Recent Film Photography Articles

A Plea to Document Your life

In the age of selfies and having a camera in your pocket, it seems more and more young people have an endless camera roll of photos that will hardly, if ever, be looked at again. But is there a better way?

Zacuto Camera Shootout:  Which Cameras Perform The Best At Video

Have you ever wondered how DSLR cameras match up when compared to film and high end HD video cameras? Last year, Zacuto brought together some of the biggest names in the movie industry to see how well the first round of video capable DSLRs compared to the industry's standard film and HD video cameras in The Great Camera Shoot Out of 2010. This year they have started another series which compares some of the top cameras including 35mm Kodak 5213/5219, Arri Alexa, Red One M-X, Phantom Flex, Sony F3, Panasonic AF100, Canon 1D Mark IV, and Nikon D7000 (where is the D3s?), and a bunch of other professional video cameras. The Great Camera Shootout is a must watch if you are a gearhead or simply enjoy seeing how well the current crop of DSLR cameras are at video. It's pretty amazing to see the consumer Nikon D7000 holds its own against such a competitive group; I can only imagine what the next crop of Nikon cameras is going to do! Check out the trailer below and hit the full post for the first episode that outlines exactly what sort of tests Zacuto is going to run.
Never Before Seen Photos Of The Blues Brothers

It's always fun to see photo never released during the time they were taken. Norman Seeff talks about these shots of the blues brothers he took in 1978.
“In 1978 I got a call to shoot the Blues Brothers. They were new on the scene for me and I wasn’t yet familiar with their work. But the guys in my crew were completely thrilled with the idea of filming this duo and convinced me that we should definitely film the session."

Incredible Beach Photos on the Leica M6

Leica branded cameras have very few ‘features.’ Instead, they favor craftsmanship and quality and the Leica M6 is no exception to this.

Images of Child Labor Between 1908 and 1924

Working as an investigative photographer for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC), Lewis Hine (1874-1940) portrayed working and living conditions of children in the United States between 1908 and 1924. The Library of Congress' National Child Labor Committee Collection includes more than 5,100 photographs that came with the records of the organization. Many of the pictures are familiar, but others are relatively unexplored.

A Look at a Photography Legend: The Nikon F

Few cameras are more legendary than the Nikon F, having been in the hands of countless professionals over many decades, while still remaining a popular collector's item and film camera today. This awesome video takes a look at just what made the camera so popular and what it is like to shoot with.

Filmmaker Matt Mangham Is Back Sharing His Love for Film - Analog Episode 2

Film fanatics rejoice because filmmaker Matt Mangham is back with the second installment of Analog, a personal series he put together to find and tell stories which explore the current state of film photography. You can find the first episode here on Fstoppers. In this episode, we get to follow fashion and action sports photographer Julian Martin as he locks and loads his Leica Minilux and heads out with a model along the California shore.

Shooting Polaroid Film on the Mamiya RB67

Who doesn't love instant film? Who doesn't love shooting medium format? Using a high quality medium format camera to shoot polaroids is getting the best of both worlds.

Impossible Project Announces Their New Instant Film Camera

Impossible Project, the awesome folks that have been bringing you film for your Polaroid 600 instant cameras and even the ability to make Polaroid prints out of your camera phone images, have just announced their all-new instant film camera and it sounds awesome.

Shooting Large Format Portraits for the First Time

Have you ever wondered about what goes into producing images with a large format film camera? Take a look behind the scenes as photographer Willem Verbeeck tries out large format portraiture for the first time.

Dead Weight: Tony Irons’ Large and Medium Format Film Photography

I recently produced a documentary on fine art photographer Tony Irons, showcasing his new photography exhibit entitled “Dead Weight.” The collection includes images created in a studio setting on large format film and landscapes photographed in and around Taipei, Taiwan.

Back to Film: Camera Choices for Sony/Minolta A-Mount

It's 2017, which, if you haven't heard the news, means it's back to film (Yes, I admit I would have said the same for any year, but 2017 really is special in this regard. Read on to find out why). Most of us are living the digital photography lifestyle, however, and though every photographer is a gear hound to some degree, we're loath to overpay on stuff we don't need. Solution? Buy a film body for your existing lenses. In the first of a loose series, let's take a look at the first mount in the alphabet and your options for it. Here are some cool cameras for Sony's A-mount.

[Video] Photojournalists Reveal All in "Chimping"

As a photojournalist for the NY Post, I got to see and encounter some CRAZY stuff, and it sure sharpened my skills as a photographer and as a New Yorker in general. In D. Perez De La Garda's film, "Chimping" you get take a behind the scenes look at the life of the photojournalist. This short film features Pulitzer Prize winners Preston Gannaway and Rick Loomis, Emmy Award winner Paula Lerner, along with Todd Maisel, Chris Usher, Angela Rowlings, Edward Greenberg, Stan Wolfson, and Rita Reed. Worth a watch for sure if you are interested in what goes into shooting for a paper or publication. Enjoy!

