All Analog: Classic Cars and Film

Few things go so well together as cars and film. While digital is the undisputed king of the realm of paid automotive photography, most of my favorite photos have been taken on my old Pentax 67. For those that don't know of it, it's a 6x7 medium format film camera. My particularly version, called simply "67," came out in 1989. This camera is just a blast to use, so I decided to start my own photography side project to document classic cars on film, as they would've likely looked when they were made!

Shooting film is obviously a completely different beast that shooting on digital, especially when shooting cars. Most important is metering your camera properly. I'm spoiled by the EVF on my Fuji X-T1 which lets me view the exposure instantly. On film, I always try to meter (using an incident meter facing the camera) from within the wheelarches if I'm shooting the side or directly under the bumper if I'm shooting from the front or rear. This ensures that all the little details from beneath the car will turn out properly, whether it be the details of the wheels or just the contrast of the road on the car. I always always always overexpose when shooting cars. I never want to lose any details, and I love the pastel colors that come with it.

An important detail that you may notice in these pictures is the lack of polarization. I just don't think it's that useful for film, especially when you're stuck with a fixed "sensitivity" of whatever film you're shooting. If I do use a polarizer, it's mainly as an ND filter. Since I love overexposing, polarizers often work against the look I'm trying to go for.

I hope you enjoy the photos below! All B&W photos were taken on Tri-X 400, while the color photos are a mix of Portra 400 and Fuji Pro 400H.