I Bought A Film Camera For Long Exposure Street Photography - Part 1

Front view of my Pentax Program A

It’s not that I’ve reached a point of unfulfillment with digital photography, or pining for some nostalgic return to my roots - I bought a film camera simply to expand my photographic experience. I want to broaden my knowledge and experiment with all the possible ways to practice my craft. With that, I’m sure I will learn some valuable lessons along the way and be a better all-round photographer.

Me being me, I’m eager to try some slow shutter long exposure street photography. The incredible works of Alexey Titarenko come to mind, and for that reason I will first try some black and white film. 
When I used film cameras as a kid it was always colour, and always the cheapest film I could get my hands on - I didn’t know any better - so now I’m looking forward to trying my hand at black and white film for the first time.

Normally I’m an incessant researcher, but my equipment decisions with this project are intentionally fast and loose - seeing as it’s budget friendly - and so I don’t use up too much of my time getting caught up in the planning.

After a skim read of one article, I’ve decided to try Ilford HP5 Black and White film, and my choice of camera was a snap decision too. I saw a great deal on a second hand Pentax Program A with a 50mm SMC f1.7 lens in great condition for £30, and bought it immediately. This model might not be the best film camera ever produced, but it’s small, budget friendly, and has all the features I wanted.
A great entry point film camera, released on the year I was born, and looks pretty sharp in my opinion!

Top view of my Pentax Program A

I was happy to see the filter thread size for the lens is 49mm, the same as my Canon EF 50mm 1.8, so luckily I already have a variable ND filter from Tide Optics I can use. The main obstacle I anticipate with long exposure images on film is getting the correct exposure. 

If I used a set strength filter, it would be possible to calculate a ball-park figure of what shutter speed and aperture to use to correctly expose the image. Unfortunately, with a variable filter, you never know exactly what strength you are at, so I will be using some guess work. 

One idea I do have, is to select the Auto Mode, so the camera selects the most appropriate combination of shutter speed and aperture, adjust the strength of the variable filter so that the recommended shutter speed reads the shutter speed I want for that particular shot, then put it into Manual mode, take the shot, and hope the camera metering was right and gives me a well exposed image. 

I notice this camera also has a Metered Manual mode, meaning that when I’m in Manual mode, it will indicate in the viewfinder whether it thinks I’m over or under exposed, with exposure values from -3 to +3. Maybe that alone will be sufficient in obtaining the correct exposure, so I’ll be trying both methods. 

The Self Timer switch is a great feature, and should come in very useful in reducing camera shake from pressing the shutter button. Hopefully this will be enough and I won’t have to source an external shutter release cable for long exposures.

Finally, for fixed position long exposures, stabilisation will be essential. I plan to do this by adding a universal L bracket to the camera, then attaching that to the magic arm on my wheelchair to act as a tripod. I’ve used this method successfully in the past with DSLRS and lenses that don’t have stabilisation features, so I’m hoping it will be successful here too. If you want to know more about the magic arm and how I use my wheelchair as a makeshift tripod, you can read about that here.

They say the thrill of film photography is the unknown, the wait for the films to be developed to see if you nailed the shot. In a style of photography where the rate of ‘keepers’ is significantly lower than normal, the wait fills me with some anxiety that I’m sure will turn to excitement when the time comes to get them developed - clearly I’ve become all too comfortable in this modern society of instant gratification and reviewing photos immediately after they are taken. To better my overall success rate, and so I don’t end up with a wasted roll of film, I will take some standard shutter speed ‘traditional’ street photography images too, hopefully avoiding total disappointment.  

Part 2 will be coming soon and will detail my experiences and results from this project.