'Chromaticity' Video Is a Magical Flight of Practical and Digital Effects

I'll be the first to say it, smoke bombs are usually too Tumblr for my taste. Generally you see them with a moody girl looking off into the distance in some backyard forest. I never got the point of those images. But I found myself mesmerized by "Chromaticity"; the smoke bombs were alive, more like wayward spirits hovering above the big blue. I was so entranced it took me half of the video to realize they were attached to drones, and the drones were nowhere to be seen.

Complete Review and Comparison of the Fujifilm Instax Camera Line-up

Whether you are looking for that perfect photography gift or something fun to carry with you on your next vacation, Fujifilm has offered instant film for a while now with a variety of cameras and printers that just might be what you are looking for. But we might need some help deciding which of the many models to get.

Photographing a New York Times Photo Story on a Large Format Camera

There is no format more extreme than large format, where the negatives dwarf even the biggest medium format sensors and each frame costs upwards of $5. With such intense costs and demands, would you use it to photograph something as important as a photo assignment for The New York Times? This neat video takes you behind the scenes with a photographer who did just that.

Sibling Rivalry: A Comparison of Kodak's Portra 160, 400, and 800

Kodak’s Portra 400 is arguably the most popular color negative film stock in the world right now and for good reason. For those that don’t already know, Kodak offers two other variants in the Portra family: Portra 160 and Portra 800.

Taking Strangers' Portraits on a Large Format Camera

If you enjoy watching portraits taken then this video will be a rare treat for you. One photographer takes an 8x10 large format camera on a number of portrait shoots of strangers and acquaintances.

[Video] Shutter Island Proves DSLRs Can Make Beautiful Films

Team Nine brings the greens, greys and sometimes blues of Iceland to you in the beautifully composed Shutter Ísland. Filmed with a Canon 7D, using a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens, the film short shows both the capabilities of DSLR HD video and the team’s eye for composition — proving one lens is all you need. For a photo-based tour, consider viewing Iwan Bigler’s Flickr set of photo stills here. I am already looking forward to their next trip. Great job Team Nine!

New Photo of Billy the Kid Found in a Bargain Bin Could Be Worth an Astounding $5 Million

A new photo has surfaced of the famed western outlaw Billy the Kid, purchased for about $2 in a junk shop in California, that could easily be worth upward of $5 million. The lucky man behind the photo purchase is Randy Guijarro who picked it up in a store around Fresno, California in 2010. Awaiting authentication for just over a year it has finally been claimed to be the kid himself.

Shooting Portraits With Vintage Land Polaroid Cameras and Peel-Apart Film

A photographer visited the factory of analog concept store Supersense in Austria to document the team who is creating a new way to use vintage Land Polaroid cameras and shoot Peel-Apart instant film. In his two-part video blogs, Mathieu Stern revealed how the collective of photographers is creating the FP-100C film that is no longer produced by Fuji.

Brilliant Documentary About the Many Lives of William Klein

In what is another phenomenal documentary from the BBC program Imagine..., we are given the chance to view the world and lives of iconic photographer William Klein as he is preparing for a retrospective of his work. Klein is one of the pioneers of street photography (more raw, up-close and personal than Henri Cartier-Bresson) as well as the creator of some of the most iconic fashion images of the 20th century. He is an artist and a filmmaker - making over 20 films, including the first ever documentary of Muhammad Ali.

Lomo 92 Film Stock Review

Over the years, I’ve accumulated a truly embarrassing amount of film stock. I’ll freely admit that it’s a sickness. If I’m being honest with myself, it likely stems from a fear of missing out on something creative and new and a fear that one day it’s all going to be gone. One day, the last roll from the last batch of the last stock is going to come off the production line, and that’ll be that.

Technicolor Explained

In a world where flipping our images between color and black and white is as simple as the click of the mouse, photographers and cinematographers today aren’t often tasked with knowing the complexity of how those vibrant colors actually come into existence. But in the early days of cinema, when competing processes for color reproduction took turns as the next best innovation, one name reigned supreme: Technicolor.

3 Things to Consider Before Buying Your First Film Camera

If digital images feel a bit too clean and clinical, consider giving your photography some soul by shooting on film. Before buying your first analog camera, here are three things that you should keep in mind.

'Master of Camera' Tells the Story of 76-Year-Old Camera Repairman

I'm a sucker for short-form documentaries and analog photography, so when I came across Filmmaker David Drill's "Master of Camera," I had to watch. It's a very well-done story of camera repairman, Gian Luigi Carminati, who's been repairing cameras for almost sixty years.