Winter Reflections on Cinestill 800

Downtown Brighton

One of the most difficult parts of living in Michigan during winter is the lack of usable daylight. It makes for less creative inspiration and fewer opportunities to go out and shoot a roll of film. The good news? It forces me to try new things and use new film stocks to accommodate the few times I dig a little deeper to go out.

I have picked up a handful of Cinestill 800 ISO rolls, which is old cinema film respooled to use for still photos. The neat thing about this film is the ability to use it in low light. The glow around the lights it creates can be super cool if it doesn’t overtake the focus from the actual subject I’m trying to frame.

I loaded up my most trusty camera and lens, Nikon F3 and Nikkor 55mm f1.2 to really take full advantage of the low light. We went to downtown Brighton for Christmas lights and hit up a few neighborhoods for some of the over-the-top displays we knew about ahead of time. I think the results came out perfect for the situation, and honestly look even better than the real-life, real-time lights we saw.

I’ve held out on using this film for a long time, but I’m so happy with how well it handles that it will be going into a regular rotation. Even if I’m not shooting lights, I love the way it captures everything from buildings to people, and most importantly it’s readily available from every shop I’ve ever gone into…unlike some of the other films I’ve liked in the past.

Single Roll Review: Nikon F4s

I rarely use an autofocus film camera. I have and still do own more than a couple, I just prefer to use a manual focus camera and lens most of the time. My first was a Nikon N8008s which was a pleasant surprise for being an incredibly inexpensive purchase. At the point I was using the N8008s I decided I would someday like to use one of the professional models. I wanted to stick with Nikon since I already had the lenses. The Nikon F6 was my first choice but was far too expensive and has more features than I know what to do with. The F5 would be great but I honestly just don’t even see them for sale very often. Then one day I happened to see someone list an F4s for sale at a very reasonable price, and it included three lenses I was also very interested in getting some day. I ended up paying essentially for the lenses and got the camera at no extra charge. The F4s was the highest-level professional camera Nikon made from 1988 when it was introduced until the F5 was introduced in 1996. It was a giant leap forward from the F3, introducing autofocus to the professional line, better metering than any previous model and used readily available AA batteries. It also accepts almost every F mount lens Nikon (and other third parties) have created since 1959. I understand it will even work in P and S mode when using lenses without an aperture ring, but I did not own any at the time so did not test that feature. It is not able to use current VR features on any lens.

 Once it arrived, I was very impressed with every aspect about how well it is built, and this camera is just massive. The F4s has an added grip over the F4 that makes it take a total of 6 batteries. It is a very heavy camera, but not to the point of being cumbersome. Paired with the Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AF lens I chose it was well balanced and the lens practically disappeared when mounted. Once I started using it, the autofocus was so fast I barely had to think about what I was wanting to focus on. I could see using a full roll in a very short period.

The day I loaded up a roll and went out for a drive, I also was supposed to be picking up someone at a horse farm. Not a lot of people know, but I have a lifelong fear of horses. I know they probably won’t hurt me, but they’re just so big and strong and I don’t know how they behave. I was able to get close to a handsome boy named JJ and I’m pretty sure we’re best friends now.

Using this camera was a joy and the lens captured my photos so close to what I wanted I just loved it once the film was developed. I’m not sure what was happening in the atmosphere these days, but the sky looked like cotton candy and the camera caught every shot I wanted.

This single roll was all I ended up shooting with this camera. Even though I really liked it, the weight just made me too aware I was using it. It felt more like a tool than an extension of myself. Given the choice between using this and my significantly smaller and lighter F3 I chose the latter every time. I did end up trying a prosumer model, the F100 and it achieved everything the F4 does besides use a pre AI lens but in a more compact package. The F4 is probably the best built camera I have used to date, and honestly, I miss it a little. I still prefer my original F, but I would not be unhappy with an F4 again someday.