The first photo walk of 2026.
So, the first photo walk of 2026 (actually my first group photo walk ever). Was organised to take place around Birmingham's spaghetti junction and surrounding areas. The idea was that this will give us participants lots of opportunities for gritty, urban street photography.
However for a film photographer this poses a few different questions;
What film do I shoot? Do I want black and white or do I want colour? How do I know I'm going to be exposing my shots properly?
These are some of the things I'll be talking to you about, and also probably a few other little bits!
So the first question, what film do I shoot?
This question to me has always been dependant on what I'm trying to accomplish and what light levels may be like. So weather conditions are certainly something to take into consideration.
Now since this was going to be a walk around spaghetti junction (those of you who don't know, plenty of graffiti and crazy colours). My choice was always going to be a colour film. So I filled up my camera bag with a few different stocks that I was going to shoot through the day with my trusty Canon A-1.
I knew the weather was going to be pretty bright that day, but I also knew I was going to be shooting some photos in alleyways and tunnels. Therefore I packed some 200 & 800 iso film. Namely the new Kodak Colorplus, King Film's Colour Zealous 200 and for my 800 ISO film I went with some Candido 800.
I would usually have some Ultramax 400 but I managed to leave that at home...
I wanted something that would handle the bright outdoor shots without blowing out some certain details (200 ISO was perfect here). But I also wanted something that would allow me to shoot in subdued light where the 800 ISO would shine.
If you're worried about exposure on your first few rolls of film here are my little tips that help me get consistent results;
• I expose for the shadows, not the bright highlights. This helps me prevent underexposing my subject if there's a bright light behind them.
• Use your cameras meter! If your meter on your vintage film camera works, by all means use it. Especially if you're not comfortable guessing your shutter speed and F stop for the correct exposure. Some people can, some people can't (I'm one of those that can't)
• Use a light meter app. There's plenty of them around on the different app stores which all give you pretty accurate readings. You simply tell the app what ISO film you're using and it'll work out what shutter speed and F stop you should use.
• Make sure your camera is set for the film speed you're using. If your film box says 200 ISO, make sure the set your camera at 200 ISO so the camera knows how to meter for that specific speed of film.
Let's look at a few shots from that day.
King Film Colour Zealous 200:
This film was completely new to me, I picked it up based on the way the box looked and thought I'd give it a go! I was pleasantly surprised at the muted tones and the nice grainy look I managed to accomplish with it.
This was one perhaps one my favourite shots from that roll. This scene was pretty bright with the water reflecting a lot of light, I ended up shooting at f/8.0 with a shutter speed of 1/250 sec.
For a 200 speed film I was expecting this shot to be underexposed, I metered for the darker areas of the frame to try and make sure the balance was right between the sky and the details. This one I shot at f/5.6 with a shutter speed of 1/60 sec.
This one I shot at 1/125 sec shutter speed and at f/5.6. the subject was mainly in the shade so it was a bit tricky to get a good balance between the sky and the subject.
Kodak Kodacolor 200
Like almost everyone else, I've been itching to get my hands on Kodak's new film stock. I was really pleased with the results, especially in some lower light scenarios.
In contrast to the King film, the Kodacolor has much more colour saturation and vibrance, perfect for capturing bright colours whilst also rendering a sharp image. This one I shot at f/8.0 with a shutter speed of 1/200 sec.
Here's a great comparison of how much warmer and more saturated kodacolor 200 is in comparison to the King Film, the colours are rich and bright with fine grain. Also as it turns out much more forgiving with it's exposure latitude. (This is not to say King Film isn't awesome, because I certainly enjoyed shooting it). Once again I played around with exposure here, trying to make sure I retain detail in the darker spots whilst trying not to over expose the sky. Exposure lock (AE lock on the Canon A-1) works perfect here. Shot at f/4.0 with a shutter speed of 1/60 sec.
This one was a bit of stab in the dark to be honest. Dark tunnel, dim lights, and a 200 speed film was a little reach. However I was pretty pleased with the detail that was retained, down to the cobwebs below the light. Using exposure lock I metered for the bottom section of the image. Shot at f/2.0 with a shutter speed of 1/30 sec. That's as low as I'd go for shutter speed without a tripod, any less and you risk blurry images.
Candido 800
So Candido 800 is not new to me. I've shot this film stock once before, around August time last year. However as I was still very clueless as to what I was doing, I didn't really get the results I was wanting. Therefore it seemed like a great opportunity to try again for those low light situations.
Candido 800 did an awesome job here, at this point in the day it was pretty over cast and I was shooting under a bridge, really not fantastic in terms of light. I metered this shot for the centre of the frame. Shot at f/8.0 with a shutter speed of 1/250 sec.
At this point in the day the light was starting to drop off, mid afternoon with the sun going down and clouds rolling in. I metered for the centre of the frame here (roughly where the gate is). Although I believe any point int the centre of the image would've been adequate. I'm a big fan of how Candido 800 renders colours in lower light (more of that to follow). Shot at f/8.0 with a a shutter speed of 1/500 sec.
Those one was perhaps the darkest of the images, the only source of light came through as daylight through a maintenance hatch. A freshly painted wall ready for some fresh graffiti. I metered for the reflections in the water to try and capture details across the whole image, not just the brighter more well lit spots. Shot at f/4.0 with a shutter speed of 1/60 sec.
And that was my brief little rundown of using 3 different films all on the same days. There's nothing saying that you have to use a specific film for a specific condition, you could shoot 200 speed film at night if you wanted to. (Provided you had a tripod of course). But that's what I love about film, it's as much experimental as it is practical, and getting those scans back is always a joy.
I hope you've enjoyed this read, I'm sure there will be more to follow!
This blog was written by one of our fantastic customers Danny, to read more of his blogs check out his blog site: https://danny35mmfilm.blogspot.com/