35mm · film photography
On film
Three rolls alongside the digital, for the frames that deserve the grain.
Three rolls alongside the digital, for the frames that deserve the grain.
Film is the request we get most often from couples who found us on the pictures rather than the price list. Here is how we do it, what it costs, and the part most studios leave out.
USD 300 for three rolls of 35mm shot alongside your digital coverage, developed, scanned and delivered. It is an addition, not a replacement: the digital booking underneath starts at USD 780 for a pre-wedding session and USD 3,000 for a wedding day. Scans in two to three weeks. Negatives are yours if you want them.
Real 35mm bodies, colour negative stock, a lab that develops and scans. Not a preset, not a grain filter, not a digital file made to look like something it is not. If a studio quotes you film and will not tell you the stock or the lab, ask again.
We have shot it for years alongside digital, including a Cho Lon session built entirely around what film does to painted walls and afternoon light. The cameras in the cabinet are not decoration.
Digital carries the coverage. Film carries the frames that are worth the risk. That division is not us being cautious, it is the only honest way to sell film on a day that happens once.
Three rolls is a little over a hundred frames. That is not many, and the limit is the point: it changes how the photographer works, and you can see it in the pictures.
Film gives you colour that falls off gently instead of clipping, skin that does not need to be rescued, and grain that reads as texture rather than noise. In hard Vietnamese sun it holds highlights better than digital does.
It also gives you frames that are slightly soft, a roll that comes back one stop under, and dust the lab missed. We do not retouch film the way we retouch digital, because taking the grain out of it defeats the purpose. If you want every frame perfect, book digital only and spend the USD 300 on an extra hour instead. We will not be offended.
| What | Included | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Film, added to any booking | 3 rolls of 35mm, developed, scanned, delivered with your digital set | +$300 |
| Pre-wedding, Hanoi | 6 hours, 2 locations, gowns and suit, makeup | $780 |
| Pre-wedding, Saigon | 6 hours, up to 2 city locations | $880 |
| Wedding day, photo and film | Our team, from getting ready to the party | from $3,000 |
Film is an addition to a digital booking rather than a replacement for it: USD 300 for three rolls of 35mm shot alongside the digital coverage, developed, scanned and delivered with the rest. More rolls are quoted at the same rate. The digital booking underneath it starts at USD 780 for a pre-wedding session in Hanoi and USD 3,000 for a wedding day.
Because we will not gamble your wedding day on it, and anybody who tells you otherwise is selling you a look rather than a result. Film has no second chance, no screen to check, and a lab in between. We shoot digital for coverage and film for the frames that deserve it, which is how most photographers who actually shoot film work.
35mm bodies and colour negative stock, developed and scanned at a lab we have used for years. We will tell you which stock we plan to use and what it does in the light you are booking, rather than leaving it as a mystery.
Two to three weeks after the digital set, because developing and scanning happen outside our studio and we do not rush a lab. Your digital photographs still arrive within one week, so you are not waiting on film to see your day.
Yes. You get the scans and you can have the negatives posted to you if you want them. They are yours.
Sometimes, and we will say so on the day rather than promise it in advance. A small dark room in front of a family altar is the hardest place in the whole wedding to shoot film well. That part is covered properly on digital, and the film comes out when the light is on our side.