#70 mm film

[israelcastillophoto]

Ballerina on expired film

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Israel Castillo Photography

[acmeoop]

Walt Disney Home Movies Title Card (1973)

[beatler]

My Dad with his fresh catch alongside Cinder and Zeno in Baie Verte, New Brunswick 1973. 🎞️ Kodachrome

[falsenote]

A Drama of Jealousy (And Other Things) (1970) / Blood Feud (1978)

[jedivoodoochile]

Dian Hanson, en una antología del género Pin Up para Taschen, lo definió como "Una imagen provocativa pero nunca explícita de una mujer atractiva, creada específicamente para ser exhibida públicamente en un entorno masculino".

Y ella es el icono Pin Up más famoso de la historia. Mucho antes del #MeToo, siempre intentó mantener su independencia, rechazando ofertas, hasta del mismísimo Howard Hughes, que tenía un equipo para llamarla y acosarla.

Bettie Page nació un 22 de Abril de 1923 en Nashville.

Tuvo una infancia difícil, sin afectos, ni dinero, varias mudanzas y abusos.

Su padre era un alcohólico y su madre una mujer casi analfabeta.

Vivían en medio de la pobreza, y la única isla de esa realidad, era alguna escapada al cine, donde sus ojos infantiles veían como verdaderas hadas, a esas actrices, siempre bellas y perfectas.

Pero cuando la pantalla se apagaba, también lo hacían sus sueños.

De regreso al hogar, cocinaba, limpiaba y ayudaba en las tareas a sus hermanos.

Siempre preparaba alguna actuación, donde bailaba y reía todo el tiempo.

Ella y sus hermanos fueron separados por los servicios sociales y alojados en orfanatos.

Fue muy buena alumna de instituto, donde conoció a Billy Neal, un compañero con el que se casó, poco antes de que él sea movilizado por el Ejército en la II GM.

Obtuvo una Licenciatura en Artes en la Universidad de Peabody, en Tennessee, y comenzó a trabajar como profesora. Pero no funcionó.

Recordaba años más tarde que "No podía controlar a mis alumnos, sobre todo a los chicos".

Bettie en 1945 se traslada a NYC, donde trabaja como secretaria, mientras recibía clases de interpretación. Consiguió una audición en la 20th Century Fox, pero su prueba de cámara fue mal manejada y no fue aceptada.

Neal regresó de la guerra en 1947, y comenzó un bucle de violencia verbal y física en la relación.

Aún amenazada de muerte, Betty lo abandona.

Caminando por la playa de Coney Island sin rumbo, conoció a Jerry Tibbs, un policía de NY y fotógrafo aficionado, que la invitó a su estudio para una potencial sesión de fotos como modelo Pin Up.

El estilo había nacido en los 40', donde las imágenes de esas chicas aparecieron en sensuales calendarios y postales, y sus dibujos desde tanques, hasta barcos y aviones.

Fue Tibbs quién le sugirió un flequillo, que ya no la abandonaría.

El éxito fue inmediato. Su imagen comenzó a aparecer en muchas revistas como Stare, Gaze, Vue, Titter, Beauty Parade, o Eyeful entre otras, y muy pronto se convirtió en la modelo preferida de los clubes de fotografía, apareciendo en garages, talleres, gasolineras y habitaciones.

Poco después conoció a los hermanos Irving y Paula Klaw, propietarios de Movie Star News, una pequeña productora de cine.

Así, en tres cortos casi amateurs, y filmados en 16 mm, Striporama, Varietease y Teaserama, Bettie apareció en filmes de una naif temática BDSM.

Lo que verdaderamente la distingue de las demás pin-up, era que nunca dejó de ser ella misma.

Tenía una candidez en la expresión y una alegría natural de chica sana, que la alejaba de todo el maniqueísmo del género.

Actuaba, no era, y siempre dominaba la situación.

Pero su consagración llegaría cuando Bunny Yeager, la fotografía para un póster de la edición de Enero de 1955 de la revista Playboy que la convirtió en una de las playmates más famosas de todos los tiempos.

Pero todo terminó en la Nochebuena de 1958.

Bettie se sentí­a tan sola, que decidió entrar en una iglesia bautista de Key West. Vio una luz de neón en forma de cruz, mientras estaba tumbada a la orilla de mar. Se habí­a mudado a Florida, tras fracasar su segundo matrimonio y sufrir una crisis nerviosa.

