How to Shoot Film on the Appalachian Trial

So you want to carry your favorite film camera while through hiking. One word of advice, don’t. As with most of my gear decisions carrying a film camera is something I’m really enjoying but don’t think I can recommend. Your phone probably has a great camera and film limits you to 24 or 36 shots per roll, then you have to have it developed before you can see the pictures. A digital camera will take objectively better pictures and will take as many shots as you have the data to store. So why am I still carrying it? I collect film cameras and enjoy using them. I’ve been shooting black and white film exclusively for the last several years and I wanted to see if it would even be possible. Turns out, it’s very possible and a lot of fun. So what are your options and what do you need to consider?

First, I would say you should strongly consider that your camera will be damaged or destroyed while hiking. I’ve been lucky enough that my camera and all my film has survived this far but much like any piece of gear rain at the wrong time or putting your pack down with the camera at the bottom could be the end of it. Second, where are you getting your film? Most gas stations don’t sell 35mm film any more, maybe some Walmarts do but I can’t say for certain.  Third, and probably most importantly, how are you developing your film? Even off trail it’s getting harder and harder to get film developed. Many of the labs that would do it went out of business years ago. Development is expensive and if you drop your film off then hike on how do you pick up your pictures?  Fourth, you have to accept the possibility of not getting the shot you wanted. Film’s not perfect sometimes something goes wrong and a picture just doesn’t come out. 

This was supposed to be a picture of one of the Grayson Highlands ponies but I must have had my finger in front of the lens or something. 

What are your options?

If you still want to shoot film I would consider carrying a disposable camera. The disposable lets you avoid the possibility of damaging a camera you actually like. disposables are easy to use and pretty much always get the shot. You don’t have to worry about batteries or your film somehow getting exposed to light. Disposables are little easier to find than rolls of film. They’re also the most ultra light option but if you’re shooting film you probably don’t care about that quite as much. Disposable cameras do have some down sides. They’re made of thin plastic which is pretty fragile and the plastic lenses don’t take the sharpest pictures. They also have a single lens with no option to zoom or reframe a picture without moving yourself. As far as development I think the best option is a mail in development service. There are several companies that do this and generally they’ll develop the film, scan it, then send you digital copies. Some services will also print your pictures and you can have them send the prints wherever. I’m not printing anything but it would be pretty cool to get home after your hike to a stack of all the pictures you took. 

What am I doing?

I’m carrying my Cannon Sure Shot 115u ii (a very long name) that I bought at a garage sale probably 5 years ago for $20. It’s been a good choice because I was pretty prepared for it to be broken. It’s a camera that I enjoy using but doesn’t have a lot of sentimental value to me. It also has a pretty good zoom lens so I can take a picture of an animal without getting too close. The Sure Shot also prints the date in the bottom corner of the picture which I think is a cool feature. When I left I had half a roll shot already in the camera and carried one more roll with my tech stuff. All in all I think I’ve only taken like 30 pictures with the camera and only half of those have been developed so far. For developing I’m using a service called Nice Film Club. I’ve been using Nice Film Club for several years and I chose them originally because they’re reasonably priced and located close to my old apartment so I would drop off the film in person and save a few bucks on shipping. I still had a few credits with them so I didn’t see a reason to change. I have a little carrying case for the camera that I keep inside a zip lock bag in my pack. This has ensured I haven’t damaged the camera but does mean I have to take my pack off and search through it every time I want to take a picture.

Here’s the results!