Back in the film days, most of the cameras I had were fully manual. No auto or semi-auto modes. No autofocus. Manual everything. In the digital age, modern cameras are pretty good at taking care of some tasks for you. You can afford to be a little lazy and still get the shot with ease. It’s a marvel of modern camera technology!
Nowadays I mostly shoot in Aperture-Priority (with Shutter and ISO set to A), or occasionally Shutter-Priority (with Aperture and ISO set to A). Only on rare occasions do I manually select shutter, aperture, and ISO. It’s not uncommon that I manually focus, especially if I’m using a vintage lens, but most of the time I’m allowing the camera to autofocus for me. It’s just easier. But sometimes easier isn’t better. It’s good to stay in photographic shape, and to challenge yourself from time-to-time.
I decided to challenge myself yesterday to this: shoot 36 frames (like a roll of film) with the same film simulation recipe, using manual everything. Manual aperture. Manual shutter. Manual ISO. Manual focus. The camera I chose was the Fujifilm X100V, and I loaded it with my Kodachrome 64 film simulation recipe. I headed out right at sunrise.
This was my experience.
Note: this was a Creative Collective article, but now it is available to everyone.
Before I get to the photographs, I want to briefly point out why a camera like the X100V is so great for this exercise: you don’t need to dig through any menus to change anything. It’s all clearly marked on knobs and switches on the body. The aperture ring is on the lens, as is the focus ring. A switch on the side activates manual focus. The shutter is controlled by a knob on the top, and the ISO is controlled by a ring around the shutter knob. It’s as close to a film experience as you can get from a digital camera. Yet you have modern tools, such as focus assist and histograms, to help you get it right. Of course, the same thing could be said for many Fujifilm models, and not just the X100V.
One other technical note I’d like to point out is that I had a 5% CineBloom filter attached to the lens, which only makes an extremely subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless. I figured it was worth pointing out.
I’m going to jump right into the pictures, then I’ll end with a little commentary about this experience. Here we go!
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This was a fun photographic exercise! I thoroughly enjoyed going all-manual and shooting 36 frames with the same film simulation recipe to mimic the good ol’ film days. I’d recommend this project to anyone, and I encourage you to give it a try, too.
Since I hadn’t shot fully manual all that much in the last few years, I really found myself out of practice. There’s more to mentally consider with each frame.
On one hand, I wasn’t always focusing in on why I was using the settings I did. I believe that I needed to think beyond, “Is this correctly exposed?” And consider more, “Which specific settings would be best for this exposure?” These things used to come more naturally to me, and it’s because I was doing it all of the time. I practiced it frequently back then. Now that I almost always let the camera sort some of it out, full manual takes more intentional thought, and I didn’t always do that. For that reason, I really believe I could benefit from doing this project on a regular basis.
On the other hand, going all manual slowed me down a little, which made me capture better pictures—at least a little—or perhaps more simply, I got the picture I wanted without snapping three-to-five exposures to do it. In most cases, I captured only one image, as I tried hard to get it right the first time. I couple of times I didn’t, so I made a second attempt. Normally I’m a bit lazy, using the spray-and-pray method to ensure I got a good exposure. It’s quick and easy to snap several pictures of the same thing, and choose later which one is best; however, it’s even better to make just one exposure and have confidence that it’s good.
You might notice that I used ISO 320 for all 36 exposures. I decided at the beginning that I was going to stick with one ISO because in the film days that’s what you had to do. I selected ISO 320 because that’s the lowest ISO available for the Kodachrome 64 recipe.
It was a partly-to-mostly overcast day, but at sunrise the sunlight was pouring out between the clouds. For that reason I started out with a faster shutter speed, but soon the sun disappeared behind the clouds, which allowed me to slow it in order to use a smaller aperture. Later the sun peaked through again, and I increased the shutter speed. Often the light changed between shots, and I used small aperture adjustments to get a correct exposure. I didn’t always get the exposure as correct as I would have liked, which was a result of not making the necessary adjustments with the rapidly changing light conditions (basically, not paying as close of attention to everything as I should have).
