From time to time, I like the change things a bit, and go back to time where things were... a bit more complicated. Plus the medium was a little less forgiving than today high quality camera sensors. Shooting on film, as some may say "old school", takes discipline. Not only some cameras are limited in shutter speeds, but also everything is manual. Manual focus, manual exposure, manual, manual, manual.... In the world of digital photography it is easy to take for granted all the features that come with even the basic of digital cameras. Autofocus, exposure, ISO, are so often overlooked or judged in terms of speed and dynamic range. In the olden days no one cared how fast the autofocus was, as there was none. Somehow people were still able to provide us with amazing sport photography. National geographic still has the most enthralling images. It was all done with clunky manual cameras, on film. Don't get me wrong, I love what cameras of today can do, and what we can create with them. I love the fact that I can autofocus, that I can set my ISO to automatic, and never really worry about it.
I mentioned about discipline. Having a very limited amount of frames on film, you want to have every image count. You want to frame your shot, and more often re-frame it just to make sure everything works. Making sure there are no unwanted elements in the frame. With old film cameras you do not have the luxury of checking if your camera settings were correct. You have to trust yourself that the image imprinted on film, is as you envisioned it. Thus you need discipline to make sure the images are good and intentional. It's a great learning tool. Understanding light is all about photography, and using an old film camera will make you understand it even more.
There is also one little tidbit that will help you. A pen and a notebook. Because there can be a fairly long time between taking the photos, and actually seeing them, I find it very beneficial to record the camera settings. I just use my smart phone and a note taking app to do that. It helps to remember and compare the settings to the images.
Adventures on film, can be very rewarding, and great tool for improving your digital photography.
