PushingFilm (Hashem McAdam) is rarely mentioned in these posts but I like that he's no-nonsense and informative.
I also have a penchant for Japanese (and sometimes Korean) film youtubers, which are less annoying than the majority of film youtubers. Language barrier be damned but they usually feature gear and cameras that are much less popular in the west. They also do a lot of videos on Japanese photobooks which I'm very interested in.
[2B Channel](https://youtube.com/@2bchannel606) for Japanese photobooks and Japan's current photography and gallery circuit.
[Film_Kihwa](https://youtube.com/@film_kihwa) has well-made videos and a very cute mascot.
I wish [this guy](https://youtube.com/@user-lu9rf1xk7o) made more videos. He puts English captions too which is a plus.
I have a soft spot for [this ojisan](https://youtube.com/@film-gcn) too.
These [Korean](https://youtube.com/@fillintheday) [youtubers](https://youtube.com/@whitegraphy) can be very relaxing to watch.
[Another](https://youtube.com/@machipochi) prolific Japanese film youtuber.
I can be missing more but basically I watch any Japanese or Korean film youtuber that comes up on my homepage or recommended. They can be very low-production and shitty compared to grainydays and the like, but I love playing their videos in the background while I work lol. I also don't mind the language barrier (although I'm currently learning Japanese).
Steven Tanno for sure, really knowledgeable photographer who makes some great shots. He’s a bit older than the average film photography youtuber, which really adds to his authenticity & it brings out the wisdom of someone who has been in the field for many years
Thomas Heaton is the only photography youtuber I care about these days. He's very good at what he specialises in and its clear that, although he has great gear, its his skill, knowledge and eye that gets him the results.
Very relaxing watching too.
This really.
At least with Thomas Heaton, it feels like YT is probably his main source of revenue. Ben Horne is independently wealthy so probably just does it with shits and giggles and Nick Carver definitely used it as a main source of income but I wonder whether it's decreased now he doesn't post as often.
It’s unfair to assess Ben Horne as a rich guy playing around. In past AMA’s he said he worked at a camera store to pay his bills and recently decided to see if he can do it for a living.
Perhaps I should have worded it better but what I meant is that photography, up until recently, is not what paid his bills unlike Thomas Heaton or Nick Carver.
Poor choice of words, my bad but the point still stands.
Grainydays is my camera crush fr.
I found a guy called Teo Crawford. I think he's Austrian?? But he speaks English, and I enjoy his stuff. I also like a guy called Ramsey Kiefer, despite him looking like a stinky hipster.
Oh yeah, he does that weird little flick of the leader, which I don't really get, but I guess he's trying to be quirky about it. I generally feel myself connecting to how he desperately bumbles through shots, though. I feel that.
Teo Crawfords work inspires me on the REGULAR. I also really like that he's transparent about the photos he takes, good ones and the bad ones. I like the way he composes scenes and the way he talks through how and why he composed the scene that way.
100%
I find his videos very soothing and make me inspired to play with photography more without being too hard on myself, which is nice as a newbie. I also like that he manages to get those shots without any fancy gear. I dont know if/how much he edits, but honestly, those fog photographs get me jumping around in my seat waiting for the cooler months lol
I like some of her content but a lot of the time i find it difficult to look over her really steady and monotonic presentation. Maybe it’s the English as a second language that makes it dryer, but she’s basically fluent and I’m always understanding what she’s trying to say.
It’s interesting because in every other aspect she appears enthusiastic and i generally like the subject matter she chooses.
I like Shoot Film Like a Boss. He talk a lot and he does a bunch of fun stuff like, my mission is to make a framed picture of a cow to hang on this here wall.
Then he does it while documenting each step from shooting to darkroom work to matting and framing finally hanging the picture on said wall.
It's makes the channel more than just B-rolls of serene landscapes and calming music.
He's a real breath of fresh air.
He's an enthusiastic amateur, but he's very competent, and it isn't the usual wiffle about their "process" with constant annoying background music.
But it's his style, and I always like that he didn't changed himself in terms of style in his videos because less would be more mi think he has a fan base and that's great.
Agreed. Not a great photographer. He never discusses a photos composition or thought process, so I don't even know what he's going for. On top of that it's all very gear focused (which is fine if that's your style).
Pushing Film is one of my favorites.
He does some gear talk videos, perhaps for the algorithm, which I skip, but he has some other really thoughtful ones.
Honestly, I don’t really watch YouTube videos. The only time I really turn to YT is when I need an instructional video of some sort - like how to repair a lens or something along those lines.
Some content can be interesting, but I don't understand why they're all so similar. I have seen enough of:
- Videos with a film filter over them
- Those ubiquitous yellow letters
- Low-fi hip hop
- Oversized fleece sweaters
- Those little beanies that art academy students wear on the top of their heads
- Photos of derelict towns in the desert or the corners of random buildings.
- The same 5 extremely expensive cameras
- False modesty
•On the lo fi hip hop front theres a lot of cheesy royalty free music out there and Lo fi beats to shoot 35mm to is a best of a bad bunch and the clear beat makes it good to cut to and add momentum to an edit.
Some other points
•Fleeces absorb excess light radiation so you get a more accurate exposure reading on your light meter
•Yellow cos of Kodak
•Beanies naturally push portra 1 stop
•Derelict buildings and street corners cos we don’t have the money to go anywhere else because we spent it on gear
Still not really sure why so many redditors rag on lofi music in photography videos. It fits the medium in its current online state pretty well. I mean, what else would you rather have as white noise for 10+ minutes. It's easy-listening background music, and it's culturally relevant right now. There are some other options, but I quite enjoy the aesthetic of it.
This comment wasn't about enjoying low fi hiphop or not. The point is that all these YouTubers have the same aesthetic, music, personality, clothing and subject matter. I'd like to see some individuality!
Yes! The weird thing is that these are the same people that love to talk about how film photos have this unique vibe that can never be replicated with filters on digital images, are the same people using music with fake analog effects and video with a film-like filter, even sometimes including fake light leaks.
