How I get the Dark & Dreamy Film Look Digitally

I fell in love with analog/film photography a while ago and spent an entire year almost exclusively using film for my photography. Especially disposable cameras have such a distinct look that I love. But I was getting inconsistent results and the price increases by Kodak and Fujifilm ultimately made look for a digital film look alternative. That is why I spent the past year finding out how I can replicate the Film Look with digital cameras like the Fujifilm X-T30, Fujifilm X-Pro 1, Fujifilm GFX 50R, Sony A7RII, Sony A7IV, Nikon D2X. These aren't even all of the cameras I have used to try and replicate images with analog qualities. I have heard of people who have bought the Fujifilm X100V or Fujifilm X-E4 just for the Fujifilm Film Simulations to get a similar look to Portra 400, Portra 800, Kodachrome, etc. In this video I go over my process for replicating the disposable camera film look, based on over a year of testing and research.

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[Teeteto]

Such a fresh approach to photography videos on YT. Thanks for all the tips!

[BarrettBaker_photos]

Gawd Damn there’s so much hate here! What’s going on?! This dudes looking at style over substance and yeah he’s trying to get a ‘film recipe’ for a film like look but it’s a specific look. He’s proud of it so stop hating people.

[DonFather]

Here's the answer: when everyone used film, everyone wanted a cleaner noise free image because it was rare & hard to achieve. Now when everyone has a digital camera and clean clinical images, they want something rare: all that film grain. It's human psychology, and it makes some of us feel good. That's it.

[randypipper]

Really love how these photos turned out! Especially the car ones. Keep it up, brother!

[ColinCarter-cy]

I'vee been thinking about making a disposable lens for months but never had the balls to sink in this much time. You are agodsend for actually sending it.

[xlap]

Just picked up your preset pack from coming across these videos and you did an excellent job, I love these so much and cant help but slap them on almost all my lighroom photos now!

[JuanManuelTastzian]

Loved this! Will try it out. And great tip about the flash photos that we normally don't really do nowadays with smartphones, and if you want to get the film look afterwards with a regular non-flash photo, it's harder than this.

[hmn]

Man, having that friend that can hook you up with a adapter is incredible.

[Prinz-]

Man I just love it! You just go above and beyond😍
Ripping that disposable camera apart to produce these images is just going to the extra extra mile…🙏 I love it!

And the editing also really nails that film look!!

Keep it coming!😊

[MatthewMorse]

I worked in a photo lab in college, and I can confirm that the capacitor is spicy... Loved this video! Excellent work on the presets as well.

[Bannick]

I like the video style with more perspective changes while filming yourself. Very enjoyable to watch <3

[tomzahradka]

I really like the "character" of disposable camera lenses, and I think using one means you open yourself up to all the happy accidents and not controlling the result that much. Congratulations on designing your own disposable camera lens. It took me more than 20 prototypes and tests with different types of lenses, from Fuji cameras, Ilford, Kodak, and Kodak Professional, to find the right focal length and design the lens in a way that is easy to 3D print :-) I really like the look of your lens and the photos you took with it. TOM (at)reusedcameras

[MitchellDeanMay]

Dude you're the best. probably my favorite photography youtuber. Never seen anyone share so much info without a paywall and you make it so easy for beginners to find out what to do and try and a list of all your favorite gear? Premium stuff man I support you all the way. Let me know if you want a cool shoot in Utah sometime

[ptrkwnzl]

Du bist echt der Inbegriff von Symphatisch 😊
Immer gutes Licht dir !

[michael]

i just remembered this video and wanted to give it a try, works exactly how i wanted it to!
23mm, f22, 1 second (to give it that shaky cam instant film look), iso 51200 (could have gone lower looking at it in lightroom - too grainy), default xt30 flash, film sim preset i already have.
perfect.

[richardwalker]

Enterprising stuff, I like it. Not having a 3D printer handy, I resorted to the house of 7Artisans with their cheapo 18/6.3 cap lens. It's probably a bit better than a disposable camera lens, but soft enough in the corners and produces wild lens flares when shooting into bright light sources. I use it on the Panasonic GX800 in electronic shutter mode, auto iso. Nothing to set, just turn it on and shoot. Use one of the vintage filter effects, add some artificial grain and its game on.

[hmn]

Just got a Digicam from my Father's cabinet - Sony Cybershot. Used this as a guide. Worked great, thanks.

[jonassantos]

Loved the video, dude ! Thanks for all the tips

[axjfamily]

Yessss! You cracked the system ! Now if any one can make a blueprint for a Sony mount.

[thepanduuh]

I did the disposable camera lens into the body cap thing and I also 3D printed myself an adapter ring. My issue was the focus plane was just wack if you put the lens right into the body without some sort of adapter to offset the lens from the sensor (can move closer to the sensor or farther away depending on intended use).


I'm definitely interested in what testing you did to find the offset for a usable focus plane.