"El Señor me llevó de la mano, y perdonó mis pecados", declaró.

Así, dejó la vida pública, y comenzó a predicar, siguiendo al Pastor Billy Graham.

En su conversión, hasta llegó al África,

donde fue misionera en Angola.

Luego, ya en la década de los 70', sufrió graves problemas mentales, una inestabilidad que obligaron a internarla en un instituto psiquiátrico.

Estuvo con algunos intervalos, bajo tratamiento en el Patton State Hospital de San Bernardino hasta 1992. Al salir vivía de las ayudas públicas.

Hugh Heffner salió a su rescate y gestionó sus derechos de imagen, y a partir de entonces, ella comenzó a recibir regalías por la comercialización de todo tipo de productos con sus fotografías, como camisetas, tazas, carteles, libros, y varias producciones cinematográficas sobre su vida, y pudo pasar sus últimos años sin necesidades.

Falleció en Diciembre del 2008.

Símbolo de la Cultura Pop y la revolución sexual de los 60' y 70', enfrentó el puritanismo y se convirtió en la más legendaria de las Pin Ups, con un espíritu libre y colmado de belleza.

💌

[new-sandrafilter]

Dune: Part Two is arriving a little sooner than expected. Warner Bros. and Legendary will now debut the film on March 1, 2024. That’s two weeks earlier than its previous date of March 15, 2024.

The move comes after Universal moved Ryan Gosling’s The Fall Guy from March 1 to May 3, creating a gap that theater owners were eager for Dune to fill. Warners and legendary are hopeful that the project, which will play in IMAX and in IMAX 70 mm, will be able to attract some of the spring break crowd with the new date.

[wellntruly]

M*A*S*H (not that one)

I went to Manderley again--rewatched the Altman M*A*S*H. Completely worrying pattern, being nearly exactly one year after the first time I saw it. If I end up watching M*A*S*H (1970) in the last weeks of August every year that’s going to wind me up on some sort of list. By women. And they’ll be right.

I hadn’t known at first, but the eventual realization was as inevitable as anything in the movie, a sort of regrettable slide of “no, I’m gonna.” Why does anyone do the things they do in M*A*S*H. Why does anyone do M*A*S*H. Both of these questions don’t have question marks because it’s just already happening.

There are some attenuating circumstances, sure. War, weather, Robert Altman, a friend, a kind of numb seeking for the sword of time that will pierce your skin. Elliott Gould, probably, also. 

If you embark on a Hot ‘70s Summer, you don’t actually leave it. Winter just falls, and you go into that mode of the ‘70s, bundling up in inadequate materials against the cold, and still somehow, feel cozy. But before that turn, those still, hot weeks hanging hazy at the top of the year, the most Hot ‘70s Summer, 1970, the most ‘70 movie to ever exist: Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H. 

I was an hour and thirty minutes into it before I remembered with a little twitch that at some point, in the beginning, this was set in the 1950s. Hilarious to recall. Maybe it’s the 1950s in Richard Hooker’s book about his time in a Korean War field hospital, also titled M*A*S*H; I do not know. I simply know it is not the 1950s here, it is well 1969 precisely, at filming, and America has just achieved its dismal high water mark for the number of troops currently deployed in Vietnam. This is Vietnam. It’s not Korea, it’s not Japan, it’s the crest of the Vietnam War in a mountain park in California, and a nation knew that immediately, knew that with everything they had, which was mostly nihilism. 

M*A*S*H (1970) dir. Robert Altman is probably the most historically specific film object I have ever seen. You cannot navigate, valuably, anything this movie is doing outwith its historical and cultural context. Some works of art are timeless, and on the other end there is M*A*S*H, made OF time, yanked out of the fabric of it with film cameras rolling and a sound mix that says: all of it, and that act winds up changing what will happen--historically, culturally--as time continues on.

M*A*S*H is its time. It meets America head-on, and leers. It’s not that it breaks something in the culture, it just reflects back something that was already broken, the people already scarring over. M*A*S*H only works if you’re watching it knowing that. Not to be didactic. Something the movie resolutely refuses to be, at any moment, which causes audiences today, removed from the milieu, to question, alarmed, do they know? Do they know that they're awful? Oh yes. Do they also take delight in their being awful? Oho yes. We are all broken. :).

