Funny to read someone discover analog film for the first time, when you grew up with it yourself. While I am happy I learned and practiced manual film development in the lab (bw only), I would not move back from my full frame DSLR anytime soon.
Agreed. I grew up on 35mm with a fully manual SLR too. But seeing someone discover it for the first time is exciting. But during the pandemic, I "rediscovered" film. Growing up, I just bought the cheapest drugstore film (Kodak Gold/Ultramax, and similar Fujis), then sent it off for developing - never giving it too much though.
During the pandemic, I went down the rabbit hole or learning all about film (history, chemistry, etc..), experimenting with the different stocks, developing it myself at home - both color C-14 and BW (moving onto E-6 & caffenol next!). Messing with creative effects (redscale, souping, deliberate ligh-leaks, double exposure, etc...)
What a wondrous, fun, and endless hobby to get into! I'm still just on 35mm, but hope to grow into 120 soon. That said, I also would not give up my modern ILCE mirrorless.
