Wrapping up the project
It is now Sunday afternoon, January 5th, 2025. It is two degrees C outside, raining and the snow that fell last night is slowly disappearing. A good time to reflect on the Frugal Film Project. Wait, I hear you thinking. Wrapping up the project? The last episode we saw was September 2024. Where are the final months of 2024? As it turned out, the September session of the Frugal Film Project was the last I would shoot in 2024 due to other commitments.
For me the big plus of this project has been to just get out and shoot even when I wouldn't otherwise. I didn't always manage that but looking back I feel that I have shot some nice images and that was fun when out and about with my Canon. The camera I used was a very affordable Canon EOS 1000N but don't let the low price fool you, this is a fine camera and it does the job perfectly. The film I used was Agfaphoto APX 100/36. A fine film, just not always as full with contrast as, say, Fomapan. It worked well for the project and I think I've gotten some good results with it. I also got to know the Canon EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 lens quite well along the way. What I found was that the extra reach (24-85mm instead of 28-80mm) was nice to have. However I feel that it was holding me back sometimes too. The 24-85 is a good lens, don't get me wrong, but I have other good lenses too and it was sometimes frustrating not being able to use them because they fell outside of the budget rules set by the project.
My favorites
As I said I've had a lot of fun shooting images for the project. These are my favorite photos of each month:
The future
Moving forward I see myself using the EOS 1000N a lot in 2025 and beyond, just like the APX film. I don't think I will be using the 24-85 as much as I did this year. So what does this mean for the project in 2025? I've been thinking a lot about that lately. I could always switch to another camera/lens setup. However, that would still restrict me to one lens and as I stated earlier it is frustrating to shoot a certain image with a given lens knowing that you have a more fitting lens in your collection that would capture the image better. I have therefore decided to take a break from the project in 2025.
