Cameras are machines or instruments that capture light. For digital cameras, the information in the captured light is exposed to a sensor and turned into data the camera interprets as a picture.
If the camera is a film camera– the information in the captured light exposes the film. How does it work?
- The film has a photosensitive photographic emulsion/colloid that react and “burn” the picture into the film stock.
- Silver Halides, bromides, and iodides are light sensitive crystals that are chemically reduced (by gaining an electron) by the developer.
- Developers are made of Developing agents (mononethyl-p-aminophenol hemisulfate, or metol is a popular one), Alkaline agents to set the high pH, and sodium sulfite to stave off oxidation.
- The crystals become black metallic silver particles that are suspended in the film emulsion after developing.
- Color films have more layers of these emulsions. This is why each film photo is unique:
- Each company that makes film stock has different recipes. Some companies make warmer film stocks, cooler stocks, or even make unconventional film stocks.
- This doesn’t even factor in exposure latitudes because each film stock behaves differently under varying levels of light exposure!
Here is a visual of how film captures light!
(Credits to Alexis Film Photography Blog)
Herewith is the actual Stoichiometry of film development!
(Credits to Alexis Film Photography Blog)
Truly, cameras are a marriage of art and science!
Here is an introduction to our two cameras at Adarna Photos:
Digital:
- Canon EOS r50.
- This is a Mirrorless digital camera. As the name entails, the light is transmitted to your eyes without a mirror. The light hits the sensor and the image processor which is processed into an image. The canon EOS r50 is an APSC camera for professional to semi-professional use.
Film:
- Nikon FM2/T:
- This is a fully mechanical single lens reflex (slr) film camera. The image comes into the optical viewfinder with a series of angled mirrors. This type of camera has a shutter with a mirror that flips up to expose the film! The Nikon FM2/T is part of the Nikon FM system, one Nikon’s most successful SLR systems alongside the famous Nikon F system. These cameras are built like tanks. A Nikon F famously saved Photojournalist Don McCullin during combat in the Vietnam War, reportedly stopping an AK47 bullet.
- True to its roots, the Nikon FM2/T we have in Adarna Photos was made in 1993 and is still going strong! Its family line, the FM2 are cameras that were made in 1981. Your photos are being taken with a 32 year old camera! Despite its age, the FM2/T is a camera used by professional photographers as a backup professional camera.
Adarna Photos 