Developed Film

Once upon a time, I owned a film camera. Well, I still do, but the shutter stopped working around two years ago after I installed another roll of film into it. It was a Canon AE-1; it belonged to my dad, who took up Fine Arts when he was in college. That was in the '80s, so it is quite an old camera. I still keep the camera on a shelf in my room, but my heart was broken when it stopped working. It was one of my favorite hobbies, and I had developed 12 rolls of film before then. I even have a Tumblr blog full of film photos (shameless plug).

I had learned of disposable cameras too when I got into film photography, but wasn't a big fan of the quality of its photos compared to the ones taken on an actual SLR camera. Last year, I found out that some of my friends were using disposable cameras. One of them only found disposables in the U.S. or in Japan, so when my mom planned a trip to Osaka, I was set on finding some disposables to soothe that ache to use film again. Luckily, I found them easily in Yodobashi, which is a well-known franchise around the country.

After two weeks of developing, here are the photos I took in Osaka on a disposable!

What do you guys think?

The colors aren't as bright, vibrant and focused compared to photos developed from an SLR, but that's probably because disposables only have one setting. It was really cloudy when I was there too, so the photos are a bit dark. I do like the fades and the grain, though. Not so bad for a first disposable, eh? That's the beauty of using film - you'll never know the outcome until everything gets developed.

A few things I learned while viewing the photos:

• For best results, use the disposable when it's sunny or if the place is really bright.
• If the place is dark - as in, any kind of dark - use flash.
• I need to work on my angling. If you'll notice, some of my photos are not centered. This is because the viewfinder of the disposable is not aligned with the actual lens, unlike a digital camera. I'll have to tip my photos a bit upwards or to the right.
• Take portraits in the dark! The best photos I've seen from disposable cameras are those that are taken with flash in dim places. The colors and grains look pretty cool.