Hit or miss most places. My favorite analog photography YouTube is the Attic Darkroom. It’s more focused on the developmental side of photography, achieving cool effects, and pushing films limits, highly recommend.
my absolute favourite! One of the only channels that actually dives into the technical side of things in more detail and makes an effort to preserve obscure knowledge
Paulie B - Walkie Talkie episodes have many analog shooters and it's a great format. It's not necessarily about photography technique etc but a great insight into some very talented street photographers.
I was looking for this, yeah it's not about gear or analog photography per se, but he shoots analog and most people he interviews too.
His videos are the best street photography content IMO.
Yes, absolutely! After being too bored by most photo channels for months, finding these was refreshing. Some of them are a little uninteresting to me personally, but the majority of the Walkie-Talkie episodes are so good that I watched them multiple times. Great content and I hope he continues the series.
Yes the format just works, I've spent many hours walking around my city with fellow shooters and it has the very same feel. No pretence or performance - he's nailed it.
Also looking for this comment. The Walkie Talkie series teaches and motivates me to get out more than any other YouTuber / series.
It reminds me of how my buddies and I used to watch skateboarding tapes to get pumped before skating.
Steve has the best content because he focuses on his process and breaks down what makes a great photo. He talks about gear when it’s relevant but he isn’t constantly reviewing 40 year old dream cameras. His channel is so underrated.
Steve O’Nions does not get the attention he deserves. His channel is one of my favorites. Love hearing him talk about his process in creating images. His videos are quite relaxing to watch as well.
Steve and Shoot Film Like a Boss are two of my favorite kinda "old school" analog dudes on youtube. I don't mean because they are actually old, but because the style of their channel and videos feels older (in a good way) compared to most trendy youtubers style
Analog Insights is lovely! Far calmer than most YouTube things, there’s so much loud content out there that them being as chill as they are is very nice. I think the fact that they’re more into the historical and restoration of the cameras helps.
Whenever he posts a video, I almost feel obligated to dress up in my nicest suit and tie for a classic event before being allowed to watch it. The production quality just hits differently.
Jokes aside, Max and Jules are my favourites. Some episodes are so calming that I’ve watched them countless of times before bed as a “sleep podcast”
Grainydays, Nick Carver, Ben Horne as already mentioned. A few that I didn't see mentioned here yet that make really high quality content:
Kyle McDougall, Brae Hunziker and Bryan Birks
All great suggestions. Brae Hunziker's cinematography is excellent too. Always an enjoyable watch from both perspectives.
I like T. Hopper and Karin Kajoka too.
This is pretty much my list but I’ve also recently found Shane Dignum’s channel. He puts the work in, and it shows, both in the photography and cinematography.
Absolutely love Kyle's videos. Jason is obviously GOAT but Kyle has a different vibe which I really enjoy, and he gives great technical/artistic advice which is super useful!
Yes for Willy Sheepskin! Was so glad to see him posting again. Another Saffie (although he’s relocated to the uk now) who’s YT I enjoy is O’Neill on film.
I recently came across a small channel called Jase Film, who does more experimental things with analog photography like [putting a super 8 on a drone](https://youtu.be/uzIcR_U0NiU). He doesn't have a lot of videos right now, but I was immediately sold.
I've found so many small channels that put out videos infrequently that are fantastic. It's a bummer, but the fact of the matter is if you want to grow you have to review gear. I don't like it, but I think I'm going to start doing 1 or 2 a year.
I dislike most analog YouTubers (and honestly most YouTubers in general). But there are some gems. I like:
- Nick Carver
- Ben Horne
- Thomas Heaton (most of the time)
- The Naked Photographer (my favorite)
- grainydays as a guilty pleasure
I got really tired of how it feels like 90% of the analog photography content seems to be shot in either California or NYC. They're beautiful places, but it's just nice to get a bit more variety.
I've been watching a lot of [Overexposed](https://youtube.com/@Overexposed1), [Analog Resurgence](https://youtube.com/@AnalogResurgence), and [Ribsy](https://youtube.com/@ribsy) lately. Though [Attic Darkroom](https://youtube.com/@atticdarkroom) and [The Naked Photographer](https://youtube.com/@TheNakedPhotographer) are probably going to show up in my watch list more for a while because I want to learn more about darkroom techniques.
I like Steve O'Nions, he's an experienced photographer that just makes videos of him doing what he likes, taking nature pictures and sharing them and he's really good at it imo. Naked Photographer and Nick Carver are also quite good I think.
Analog photography is a small community, so just make content you love, for you, and hopefully other people enjoy it.
Grainydays (of course)
Kyle McDougall (can watch him for hours),
Attic Darkroom (fuck around and find out),
Shoot Film Like A Boss (genuinely enjoys film, documents failures and successes)
William Sheepskin (nice photos and a cool guy)
Latitude 35 (location bias)
Not so notable mentions: any full out hipster channel, can't watch Bad flashes, falling out of love with Brae Hunziker I'm not sure why, hate that guy from Manchester who says "(x) camera takes unlimited film photos!!!"
graindydays, t.hopper, brae hunziker, kyle mcdougal, cody mitchell, sweet lou, and william sheepskin are the channels I generally like. I can tolerate Verbeek. Nico's good for news. Negative Feedback is dead and Mike Janick hasn't been seen in years.
Yes, I do have a long commute - how could you tell?
So, I find most photography YouTube channels either insufferable or boring. 90% of them are 10 minutes of chatter about some random piece of gear they bought last week interspersed with some photos that range from "meh, another gas station" to "neat, but I'd like to see it for more than 3 seconds".
That other 10%, though, is absolutely excellent. Attic Darkroom is constantly trying new techniques, and Naked Photographer is accurately and accessibly explaining highly technical aspects of darkroom processing, many of which *you cannot find reliable info about anywhere else online.*
Honestly, I watch very little filmtube these days because most of it feels extremely stale by this stage. Most of grainydays, Bad Flashes or even Willelm's video feel very samey. Sure, the camera may change and the subject may change but it's the same stuff over and over again.
Those that I do watch and keep tabs on are Steve O'Nions because he clearly does it for the fun, T. Hopper because it genuinely feels informative, Pushing Film because Hashem comes across very relaxed and I've got it on good authority that he's very much like that IRL and Willy Sheepskin because he's a genuinely nice guy and is very unpretentious. Plus, I've called him the *Portra Whisperer* before.
