Real real film cameras - with film?

Question

I'm just too into film making and so want to try out a real real film camera -with film. At the moment I'm trapped with a little digital camera. Where would get a film camera and how much would it cost? Plus if you know whats the quailty diffrence of 8mm film and 35mm film?

ok I see It's so expensive but just understand me I love film and just want the oppertunity to use real film!

Answer 1

As film becomes obsolete, more professionals are turning to digital recordings using computer hard drives for moving pictures. Some cameras can be rented that use real film though. The cinematic standard for years has been 35mm for both motion picture and still cameras. Still cameras use larger film formats for very high definition photos.

An 8mm or 16mm film camera is considered acceptable for amateur use and projection on small screens where the grain of the film is not distracting. Photographic film has chemical layers that are sensitive to light and each layer is made of tiny grains of the chemical. This affects the image when magnified onto a large screen or print.

Digital cameras also have "grain" in the form of pixels. With a cheap camera you can see the pixels, which makes the image fuzzy. A modern Nikon SLR digital camera can actually take a clearer picture than a Nikon SLR film camera using 100 speed 35mm film. Less "grain" in the digital picture.

For motion pictures the best quality image will be from a 35mm film as the image can be projected on a theatre-size screen and remain clear. An 8mm image will be too grainy on that size screen, but acceptable on a 4X5 foot screen.
Using 35 mm film is a bit expensive for a beginner. To experiment try the cheaper 8mm, if you can find it, you may have to special order it.

What you get from using a film camera is an understanding of the relationships between shutter speed, aperture, depth-of-field, focus, stop-action and lighting. Things which the user of most digital cameras will never learn or care about because they are not photographers. You should learn how to do it manually, so you will know when to override the automatics built into a professional grade digital manually and have real control of the image, instead of a snapshot done by a computer. In a digital SLR camera, the digital part should only replace the film, not the photographer.

Film is going the way of vinyl records for music. Where would you get new vinyl records today?

Answer 2

OK, First let me ask, Why? In order to properly use a real film camera you have to be acquainted with and know how to set the focus (manually most times) and also the right exposure settings. Now as to how much the cameras cost. The camera themselves ( at least for 8mm ) are fairly cheep at around $30 - $100 and are best found in antique stores ( no lie!) and of course on eBay. However it is very costly to buy the film and then have it developed. For around 3 min of film to buy and then develop it, it costs around $50. Also this old film doesn't have sound, is poor quality, and requires a lot of know how to get a good exposure. 35mm film is actually what they use in movies today. A 35mm camera is a thousand dollars and up and the film costs even more money to buy and develop ( lets just say too expensive unless you are professional). Unless you just want to buy a 8mm camera to fool around with ( you defiantly wont be making any movies as that takes some training) and don't care about the results then that is fine. If you actually want to film something real ( like a movie, event, occasion, etc. ) then film is defiantly not for you. While it is nice to play around with, it certainly isn't price and skill wise for a armature movie. 35mm while very expensive and the cameras aren't really affordable is good quality and does give the feel that only true film can get. However in the digital world Canon's XL2 does come close. Oh by the way you will need to get a film projector too so that you can view the processed film.

Answer 3

As you mention 8mm, I presume that you are talking movies here. 8mm was the smallest format, super 8 had about 50% more picture area and a magnetic stripe for sound., 16mm had 4 times the definition of 8mm and was generally used for educational films. The best 16mm cine camera was the Arriflex, especially when sync'ed to the Nagra IV tape recorder. 35mm is only affordable by the big studios.

I would suggest that if you want to progress in cinematography you go down the route of professional video equipment.

Apologies if I've got the wrong end of the stick.

Answer 4

Look at the trade-in cameras /second user at your local camera shop - real bargains to be had now that everyone is changing to digital cameras , Cost £10 upwards-should get a really good one with telephoto lens if you want to go up towards £100
Alternative is to visit your local boot sale - bargains to be had there but take along someone who knows a bit about them as some may be pretty ancient (for collectors - not users)
35mm is the film for still pictures .
8mm and "super 8" were the film sizes used on home cine cameras.35mm cine is the standard used in cinemas & 70mm for cinemascope

Answer 5

http://youtu.be/sUHPCVEMpJ0