Focal Points
The first infrared film was developed in 1910 by Robert Williams Wood. His experimental film required very long exposures to properly capture enough light to illuminate the images. It wasn’t until the 1930s where infrared film became available to the public when Kodak developed film emulsions that were responsive to infrared light.
So if you watched the video, I didn’t differentiate between which shots were Kodak Ektar 100 and CineStill 50D. Right now, I’ll separate them just in case you’re unsure. Once you see them, it becomes pretty clear. And whether one is better than the other just comes down to preference I suppose.
This area is in Macon County, North Carolina - it’s where I grew up. So even if the photos didn’t all turn out as I’d hoped - it was still fun spending the day with a longtime best friend exploring places we didn’t really appreciate properly growing up.
It’s one thing to explain the higher resolution of medium format over 35mm - but being able to see it firsthand helps dramatically - in my opinion.
On this episode of Focal Collective we shoot one roll of Kodak Portra 400 with the Canon A1 in Miami Beach, Florida (South Beach). The video gives a behind the scenes look at the photos taken with this camera. The Canon A1 is a great 35mm film camera for beginners.
To compare these different 35mm films, perhaps it’s most honest to simply add a few sample photos and say “pick whichever you prefer” and leave it at that. So I’ll try and be brief about this without getting into a debate on the merits of digital vs film photography.
Anybody with an Instagram account has probably spent the last several years bombarded with photographs of Iceland. It’s been unavoidable for some time now. We’ve all seen so many photos of Iceland it starts to feel like you’ve already been. Whether it's to capture the northern lights or long exposures of waterfalls, it seems like heaven for landscape photographs.
There are many different lens options and each one has a different purpose and use. Lenses are known to be quite expensive so I will be showing you a budget friendly solution for some pretty epic glass.
So perhaps you want to shoot a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 or Ilford HP-5 400, but you’re not sure where to develop 35mm film these days?
On this episode Mac Blessen teaches us a few tips and tricks using his Leica M6 in Washington, DC.