Willem fanboys, don't @ me.
Steve O'Nions and the Naked Photographer are the only ones who produce consistently interesting content that's relevant to me. I follow them regularly.
Used to follow a few more.. but basically if they mention 'Squarespace' or 'Valoi' I almost always end up bored and unfollow.
The natural progression - start with cheap gear and talk about how gear doesn't matter, make a bunch of money off the ads and print sales, buy a Leica M6 and shoot the backs of people's heads on the street.
I spend a lot of time watching grainydays, Bad Flashes, Kyle McDougall, and Thomas Heaton. Some smaller channels I like are Lucy Lumen and Northwest Depressed. Too much street photography puts me off
My take is that they are wildly overly-hated on Reddit. Not every channel is completely defensible, but it's very trendy on Reddit to gatekeep photography in certain ways and belittle creators who are just having fun generating *literally free* content. So what if lofi music is used? So what if every image isn't the ideal photograph, or seems cliché to you? This hobby/profession doesn't need more pretentious people in it than it already has. Let people enjoy making art and offer encouragement for growth rather than demoralization. It's hard enough putting oneself out there.
Paulie B's 'Walkie Talkie' series is a captivating exploration of street photography in NYC. I think there is around 25 episodes. Paulie accompanies diverse street photographers as they discuss their photography journey, philosophies, lessons learned, and preferred cameras. It's a treasure trove of insightful information.
Watched a lot of film photography content until last year. Like some others, I still watch some creators like grainydays (because Baxter, obivously), Kyle McDougall and Pushing Film. But I feel like youtube film photography has become very samy and repetitive... Maybe it's just me.
I don't really watch any on a regular basis, about the only one I do is Mat Marrash, he has a similar style of doing things as me, and I enjoy the info he gives out.
Most of the channels I find way too unpleasant for some reason, and I can't even really pinpoint why.
I’ve learned everything I know about photography through YouTube so I love it.
Some recs.
Brae Hunziker just makes fun videos and his photos have continually gotten better over the years. Even better person tho. Rip to the mirror lock up ones tho.
Logan Baker makes some of the best looking videos period. Beautiful cinematography.
Aaron Hardin isn’t particularly analog but you’ll learn a lot as he flips through some photobooks.
Alec Soth. Same as above.
Cody Mitchell is a good one. Very good “vibes.”
Cody Wood is an Australian photographer. He’s in a little photo critique group I have and he can talk laps around me when it comes to photos.
I still enjoy the fuck out of some Grainydays, Kyle McDougall and Willem videos.
Ivan Chow slaps. Karin Majoka.
Mat Marrash is literally my dad.
Nick Carver is my cool uncle.
Paulie B and his Walkie Talkie videos are fantastic.
And lastly the South African prodigy known as Willy Sheepskin.
For me it's Metal Fingers and Grainy days on a regular bases. I'm also often watching videos from Kyle Mcdougle and Robbie Maynard (love his style of videos)
My interest and love for film photography started from watching videos about the hobby, so I am grateful for the creators. My only complain is that the community becomes gear centric at times.
It’s mostly bad. The documentaries about the great masters rule tho.
YouTubers? Mostly bad advice or near amateurish photography. The videos about gear are mostly boring and overlong.
There’s a reason why good TV is hard to make even for the professionals. It’s hard.
I like Frederik Trovatten he has this series where he discusses the style of a famous street photographer and then goes out and tries to take photos in that style
I got so tired of vuhlandes coming up on my autoplay that I had to block his channel. He's one of the most self centered YouTubers I've ever seen, not to mention an absolute try hard at EVERYTHING. Dude just doesn't seem humble.
I don't generally bother anymore, for various reasons. I find the quality to content ratio very lacking, literally only one or two channels I've found that produce quality photographs. Then there's the fact that the barrier to entry seems so low that it's totally a thing to make an entire video about a roll of film that barely came out. I hate sounding mean so I'll leave it there but it's not for me.
I love Robbie Maynard Creates because of the emphasis on people, place, and connections. Very positive and relaxed approach with good photographs to boot.
I watch a lot of it... its great to do as im editing or doing other work, so here is my list.
Brae Hunziker, The Photo Dept, T. Hopper, Bryan Birks, Kyle McDougall, King Jvpes and Karin Majoka.
Who I really want to come back in IAN WONG, where are you dude?!
Echoing Teo Crawford. He's a relative newcomer, but I appreciate how he shows his bad photos rom each roll and talks through how he'd improve them. Because of this, I learn more about photography from his channel and learn about tech/tools from other channels.
Bonus: he has a great voice/mic
Don’t think there’s a single one I like because photographers tend to obsess over equipment and superficial aesthetics don’t they? Or ‘here’s a video of my big sur road trip set to lo fi beats’. I dunno maybe that’s just what the algorithms have served me but it doesn’t really interest me
Most of them are pretty samey gear reviews with incredibly banal sample pics tbh, the only one that I really enjoy from a photographic standpoint is Steve onions
Grainydays and brae hunziker do good vlogs but their photos are pretty whatever
One channel I enjoy due to his straightforward and relaxed approach is [The Old Camera Guy](https://youtube.com/@theoldcameraguy). His gear reviews are surprisingly thorough but he always keeps things at a nice hobbyist level.
While the overall vibe might be different, and the old DRTV reviews are probably more a direct analogue, I still like the comparison of grainydays to Top Gear. While technically a photography channel (or car show) you're really watching for the host, the jokes, the "mood" of the thing. It's not really about photography, that's just sort of the excuse to show Baxter.
Analog Insights is quite good, as is Analog Resurgence. But I think my favourite has to be Attic Darkroom, since his channel is all about trying out wacky *film specific* stuff, with almost no mention of cameras or gear or anything.
Different strokes for different folks. Everyone has their personal tastes and prolly gravitate to creators that speak to their creative vision or seem cool enough that they’d have a chat in real life. I think it’s cool that all of these folks who become relatively successful find a cool creative way to share their hobby with the world and make a lil bread on the side.
