I’ve recently acquired an old film camera, a Pentax P30T with the standard lens, a flash and a zoom lens. Having never owned an SLR, assuming this is probably quite a basic one i’m not sure what can be done but some photography advice would be appreciated, in terms of what exposure settings and things to use.

Thanks,
Harry

If you want everything in focus (large depth of field) use a high F number (which weirdly is a small exposure value). For only a tiny bit in focus use the smallest F number. Zoom lens will alter perspective (more zoomed in means less perspective I think). Have fun!

Getting film for it and developing it I guess is going to be tricky.

Once past that problem, it’s the same as any SLR, digital or otherwise, in terms of basics of photography, exposure etc.

A lot to go into, but best is just look through guides. Plenty of books about and sites.

Try this one for starters – http://www.exposureguide.com/photography-basics.htm

Key stuff to get your head round is aperture, shutter speed, focal length and focus distance and how all relate to each other, affect things like depth of field etc.

Anything to do with sensors, just replace with film.

Note, one downside of film is you are restricted to the ISO of the film. With digital you can change the ISO per shot. Though it may not matter, plus I feel sometimes it’s better to work within limits, so all your shots are a particular ISO for example, or a particular focal length (with a nice fixed length prime lens for silky smooth quality 😀 ).

A quick Google suggests it has aperture priority (Av) mode and 1/1000s shutter. Shutter speed is displayed in the view finder.

Stick it on Av, set the aperture to it’s smallest numeric value and see what shutter speed you’re getting.

If it’s 1000 try the next bigger aperture number. Repeat until it’s less than 1000. Take photo.

If it’s less than 1/focal length (E.g 1/50s for a 50mm lens) you need a tripod or a flash. The further from 1/focal length the more you need it.

If you really want to learn then just get a digital SLR. You can get a used one for the price of developing a few films. You’ll be able to instantly see the results and tweak the settings as you go.

On a similar note to above… Those lenses will fit Sony nex/alpha e-mount bodies with a 10 quid adapter. Used bodies start at 50 quid.

Thanks for all the tips, i’ve been toying with the idea of a digital one if i can find one cheap. I’m enjoying playing with the focus and things but it’s hard to see whether photos are any good until all the film has been used. I’ll have a look at second hand bodies, do you mean the lens’ i do have for my film one will fit a dslr, granted i find an adaptor?

I had a Pentax P30T back in the day. Good solid camera.

They will fit a pentax dslr and most mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras (via an adapter in both cases).

Mirrorless all have liveview, so do the newer dslrs but you’d need to double check. This allows you to check focus digitally with focus aids or by digitally zooming the preview.

Without this you have to use the viewfinder which on a dslr doesn’t have any focus aids (like the split screen in yours) and the viewfinder is small and dimmer in comparison with yours so focusing is at best an educated guess.

If you stick with it then do the following:

Get a small note book and each time you take a picture, jot down the aperture and shutter speed you used against the frame number. Also make a note of the lighting conditions and what metering system you used (Spot, centre weighted or average assuming the camera has these).

Buy a cheap light meter and start trying to meter the light for yourself. With film, the general rule is you expose for the shadows rather than the highlights; with digital it’s the other way around. Relatively speaking you slightly over expose film compated to digital. There are reasons but I won’t bore you with them unless you want me to.

Try shooting with B&W film. It’s so much fun compared to converting digital to B&W largely because, assuming you get the exposure right, the whites are really white (not some awfull off grey colour) and the backs are true black. It looks so much nicer than digital B&W.

Find a film stock you like and stick with it. That does mean experimenting a little to start with, but generally the best progress is made when you’ve learned what film you like and how it responds. My personal preferences (which a lot of people also share) are Kodak Tri-X 400 for B&W and Kodak Portra 400 for colour.

Don’t discount a digital step in the process. Get the films processed and then scanned so you can still then tweak them in post. You don’t get aything like as much lattitude as say shooting RAW digital files but it makes the difference between a lifeless image and one that pops.

Buying film and getting it developed is easy it justs costs money. I and a few others on here use Peak Imaging as they offer a very easy service to engage. They have a free post service and you get a very natty little flat pack box for your next process with ever order returned. Get the films processed and scanned rather than processed and printed. If you choose the basic service – CD Image – and you opt for 36 exposure film, you will save money. In the long run (and it’s something I really need to do myself) you could get a cheap scanner and save even more.

Shooting film is fun and it need not be expensive. It’s a better learning curve than digital because it will make you really think about what you’re doing. With digital, while you get instant results without it costing the earth, for most people that simply results in lots and lots of images being taken and the learning gets lost. Not always, but I’m speaking from experience. Nothing has accelerated my learning faster than including extensive use of film in my photography.

That’s why jumbo jet pilots learn to fly real jumbo jets and don’t bother with those digital simulators. Makes them really careful. 😉

That’s why jumbo jet pilots learn to fly real jumbo jets and don’t bother with those digital simulators. Makes them really careful.

No pilot EVER gets their PPL in a simulator. They all learn to fly a real plane first.

Lenses don’t change perspective. Your legs do that by changing the relative positions of two objects and the camera. Different focal lengths only change the angle of view and the depth of field for a given aperture.