The tagline of this movie, still on a lot of the posters you’ll see, was “M*A*S*H gives a D*A*M*N.” This is so curious to me. It is either a straight up lie, or a key. This would appear a movie predominately peopled with characters who seem, in kind of post-modern incongruity with their surroundings, almost implacably non-committal. Removed, irreverent, careless. Sure it turns callous, sure in trying to deflect the stupid brutality of war they often just end up turning brutal stupidity onto others. A catalog of non-definite acts, something to mask the desperation.

I think a lot about this one Chris Fleming video where he said something like, “ever since my parents grasped that a movie can still be good even if it doesn’t make you feel good, they’ve been going absolutely ham at the independent theater.” Realizing this really does open up your world, and also gets you on lists (I deserve to be there!!). This is how lightly sweating in a slowly turning fan at the end of summer you think, mm, gonna watch M*A*S*H… 

Why? Vibes. But the vibes are bad. Yeah I know. But they’re also….I think the phrase I used in a message to the friend I first watched this movie with, as soon as those opening credits started playing over me again, was “badly enchanting.” There’s something about the way it looks, the way it sounds. Khaki-colored sunlight and dirt and those Japanese covers of old standards playing through a PA system. That Altman calling card layered up dialogue where they somehow arrange it just-so so that you still hear the parts you’re supposed to, god.

This is how you end up saying, oh this movie is not like, a nice time, I occasionally quite dislike the sensation of watching it, and yet also, sometimes it's just what I want to watch. I don’t know, it’s AltM*A*S*H. One minute I’m thinking, incredible that you thought this was funny, and then the next I’m like, you are the only people who understand this particular thing I think is funny. Primarily in that though it’s three things: 1. unhinged heavily metatextual opening and closing pacing & especially this narrating voice at the end just being like “welp, that was that” and rapidly rehashing clips of the cast at ever increasing speed, 2. two Bud Cort moments, 3. GaryBurghoffRadarO’Reilly.

This is the juncture where I get off actually, because if I keep going in this mode about the completely insane thing that somehow happened next, to M*A*S*H and to me, M*A*S*H (1972-1983), we'd be here 10 years and I would die, whichever comes first.

But I will tell you one thing! Just one thing!!! If I’m in what, 1972, much like I was 2022, and they’re like, there’s gonna be a M*A*S*H TV show, and the one person who will be the same is that kid Radar, I’m like oh, of course, the most character who can travel between worlds performance of all time.

[schlock-luster-video]

On December 21, 2012, the 70 mm restored version of 2001: A Space Odyssey was screened at the Film Society of the Lincoln Center.

[saintmeghanmarkle]

📃 Megalist of 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝑳𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔 and Other 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑵𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 in H&M’s Political Orbit 📃 by u/SeptiemeSens (Part 3 of 3)

📌 Link to Tumblr post Part 2 of 3

📌 Link to Tumblr post Part 1 of 3

10. Kerry Kennedy - Daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy, former wife of NY Governor Andrew Cuomo. In 2022, H&M were awarded the "Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope" human rights award. According to Kerry, H&M were given the award for "standing up to structural racism" [source]

11. Members of Parliament (MPs) - In 2019, more than 70 women MPs signed on to a letter of support for and solidarity with the Duchess of Sussex. Their letter was in “solidarity” with Meghan Markle, as she waged a legal battle against the “often distasteful and misleading” press [source 1 // source 2]

12. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer - In 2021, Meghan sent an open letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) advocating for Congress to pass a federal paid parental leave program, even though Congress had already passed the program by the time M released her open letter [source 1 // source 2 // source 3]

13. Ndileka Mandela - In 2023, Nelson Mandela's granddaughter and social activist criticized H&M for using the former South African president’s name to pull in Netflix audiences in their Netflix documentary Live to Lead, saying: “It’s deeply upsetting and tedious.” [source 1] Shortly thereafter, Ndikeka clarified her comments saying that she was misquoted by international media and that she actually supports H&M for the courage of their conviction towards social activism [source 2]

14. Peter Cosgrove, Governor General of Australia and his wife Lady Lynne Cosgrove - In 2018, H&M undertook an official tour of Australia. The Governor General of Australia and his wife and family live in Admiralty House in Sydney. Harry and Meghan were accommodated in the guest wing, as is customary for visiting guests. Meghan demanded the whole house for her and Harry, and when refused, allegedly told Lady Lynn Cosgrove: "Don't you know who I am?" [source]

