My film journey started a year ago when I bought a Canon AE1 Program just to see “how people shooted before”. I was very curious about film photography and was thinking I could just try to shoot it and see. I had so many questions at first… couldn’t know I would love it !

Until then I grew up with digital only to develop my photography skills. Off course, I saw my parents shoot family stuff with old polaroids and 24x36 when I was a child but I never had the occasion to put my hands on it and my photography hobby came quite lately. Seeing my AE1P my father told me he still had some old cameras in the garage taking dust. So I gathered all I could find and I discovered some treasures !

So what’s in my film camera bag ? Sooooo many mechanical wonders ! Not to mention it is quite hard to tell which one I prefer. So let’s take it in the following order : first is the one I shoot most with.

- Rolleiflex 3,5 MX (1955) (medium format - 6x6)

This one belonged to my grand-father. I found it among others. Since I always wanted to shoot some medium format cameras and digital is just so expensive I’m very happy to have found this one. The one and only camera I bring with me everywhere, anytime I can. My current favorite for holidays also. Had to change a piece in the triggering system and clean the accumulated fungus. Really proud to have it since it is the only link I have with my grand-father whom I hadn’t the possibility to know.

- Zenza Bronica ECTL (1975 ?) - Zenzanon 150mm F/3.5 / Zenzanon 80mm F/2.4 / Nikkor 50mm F/2.8 / 3 backs & accessories (medium format - 6x6)

This beauty is from my father. In his earliest hobbies, macro photography was one of his favorite. Now that he won’t use it anymore I have the possibility to shoot with it. Really nice camera for an indoor/studio shoot. Quite heavy for outdoor things so I haven’t used it outdoor a lot but it does great archi and macro photos ! Had to repair the whole electronical part of the internal lightmeter and clean the shutter. It compensate its size with the quality of the lenses and the precision you can achieve. Take the time to focus well and you’ll have razor sharp images ! A camera that did not have great reputation when it was commercialized but that I really love.

- Land Camera 250 (1969) (Polaroids Pack 100)

I had the occasion to test one of these land camera at Emily Soto’s Workshop in 2015 (Look at my post about this workshop!) and loved the idea of having a polaroid with a positive and an exploitable negative. I found this one on the Internet an bought it. Now I just got some packs to shoot and Fuji annouced they will discontinue this type of film in order to favorise their “other” line of products (meaning the Instax line, that is not polaroid but instant print). It seems they also don’t wan’t some guys like Impossible, Lomography or New55 to take back the engineering of this type of film so… they make all they can to keep it dead. This saddens me a lot.

- SX-70 Sonar (1978) (Polaroids)

This one is from my father also. It had to go back to its mother production factory thanks to Impossible Project to be revised but it works really nicely. Thanks to Impossible Project those nice cameras still shoot film !

- Olympus OM2n (1978-9?) - Olympus 24mm F/2 / Olympus 50mm F/3.5 / Olympus 85mm F/2 - (24x36)

Last one of the inherited cameras ! Versatile and flexible with great selected lenses. I use it in almost all situations like the Rolleiflex. When I’m bored of the square format this one is my first choice !

- Canon AE1 Program (198?) / Canon FD 50mm (24x36)

It was the first I bought but now I nearly never shoot with it unless I load a color film in the Olympus and a black in white in this one. It’s a really noce camera to learn how to shoot film because it is very simple and intuitive to use it. I would probably change it for another Canon camera that would accept my current lenses used for my digital DSLR. Otherwise this one stays in my bag but I insist on the fact that I used it a lot at the beginning and it is only because I have now a very big choice in my bag with more lenses options on other cameras that I dropped this one.

So, now that you have met every of my cameras, tell me… what’s in your camera bag ?!

Maxime Garnier

Light into the Studio

Posts tagged with film

What’s in my film camera bag ?

Emily Soto Workshop Paris 2015