We may all have thought that analog photography is dead. Most photographers switched to digital when DSLRs first became affordable. I bought my first digital EOS camera in 2005 and when I got my beloved 30D two years later, I turned into a ‘digital only’ photographer, because I realized that there was no technical benefit of shooting film anymore. The 30D’s 8 megapixel sensor was good enough for basically everything. Modern cameras use even more advanced sensors with great high ISO capabilities, large dynamic range, lots of AF points, high frame rate, etc. I love this modern technology, but I also have to admit that in many situations it doesn’t really necessary to take great nature photographs. It sure makes it easier, but new cameras haven’t made past techniques obsolete. Not even film cameras.
The Wind of Storm, Hungary, 2007. Gear: Canon EOS 50E, Canon 17-40mm f/4 L, Fuji Velvia
At its core, a film camera is not much different from digital, but it brings you back to the basics. In 2017, ten years after I shot my last film photograph (see the picture above), I bought a 30-year-old Canon EOS 620 and started using film again. I just missed the feel of analog photography and now I really enjoy shooting the old-fashioned way again. There’s something romantic about it and I love that it makes me slow down and forces me to be more meticulous with my photography. Furthermore, by clicking less I get more time to enjoy nature and this is the most important matter for me, so I made the decision that in 2020 I’ll only shoot analog nature photos. I will use my EOS 620 for landscape photography, but I also needed another camera for birds and wildlife. When I started doing nature photography in the ’90s, the Canon EOS-1 was the best camera on the market. I was a high school student so for me it was only a dream, because it cost a fortune back then. Luckily, today they are very cheap on the used market, so I decided to make my childhood dream come true and bought one on eBay from Japan. It was only $130 + $35 shipping and it’s in nearly mint condition. Here’s the unboxing video of this beautiful camera:
Canon EOS-1
This legendary film camera was introduced in 1989 and it was the first professional EOS camera. This fantastic piece of gear was very important in Canon’s history, because it won over the professional photographers for its superior AF system and exceptional durability. It has a very precise cross-type AF sensor with predictive AI Servo mode. It also has back-button focusing. I’ve been using this technique for years and it’s even more useful with the EOS-1, because it has only one AF point. The build quality is also remarkable and its design has been so successful that its descendants continue to maintain their style based on the original EOS-1. It was one of the fastest cameras when it hit the market. With the Booster it can shoot 5.5 Frames Per Second (4.5 with AI Servo mode). I probably won’t use it this way, because one of my goal is to shoot less and for me 2.5 FPS is more than enough. I might not even use the Booster, because the EOS-1 fits better in my bag without it. Canon introduced its signature back dial with this camera too, so it makes it easy to use in manual mode or to make exposure compensation in any automatic shooting mode. It has 3 metering modes and 8 custom functions so it’s easy to program this camera to your individual preference. All in all the EOS-1 is a great action camera for shooting birds and wildlife.
Lenses for analog nature photography
Every EF series Canon lens from 1987 works perfectly with the EOS-1. I already have the lenses I need and don’t plan to buy anything else in the near future. The 17-40mm f/4 L and the 70-200mm f/4 L lenses are perfect for landscape photography or even for larger flowers and insects if I ever get the urge to photograph such creatures. The 300mm f/4 L especially with the 1.4x extender is a great wildlife lens if you know how to get close to wild animals. Of course it has its limits, but for the projects I’ve been planning for this year it should be perfect. If I decide to extend my film photography adventure beyond this year, I might need something bigger, but for now I’m happy with the lenses I have.
Films for the great outdoors (+scanning)
Back in the “film days” every nature photographer used slide film, mainly because we liked to project our photos as part of a slide show. However, nowadays we digitize all of our images to show them on the web, send them to magazines, or to print them, and we can even project our digital photos, therefore we can easily do anything we want with color negative film too. It’s much cheaper than slide film and easier to find a place to develop it. I started using Kodak Ektar 100 three years ago and immediately fell in love with this stock so I plan to use it for my landscape images onwards, while I will mainly shoot Kodak Portra 400 for bird and wildlife photography. ISO 400 is the fastest film I would use on 35mm, but it should be enough for most situations. Both these professional films have very fine grain, incredible dynamic range and great colors. For digitizing them I use my dedicated 35mm film scanner, a Plustek 8200i with the industry standard SilverFast software. It offers high resolution, high quality scans. The real optical output of this scanner (~3600 DPI) is very close to what film has to offer which is around 16-20 megapixel on a 35mm film. This quality is enough for web use, magazine publications or even printing up to 12″x18″, so for me shooting 35mm color negative film for my nature photographs has no real disadvantage.
Final thoughts
I don’t believe that using film makes me a better nature photographer and I still think that digital is superior to film in a technical way. However, analog has a different feel and it requires a bit different approach. It’s definitely more challenging and has many limitations comparing to modern digital cameras, but I like these restrictions as long as the output is great and I believe I can get the images I want with my analog EOS cameras and my Canon lenses using color negative film. So why not? 😉
