Photography Goes Retro With Analogue

Korea Times Photo by Shim Hyun-chul

By Sa Eun-young
Staff Reporter

As digital cameras abound on the market, bringing faster and more easy-to-use technology to photographers, regular film cameras have been pushed out of the spotlight. Why use analogue when you can get a more edgy digital shot, some may ask. But sometimes, digital just cannot beat the classic methods, and those who have experienced the art of film photography can not get enough of it, according to users.

Around Chungmuro in central Seoul, there is a crowd of camera shops that used to specialize in film cameras until they opened their doors to the digital world. All of the stores that The Korea Times contacted in the area unanimously voiced that while there has been a sharp drop in the demand for film-based cameras since digital cameras were introduced, traditional analogue camera users remain faithful to their rolls of film. Recently, others have joined them with a newfound interest in the retro-feel that only film photographs can produce.

``For a while, film-based cameras were being forgotten, but these days, perhaps because people have had an overdose of digital, there are many people looking for analogue cameras,'' a store owner in Chungmuro said.

The labels that boast the most popularity are Nikon and Canon, while Pentax and Minolta are also frequently eyed competitors in the market of second-hand products.

The fully manual Nikon FM2, which was first produced in the 1980s, is one of the most sought after analogue cameras that the company makes, with its current price at around 350,000 won.

``At the time that I selected my camera, Nikon was almost in a league of its own. I bought Nikon because I thought it had a highly refined mechanism and a good selection of lenses,'' said Sim Hyo-won, 27, who has been using his Nikon FM2 for the past two years.

Users are also led into the world of film photography after they experience first-hand the feeling of snapping photos with a manual camera. Choi Sung-ju, 24, was introduced to film photography just before he entered university, after using a Minolta belonging to one of his acquaintances.

The results he met had him hooked and he later purchased a Minolta X-300, which he has now been using for the past four years.

``It was recommended that I buy a Minolta X-300 or X-700 because it is a model for manual starters. It was also an affordable price for a student,'' he said. He purchased his camera second-hand for around 150,000 won on the Internet site, Rokkor Club, where Minolta-users actively gather to buy-and-sell products, as well as share information.

Long-time and fledgling analogue camera users pursue the art of photography mainly because of the unique quality that film photography holds, not to mention a fad spreading because it looks ``cool,'' according to camera dealers. Moreover, although the price range is wide, the fact that starting prices are cheaper than that of digital cameras, also acts as a plus.

``One of the merits of using an analogue camera is the unique quality that only film photographs offer, as well as being able to manually adjust the camera modes with techniques that produce photos that are different from ones that others take,'' Sim said.``The charm of film-based cameras has to be the shutter sound, and that different films types can be selected to suit different color depths.''

Minolta-user Choi said he enjoys the deliberate manner that film photography demands, causing photographers to take care on even a single print.

``With digital cameras, it's possible to take hundreds or even thousands of photos, which causes more rash photo taking,'' he said.

Analogue Toy Cameras

In addition, there has recently been a boom in ``toy cameras,'' which are plastic devices that look and feel like toys, but are capable of producing results that are far from childish. While the Lomo brand was introduced to Korea in 1999, the producer of the gadgets, Lomographic Society International established its branch in Korea in 2003.

Since first opening, it has seen a consistent rise in visitors and shoppers, with significantly more people favoring these retro film-based cameras in recent days. It marked around a 20-30 percent increase in visitors to its Web site since last summer.

The interesting thing is that ``as digital cameras have become more widespread, the sales of our cameras have also been on the rise,'' said Huh Soo-dol, head of Lomography Korea. ``Among camera-users, who have recently grown in numbers, there are young people who want to try using film-based cameras,'' and their price-range is best met by the Lomo-series.

According to the company, the steady best-seller at Lomography Korea is the brand's signature camera, Lomo Compact-Automatic (LC-A+), a snapshot camera that yields ``radiant colors, knockout contrast, edge vignetting, powerful multi-coating and the occasionally temperamental focusing,'' priced at 253,000 won. Among cheaper items are the Fisheye, which creates circular distorted effects through a fisheye lens, and the Supersampler that produces four sequential panorama shots on a single photo. These are also favorites of camera-buyers, both at an affordable price of 55,000 won. More around that price are the Diana+ ― launched last week and sold out in four days ― and the Holga Starter Kit, which is also currently sold out.

One of the merits of the Lomo series, compared to digital, is its on-going value.

``In the case of digital cameras, the price of the piece falls tremendously six to 12 months after purchasing the camera, and it's hard to get even 30 percent of the original price. In the case of a Lomo (Compact-Automatic) purchased in 1999 for 240,000 won, it still gets around 190,000 won when selling it online,'' Huh said.

Looking Through Lomo Cameras

Ironically enough, digital technology is what is spreading the analogue trend, as the Lomo series gained popularity when people saw photographs posted by lomo-users on the Web.

``I wanted to experience the quality color depth of film photographs, so I looked around several communities on the Web, and discovered that all of the photos that really stood out were either taken by high-end analogue cameras or Lomo,'' said a one-month user of the Lomo Compact-Automatic.

One of the on-line communities that the user came across was ``The Way of Looking Through Camera Lomo,'' which is a bustling club on the Internet that stands for presenting ``a more beautiful world through the viewfinder.'' The club, which was first founded in 2002, began with a small group of people and gradually increased its numbers to boast a mega-size club of over 20,000 members, with around 3,000 hits a day. Among the members, 78 percent are in their twenties, and 74 percent are women.

The founder and manager of the on-line community, Lee In-sang, 27, said that unlike traditional film-based cameras, the photos do not necessarily come out clear, but rather the opposite ― ``there can be a lot of noise and distribution, but that itself is its charm.''

It is also less serious than other film cameras because, ``this is a toy, so the fun is in playing around with it,'' he said, adding that it does not require skills or technique to produce a memorable photo with the Lomo.

Analogue Lives On

Camera dealers are still cautious in saying that sales of analogue cameras will continue on an upswing, but many anticipate that it may follow the trend in Japan, where the demand for film-based cameras is catching up with digital ones. ``We have a tendency to be a step behind Japan on trends, so if we track Japan this time as well, there is a chance that analogue cameras will continue to become more popular,'' said a camera dealer.

If anything, analogue cameras will keep its place among its loyal followers.

``Even if I buy a DSLR, I don't think I would be able to sell this one. The unique quality of analogue is not an easy thing to trade in,'' said Sim in regards to his Nikon FM2. Other users also agreed that analogue cameras will not likely be going anywhere, with people continuously seeking ways to create prints that are unique and special.

So, unlike some analogue devices that are becoming a part of history, it looks like analogue cameras will continue to make their own history through their classic prints.

eysa@koreatimes.co.kr