No complaints. Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1.4/50 ZE is perfect for color and contrast. Only Canon’s L-series lenses can reproduce color so correctly. Zeiss does it by default without focusing on it. Still, there is a 100 year technology gap between Carl Zeiss and Canon. The closest in color reproduction and micro-contrast I can think of is the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM.

It’s wrong to be guided by someone else’s opinion when choosing a lens. Just because someone likes taking portraits with the Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II doesn’t mean you’ll like it. While it’s a very good lens, it’s not designed for portraits. And anyone who uses the Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5L II for that and still praises it is a big enthusiast or a liar. Either way, you will be disappointed to imitate it. You can take good pictures with any lens, but it’s easier with the right one. Choose the right lens, have fun, and take great photos!

The best exposure is achieved by ensuring that the key subject has the optimum amount of light on the film. After all, this is who you are photographing, and you need as much visual information on film as possible for your subject.

Everything that surrounds your subject should take a back seat when you are measuring your scene. The best tools for taking these measurements are spot meters, incident light meters and your own eyes.

Spot meters measure the reflected light from your scene in a narrow corner – a spot. They help you get spot readings, although they are not always built into the camera. In that case, I download a smartphone app like Lumu. Light measurement apps can be more accurate than built-in meters.

However, you have to remember that spot meters have to target 18% gray (see below). This means that if you are pointing at something white, your readings can cause underexposure in the midtones, and if you are pointing at something black, your readings can cause overexposure. There are two things you can do in these situations:

• Find something in your scene that looks like medium gray, and measure it instead;
• Estimate how many steps your focus point is darker/lighter than the average gray, and compensate your exposure meter reading with that.

For example, the mushroom in the photo above is light gray, so the photographer pointed the spot meter at it and corrected the reading by about +1 step to make sure it stayed bright at my exposure. The original value gave a shutter speed of 1/125s, after compensation it became 1/60s. It takes a bit of experience to know exactly how many stops to compensate for. Practice randomly measuring the reading using the exposure meter app on your phone.

Ambient light meters are suitable for complex light measurements, and with them you don’t have to worry about compensation. Instead, they measure the available light where you are measuring.

If the photographer were to use one on the same mushroom above, he would have to walk up to the mushroom and hold the incident light meter next to his hat, pointing to the light source. That’s not always practical, especially when you’re photographing objects that are far away or trying to take a quick measurement. Incandescent light meters, moreover, are expensive.

Sun Rule 16 guarantees a good exposure if your subject is in bright sunlight, you set the aperture to 𝒇16, and the shutter speed is about 1/ISO of the film. For example, a film with ISO 100 in bright sunshine and 16 would best be exposed at a shutter speed of 1/125. Of course, you can change the camera setting to 𝒇8 (add +2 stops of light) and 1/500 (-2 stops) to get the same exposure. Over time, you will learn how to set your camera settings just by looking at your scene.

Pay attention to color, dynamic range, hue, and plasticity. You can do this with digital photography. You might even find it a simple task. It is even possible that some of my readers don’t see it as a big deal and every day they use a preset to “fry” RAW into such great photos. That’s possible. But not me.

I don’t like sitting in an editor. I don’t like Photoshop with its twisted interface and logic. I feel sorry for my time with this nonsense.

I believe that all (exactly all) modern digital processing and retouching strives for one thing: to replicate a film photograph. I see that the highest quality and most expensive retouching actually looks like an ordinary film photo taken on professional film like Fujicolor Pro 400H. Digital retouchers have nothing else to look at. Only examples from the film era. Strangely enough, I’ve only recently realized this.

I see fancy instagram people selling their preset sets. I see retouching classes where they stamp out skin pores because modern lenses are now sharp as diarrhea and expose skin flaws with the frankness of a microscope. And it makes me laugh. Because the result of all this manipulation is a bonus. For free. For free. As a bonus. If you take photos with an old film camera for 20 thousand rubles.

And I understand photographers who love retouching. They are drawn to their roots, to the photography they saw in their parents’ albums and old magazines. These people hate to see the original RAW from a digital camera. I’m like that myself. I’m itching to do something with the digital camera source.

Clean even skin, proper skintone and artistic processing is already in the film box. A film photo doesn’t need to be processed. It needs to be properly prepared and you’ll be happy with the result in the fact.

When shooting at nominal sensitivity, the graininess of the Ilford HP5+ looks about the same size, perhaps a little more grainy than the Kodak Tri-X 400.

The Tri-X and HP5+ are often compared because of their similar age (over 80 years on the market), sensitivity (ISO 400) and application (for photojournalists).

Ilford doesn’t cite any grain size or image resolution measurements for the HP5+, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s identical to the Tri-X RMS 17.

In practice, the grain size of the HP5+ is not visible on mobile devices at 35mm scans (unless you zoom in). But if you want to avoid this on larger displays and prints, you’re better off shooting the HP5+ in medium or large format.

Like the Tri-X, the HP5+ has graininess, but it’s not critical It doesn’t ruin the image or the fine details.

