As you might know, one of the things that I enjoy the most when shooting digital is rugby. I’m not trying to explain why nor trying to convince you to go out and shoot some sport. I know that I’m not the first person doing it, there are thousands of photographers that did it before me. These other thousands made me think (again!) that we are sitting on the shoulders of giants. But the giants didn’t always have a digital camera. So, how did they do it? The obvious answer is – on film. Awesome! My hat off to them as I know it’s not easy. So, if you remember or not, a few months ago I set myself a challenge to shoot some rugby on film. Today the results are out and posted right here.
In order to photograph fast action, one needs a fast shutter speed. The maximum that my Canon AE-1 can get to is 1/1000s and that is more than enough for rugby. In order to achieve that shutter speed, I loaded the camera with a fast film with high ISO namely Neopan 1600. I knew that compared with digital I would be able to shoot only one frame at the time, for every single frame I have to press the shutter button and in between I have to cock that shutter and wind the film but I was ok with that. The bigger challenge came in the form of focusing. The camera doesn’t have the option of automatic focus nor the lens, the Canon FD 80-200mm is a manual focus lens and this can be seen in the results. I don’t mind the grain, to me it’s normal for such a high ISO coupled with a fast shutter speed. Fine, it was my first experiment so I didn’t expect to have everything perfect but let me tell you: manually focusing when the subjects are moving that fast it’s not an easy task at all. I will let the photos speak.
Nice pictures! How did you develop the film?
Love it! When I was younger most of my work was sports, and the requirement of timing the shutter to catch the action I wanted was actually part of the fun, part of the craft. Good for you, and you made excellent images with it!