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The Vintage Film Setup I Take Everywhere: 35mm & Medium Format Gear
15
items This kit holds 40+ years of travel memories. Before I carried this exact 35mm setup around the globe, my dad shot with it for four decades, and it's still my absolute favorite daily driver for analog photography. Since most vintage cameras are bought...
Sections
5
The Core Camera Body & Everyday Setup
The Glass (Vintage Lenses)
Medium Format (120 Film)
Go-To Film Stocks (Emulsions)
Lab & Film Digitizing Essentials
The Core Camera Body & Everyday Setup
The foundational body and carrying accessories that make up my daily shooting rig. Lightweight, manual, and built to survive generations.
This exact camera was passed down to me from my dad, who carried it around the world for 40 years before handing it off to me. It's ultra-compact, has aperture-priority auto mode when you need speed, and full manual control when you want full creativ...
Nikon FG 35mm SLR Camera Body
Designed specifically to match the FG body style, this dedicated TTL flash pops right onto the shoe and flips flat. Perfect for direct fill-flash in harsh sunlight, editorial style indoor shots, or late-night street photography.
Nikon SB-15 Speedlight Flash
Never underestimate a wide, comfortable woven strap! Thrifting a retro fabric or leather strap adds character and makes slinging a solid metal 35mm body around your neck comfortable for 10-mile walking days.
Vintage Camera Straps
The Glass (Vintage Lenses)
My optical glass lineup covering everything from street photography and environmental portraits to tight telephoto compression.
If I could only bring one lens on a trip, this 35mm prime is it. It matches the classic focal length of human visual perspective, stays razor-sharp, and gives photos an unmistakable vintage color and contrast rendering.
Nikon 35mm f2.8 AI Wide Angle Prime Lens
A versatile fast zoom for walk-around shooting when swapping lenses on the go isn't practical. Having an f/2.8 aperture across a standard wide-to-telephoto range on 35mm film gives huge flexibility for low light and portrait depth of field.
Nikon 28-90mm f/2.8-3.5 Ai-S
Perfect for pulling distant subjects closer, capturing outdoor wildlife, or compressing mountain ranges and city skylines into the background. Vintage telephoto zooms are super affordable secondhand on eBay.
Nikon Ai 55-250mm Telephoto Zoom Lens
Medium Format (120 Film)
My step up into 120 film. Medium format negatives are massively larger than standard 35mm, giving you incredible resolution, smooth grain, and a gorgeous 3D "pop" that is impossible to replicate. This modular system forces me to slow down and compose...
My workhorse for medium format. This specific "1000S" model is highly sought after because it features a faster 1/1000th top shutter speed, making it way more versatile for shooting outdoors in daylight. It's built like an absolute tank, fully manual...
Mamiya 645 1000s
The perfect foundation glass for the 645 system. On a medium format camera, an 80mm lens roughly translates to a 50mm field of view on a standard camera, making it the ultimate everyday focal length. Because the film plane is so large, shooting this ...
Mamiya-Sekor C 80mm f/2.8 Lens
Go-To Film Stocks (Emulsions)
The specific 35mm film rolls I load depending on lighting conditions, color mood, and time of day.
My top choice for night photography, city neon lights, and low-light indoor shooting. The iconic red halation glow around light sources gives night shots an instant cinematic movie-still quality.
CineStill 800T (Tungsten Balanced 35mm Film)
The undisputed king of color negative film. Unbeatable natural skin tones, fine grain, and massive exposure latitude, you can overexpose it by two stops and it still produces incredible detail and colors.
Portra 400
Slightly warmer saturation with the extra light sensitivity needed for golden hour into dusk. Essential for handheld shooting in low light without needing a flash.
Kodak Portra 800
My favorite budget-friendly everyday film stock. Delivers punchy blues and vibrant greens with strong contrast, a versatile, reliable workhorse for outdoor walkabout shooting.
Kodak UltraMax 400
Warm, nostalgic, and tailored for bright sunny days. Gives travel photos that classic golden 90s summer aesthetic without breaking the bank.
Kodak Gold 200
Lab & Film Digitizing Essentials
Once my film is developed and scanned, I store all my cut negatives in a dedicated film binder with black framing and custom clear negative sleeves. It keeps the strips perfectly flat, protects them from dust and scratches, and makes it incredibly ea...
Archival Film Binder & Clear Negative Sleeves
A total lifesaver if you accidentally wind your film leader back into the canister before finishing, or if you like to shoot double exposures! Every film shooter should keep one in their camera bag.
Lomography 35mm Film Retriever