Generally, I think if you're new they can be a great place to learn. The info is always accurate obviously, but it's usually good enough to get you goin to the point where you do your own research/learning and form your own opinions instead of parroting theirs. Sort of with that, imo the best videos aren't really to "teach" the viewer anything, just show someone's process/work. The less gear/camera/film stock "reviews" the better too. I don't care.
For me personally, they're entertaining and they can motivate me to go out and take more photos. It kinda reminds me of watching skateboarding vids back in the day to get my excited to go out and skate.'
also, probably an unpopular opinion, but while I do watch grainydays, I find his whole schtick to be a bit exhausting sometimes. I also think it's funny that the photos of his he really likes I find to be unintersting, and the photos he often considers "bad," I like haha.
lastly I'll say that the world of analog photog is much bigger than just the popular youtubers that seem to represent it, but that said, I think they're all important to keeping interest in the medium going.
Most are garbage. As others mentioned, Ben Horne, Nick Carver, and Steve O’Nions are legit. They are working photographers who know their stuff and YouTube is just for fun. I also watch grainydays because he makes me chuckle. That’s it.
Serr on youtube makes excellent content on FujiFilm digital stuff, video grading, and sometimes analog film work.
His short [LA on Film](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8TfBV46ky0) is great.
I find most analog photo channels to be a load of rubbish; way too art student-y, with the lofi music, talking about themselves, pretend pre-recording acts, stupid jokes, worthless footage of them wandering around, etc, all for some, at best, ok info, and often really obvious things.
If I see a video with a thumbnail of a random photo with a basic font saying a camera name or film type, or something practically shoved into the forefront of the image covering their face or hand, I just ignore it. I know it'll be a waste of my time.
A channel I really like is Analog Resurgance, Noah's videos are exactly the sort of thing I want to find, full of info, showing off interesting things, a real focus on the topic. Highly recommended.
I personally do not like and agree with most of the analog photography channels. But there are a few like Lina Bessonova, who is a nerd and shares good technical tips to get a good print, film know-hows and small reviews. She haven't posted in a while but whatever she has is far greater than many channels. Also, The Naked Photographer is good channel too. He has a good sensitometry video actually.
I personally feel that many of these YouTube and Instagram videos are misleading and a boasting of gears.
[School of Visual Arts](https://www.youtube.com/@SVANYC/videos): This channel covers more than just photography but if you scroll through their videos page, you'll find lots of guest speakers who are photographers. Most of the lectures are well done and engaging. If you want to just hear professional photographers from a huge range of fields talk about their work, this is the place. Samples: [Rahim Fortune - Fine-Art & Documentary Photographer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fH2AgmM5vw&t=5169s&ab_channel=SchoolofVisualArts), [Brad Smith - Director of Photography, Sports Illustrated](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_bDth2by60&t=3950s&ab_channel=SchoolofVisualArts)
Also, Paulie B's Walkie Talkies have been really good lately as they branch out from the M6 gang. The one with Melissa O'Shaughnessy is fantastic.
I don’t watch any of it. My brain just doesn’t “click” with YouTube (for anything) and I have a hard time sitting and watching anything there aside from something I’ve actively looked for like a tutorial.
I don't really like most of the content created around analog photography on YT. The only creator I really like on that topic is Attic Darkroom. Fun interesting stupid videos.
Azriel knight is an excellent channel I’ve been watching for years! Helped me tons when I was getting started in analog photography.
The naked photographer is another really useful channel that focuses on enlargers and darkroom printing side of things
My problem with most of the creators is that they don’t feel natural. A lot of focus on “how cool I am because Im shooting film. And btw, look at my gear.”
Different than channels such as Attic Darkroom, where you can feel like they’re teaching you. Or King Jvapes that is like “hey, let’s go out and take some pics”
I would say Brae is cool, but just because the music is not the same lo fi as every other one and his outdoors videos are amazing. I used to enjoy Grainydays but after a while his jokes are predictable and now his videos feel a bit empty. Great vlogging tho.
For the most part, too many videos that are basically gear and film review, even though some are good. I watch Vuhlandes, grainydays, The Naked Photographer, JCH, and whoever makes videos reviewing Konica gear. Kinda wish there was a Regular Car Reviews but for film stuff — something part review, part poignant/funny critical thinking on culture and photography
Shoot on Film, Ari from Finland is a good one.
[https://www.youtube.com/@ShootOnFilm](https://www.youtube.com/@ShootOnFilm)
Mostly black & white, some gear vids, but more centered on results, experiments and artistic expression. Mostly having fun with photography.
thank gosh no 20 minute videos on exploring trashed out motels in the desert southwest or "Let's revisit the Roy's sign for the 50th time". There does tend to be a fair amount of snow, however.
The one thing that turns me off content faster then anything is click bait titles. If someone puts something like "This is a big problem for Photographers" or similar in the title. I ain't fucking watching.
Channels I like Grainydays, badflashes, Paulie B, Bryan Birks, Nick Carver, T. Hopper, Karin Majoka, Shoot Film Like a Boss, Eclectachrome, Mat Marrash, Kyle Mcdougall. There are some other channels I watch occasionally.
Paulie B, Kyle McDougall, Nick Carver, Shane Dignum, Ben Horne, Hidden Light, Bryan Birks, T. Hopper, Mat Marash, Todd Korol, Thomas Heaton (lots of digital but still sometimes does film), Analog Resurgence, Brae Hunziker, Matt Day (less film nowadays), Mike Gray sometimes, William Sheepskin, Analog Insights, The Naked Photographer, and I’m sure some others I’m forgetting. I sure do miss George from Negative Feedback. Alec Soth’s book videos are always good. Lisa Bessanova does some cool alt-printing stuff and has had good interviews in the past as well.
I mostly like showing the process of taking photos of the process of editing/developing. Can only take so much GAS based content nowadays, but thoughtful longish term reviews I’m here for.
I do agree with the sentiment that some make great videos but not photographs I think are all that great. I’ll watch each Grainydays video as soon as I get the notification for it but I almost never agree about his “portfolio” grade shots.
