As many did in 2020, I took up a new hobby to keep myself occupied. Stuck at home, I found my family’s Sony a6000 camera and began snapping photos around the house to cure the lockdown boredom.
Four years later, I am a photojournalism major, and a photographer for The Post, among other publications, and I am pursuing a career behind the camera. But in that time, I have only used digital cameras. That is until March when I bought an Ilford 35-millimeter film camera to take on a backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail.
Upon getting the scans of my photos back, I fell in love. The vivid morning colors from atop the mountain, the contrast of shadows and highlights I had not seen from my digital photos, it all clicked for me as to why film has had a comeback in recent years.
For many, it is the simplicity of an analog camera. The only things you can adjust are the aperture and shutter speed, while the ISO (sensitivity to light), or film stock, is set in place. Many film cameras do not even have an autofocusing lens, meaning one not only has to compose the shot and expose it correctly, but adjust the lens to make sure focus is attained, whereas with autofocus it is typically a push of a button.
Another reason film is making a resurgence is the limitation. A roll of standard 35mm film typically only has 24-36 shots available, meaning each photo has less margin for error.
On my most recent concert shoot of the band From Ashes to New, I got over 6,700 images across five bands. Out of those, I ended up using 82, about 1.2% of the photos. On the other hand, out of the 31 stills I shot on the AT, I ended up sending 22 to my group, a whopping 70.9% of the images.
The final reason for the comeback boils down to the vintage aesthetic. Much like the resurgence of vinyl as an audio medium, something is intriguing about going back to an older form of art. And let’s be honest, film cameras just have a great look to them.
Analog mediums like film and vinyl produce a much different, arguably more emotional, feel that digital photography and Spotify simply cannot. Ask any vinyl collector (myself included), and they will tell you so much more can be heard in the song in the physical record. The same goes for film, where one can catch a more true to life image than digital. Instead of light being coded into pixels and ones and zeros, the light is captured on an actual material and then has to be let out through chemical processes.
And due to decades of production, many film cameras are relatively cheap to get, maybe $100-$200 online, whereas a comparable quality digital camera could easily cost into the thousands.
Believe me, I love my DSLR. It has helped to get me to where I am in my photography career, being able to capture fractions of a second to get the exact perfect shot (I would not be able to shoot sports or concerts nearly as easily without it).
However, being able to slow down, really think about the shot, and capture an image I know will move me and the viewer is something I have come to greatly appreciate.
Ethan Herx is a sophomore studying photojournalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to share your thoughts? Let Ethan know by emailing or tweeting them at [email protected] or @ethanherx.