Film Stock Mini Reviews

When you shoot with a digital camera, the sensor you have is the sensor you have. Unless you reach for a totally different camera, there is no alternative. You can’t take the sensor out of it and try out another one that may produce images with different character.

But with film cameras, you can do exactly that. Both modern digital sensors and photographic film are, after all, merely two different kinds of the same basic thing: both are light-sensitive media. The main difference, of course, is that one is electronic and hard-wired to the camera body while the other is chemically reactive and removable.

Early in my days of rediscovering film photography, I went through a rather intense period of trying a large variety of film stocks. It didn’t take me long to realize that different film speeds and various stocks within the same film speed all offered unique behaviors and personalities.

For a while, I’ve been systematically noting my observations of these characteristics. As with my other areas of interest, I often feel that I don’t really know about something unless I’ve written about it. So that others may benefit from this work, I added a series of mini film stock reports to my collection of photography reviews.

I have my one or two film stocks that I’ve come to know and enjoy working with. But who knows? One day I may get sick of them and try something else. Or another new film stock may come along that sounds intriguing and deserves a go. My intention for my mini film stock reviews is for it to be an evolving list as I gain experience with other film stocks.