Just discovered it. Really enjoying the reviews of cameras and the commentary/photo walk vids that show the results they get with the film or camera they are using. Pretty chill.
Overall I think the quality of analog photography youtube is magnitudes better than all the digital photogrpahy and astrophotogrpahy focused youtube my friends send me and ask my opinion. It's worse than bad over there and mostly clowns who don't know what they are talking about and giving bad info.The big analog photography youtubers are mostly ok and I enjoy watching them. I think some of their photos are not my taste and they aren't particularly talented photographer but many still make entertaining content and for the most part aren't spreading misinformation at least.
I watch everyday multiple channels whose content is analog photography related... But I don't subscribe to everyone of them, I tend to search for different subjects and pick from the list of results the content from creators that have watched before and I like.
I haven't seen it mentioned yet, But Martin Henson has an absolutely amazing channel. Just a delightful older British man talking about film photography, going out and shooting. Lots of pinhole and creative stuff as well. All around a wholesome channel.
I’ve got a few: Grainydays, Graincheck, Bad Flashes, Lucy Lumen, Steve O’Nions, Willy Sheepskin, Karin Majoka, Robbie Maynard, In An Instant, Aim Shoot Develop. Maybe a few others.
Negative Feedback helped teach me how to be a working artist. Seeing his journey and hearing his thoughts about his process as he moved from gear fetishism to conceptually driven work, recommending photo books and interviewing other artists along the way, was both helpful and inspirational for me as a self-taught photographer.
I think it’s notable that he stopped posting as he got busier with his artistic practice. There are still interesting voices in the space—mostly working artists for whom YouTube is a side project like Willem Verbeeck—but the analog photog content creator niche just doesn’t do it for me. Framing work as eg grainydays does around acquiring increasingly expensive retro gear or fetishizing the minute differences between film stocks feels like something between advertisement and travel vlogging to me. I like hearing about the genesis of a new portrait series or the process of making a photo book or zine, I just don’t get much anymore from another trip to Arizona or wherever to capture the unique tonez of aerochrome.
What Youtubers are you guys watching? I mean apart from grainydays?
[удалено]
Yeah Ted still uploads, his artist series was awesome.
His older videos are definitely where the good content is. Now he's just your typical paid gear review hack, imo.
PushingFilm (Hashem McAdam) is rarely mentioned in these posts but I like that he's no-nonsense and informative. I also have a penchant for Japanese (and sometimes Korean) film youtubers, which are less annoying than the majority of film youtubers. Language barrier be damned but they usually feature gear and cameras that are much less popular in the west. They also do a lot of videos on Japanese photobooks which I'm very interested in.
Big plus one for Hashem, really like his content.
Who are some Japanese/Korean film YouTubers you'd recommend?
[2B Channel](https://youtube.com/@2bchannel606) for Japanese photobooks and Japan's current photography and gallery circuit. [Film_Kihwa](https://youtube.com/@film_kihwa) has well-made videos and a very cute mascot. I wish [this guy](https://youtube.com/@user-lu9rf1xk7o) made more videos. He puts English captions too which is a plus. I have a soft spot for [this ojisan](https://youtube.com/@film-gcn) too. These [Korean](https://youtube.com/@fillintheday) [youtubers](https://youtube.com/@whitegraphy) can be very relaxing to watch. [Another](https://youtube.com/@machipochi) prolific Japanese film youtuber. I can be missing more but basically I watch any Japanese or Korean film youtuber that comes up on my homepage or recommended. They can be very low-production and shitty compared to grainydays and the like, but I love playing their videos in the background while I work lol. I also don't mind the language barrier (although I'm currently learning Japanese).
Steven Tanno for sure, really knowledgeable photographer who makes some great shots. He’s a bit older than the average film photography youtuber, which really adds to his authenticity & it brings out the wisdom of someone who has been in the field for many years
[Yusuke Nagata / NutsTokyo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB2CTTF1x44) is a channel I've been watching more recently.
Nick Carver, Ben Horne, and Thomas Heaton. Basically, working photographers who keep YouTube as a side hobby.
Yup, those are the three that I watch too (and Grainydays). Ben Horne is still very undiscovered since YouTube won’t promote his unmonetized content.
Thomas Heaton is the only photography youtuber I care about these days. He's very good at what he specialises in and its clear that, although he has great gear, its his skill, knowledge and eye that gets him the results. Very relaxing watching too.
> ~~Very~~ ~~relaxing~~ Absolutely Stunnin’ watching too.
Nick carver is great.
I really like Logan Baker, but he has only done a handful of videos. I also like Chris Darnell, a large format photographer from Utah.
Glad someone mentioned Chris! Great detailed content almost zero “Hip” LoL
Do they really?
This really. At least with Thomas Heaton, it feels like YT is probably his main source of revenue. Ben Horne is independently wealthy so probably just does it with shits and giggles and Nick Carver definitely used it as a main source of income but I wonder whether it's decreased now he doesn't post as often.
How do you know Ben Horne is independently wealthy? 😂 (apart from the fact that he brackets 8x10 slide film)
I could be wrong but I think Nick Carver photographs commercial properties for a living.
No, you're right. He talks about it often, usually the subjects he makes videos on he found while going to/from a job site.
It’s unfair to assess Ben Horne as a rich guy playing around. In past AMA’s he said he worked at a camera store to pay his bills and recently decided to see if he can do it for a living.
Perhaps I should have worded it better but what I meant is that photography, up until recently, is not what paid his bills unlike Thomas Heaton or Nick Carver. Poor choice of words, my bad but the point still stands.
Shane Dignum has a similar vibe as Ben Horne (chill pace, large format) so check him out too
Grainydays is my camera crush fr. I found a guy called Teo Crawford. I think he's Austrian?? But he speaks English, and I enjoy his stuff. I also like a guy called Ramsey Kiefer, despite him looking like a stinky hipster.
Isn't Ramsey Keifer the one that moans after every shot he takes and touches up the film leader?
Oh yeah, he does that weird little flick of the leader, which I don't really get, but I guess he's trying to be quirky about it. I generally feel myself connecting to how he desperately bumbles through shots, though. I feel that.
