photo credit: Mykl Roventine

For me, one of the most liberating experiences in photography was shooting with a fully manual camera — including manual exposure. My 1956 Minolta Autocord takes no batteries and has no light meter, but these things have never been a nuisance to me. In fact, after the first few rolls I actually felt more drawn to this self-sufficient camera because I had to worry about one less piece of equipment: the battery.

Photographing without batteries is actually less difficult than most people would assume. There are two basic functions that batteries provide for modern film cameras: focus and exposure. Both of these things are quite easily done via manual controls, and it was done this way for many years in the first half of the 20th century. So let’s explore how we can break free from the shackles of electricity and use our brains to take great photographs.

Focus

photo credit: Andy Crowe

Many film cameras have focusing aides built in — even some autofocus systems. Autofocus became more prevalent in the “recent” years of film SLR cameras, so most cameras prior to the 1980′s will be manual focus anyway. It’s really not that difficult to focus by hand, and many situations will actually lend themselves to manual focus.

The real key with manual focus is to get familiar with your camera’s specific focusing method. Viewfinder cameras are sorta guess-and-check, but if you stop down to f/8 or smaller you’ll have a liberal buffer to work with. Rangefinders take some getting used to, but the dual image system that most of them use is superior to most other methods. Older SLRs will often have a split image rangefinder and/or Fresnel screen and/or ground glass. TLRs and large format cameras usually just have a ground glass focusing aide, but they work great because they’re so large. Hell, even dSLR cameras have replacement focusing screens that cater to manual focusing.

So when it comes to manual focus, the camera will usually provide the tool so you don’t have to guess. And the nice part about not relying autofocus on is that annoying “wrrrr… errrrr… wrrrr… errr… wr… er” bullshit when the camera can’t decide on what to focus. Manual focus can get you there much quicker if you know your camera.

Exposure

photo credit: sakarias.ingolfsson

Since the addition of the integrated light meter, photographers have gotten lazy about exposure settings. I’ll admit, it’s hard to think about exposure, focus, and composition all at the same time. Exposure is so well covered by light meters and it doesn’t usually require interpretation — good exposure is usually good exposure.

But exposure isn’t as difficult as most people would make it out to be — especially when shooting outdoors. Most of us have heard of the “Sunny 16 Rule” but few of us actually use it on a regular basis. And unless you’re shooting slide film, you have a bit of exposure latitude to play with.

I wrote about the Sunny 16 Rule on Epic Edits a while back, but I’ll go through the basics here. All it really means is that when it’s sunny outside, set your f-number to f/16 and set your shutter speed to the reciprocal of the film speed (ISO400 –> 1/400 seconds). From there, you can use reciprocals to change your aperture and shutter speed.

photo credit: amanky

This is fine and dandy when it’s sunny out, but what about other conditions? Use the shadows to determine how many stops you’re off from “sunny 16″. Use the same shutter speed rule and set your aperture to the following numbers when you have less than sunny conditions:

• f/22 – Sunny on snow
• f/16 – Strong edged shadows in sunlight
• f/11 – Fuzzy edged shadows in slight overcast
• f/8 – Barely visible shadows in overcast
• f/5.6 – No shadows in heavy overcast
• f/4 – Sunset

So just remember this about the shadows: strong edges 16, fuzzy edges 11, barely visible edges 8, no edges 5.6. Of course, you can always set half stops if you think the light is somewhere in between. Once you get the hang of it, there’s really not a lot of thinking that goes into setting your exposure for most situations — you just have to pay attention to your exposure settings and don’t forget to change them when the light changes.

Other Stuff

photo credit: Andy Woo

As I mentioned before, being able to shoot without batteries just means that the battery is one less piece of equipment you need to worry about. A lot of older film cameras with built-in light meters take those button batteries that may last anywhere from weeks to years. But when they go out, they do so without warning. Chances are, you won’t be able to replace it quickly unless you’re always carrying a spare (which is another huge pain). Then again, if you know how to expose and focus manually, it’s not a big deal.

The other benefit of using a camera that doesn’t require batteries is repair cost. Light meters and electrical components are usually the first to go in older cameras, and they can be expensive to repair or replace. If you get a camera with no electrical components, you don’t have to worry about that stuff.

So if you have an option to get a camera with full manual controls or even one that has no battery compartment, I say go for it. Learn how to shoot without batteries and I guarantee that you’ll gain a certain amount of appreciation and enthusiasm for photography.