20 years ago when I shot real Kodachrome film, if I got back from the lab five or six slides out of the whole roll that I was really happy with, I’d call it a success. So, with that same standard, I’d call this excursion a success. My five favorite frames are 05, 06, 08, 19, and 21. Which frames do you like the best? Let me know in the comments below.
I hope you give this challenge a try! It’s a great way to keep yourself in photographic shape. I discovered that I’m not in as good of shape as I thought I was, so I’m going to keep practicing, and I’ll do this challenge again very soon.
Hi Ritchie, Great stuff. I like your work and therefore I gladly pay for it like this Creative Collective and Patrol. BUT please find another cooperator than wordpress ! Their way to manage your clients is the worst I ever experience for online services. I think it will destroy your try to establish the CC. Sorry for my frustration.
Best regards Roger Solbakke
I made a big mistake four years ago by using WordPress.com. Unfortunately, I’m basically stuck with it now, unless I pay big bucks to a hosting migration expert, because it’ll be a pretty complex job at this point (especially with all of the pictures). I looked into it a year ago, but it just wasn’t feasible. I do apologize for the frustration, and I greatly appreciate the feedback and support. I wish there was more that I could do, and if there ever is I’ll certainly jump at it.
Hey, I do agree … the wordpress account is a thing that I cant allow myself to have. I basically hate how they charge you for everything, plus limiting your options…
Other little issue, I wanted to make a payment on the app with Patrons, but it’s doesnt do anything when you click on subscribe. I’m using LineageOS on my mobile, a version without Google services.
Last question, do you plan to come to the fediverse (joinmastodon.org for example) ?
You have to have Google (or Apple on iOS) services in order to subscribe. That’s just the way it is. There’s the possibility of another option in the future, but we’ll see if it works out or not.
Because of how many pictures/links/etc I have, it’s a complex process to move from WordPress to something else. It’ll cost tens of thousands of dollars because I’d have to hire a quality professional. Unfortunately what this really means is that I’m stuck for now.
I had no idea what fediverse was until a minute ago. I’ll have to look deeper into that. Thanks!
Welcome to the Dark Side of Digital: fixed ISO, Daylight white balance, manual exposure selection (often guessed at) and focus. This is where the real film simulation begins. I spend a lot of time there, despite my failing eyesight making me ever-more dependent on automation.
Always remember: sometimes the camera gets it wrong.
Thanks! I don’t know if it’s the Dark Side… more like the Jedi (sticking with the Star Wars metaphor), but I need to practice more using The Force–I mean, manual–because I certainly got it “wrong” just as much, if not more, than the camera would have. Training I need. Practice I must. Thanks for the comment!
In one sense, I am living this challenge, as I always shoot in manual mode (except for focus–the camera is better than my old eyes at that), and always use ASTIA as my default. It took a couple of shoots to get the hang of it, but I wouldn’t go back–I was always tweaking the exposure compensation dial anyway, so why not choose the best leg of the exposure triangle instead?
In another sense, I’m not, since I shoot in RAW mode and don’t have any interest in film simulation per se (am I the only one?). Anyway, I’ve just signed up (hi!), and am enjoying reading back through the articles. I’ve also tagged my last week or so of IG posts.
P.S. I agree with Roger above about WordPress. Signing up was a pretty miserable experience, and it ate the first version of this comment after demanding a password, even though I was signed in through an email link.
Thanks, Tim, for your feedback and support! I hope you find the articles interesting. I apologize for the frustration. If I could go back in time, I’d definitely use something other than WordPress.com. I look forward to seeing the IG posts!
There seem to be only two photos besides mine with the #fxwcreativecollective tag—am I doin it rong?
It’s a new hashtag. These things take time to catch on.
In on the ground floor, I guess!
Yep!
Just made a post on my blog and on mastodon, to see how people on the fediverse could help you 🙂
https://lazybear.io/posts/how-could-we-help-fujixweekly/
I appreciate the support!
Hi Ritchie, which is your most compatible Kodachrome recipe for the Fuji X-T3?
Right here:
https://fujixweekly.com/2019/08/02/my-fujifilm-x-t30-kodachrome-64-film-simulation-recipe/