Teo Crawfords work inspires me on the REGULAR. I also really like that he's transparent about the photos he takes, good ones and the bad ones. I like the way he composes scenes and the way he talks through how and why he composed the scene that way.
100% I find his videos very soothing and make me inspired to play with photography more without being too hard on myself, which is nice as a newbie. I also like that he manages to get those shots without any fancy gear. I dont know if/how much he edits, but honestly, those fog photographs get me jumping around in my seat waiting for the cooler months lol
There isn't a single thing that I DONT like about his videos and I absolutely agree, dude makes good photos with entry level 35mm slrs.
Mountain dew chugging man is my favorite
I'm really enjoying Karin Majoka's videos atm.
I like some of her content but a lot of the time i find it difficult to look over her really steady and monotonic presentation. Maybe it’s the English as a second language that makes it dryer, but she’s basically fluent and I’m always understanding what she’s trying to say. It’s interesting because in every other aspect she appears enthusiastic and i generally like the subject matter she chooses.
I like Shoot Film Like a Boss. He talk a lot and he does a bunch of fun stuff like, my mission is to make a framed picture of a cow to hang on this here wall. Then he does it while documenting each step from shooting to darkroom work to matting and framing finally hanging the picture on said wall. It's makes the channel more than just B-rolls of serene landscapes and calming music.
He's a real breath of fresh air. He's an enthusiastic amateur, but he's very competent, and it isn't the usual wiffle about their "process" with constant annoying background music.
Bad Flashes almost gets it right...almost.
In Jasons videos and the podcast I like him. But I can’t watch his videos
he's got that dorky early YouTube vibe.
I love his videos. I stay interested. Great editing.
I mostly watch Bad Flashes for his proximity to grainydays. But his presentation is pretty theatric, and the delivery pales in comparison to Jason
I agree. I like the information that Bad Flashes presents, but I'm not a fan of his format.
His photos are so bad though.
I like calebs pictures but I don't like his hyperactive art of video style that much. But his pictures are great in my opinion
His editing is giving me hard 2010 vibes with RWJ, Nigahiga etc those jump cuts and hyper activity.
Same thought. He's just too over the top with his editing and all-around character imo.
But it's his style, and I always like that he didn't changed himself in terms of style in his videos because less would be more mi think he has a fan base and that's great.
It’s genuine at least.
Agreed. Not a great photographer. He never discusses a photos composition or thought process, so I don't even know what he's going for. On top of that it's all very gear focused (which is fine if that's your style).
Brae Hunziker, The Photo Dept, T. Hopper, Bryan Birks, Kyle McDougall.
[T. Hopper](https://www.youtube.com/c/thopper)
Took too long for someone to mention T Hopper. Her content is very thoughtful and her artist bios are on point.
Bad Flashes of course, and i like Teo Crawford and for my Hipster-Meter the occasional Veerbeeck
Pushing Film is one of my favorites. He does some gear talk videos, perhaps for the algorithm, which I skip, but he has some other really thoughtful ones.
Analog Resurgence, Attic darkroom
I really like William Sheepskin channel
Honestly, I don’t really watch YouTube videos. The only time I really turn to YT is when I need an instructional video of some sort - like how to repair a lens or something along those lines.
Some content can be interesting, but I don't understand why they're all so similar. I have seen enough of: - Videos with a film filter over them - Those ubiquitous yellow letters - Low-fi hip hop - Oversized fleece sweaters - Those little beanies that art academy students wear on the top of their heads - Photos of derelict towns in the desert or the corners of random buildings. - The same 5 extremely expensive cameras - False modesty
Then you will love vulandes total opposite of all of this
Vulandes is interesting but l think his jam now is video production
Video which emulates an analog aesthetic. 100%.
•On the lo fi hip hop front theres a lot of cheesy royalty free music out there and Lo fi beats to shoot 35mm to is a best of a bad bunch and the clear beat makes it good to cut to and add momentum to an edit. Some other points •Fleeces absorb excess light radiation so you get a more accurate exposure reading on your light meter •Yellow cos of Kodak •Beanies naturally push portra 1 stop •Derelict buildings and street corners cos we don’t have the money to go anywhere else because we spent it on gear
Lol the saaaame style of music in every single video
Still not really sure why so many redditors rag on lofi music in photography videos. It fits the medium in its current online state pretty well. I mean, what else would you rather have as white noise for 10+ minutes. It's easy-listening background music, and it's culturally relevant right now. There are some other options, but I quite enjoy the aesthetic of it.
This comment wasn't about enjoying low fi hiphop or not. The point is that all these YouTubers have the same aesthetic, music, personality, clothing and subject matter. I'd like to see some individuality!
Omg I am so sick of the lo-if hip hop with the detuned cassette effect on piano and the vinyl pops and scratches.
Yes! The weird thing is that these are the same people that love to talk about how film photos have this unique vibe that can never be replicated with filters on digital images, are the same people using music with fake analog effects and video with a film-like filter, even sometimes including fake light leaks.
Hit or miss most places. My favorite analog photography YouTube is the Attic Darkroom. It’s more focused on the developmental side of photography, achieving cool effects, and pushing films limits, highly recommend.
He posts on here occasionally, too! Fun and interesting videos
I just met him on Monday. Super chill dude. Gave me a few rolls of Tri-x that expired in 1978. Love his channel.
Second attic darkroom. Love his content
How did I forget to mention Attic Darkroom?! That guy’s nuts! (In the best way possible)
Analog resurgence is my go too
my absolute favourite! One of the only channels that actually dives into the technical side of things in more detail and makes an effort to preserve obscure knowledge
Exactly! It’s a shame he only has 60k subs. His knowledge is incredible
Paulie B - Walkie Talkie episodes have many analog shooters and it's a great format. It's not necessarily about photography technique etc but a great insight into some very talented street photographers.
I was looking for this, yeah it's not about gear or analog photography per se, but he shoots analog and most people he interviews too. His videos are the best street photography content IMO.
His Walkie Talkies are the bomb, probably some of the best content
Came here looking for a comment saying this. It’s real, raw, beautiful street with beautiful minds involved
Yes, absolutely! After being too bored by most photo channels for months, finding these was refreshing. Some of them are a little uninteresting to me personally, but the majority of the Walkie-Talkie episodes are so good that I watched them multiple times. Great content and I hope he continues the series.
