Using a 35mm Film Camera in 2025

Nostalgia or worth the expense?

I have a Canon EOS 500N” 35mm film camera that I haven’t used in 25 years. On a whim, I decided to see if it would still work.

To start with, I ordered a Duracell CR123 battery and some Kodak Kodacolor GOLD 200 film. To my surprise, the camera still worked, and the film loaded correctly, displaying 36 exposures on the screen.

However, the auto zoom lens didn’t appear to be working correctly, which meant I had to focus each image manually. Focusing manually wasn’t difficult; it just took longer to set up the shot. I’m pleased with the photos that came out.

After taking the first couple of pictures, I instantly looked at the back of the camera body, where a screen usually is on a digital camera, and chuckled to myself each time. After a while, though, I stopped looking. That was a nice appeal as it allowed me to be more thoughtful about the shots I took. It forced me to think about composing each frame. It was quite a novelty to have to wait weeks to see the results. There were a few shots I’d forgotten I’d taken.

Once the roll of film was completed, I sent it to filmprocessing.co.uk for processing. They offer the option to scan the processed negatives and send you a link via a Dropbox folder, allowing you to retrieve your images. This process took a couple of days and cost me £11 for the medium scans and almost £4 for the postage. Next time, I might try the highest quality scan option.

Results

A couple of the early shots were affected by light contamination (ghosting).

I’d noticed the back of the camera wasn’t shut flush, so I used a bit of masking tape to hold it tight shut, and all the photos taken after that turned out fine. Each scanned photo was between 6MB and 7MB, and the ZIP containing all 36 exposures came in at 219MB.

Thoughts

The cost of each photo is around 83 pence, taking into account the costs of film, developing, and postage.

Will I continue to use it?. Almost certainly, I’ve already ordered some more film for an upcoming vacation. I’m also going to try some dedicated Black and White film Ilford HP5 Plus