Introduction

It has been a while since I wrote anything on here. Not necessarily for lack of subjects, more so due to not having made it a recurring process and letting it fall out of sight. However, with this new year, and a newly found interest in an older hobby, I have something I want to write about: (analogue) photography.

As a kid and teenager I like to think that I was into photography. On vacations I would take countless pictures on my little Nikon point & shoot or my dad’s Canon DSLR. I really enjoyed the experience of looking through that view finder, getting something interesting into focus, and snapping away. I later had this dream of getting a Sony Alpha A7S when that released and its incredible night photography and video capabilities. Sadly though, as I got older I lost this passion and dropped photographing things. That is, until a couple weeks prior to going on vacation in Spain.

See, I started getting TikToks regarding the Fuji X100V and the film simulations that one could do with it. After seeing a bunch of TikToks about the X100V and X-T30 I wanted to get one too, however, I wasn’t willing to spend the nearly 1400 or so Euro that this would require. Instead, I looked on eBay and found a decent deal on a 2013 X100S and decided to get that instead.

This little range finder-style camera sucked me back into photography. Throughout the vacation I took a bunch of pictures that I’m really happy with, and overall I was enjoying the range finder-style way of compositing and shooting. This positive experience left me wanting more, a better sensor similar to that dream of the A7S and its night-time capabilities. This, desire, brought me to the Fuji X-Pro2 & X-Pro3. These being similar to the ever popular X100V, with the addition of allowing for interchangeable lenses, a big plus in my book. This brought me back to the question of price: is the 800 EUR to 1400 EUR for a X-Pro2 or X-Pro3, respectfully, worth it?

Instead of just going for it, I asked a friend who’s into analogue photography for their opinion. They suggested I try analogue, instead of buying another digital camera.

First frames

I started doing some research into what might be a good starter 35mm film camera. This brought me to the Nikon FE, an SLR that suited what I thought I was after: popular brand with a good selection of lenses, a light meter, and not too expensive. With this in mind I decided to take them up on their offer and together we went to Fotohandel Delfshaven, a small shop in Delft where I was blown away by the amount of gear they had on offer. Everything from a (relatively) simple point & shoot, upwards to the (to me at least) icons of photography: Leica and Hasselblad.

Once I started explaining what I was after to one of the employees, I got handed a few options: The Nikon FE I looked at before, a Minolta X700 I believe, and a Pentax. After a little while of getting explained how the various cameras functioned, and trying to focus on various objects to get a feel of how focusing with these manual cameras worked, I got shown another camera: the Leica R4s. Upon seeing it I was sort of already in love with it. The black pristine body, less cluttered dials on the top compared to the more busy looking Nikon and Minolta intrigued me. What sold me on the R4s were the two metering modes: average and spot besides a manual mode and it being fully mechanical, meaning no electronics which could fail and render it worthless unless repaired or the battery replaced. Moreover, the view finder shows not only the light meter, but also the current metering mode and shutter speed when set to manual. After some more considerations, I decided I would go with the Leica and bought it alongside two rolls of film: Fomapan 400 and Ilford XP2 Super 400.

I decided to shoot the Fomapan first, with it being the cheaper of the two. Everything was going well, until the moment arrived to rewind the film. My head must have been elsewhere as I just attempted to rewind the film, after a little resistance it felt like something gave and I continued. After a while, it felt like the film was fully retracted, so I opened the back. Inside, I found a torn roll of film and what used to be the sprocket holes collected on the take-up spool. I later realised there is a little button on the bottom that releases the take-up spool so you can safely rewind the film.

The Ilford XP2 Super, however, went quite well. I was impressed by the low-light performance at night, I was not expecting it to capture as much detail as it did. Overall I was impressed by the results and wanted to shoot more film, so I did.

Experience since then

Analogue definitely is a slower experience if you want to refer to it in terms of time-to-capture. I do, however, enjoy it. The slower-paced, more thoughtful process, is something I’m enjoying. It’s also more about the experience, than per se the end result. If an image is just out of focus, or just a bit too blurry, I’m more forgiving on it than I was with the digital Fuji.

The only thing I could say I dislike about the R4s are the lenses, and more precisely the rather limited selection. The R-mount is limited to, as far as I’m aware, Leica’s own (expensive) lenses with some small exceptions. This is something I maybe should have looked into, prior to buying the R4s. However, I’m still satisfied with my choice as the R4s really is a joy to use. The dials are smooth but tactile and the light meter is very easy to read with its LEDs that light up at each of the shutter speed options.

Besides the camera experience I’m also trying to teach myself street photography as I find the landscapes a tad underwhelming here in The Netherlands. It’s been interesting and also sometimes challenging. I’m not at a point yet where I feel super confident in taking photos of people going about their days just yet, but I’m trying to push myself to take shots I might shy away from and might regret not taking afterwards.

Regarding film. It might be that it’s currently winter and the weather being mostly grey that I’m not super happy with the first couple of shots I did with Porta 800. The Ilford and Fomapan B&W shots I’m much more positive about. At the time of writing I’m currently shooting Cinestil 800T and am curious how those will turn out. If the feeling is the same meh then I’ll continue with B&W until spring or so when nature starts to become more lively, and the weather less grey.

Future plans

As for the future. I definitely want to shoot more and also different film stocks to see which ones I enjoy most. I’m super looking forward to the summer and the lower ISO film options which become more viable because of it. Furthermore, I also want to start experimenting with lens filters and how those alter my exposures. An example which caught my eye being this a super speed filter as demonstrated by Kateh00k on TikTok.

I also want to continue pushing myself to try more shots I would typically shy away from. Street photography can be confrontational and letting myself be stopped only takes away from getting interesting photos.

On the topic of being more out there. Something which I feel is perhaps holding me back a bit is the shutter sound of the R4s. Whenever it’s a bit more quiet, it does cut through that silence to make it oblivious something or someone was photographed. I am aware that this is more of a mental hurdle, than a gear one, but that’s just how it is at the moment. And because of this I might invest into a range finder that’s a bit more stealthy in terms of sound as a crutch.

Closing thoughts

I want to close this out by saying that I’m glad I listened and went with a film camera over getting the X-Pro2. The non reliance on batteries for operation and marvel which are mechanical cameras has for now sold me on analogue. I’m looking forward on looking back on this post and my first few rolls, and seeing how far I’ve come by then or how my style may have changed. For those interested, some of the images I’ve taken on the R4s can be seen on my PortraitMode account where I will continue to share them for the foreseeable future.