my name is mwd: photos

I’ve been trying out a new film camera, and so part of that is revisiting old shots with the new camera to see how it does. I took a very similar picture to this a while back with my X100F, as I like the framing of the buildings here. The lighting was better on the X100F version, which is what inspired me to take the shot in the first place, but I think I like the framing on the 50mm lens here better than the 35mm equivalent on the X100F. Ultimately each picture has it’s charm though :)

I was frustrated with how soft the images I was getting with my Yashica FX-3 were with its 50mm F/2, and I wasn’t sure if that was down to the lens or user error or just I had the wrong expectation of 35mm film after all this time using good digital cameras. I was wondering how to best test this when I found I had an old Canon Thrifty Fifty in a draw which I knew to give good images, so got a cheap body to go with it, the idea being that at least I could test my expectations around film.

Early results are that the Canon is definitely out performing the Yashica in terms of sharpness, though I feel less inclined to carry it due to the bulk and more cumbersome UI.

Certainly it’s shown me that whilst film shots with this lens are still not as sharp as digital shots I took with this lens, they’re better than I was getting with my Yashica. That said, I’m not sure if the sharpness comes from the better lens, or the autofocus Canon being better than my split prism manual focus skills, or a bit of both: you answer one question only to ask two more :)