DO NOT Make These Mistakes as a 35mm Film Beginner
Alrighty, I will right this briefly, for additional info and questions, please dm me on Instagram at my Shop @catmera_store
- DON’T BUY 24 FRAMES FILM ROLL
Reason: Your 35mm cameras use 135 ( 35mm) films ( the most popular and the ones people have been using). There are 36 and 24 frames respectively.
Usually, a 24-frame roll comes in a pack of 3.
Simple math: 3 x 24 = 72 pictures possibly. And costs you $15 ish x 3 = $45 for 3 rolls developed and scanned. Meanwhile, it only costs you $30 for 72 pictures with 2 rolls of 36 frames.
And by the way, 3 rolls of 24 frames are always more expensive than 2 rolls of 36 frames.
2. DON’T BUY FILM FROM AMAZON
Simply it’s more expensiveeeeee. Buy from B&H photo or Moment or searching on google instead. For B&H photo or Moment, they’re sold out pretty quickly, so leave your email and they’ll let you know when films are in stock.
Tips: if you like cinestill, buy directly from cinestill website. Idk why and how but Cinestill also selling Porta 400 135 and 120 type ( out of stock at this moment I write this blog). And their price is the cheapest.
3. DON’T BUY 120 FILM
If you read this blog, it’s likely that you’re a beginner and the camera you’re using is 35mm and uses 135 ( 35mm) films as I mentioned above.
Some people I know actually bought the wrong one because pack of 5 roll 120 film is cheaper than pack of 5 135 ( 35mm ) film.
If you already made mistake, no worries, I’ll buy your pack with 1/3 price 🙂 jkd
4. BLANK ROLL DUE TO FILM LOADING MISHAP
It happened to me twice. The first time was my first roll and the most current time is the roll I just finished ( after 2 years since my first roll).
PLEASE LOAD YOUR FILM CAREFULLY, WATCH THE TUTORIAL CAREFULLY AND PAY ATTENTION ON YOUR ROLL AND YOUR CAMERA.
Tips: Watch or search “how to tell if I load the film correctly” or “how to tell if I load the film mishap”.
Otherwise you will lose one film roll, $15 of develop- scan your film and most important: Lose all and all the memories…
5. DON’T FOLLOW THE TREND AND OVERPAID
Trendy cameras aren't necessarily better. Sometimes they are simply more popular. And the color/ the quality of your pictures is 100% affected by your lens and film, not the camera body ( I know I know but I’m talking about gear, not the ENVIRONMENT )
And I see some shops overprice the trendy cameras, so being smart, spend more time investigate about film cameras in general and you will find the better one with cheaper price.
In short, I hate Canon AE1s ( even though I’m selling 8 of them for $200–$250 ish). NOT CHEAP BUT NOT $500 AS I SEE IN OTHER SHOPS OMG.
Oh, by the way, if you’re thinking about buying a Contax T2, you will cry.
6. DON’T BUY KODAK H35 HALF FRAME and DISPOSABLE CAMERA
Well, to be honest, this is not a mistake. There are just my personal things and I totally understand why you guys buy them ( I really do). I kind of get upset when I see more and more companies trying to make quick bucks by creating cheap, low-quality film cameras and putting them on the market. Also, they still make disposable cameras. Definitely more plastic waste.
I totally understand that films are getting more and more expensive, and getting 72 photos out of one roll is pretty impressive and cost-efficient. But when it comes to image quality, for example, if you want to print out pictures and frame them, now you see what I mean here. Quality is over quantity, always.
I really, really don’t want to make Kodak H35 users feel sad or upset, however, this is what I really think and suggest the newbie not do. So if you already bought an H35 or a brand new made film camera, I hope you enjoy it and please don’t give a shite about what I just said. I’m just a random guy on the internet.
If you’re new and don’t have a film camera yet, acquiring a new used film camera would be better ( even though it would stop working 2 days after you buy it). Well, your film camera broke in the middle of the trip is part of the film journey~
