another day. I can and will say it involves bikes and that you will likely see an image or two along the way from this project. This requires a wide angle lens with a fairly deep depth of field. The Bessa R4A is the only rangefinder available equipped with a wide angle view finder. This coupled with a 21mm or 25mm lens should do the trick.

I shot the first roll of black and white film last week and am shooting the first roll of color this week. These two images above are super lo res scans from the first roll just to get something up on the blog. Nothing great as I am just focused on learning right now. While these images have loads of issues, I see a glimpse of hope in these images. I think that meaningful and impactful images will come later once I figure it all out and find the film and processing I desire. I hope I can pull through.

So...It's time to go ride my bike and take a few pictures.

Comments

[ari]

Yes Voigtlander. My mom used to take pictures of my brother and me with a Folding Bessa using 120 film. I currently shoot a Bessa with a Nokton 50mm. Photos are great. You will greatly enjoy the r4. Hope all is well,
Ari

[Anthony]

Hey Gnat,

I'm trying film for the first time this year as well. After a lot of looking around I have a camera on the way, which makes me both excited and nervous. Look forward to seeing your posts for inspiration!

Regards,
Anthony

[SFuller]

I've been spending a lot more time with my camera this year as I started my first Project 365. Reading this made me think how much I've come to rely on Lightroom to fix incorrect exposure or bad composition. Shoot in RAW, spend some time in post processing and it's easy for a an amateur like me to turn out reasonable work. It's developing, but taken to a whole new level. You have to question if that's the right approach to take though. This will give me something to think about as I'm looking through that viewfinder. I'm looking forward to seeing your film shots as you post them.