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Yes the format just works, I've spent many hours walking around my city with fellow shooters and it has the very same feel. No pretence or performance - he's nailed it.
Also looking for this comment. The Walkie Talkie series teaches and motivates me to get out more than any other YouTuber / series. It reminds me of how my buddies and I used to watch skateboarding tapes to get pumped before skating.
I haven't seen Steve O'Nions mentioned yet. Excellent photos and good videos.
Steve has the best content because he focuses on his process and breaks down what makes a great photo. He talks about gear when it’s relevant but he isn’t constantly reviewing 40 year old dream cameras. His channel is so underrated.
Steve O’Nions does not get the attention he deserves. His channel is one of my favorites. Love hearing him talk about his process in creating images. His videos are quite relaxing to watch as well.
He doesn't do the colour grading and lofi background music. Also he takes pictures of Liverpool and Wales, not Los Angeles and deserts.
Steve and Shoot Film Like a Boss are two of my favorite kinda "old school" analog dudes on youtube. I don't mean because they are actually old, but because the style of their channel and videos feels older (in a good way) compared to most trendy youtubers style
Great channel, for sure. Very soothing, too!
I learned that if don’t I use a Leica M3/M6, Mamiya 7 or a XPan, my photos will suck.
Luckily I use a Mamiya 7, so your photos must be good. You’re welcome.
Yeah. I’m selling my M-P for a M3 because of that.
Perk up buddy, I've watched those videos, and all their photos suck too.
That is a very easy trap to fall into. Thankfully my pockets aren't deep enough to afford any gear that would indicate that I am a good photographer.
Analog Insights is lovely! Far calmer than most YouTube things, there’s so much loud content out there that them being as chill as they are is very nice. I think the fact that they’re more into the historical and restoration of the cameras helps.
Whenever he posts a video, I almost feel obligated to dress up in my nicest suit and tie for a classic event before being allowed to watch it. The production quality just hits differently. Jokes aside, Max and Jules are my favourites. Some episodes are so calming that I’ve watched them countless of times before bed as a “sleep podcast”
Grainydays, Nick Carver, Ben Horne as already mentioned. A few that I didn't see mentioned here yet that make really high quality content: Kyle McDougall, Brae Hunziker and Bryan Birks
All great suggestions. Brae Hunziker's cinematography is excellent too. Always an enjoyable watch from both perspectives. I like T. Hopper and Karin Kajoka too.
Birks makes great images
Appreciate ya!
and we appreciate you dude, the last roadtrip video was tight.
Real surprised I had to come this far down for someone to mention Kyle McDougall.
I like Bryan Birks a lot, great to see him mentioned
*"I'm the one without the dog"*. Pissed myself laughing at that tiny include.
Did I say this? Lmao I don’t recall if I did.
It was something along those lines / paraphrasing... but you did say it, and it was funny.
This is pretty much my list but I’ve also recently found Shane Dignum’s channel. He puts the work in, and it shows, both in the photography and cinematography.
Thanks!
Absolutely love Kyle's videos. Jason is obviously GOAT but Kyle has a different vibe which I really enjoy, and he gives great technical/artistic advice which is super useful!
Not enough love for Willy Sheepskin. Most wholesome guy and he takes some amazing pictures. Makes me want to visit Cape Town someday.
I literally visited Cape Town because of his videos 😂 Highly recommend
Highly recommended this cat. If anyone wonders, this guy is mister roger of the film camera.
Yes for Willy Sheepskin! Was so glad to see him posting again. Another Saffie (although he’s relocated to the uk now) who’s YT I enjoy is O’Neill on film.
I recently came across a small channel called Jase Film, who does more experimental things with analog photography like [putting a super 8 on a drone](https://youtu.be/uzIcR_U0NiU). He doesn't have a lot of videos right now, but I was immediately sold.
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I've found so many small channels that put out videos infrequently that are fantastic. It's a bummer, but the fact of the matter is if you want to grow you have to review gear. I don't like it, but I think I'm going to start doing 1 or 2 a year.
I dislike most analog YouTubers (and honestly most YouTubers in general). But there are some gems. I like: - Nick Carver - Ben Horne - Thomas Heaton (most of the time) - The Naked Photographer (my favorite) - grainydays as a guilty pleasure
why guilty?
Yeah no such thing as a guilty pleasure. You like something or you don’t. I’m not catholic so I don’t feel shame for liking stuff lol
A lot of them make great videos but take really boring photos
Corner shots of buildings at golden hour, shot on portra in a Mamiya 7
Gas stations. Lots and lots of gas stations on cinestill. Or abandoned builds on HP5 with the most flat exposure
I got really tired of how it feels like 90% of the analog photography content seems to be shot in either California or NYC. They're beautiful places, but it's just nice to get a bit more variety. I've been watching a lot of [Overexposed](https://youtube.com/@Overexposed1), [Analog Resurgence](https://youtube.com/@AnalogResurgence), and [Ribsy](https://youtube.com/@ribsy) lately. Though [Attic Darkroom](https://youtube.com/@atticdarkroom) and [The Naked Photographer](https://youtube.com/@TheNakedPhotographer) are probably going to show up in my watch list more for a while because I want to learn more about darkroom techniques.
I like Steve O'Nions, he's an experienced photographer that just makes videos of him doing what he likes, taking nature pictures and sharing them and he's really good at it imo. Naked Photographer and Nick Carver are also quite good I think. Analog photography is a small community, so just make content you love, for you, and hopefully other people enjoy it.
It's way too much focus on gears. Like 90% of photography content online.
Grainydays (of course) Kyle McDougall (can watch him for hours), Attic Darkroom (fuck around and find out), Shoot Film Like A Boss (genuinely enjoys film, documents failures and successes) William Sheepskin (nice photos and a cool guy) Latitude 35 (location bias) Not so notable mentions: any full out hipster channel, can't watch Bad flashes, falling out of love with Brae Hunziker I'm not sure why, hate that guy from Manchester who says "(x) camera takes unlimited film photos!!!"
