Tell me about film...

So I managed to have a play with an AE-1 the other day, and loved it! Since they are so cheap, I figured I'd pick one up and have some fun. I'm going to just get the body and the 50mm kit just now, but I'd like to ask a few questions before I do.
(for #2 and #3, I'm based in the UK (Scotland) )

1. Is there anything I should look out for when buying? Common problems with the camera etc?
2. What type of film should I buy? I know that you get different ISO's of film, but will the £2 stuff from supermarkets do the trick, or should I get better(?) stuff, and from where?
3. Where should I get the film developed?
4. Anything else I should know?!

Thanks in advance!

Chris

The shutter speeds on older film cameras commonly slow down with age. Cleaning & readjustment will bring them back up to specs.

What's available there? Buy a roll & shoot some tests that you can duplicate with another type in the future.
What's the difference?

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=109464

Grandpa... Tell me about the good old days.

"Common problems" include deteriorated foam seals (the black strips inside the camera that turn gooey). The foam strip on the mirror is also affected by this. Replacing them isn't expensive, and you can buy kits on-line to do it. Other cameras use batteries that are no longer made, so do your homework before buying if you want to use the built-in meter.

I've been using an AE-1 for 33 years; great little camera. It can develop a malady called "shutter squeak", but that's not a huge problem. The Canon lenses are very good, and inexpensive.

Depends what the trick is, dontcha think? 100 ISO film from the super may be great at noon but muck in the evening.

When I think about giving up the ISO 3200 of my 5D2 I get an anxiety attack.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #10515298
The shutter speeds on older film cameras commonly slow down with age. Cleaning & readjustment will bring them back up to specs.
What's available there? Buy a roll & shoot some tests that you can duplicate with another type in the future.
What's the difference?

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=109464

Thanks for the links, thats the kind of info I was looking for.

Its such a shame they lost that crucial 'in' don't you think
Thanks for the info though, seems like there isn't too much to worry about.

...when the world was in black and white, and they still had dinosaurs.

Fortunatly, shooting over 400 ISO on a 400D is asking for trouble, so I think I'll survive.


At the moment I'm probably just going to buy a few rolls of cheapo film and get them developed at a cheapo lab. See where it goes from there

neptunerain wrote in post #10515565
Grandpa... Tell me about the good old days.

christoph33r wrote in post #10516244
...when the world was in black and white, and they still had dinosaurs.

You betchum!! Color wasn't invented until the Miocene. We can say for sure that mastodons were brown, but T-Rex remains gray.

What the purpose of the photos you'll be taking with your film camera? Fun snapshots around town or of family? If so, my main snapshot/family film that I use with my Pentax K1000 is Fuji 200 (consumer film) found at Walmart, drug stores for about $7 for 4 rolls.

200 speed film is considered medium speed film with 100 and slower being slow, and 400 or faster being fast. If you are just going after 4x6 prints or getting scans for 800x533 web sharing size you could also get 400 speed film and you really won't notice much of a difference compared to 200 speed.

There isn't a point in shooting pro films unless you are into making large prints and/or selling prints. And I just mailed 5 rolls of film for the first time to Samy's Camera in Santa Barbara CA because they offer dip & dunk film processing for a reasonable rate. $5 per C41 negative film roll. I now pay $3.20 from a local lab but they don't offer dip & dunk and my film comes back with scratches from the automated processing machine and I'm sick of the damage and the amount of cloning/healing I need to do after I scan my film.

christoph33r wrote in post #10516244
Fortunatly, shooting over 400 ISO on a 400D is asking for trouble, so I think I'll survive.

Are you saying you have a 400D? If so, are you properly exposing your photos? Because I've seen great ISO 3200 photos from the 20D, and the XTi/400D image sensor is better than the 20D. Properly expose and don't be afraid to crank the ISO up. Remember, viewing photos at 100% view on your computer screen is a pointless exercise in judging the "image quality" of your photos, because that would be the same visual size as a huge enlargement print!

Thanks for all the help about this! Really appreciate it.
Mostly just be playing around with it, shooting anything really. Probably mainly family/friends, so thanks for the heads up.

HappySnapper90 wrote in post #10518414
Are you saying you have a 400D? If so, are you properly exposing your photos? Because I've seen great ISO 3200 photos from the 20D, and the XTi/400D image sensor is better than the 20D. Properly expose and don't be afraid to crank the ISO up. Remember, viewing photos at 100% view on your computer screen is a pointless exercise in judging the "image quality" of your photos, because that would be the same visual size as a huge enlargement print!

Yeah, I have a 400D. Its actually not that bad, I was just over exaggerating. I have used it before at 1600 ISO and the photos are perfectly usable for web sharing etc, plus with some NR, anything is usable :P