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Analog camera lovers loyal to irreplaceable characteristics
Despite the convenience digital cameras offer, many still gravitate toward the classic analog camera with spare rolls at the ready.
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Fixing it: Gerry said one component of his camera recently broke, and he is still trying to find a place to fix it. (Courtesy of Gerry Senchaki) (Personal collection/Courtesy of Gerry Senchaki)
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em>Despite the convenience digital cameras offer, many still gravitate toward the classic analog camera with spare rolls at the ready.
Film photography is having a resurgence. In recent years, it has become no longer necessary to buy an analog camera to get a sense of what it's like to use one, owing to social media sites such as Instagram, which add a retro film-like effect to photos and videos.
This demonstrates that, while technological innovation enables simplified digitization of analog media, its aesthetic and authentic charms are simply irreplaceable as people still seek it in various forms. The phenomenon also showcases how film photography continues to exert an influence on today's digital age.
According to Bali-based photographer Govinda Rumi, analog embodies something digital cannot replace — experience.
"People are drawn to it because of the experience. What digital can't replace is the effort it takes to create one image with the settings, composition and clicking the shutter button — you do the last step only if you are 100 percent sure you will get a great image," said Govinda. "Meanwhile, with digital, you can abuse the number of shots, and it doesn't feel as immersive," he added, comparing the two.
The 31-year-old professional photographer often experiments with an analog camera for his work, having first used one in a photography class in college.
Elements of surprise
Unlike digital cameras that produce instant results, analog requires one to wait patiently. "We never know what the photo looks like until it has been developed and scanned," said Gerry Senchaki, a 33-year-old analog enthusiast.
Their unpredictability is what got Gerry hooked on analog cameras. In 2008, around the time when quirky analog-style cameras called Lomography started gaining fame, he spotted a friend's analog with unusual characteristics, which prompted him to find out more about it. Finally, he decided to purchase his first-ever analog, a Lomography Diana Mini.
Compared to digital, Gerry believes analog is somewhat easier to maintain. "The most important thing is to make sure the lens doesn't have fungus on it," otherwise, he added, it would be too much of a hassle to fix it through the camera's backdoor.
On the other hand, Govinda believes the level of maintenance difficulty depends on the type of analog camera. "A fully mechanical film camera is easier to maintain since it doesn't need a battery and is still considerably easy to repair. However, a film camera that has electronic parts is like gambling because once those electronics fail you, your camera is as good as gone," he said.
Even if an analog camera is in dire need of repair, some specialized service centers still offer their expertise. "They're still around, although not many," Gerry said.
Despite being considered vintage, for Gerry, the gears are not difficult to locate, as many online marketplace dealers today provide a wide range of equipment. Just make sure to read the store's reviews to avoid being tricked, warned Govinda.
Film stocks, however, are increasingly scarce. Several manufacturers have ceased operations, too, and Gerry and Govinda noted that this has caused their price to rise.
Scarcity also impacted Hipercat Lab, a film lab in Bandung. "In 2015, Kodak was on the edge of bankruptcy, and there was virtually no film supply, forcing us to freeze services for several months due to a lack of orders," said Fajar Hidayat, Hipercat's founder.
But Kodak pulled through the following year, according to Fajar. Therefore, Hipercat was able to resume its operations as well. He also added the analog trend had only become stronger since then.
Fajar initially started developing and scanning films purely for his own needs. Around 2012, he learned that many of his friends within the analog community were interested in his services, which then expanded to an entire venture.
However, he didn't have an offline store back then, so he only accepted online orders. He completed the entire process at home and then returned the rolls to the customers. According to Fajar, Hipercat was the first film lab to accept online orders whose customers were mostly from big cities like Jakarta.
As the number of film labs in Jakarta rose, fewer consumers from that city turned to Hipercat. "However, we started seeing more customers coming in from Bandung itself. The surge compelled us to finally open an offline store in 2017," said Fajar.
Hipercat receives around 500 customers every month for develop-and-scan, excluding the online orders. "I'd say 75 percent of them go directly to our store, while 25 percent place orders virtually," said Hidayat.
From what he has seen, most of Hipercat's customers are of the younger generation who just started experimenting with analog. "As they didn't grow up using analog, they see the experience as something fresh and exciting," he stated.
Govinda, too, believes they play a massive role in the revival of analog. "They want to experience a piece of the technology as well," he said.
Although analog offers what Govinda described as "a sense of nostalgia", it also comes with trials and errors, in addition to other disadvantages.
"You don't know what you are going to get when you shoot, so sometimes if you don't load the film properly, you get an empty image, or you don't know when your camera is broken or not until you've processed the film," he explained.
For Gerry, the highlighted downsides of analog are its pricey rolls, the long process to see the results, and no preview feature available.
Govinda also noted that film photography, to some extent, was "quite unforgiving", which serves both as an advantage and disadvantage.
"If you are actually learning photography for the first time, film photography will really ramp up your skills since it is quite unforgiving, and you have to know the best settings to get what you want to achieve," he said. "Also, there's no LCD screen to help you 'cheat'."
Timeless trend
When asked whether the popularity of analog was just hype that would fade away at one point, Govinda said he hoped it stayed. "I hope it continues because film photography is one of the basic forms of this art. The simplicity and straightforwardness make it so much fun!" he said.
Being realistic, he also noted there was a slight chance it wouldn't be around forever. "When prices start to get really expensive, and film stocks get rarer and rarer, it probably will slowly go away," he added.
Fajar, whose business benefits from people's analog enthusiasm, remains optimistic the trend will be nothing but persistent. Part of this is due to the fact that analog expands their photography options.
"People now have more options with film photography. Those who desire quick results can choose digital, while those who prefer unique features and characteristics may turn to analog," Fajar said.
Hipercat itself still sees stability, proven by the analog community that helped it recover amid the pandemic. Their existence, especially in the city of Bandung, continues to fuel people's curiosity as well as acts as the platform for the community to further explore the intricacies of analog.
"We usually host a variety of events such as bazaars and develop-and-scan demo classes, where people across communities and interests come together," said Fajar.
Analog, in Gerry's opinion, will continue to have its place — especially in the market, although he projected that film photography would become "a segmented hobby" in the future.
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