15. Rory Kennedy - Youngest daughter of Robert F Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy, sister of Kerry Kennedy. Together with Liz Garbus, they run Moxie Firecracker Films, a film production company. Liz Garbus was the director of Harry and Meghan's Netflix docuseries [source 1 // source 2]

16. Susan Collins (Republican Senator of Maine) and Shelley Moore Capito (Republican Senator of West Virginia) - In 2021, Meghan cold-called Senators Collins and Capito on their private numbers, using her Duchess of Sussex title to lobby for paid paternity leave. She was given their private numbers by Kirsten Gillibrand, Democratic Senator of New York. Meghan wanted to be part of a Senator Gillibrand's 'working group' to formulate policy [source]

17. Zwelivelile "Mandla" Mandela - In 2022, Nelson Mandela's grandson and the tribal chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council criticized Meghan for suggesting that South Africans celebrated her wedding the same way they rejoiced his grandfather Nelson Mandela's release from prison after 27 years. Mandla said: "Overcoming 60 years of apartheid is not the same as marrying a white prince" [source 1 // source 2 //source 3]

📌 Notes:

Originally inspired by South Park's sweet 'n savage takedown of Meghan as ‘First Lady Botherer’ [source 1 // source 2], I then fell down the rabbit hole when I came upon so many other notable names. So, I thought it would be a good idea to keep track of "who's who" in H&M's political orbit and get a bigger (and better) picture of H&M's political motivations and machinations: past, present, and future

A LOT of sources come from our amazing SMM community here but unfortunately, SMM subreddit post links are not allowed as they are automatically removed by Reddit -- ARGH 😖

Thanks again for all the great comments and feedback on my previous popular post: "Megalist of everyone associated with MM via ARO, Archetypes Podcast, and 40x40"

If there are any notable names in H&M's political sphere missing from these lists, please comment below 👇

post link

author: SeptiemeSens

submitted: June 04, 2024 at 11:46AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[israelcastillophoto]

Flatiron New York City.

[gaykarstaagforever]

First of all, IMDB turbo-nerds, she isn't using an SX-70 in that scene.

The shutter button is clearly on the side and she is using her pinky to push it. The SX-70 didn't have the button there. But the Spirit range did.

Also, the later models of the Spirit (by the mid-80s) had a built-in permanent flash. This movie is from 1988.

True, the film cartridge only had 10 shots in it. So that still holds. But if you're going to be pedantic, then I'm going to be pedantic right back.

Also a cartridge of this film cost like $22 in 1988. Meanwhile a non-instant roll of 35 mm film then was maybe $5, if you only bought one instead of a discount multipack. And that was the fairly premium stuff. Yes, you had to go get the pictures developed and pick them up. But there was a photo development "hut" in every store parking lot back then, and also most pharmacies and grocery stores did it, too. And you got 36 pictures on one roll of film.

36 pictures + fee to have it developed = $15, and waiting maybe two days

vs

10 pictures = $22, no wait time

Doing all my math and inflation calculations, this means Lydia Deetz is spending an additional $4.60 in today's money on each one of these photos, compared to what she would spend on 35 mm. And isn't that high price for 1980s convenience something that someone who posts trivia on IMDB should mention?

I'd correct them over there, but I only do pointless research and probably incorrect math for stupid Tumblr posts no one will ever read.

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

The Shining

I had an interesting experience re-watching THE SHINING (1980, Showtime) for the first time in over 40 years. Going in I knew what had bothered me on my first viewing, so I was able to look past those things and appreciate a lot of the good things in the tale of a writer who takes a job at a hotel in the Rockies that’s shut down for the winter, Under the influence of the spirits there (it’s not in his head; all three members of the family see them), he becomes a threat to his wife and son. It’s hard to deny the visual and aural power of Kubrick’s work. The use of Steadicam and the scoring with contemporary composers like Bela Bartok and Gyorgi Ligeii help greatly in building a sense of dread. And though there have been complaints about the film’s slow pacing (the bathroom scene between Jack and Grady, the former caretaker now manifesting as a waiter, is particularly glacial), when Kubrick cuts quickly, it’s quite effective.

The biggest surprise for me, however, was Shelley Duvall. Despite pans from many critics and Stephen King, I think the performance works. She’s not just a helpless female there to scream a lot. She reads as a young wife emotionally closer to her son than her husband and trying desperately to make a failing marriage to an abusive dry drunk work. There’s also one very telling shot in which she’s tending the boilers at the hotel. This is supposed to be her husband’s job, but he’s become so consumed with writer’s block and the start of his possession, she’s had to step in and take over. And when their son returns from Room 237 with bruises and a torn sweater (one of the scariest things in the film is imaging what happened to him rather than seeing it), she not only assumes her husband has attacked him; she goes on the offensive in a surprisingly fierce moment.

