Still Photography Equipment
It doesn’t really matter what kind of film and equipment you use, but, with that said, here’s the actual film and equipment that I use. Each item is an Amazon link which you can click on and order yourself.
My good 35mm camera is a Pentax Spotmatic II, and I take photos with the black and white film on the left here and the color on the right.
Also I use these negative sheets. Amazon doesn’t still have the exact changing bag I have, but it looks just like this one below.
For a few years, this cheap Wolverine scanner was the only scanner I had. Sometimes you could trick it and catch the red off-guard and make it look like electric-blood. The other scanners are better, because if your negative is back-lit at all, sometimes this scanner won't pick it up correctly and it'll just look black. But that red is probably the best red I ever got.
This is the scanner that I would buy now if I didn't already have a similar one. Looks exactly the same as the one I have in terms of features, where you can push it to correctly scan a somewhat backlit image. Also lets you scan a negative in 9600 DPI so you can make posters.
Motion Picture Equipment
I have a 16mm Aaton XTR–a good, silent movie camera–and two loud but cool cameras: a Krasnogorsk-3 and a Bolex. For sound, I use a Nagra 4.2 professional tape recorder with a special attachment for 7″ reels.
I use this one light meter with each of the movie cameras. I was originally skeptical that it wouldn't be able to give an accurate reading for each different camera, but it has worked great every time. I like it because it's the old fashioned kind that never needs any batteries.
This is the tripod I use with the Aaton. Cheapest one that would correctly support its weight. It doesn't look cool, but it works really well.
This is the audio tape that I use with the Nagra and also my Tascam 388 8-track recording machine.
This is the shotgun mic I use with the Nagra. I have to say, this really does make sound recording fun. If there is a fan running behind you and you aim this at a bird in front of you, it will pick up significantly more of the bird than the fan. It's made for movie sound-- easy to record dialogue and sound effects.
I also find it difficult to close my other eye while looking through a movie camera, so I bought this eye patch.
This isn't film equipment, but I bought this to use my cell phone through an old rotary phone. The old phone has dial tone and lets you dial and call without paying for a landline! People say they can sometimes hear an echo (helps if you put your cell phone farther away) and it sounds slightly scratchy, but I like having real conversations on an old phone. 🙂