The grain of the film can be smooth or sharp. Smooth grit is unnoticeable, but will take away some detail. Sharp grain can help bring out some of the fine details in your images. The sharpness of the grain can vary depending on the developer, although the film itself plays a significant role in its appearance.

The HP5+ gravitates toward sharp grain. In all formats and with most developers, you expect detail, even with soft lenses.

I’ve been looking for an excuse to shoot with this film for a couple of years. I firmly decided for myself to expose it only with perfect DSLR film metering. Because only this class of camera allows me to shoot in my favorite “on the run” manner. Yes, that’s how boring I am, I like automatic (including focus), with precise metering and quick. I have an article where that comes through. I also shoot a lot of portraits. I love photographing people in general. And so I need perfect exposure with perfect skintone.

The problem is that my DSLRs were dying too fast. Now things have settled down, I’ve got working machines and it’s time for the Ektachrome. All that was left was to find a color.

I found color, shot 3 reels, developed and was looking forward to the package with developed film. Oh, that moment! That was the first time I’d seen a modern slide! I scrutinized the frames and admired the saturated colors, incredible contrast and very accurate color reproduction. The slide is a pain in the ass. But all the complications pale into insignificance when you hold a strip of color-matched film in your hands and realize that it couldn’t have been more accurate!

Coming in at number five on our list is the Panasonic Lumix LX 102. The Panasonic Lumix LX 102 serves as the follow-up to the Panasonic Lumix lx100, which happens to be one of our personal favorite point-and-shoot cameras. With the inclusion of built-in wireless and Bluetooth connectivity, along with improved image quality, the Lumix LX 102 presents a solid choice for everyday shooting for those who don’t require interchangeable lenses.

This camera packs a punch with its 25 to 100 millimeters F 1.7 to 2.8 Leica DC vario semilux lens that comes equipped with power OIS, which is instrumental in ensuring that images remain sharp. Furthermore, the 12-megapixel sensor boasts oversampling capabilities that aid in improving low-light images, while the image stabilization system permits the capturing of slower shutter speeds in dimly lit environments. The camera also has a portrait mode that allows for the snapping of crisp and clear photos of individuals, as well as the capability to shoot in 4K video mode.

With its 3-inch touchscreen LCD and built-in Wi-Fi, the Lumix LX 102 is a highly versatile camera that allows for the snapping and sharing of photos from one’s phone. While it may not possess the best low-light capabilities and lacks the all-glass lens of the Lumix G7, its range of shooting options, image quality, and ease of use render it perfectly adequate for everyday usage. Indeed, the Lumix RX 102 is a totally capable compact camera, and while we found its video and picture quality to be impressive, we do believe it to be better suited to professional or enthusiast photographers than more casual shooters.

A favorite for many, both because of its affordable price and because of the familiar color it gives. Kodak Gold is available in 200 ISO and 400 ISO (yes, the Ultramax is an overclocked Gold). Kodak Gold is considered an amateur film, but I took some of my favorite shots on Gold. Kodak Gold is famous for the most vintage picture you can get on film. It rivals only the Kodak Color in this.

What it’s good for:
Lifestyle.
Everyday photography.
A trip to a picnic.

Pros:
Cheap.
Great tones, great for general purpose photography.
Mutes colors and lightens blacks, giving your photos a faded/vintage look.

Cons:
Not considered a professional film.
Mutes colors and raises black levels, giving your photos a faded look (this can be either a plus or a minus, depending on how you look at it).

Here are the black and white films we will compare in this article:
– Ilford Delta (100, 400, 3200).
– Ilford FP4 Plus.
– Ilford HP5 Plus.
– Ilford Pan F Plus.
– Ilford XP2 Super.

What are the differences between Ilford PLUS and DELTA PROFESSIONAL films? According to Ilford, the main difference between the two is that DELTA PROFESSIONAL films use a more modern emulsion. This gives less grain at similar ISOs.

Whereas PLUS films use their classic emulsion technology, which has a greater exposure latitude than DELTA films (making them more suitable for PUSH/PULL processing and more tolerant of over/under light).

To summarize:
DELTA PROFESSIONAL: less grain at the same ISO, cleaner and sharper look.
PLUS: more grain, better for push/pull, more tolerant of exposure errors.

Note: All sample images are shown as originally scanned without any post-processing for more objectivity in the comparison.

Film photography requires more brains than digital photography. Every time you press the shutter button, you pay. Under this burden of financial responsibility, you’ll more quickly learn how to manage camera settings and composition rules. Shooting a roll of film with 36 frames will cost you about $1 per image. If you shoot 200-300 frames at a time, as you do in digital photography, you’ll realize how cheap digital photography is and how frustrating it is.

When you can shoot a series of 100 images, you don’t have to wait for the right moment. Just shoot and you’ll find a decent shot in the series. Most commercial photographers do just that. You don’t have to worry about the right exposure because you see the image on the display and adjust the exposure in the process.

Film photography is not about hundreds of images. It’s about 36 frames, or even 2-5 frames. You control the exposure and composition in each shot.

With digital, it’s easy to become a lazy photographer because you have 100500 frames and your mistakes are offset by the amount of material. For 1000 frames, even a monkey on probability theory will get one. With film you will always be conscious and creative.