Some of the most popular digital cameras right now are inspired by retro cameras – and film photography is making a comeback right alongside the digital lookalikes. But, learning how to shoot film is an entirely different beast than learning photography on a digital platform. As a photographer who has shot both digital and film, there are two types of cameras that I recommend for anyone eager but nervous about trying film for the first time: disposable cameras and instant cameras.
Now, I’m not saying that you can’t find an old film camera at a garage sale and learn from that – which is what I did. But there’s a lot of room for error in learning film. Case in point – just last year, I sent in a roll of film, only for the lab to tell me that there wasn’t anything on it. (I'm still upset about it.) Either the old camera malfunctioned, or I didn’t load the film properly, and I lost all 36 of the images I thought I had taken on that roll.