My main sticking point with the film remains Jack Nicholson’s performance. King had complained that casting him on the heels of ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (1975) would prepare audiences to see his character as insane. I had hoped that after years of seeing him play a variety of roles that sense of typecasting would have faded.  But the problem isn’t that. It’s the choices he and Kubrick have made. In his first scene, the interview for the caretaker’s job, he’s under control. When he’s driving his family to the hotel there’s a telling moment that sums up the bad marriage. Duvall tries to start a conversion, and he dismisses her with an “mm-hmm.” But then he tells their child about the Donner Party and starts going manic. Even in the ‘70s, Nicholson was capable of subtle, controlled performances, but here over-the-top is his base. The funny moments when he wields his axe and yells “Honey, I’m home” and “Here’s Johnny” take over the horror for a moment. It’s just manic Jack having fun.  Instead, I’d prefer to focus on the good performances from Duvall, Danny Lloyd as their psychic son, Barry Nelson as the hotel’s manager and Anne Jackson in one scene as the son’s pediatrician.

[aragarna]

tag game

Tag nine (9) people you'd like to know better

got tagged by @ladymisteria, thank you <3

Last song: Flowers, by Miley Cyrus. And lots of French stuff that I'm sure no one has ever heard of outside of France.

Currently reading: I just finished Terrible Virtue, by Ellen Feldman. A very interesting book about Margaret Sanger, the activist for birth control and founder of planned parenthood, in the 1910's. Very enlighting.

Currently watching: Just back from viewing Oppenheimer, by Christopher Nolan. Which was great! (if a bit long). As a scientist, I always find it funny all those name dropping of famous scientists who are otherwise reduced to laws and equations. Fermi, Bohr, Feyman, even Lawrence! You know, from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory! Also, I went to see it in 70 mm. I had missed film. And thank god for good old Nolan and his minimal use of CGI. it's a nice eye cleanser after all the CGI from the last Indiana Jones.

Current obsession: As you may have noticed, I'm in a Zorro phase. I've rewatched the Disney show and the Banderas movies, watched the adaptations with Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power, Alain Delon and Frank Langella. Also, the Gay Blade. And I'm currently working my way through the 1990 New World Zorro show. the Disney show and the Banderas movies still remain my favorite though. And I'm working on some fanfictions and gifs, naturally :)

tagging @spinner-sophie @gneissgneissbaby @critterkeeper01 @donfadrique @whirlwind-lancer-dilan @thesymphonytrue @ascreamintothevoid-blog @padfootagain (with no pressure and no obligation of course)

[fortheloveoffoodporn]

Gingerbread Amaretto Chocolate Tart

MAKES: 10" PREPARATION: 45 MIN COOKING: 25 MIN

INGREDIENTS

GINGERBREAD BASE (or shortcust pastry + all the spices)

65 g / scant 1/3 cup coconut oil (I use this one)

220 g / 1 + 2/3 cup all purpose flour*

2 level tsp ground ginger

2 level tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground all spice

tsp ground cloves

½ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp baking soda

a good pinch of fine sea salt

65 g / 1/3 cup dark muscovado sugar

30 ml / 2 tbsp aquafaba*

75 ml / ¼ cup + 1 tbsp maple syrup or molasses

GANACHE FILLING

300 g / 10.5 oz 70% dark vegan chocolate (I used Green & Blacks cooking chocolate)

120 ml / ½ cup coconut cream (solid part of full fat coconut milk* only)

150 ml / ½ cup + 2 tbsp almond milk

80 ml / 1/3 cup amaretto (I used Disaronno)*

80 ml / 1/3 cup maple syrup

GINGERBREAD BASE (or shortcust pastry + all the spices)

Place the coconut oil in a small pot and melt it on the lowest setting. Let it cool down.

Sift the flour, all the spices, baking soda and salt into a medium size bowl. Mix really well.

Place the cooled coconut oil, sugar and aquafaba in a large bowl. Cream them together with an electric whisk until well combined and slightly thickened. Add the maple syrup and whisk some more until you get a thick, homogeneous mixture.

