It's been a while since I held a digital single lens reflex camera in my hands, much less a film SLR camera. My dad had an old Nikon F601 tucked away in the wardrobe. Its big, cumbersome and heavy. But it does feel comfortable and solid in my hands. Today, this camera is 27 years old and has a kit lens of 28-70mm (f/3.5-f/4.5) that is still considered a versatile range for most scenarios.
When I unzipped the camera from its awkwardly shaped camera case, I realised that the switch was left in the 'on' position and I was probably the last person to fiddle with it during my Junior Collage days which was more than 10 years ago. It goes without saying that the battery was drained of every ounce of energy and was completely dead.
Battery
Thankfully, it was a lithium battery and unlike alkaline or carbon zinc batteries, lithium batteries don't leak no matter how drained they are. Yes, it was a non-rechargeable lithium battery. The battery size is an odd CR-P2 or 223. The reason for its odd shape wasn't because of any special battery making technique but because it was actually made up of two less uncommon CR123A cells soldered together to give 6V. Lucky for me, the CR-P2 battery is still in production, albeit expensive at a whopping SG$14 a piece.
Film
35mm film in Singapore is ridiculously expensive (a basic Fujifilm c200 colour film cost $8.90 and that was exclusive of processing. The same film from taobao is a nostalgia inducing SG$3.5 - exactly the same price as I remembered it to be if purchased as part of a 3-roll pack ten years ago.
I do hope to shoot more types of film, but maybe I starting off with cheap films like the Fujifilm c200 would be good.
You know that film is pretty much alive in the digital city of Singapore when there is a vibrant facebook group Let's Shoot Film SG dedicated to film photography. I am glad to find other like-minded film enthusiasts and to know how they enjoy their film.
One of the drawbacks of shooting film is that the cost can add up quickly. Paying to print or scan a roll of film will make up the majority of the expenses for enjoying film photography. Nevertheless, I find it exquisite to shoot in film and the fact that it is expensive makes me want to craft my shot more meticulously before pressing the shutter.
C-41 Processing: $3.50
Processing + Scanning: $10
Processing + 4R prints: $3.50 + (36prints x $0.35) = $16.10
Problems
As with technology, some parts of the camera did not age well.
1) Main LCD panel was completely blank. Simple info like number of pictures taken and the current mode cannot be viewed. Thankfully, some essential info were projected in the viewfinder. Repairing this would bring back most of the camera's usability. But I wonder if it is worth it.
2) Film cover hinge broke. Apparently, this was a common issue with the F601 as the hinge was plastic. Over time, it became brittle and broke. While I could get it fixed, it is a low priority issue as it could be easily sidestepped with some cheap gaffer tape.
3) The last problem was due to the lens, rather than the camera itself. The kit lens' aperture lever no longer springs back to the highest f stop, meaning that it is always on its biggest aperture setting all the time. I recently saw a a youtuber doing a full teardown of a camera lens. I have a sneaky suspicion that a spring is dislodged and probably need not open the lens a great deal in order to fix it myself. Maybe I will do this some time!
So is the Nikon F601 still relevant?
Feature wise, it has all the features that I needed from an SLR camera. Sure, it has a slow continuous shooting rate of 2.5fps, but I doubt I will ever use that for shooting film.
All the manual features are easily accessible via the single jog dial and it is a joy to shoot with it, as expected from an SLR camera.
The most important things are the consumables that the camera requires. Namely, the battery and film. These two can, fortunately, be obtained at a reasonable price even at this day and age.
I think film cameras offer a possibility to go back to a time when things moved slower and encouraged us to slow down and put some thought into the picture want to capture instead of simply shooting directly to social media. The F601 that was hiding in the wardrobe the entire time certainly serves this purpose very well.
Having a lens that is capable of larger apertures compared to point-and-shoots and camera phones does help with creating creamy blurry background otherwise known affectionately by photographers as bokeh. This makes the pictures taken from this old camera far more special and allows me to craft my picture in a more refined manner.
I was pleasantly surprised to see how the pictures turned out. The meter was spot on and the colours are cool but still quite accurate. I do think that I have to work on my manual focusing and my hand holding techniques for darker scenes. But that is a story for another time.
