A couple of days ago I received back from the lab my first roll of expired Fuji Sensia 100, which coincidentally was also the first roll I shot on the Minolta Hi-matic AF2.
Several lessons were learned from this set of photos:
- the Minolta has serious trouble focusing up close;
- I can’t keep a straight horizon for shit (had to fix a few in post);
- no matter how much you fuck it up, film photos always look cool, sometimes even cooler than if you did everything perfect!
As a side note, finding a lab is Lisbon that would develop slide film in E6 process proved to be quite a challenge. I could only find one and it was quite expensive, so if any other Lisboners out there know labs that still develop slide film, please let me know!
Life, Unintended 
Two of those “lessons” are some of the reasons why I abandoned film in 1999. If I ever wanted to shoot straight horizon, I needed a tripod. Split-prism manual focusing on my Pentax P3 is ok with only a few misses. I’m sure my 53-year-old eyes would not perform as well as they did when I was 19.
For me, the optimal solution is to shoot digital with the application of in-camera film simulations and/or film presets. I prefer the film presets approach given that I never solved my handheld “straight horizon” problem. 🤪
I shot a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 on my Pentax P3 this past summer and it was a disaster. I then shot a roll of Ilford HP5 Plus in my Asahi Spotmatic II and the roll was returned a blank. it did not wind properly onto the spool. I’m giving the film one more try before I toss my hands in the air and declare that my decision and reasoning in 1999 was spot on. Shooting old tech does not prove anything about my photography.
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Ahahah yeah, there’s a lot of downsides to shooting film, that’s also the reason why I don’t do it more often. But there is a special joy in getting back the negatives from the lab that just doesn’t exist with the immediacy of digital (except of course when it turns out all blank! :P). And I love the unpredictability of the medium, it has taught me to loosen up a bit and not expect perfection.
Of course if was doing professional photography work I probably wouldn’t risk using film… but then again, if I was doing professional work I would know what the hell I’m doing and get proper results out of it! 😀
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Most of the professional photographer I know personally who have been working for decades have all switched to digital. They don’t gamble.
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I well understand the problem. Labs in my country suck I used some of them in the past years but then I decided to develope myself the rolls. That being said there’re still great labs in EU but you need to send them the rolls… They are a bit pricey but if you do not shot frequently it’s worth it imho.
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The lab did a pretty good job on these, I don’t have any complaints regarding the quality of the service, it was just pretty expensive (14€ developing + scanning). Fortunately I got a box of sensia rolls for free from a friend, so all in all it wasn’t too bad! 😉
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