Fold ½ of the flour mix into the wet ingredients and, once combined, add the remaining half. Make sure there are no flour pockets and everything is well combined, but do not knead. The dough will be quite loose and sticky, that’s fine, it’s the way it should be. Wrap the dough in a piece of cling film (glad wrap) and place it in the fridge for at least 1 hour. You can safely keep it in the fridge overnight too.

Allow the dough to come to room temperature and then roll it slowly and gently between two sheets of baking paper or on a lightly floured surface.

Roll the dough into a 3 mm thin circle that is large enough to cover the base of the tart tin and the sides.

Roll the rolled out dough onto a rolling pin, place the rolling pin over the tart case and gently unroll the dough on the top of the tart tin.

Mould the dough into the tart case (making sure it fits really snugly everywhere) and trim the excess with a sharp knife. Patch up any holes or thin edges with the off-cuts and pierce the bottom of the pastry with a fork in a few places.

Place the lined tart case back in the fridge while you heat up the oven to to 175° C / 350° F.

Once the oven is ready, line the inside of the pastry case with a large piece of baking paper (I crumple it first so that it’s more flexible) and then arrange baking beads (or whatever you use instead) on top of the pastry. Blind bake for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, take the beads and the baking paper off and return to the tart to the oven for another 10-15 minutes. Allow it to cool completely.

GANACHE FILLING

Place the broken up chocolate pieces and coconut cream in a clean glass or metal bowl over a bain marie (water bath). Warm them both up on the lowest setting (the water underneath should barely simmer and not boil) until the chocolate has been melted. Make sure the water does not touch the bowl the chocolate is in.

Once the chocolate has melted, whisk it into the cream with a wire whisk, then add almond milk, amaretto and maple syrup. You can adjust the amount of syrup to taste, but make sure you compensate by adding more almond milk (if you end up using less maple syrup than I did).

Allow the mixture to cool down and fill the tart case.

Transfer the filled tart case into the fridge. Allow it to set for at least 8 hours (overnight is best).

[middleland]

Chittenden Hotel and Hunt's Cinestage theater, 1972 by More Columbus History

Via Flickr:

https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/ohio/id/16739/rec/919 Photograph of Hunt's Cinestage taken the year before its demolition. The High Street Theater opened on this site in 1894, on the site of the World Museum. It was followed by the Lyseum in 1913, then the Uptown in 1935. Herman Hunt remodeled the theater and renamed it Hunt's Cinestage in 1957. The theater had 550 seats and showed Todd-AO films in 70 mm. The building was demolished on February 19, 1973.     

[lantern-hill]

hey! i hope this isn't weird but i wondered if you could post about a good way to get into film photography? i'd like to buy a cheap little camera and start fooling around without having to invest too much, but I don't know where to start that will let me get decent pics but not go all-in as a hobby yet. i saw your tag so thought maybe you could help :)

hey! So first of all to be clear all of this advice is specifically about 35mm which is what I have experience with. There are other mm films and I know nothing about them.

I actually have a good amount of detail about buying film cameras at the end of this post. The only things I would add is that you can consider renting from a local camera store - you'll have to find one anyways so you can get your film developed, and a lot of them have rentals.

you can also ask them about where to find cheap film cameras in your area if the staff are hobbyists like they often are in stores that service analog. in my area FB marketplace is the place to go, but it might be a different website or market where you live.

The good thing is since you're buying second hand you're also buying stuff that was made pre-enshittification, and you're also buying stuff that has already survived two decades, so I personally have found quality isn't a major issue as much as price and finding a cam that's not broken. my first film cam was from the 70s, dented and damaged, with a corroded battery slot and semi broken light meter and degrading focus function, and I still did okay with it once I figured out its quirks and how to make it behave.

Also, don't rush into it. If you can't currently find anything that seems good, wait a little bit. It's kind of more like online dating than shopping.

If you're trying to dip your toes without spending a lot you probably want to start with a point and shoot. There's more advice about this in the post I linked. Just keep in mind you won't be able to control focus, you probably won't be able to zoom, and you will probably have to use flash in low light. this makes the results and experience very different. all my nicest pics are on SLR personally, but point and shoot is better for capturing a quick moment while out with friends. Having both is useful.

Finally since I made that linked post the price of Fujifilm Superia has gone up and I would now recommend Kodak ultramax as the low end color film instead.

Good luck and tag me if you ever post your pics, I'd love to see them!