Try Film Photography with Your Digital Camera

In today’s digital world, where everything is immediate and expected to be perfect, returning to an old-school approach may seem strange. Have you ever wondered why so many people still photograph on film when digital photography is infinitely easier and more reliable?

Film photography is interesting because it teaches you to think about every photograph before taking it. You cannot shoot thousands of frames and simply select the best ones later—unless you have an enormous budget for film and development. Every frame matters, so you have to slow down and avoid wasting them.

In this article, I will show you how to recreate part of the film photography experience with your digital camera. Even if you do not own an analogue camera, you can explore what it might feel like to work with one.

Camera settings

1. Limit yourself to 36 frames — The first step is to decide that you may take only 36 photographs—or 24 if you want an even stricter exercise.

   You do not need to modify or repartition your memory card. Begin with an empty card, use the camera’s image counter and stop taking photographs once you reach your chosen limit. You can also keep a simple tally on your phone or a piece of paper.

   To reduce your editing options later, switch the camera to JPEG-only recording. Choose the image style and quality before you leave, just as you would choose a type of film before loading it into an analogue camera.

   If your camera uses two memory cards, you can disable simultaneous recording for this exercise. One card is enough, although you should restore your normal backup settings afterwards.

2. Use single shooting mode — Most traditional film cameras do not offer the rapid burst speeds of modern digital cameras. Use single shooting mode so every press of the shutter produces only one photograph.

3. Choose a fixed ISO — On a digital camera, ISO can be changed whenever you want. With film, the sensitivity is determined by the roll you have loaded and remains the same until you replace it.

   Choose one ISO value before the session and do not change it while photographing. ISO 100 may work well on a sunny day, while ISO 800 can recreate the limitations and appearance of a faster film stock.

4. Turn off the rear screen — On a mirrorless camera, turn off the rear display and use only the EVF. If you use a DSLR, avoid Live View and compose through the optical viewfinder.

5. Turn off automatic image review — Disable the automatic preview that appears after taking a photograph. The aim is to avoid seeing the result immediately.

6. Try manual focus — Many older film lenses were entirely manual. For a more demanding version of the exercise, turn off autofocus and focus each photograph using the lens’s focus ring.

   On mirrorless cameras, you can also turn off focus peaking, magnification and other manual-focus assistance if you want the experience to feel even closer to using an older camera.

7. Try black and white — If you use a mirrorless camera and want to simulate black-and-white film, change the Creative Style, Picture Profile or equivalent setting to monochrome.

Tips for the photo walk

Now that we have changed half the camera’s settings, it is time to go outside and begin the interesting part of the exercise.

1. Consider every photograph — The essence of film photography is deciding whether the scene in front of you genuinely deserves one of your limited frames. Remember that you have only 36 or 24 photographs for the entire day.

2. Pay attention to the exposure — This is particularly important for DSLR users. Check the exposure meter before releasing the shutter so you do not significantly underexpose or overexpose the image. For the full experience, resist the temptation to use Live View.

3. Do not review the photographs — The most important rule is not to inspect each image immediately after taking it. With film photography, you only see the result after the film has been developed. Wait until you return home before opening the files.

Analogue-inspired editing

Once you have used every frame on your digital “roll”, you can explore a few editing techniques that produce a more film-like result.

1. Colour grading — Experiment with different colour-grading combinations. If you know the characteristic colours of a particular film stock, you can try to move your image in a similar direction.

   Adding a small amount of yellow to the shadows and midtones can create a warmer, Kodak Portra-inspired appearance. Keep the adjustments subtle. Low values are usually enough, and the strength rarely needs to go above 10 or 20.

2. Lift the black point — Raise the blacks using the basic adjustments or tone curve. This creates softer blacks and lower contrast. You can then restore some overall contrast with the contrast slider if required.

3. Reduce sharpening — Lower the sharpening to create a softer result that feels less clinically digital.

4. Add grain — Finally, add some grain to strengthen the analogue-inspired appearance. As with every other adjustment, the result usually works best when the effect is visible without becoming the main subject of the photograph.

Restore your camera settings afterwards

Once the exercise is complete, remember to restore every setting you changed at the beginning of the article. Check the list again, paying particular attention to the following:

• restore your usual RAW or RAW+JPEG file format;
• restore automatic image review if you normally use it;
• turn autofocus and focus assistance back on;
• restore your normal ISO and drive-mode settings;
• re-enable simultaneous recording if you normally use two memory cards for backup.