Welcome to Analog Reference

Thanks for stopping by. We’re two amateur photographers who started with digital and are now learning the world of analog photography. Here you’ll find reviews of different 35mm films from both of our perspectives, as well as gear reviews and other notes. We post every other week.

Ultimately, the output of our photography is subjective, but we hope you find our thoughts and photos a useful point of reference in your own photography journey. There is also variation in scanning, editing, and developing between labs and photographers, so your mileage may vary when using the same film. Neither of us do much darkroom printing at the moment, but it may be a possibility in the future.

About Andrew

My interest in visual media started with visual effects back around 2007, shooting videos with the family MiniDV camcorder and teaching myself how to edit using Sony Vegas and later Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. I skipped the DSLR phase - my first camera was a Sony NEX-5 and I have used mirrorless cameras exclusively since, including a Panasonic Lumix G85 and now a Sony a7RII.

These days, my interest in photography is purely for personal enjoyment. As an avid hiker and climber, I enjoy taking a camera on trips to do landscape photography, but I have a growing interest in candid. I don’t shoot commercially, nor do I have plans to. I shoot primarily to share with friends and family, and now here on this blog as I document my adventures with analog photography. I’d consider myself just below intermediate at digital photography and a beginner at analog: I have no formal training in either, only lots of tutorials and trial and error.

I enjoy the slower pace and delayed gratification that comes with analog photography. I’m fond of the character provided by the grain and imperfections, as well as the mechanical nature of the gear. I strive to one day shoot full manual without light meter assistance (at least outdoors) purely for the challenge. In the future, I’d like to develop black and white film on my own, and explore other formats beyond 35mm.

About Eric

I first picked up a camera…I honestly don’t remember. I have memories of shooting my Dad’s film point and shoot and SLR (one of the cameras Andrew is now shooting!), and when the family went digital, I was a bit fascinated with that too. I took a film class at the local community college in 2005 or so, and developing in the lab was absolutely fascinating. I got my own first serious camera in 2008 or so, a Nikon D60. Other than photography, I’ve never been interested much in visual arts, and I dreaded the art requirement for high school, but by the time I graduated in 2010, I had a pile of art credits to my name. I ended up with a college degree in graphic design and working as a designer for a good number of years. I went on to shoot a Nikon D7100 before switching to mirrorless with a Sony A7iii.

Depending on your definition, I’m either a serious amateur or barely a professional (I have been paid to shoot photos before, and have worked on some commercial shoots.). I shoot events by request of friends, and I’ve dabbled in cosplay photography. I like sharing photos occasionally, but I’m mostly happy about the technical challenge of photography. Challenging lighting, complex setups, and logistical challenges are by far my favorite part of taking photos. Lining up the sunset with a street, rigging timelapses from observation decks (no tripods!), and long exposures are often the highlights of my photography. This leads to my biggest flaw as a photographer - once I’ve captured the image in camera, I tend to lose interest in postprocessing.

Personally, my biggest interest is in landscape and cityscape photography. I’m an avid traveler and really enjoy nightime skylines, sunrises, sunsets, and city lights. My serious dive back into film is primarily motivated by a desire to shoot more. I’ve turned into a fairly intentional digital photographer - I drag my camera out for a specific trip or location, and pretty much at no other time. Film’s delayed gratification is a great motivator - I have to shoot more to see the photos I’ve shot, so I’ve gotta drag the camera around more to shoot more. Also, it’s nice to embrace the imperfection and just shoot photos - I often feel like I must postprocess digital photos before sharing, but scanned film photos I feel fine to just post. This move into film has once again returned me to Nikon, and I’m shooting an FE2 among other cameras. Nothing beats the feel of a nice film advance lever, and mechanical cameras are just fascinating to me.

I’d consider myself a low tier advanced digital photographer, but a complete beginner at film. I’d like to develop my own film again at some point. I also would like to shoot medium format at some point, and the little kid wannabe spy in me wants to shoot cold war espionage era subminiature cameras.