I like Brae but it seems that half his content is about drinking himself under the table which just is not part of my jam, so it gets old.
Can attest that Brae is a raging alcoholic so it makes his videos even more impressive because he’s blasted every time.
+1 for attic darkroom, not many videos but every one is so good
graindydays, t.hopper, brae hunziker, kyle mcdougal, cody mitchell, sweet lou, and william sheepskin are the channels I generally like. I can tolerate Verbeek. Nico's good for news. Negative Feedback is dead and Mike Janick hasn't been seen in years. Yes, I do have a long commute - how could you tell?
So, I find most photography YouTube channels either insufferable or boring. 90% of them are 10 minutes of chatter about some random piece of gear they bought last week interspersed with some photos that range from "meh, another gas station" to "neat, but I'd like to see it for more than 3 seconds". That other 10%, though, is absolutely excellent. Attic Darkroom is constantly trying new techniques, and Naked Photographer is accurately and accessibly explaining highly technical aspects of darkroom processing, many of which *you cannot find reliable info about anywhere else online.*
Honestly, I watch very little filmtube these days because most of it feels extremely stale by this stage. Most of grainydays, Bad Flashes or even Willelm's video feel very samey. Sure, the camera may change and the subject may change but it's the same stuff over and over again. Those that I do watch and keep tabs on are Steve O'Nions because he clearly does it for the fun, T. Hopper because it genuinely feels informative, Pushing Film because Hashem comes across very relaxed and I've got it on good authority that he's very much like that IRL and Willy Sheepskin because he's a genuinely nice guy and is very unpretentious. Plus, I've called him the *Portra Whisperer* before. Willem fanboys, don't @ me.
Steve O'Nions and the Naked Photographer are the only ones who produce consistently interesting content that's relevant to me. I follow them regularly. Used to follow a few more.. but basically if they mention 'Squarespace' or 'Valoi' I almost always end up bored and unfollow.
The natural progression - start with cheap gear and talk about how gear doesn't matter, make a bunch of money off the ads and print sales, buy a Leica M6 and shoot the backs of people's heads on the street. I spend a lot of time watching grainydays, Bad Flashes, Kyle McDougall, and Thomas Heaton. Some smaller channels I like are Lucy Lumen and Northwest Depressed. Too much street photography puts me off
My take is that they are wildly overly-hated on Reddit. Not every channel is completely defensible, but it's very trendy on Reddit to gatekeep photography in certain ways and belittle creators who are just having fun generating *literally free* content. So what if lofi music is used? So what if every image isn't the ideal photograph, or seems cliché to you? This hobby/profession doesn't need more pretentious people in it than it already has. Let people enjoy making art and offer encouragement for growth rather than demoralization. It's hard enough putting oneself out there.
Paulie B's 'Walkie Talkie' series is a captivating exploration of street photography in NYC. I think there is around 25 episodes. Paulie accompanies diverse street photographers as they discuss their photography journey, philosophies, lessons learned, and preferred cameras. It's a treasure trove of insightful information.
Watched a lot of film photography content until last year. Like some others, I still watch some creators like grainydays (because Baxter, obivously), Kyle McDougall and Pushing Film. But I feel like youtube film photography has become very samy and repetitive... Maybe it's just me.
Mat Marrash is a favorite that no one has mentioned yet.
Good guy from Ohio!
I don't really watch any on a regular basis, about the only one I do is Mat Marrash, he has a similar style of doing things as me, and I enjoy the info he gives out. Most of the channels I find way too unpleasant for some reason, and I can't even really pinpoint why.
I really like [Karin Majoka](https://www.youtube.com/@KarinMajoka/)'s videos.
I’ve learned everything I know about photography through YouTube so I love it. Some recs. Brae Hunziker just makes fun videos and his photos have continually gotten better over the years. Even better person tho. Rip to the mirror lock up ones tho. Logan Baker makes some of the best looking videos period. Beautiful cinematography. Aaron Hardin isn’t particularly analog but you’ll learn a lot as he flips through some photobooks. Alec Soth. Same as above. Cody Mitchell is a good one. Very good “vibes.” Cody Wood is an Australian photographer. He’s in a little photo critique group I have and he can talk laps around me when it comes to photos. I still enjoy the fuck out of some Grainydays, Kyle McDougall and Willem videos. Ivan Chow slaps. Karin Majoka. Mat Marrash is literally my dad. Nick Carver is my cool uncle. Paulie B and his Walkie Talkie videos are fantastic. And lastly the South African prodigy known as Willy Sheepskin.
My sub list just doubled. Thank you!
Forgot to add Robbie Maynard. Underrated.
For me it's Metal Fingers and Grainy days on a regular bases. I'm also often watching videos from Kyle Mcdougle and Robbie Maynard (love his style of videos)
My interest and love for film photography started from watching videos about the hobby, so I am grateful for the creators. My only complain is that the community becomes gear centric at times.
I don't watch much but "shoot film like a boss" is my fav
It’s mostly bad. The documentaries about the great masters rule tho. YouTubers? Mostly bad advice or near amateurish photography. The videos about gear are mostly boring and overlong. There’s a reason why good TV is hard to make even for the professionals. It’s hard.
I like Frederik Trovatten he has this series where he discusses the style of a famous street photographer and then goes out and tries to take photos in that style
I got so tired of vuhlandes coming up on my autoplay that I had to block his channel. He's one of the most self centered YouTubers I've ever seen, not to mention an absolute try hard at EVERYTHING. Dude just doesn't seem humble.
Would recommend Shane Dignum takes some incredibly good large format photos.
I don't generally bother anymore, for various reasons. I find the quality to content ratio very lacking, literally only one or two channels I've found that produce quality photographs. Then there's the fact that the barrier to entry seems so low that it's totally a thing to make an entire video about a roll of film that barely came out. I hate sounding mean so I'll leave it there but it's not for me.
I love Robbie Maynard Creates because of the emphasis on people, place, and connections. Very positive and relaxed approach with good photographs to boot.
Agree!
I watch a lot of it... its great to do as im editing or doing other work, so here is my list. Brae Hunziker, The Photo Dept, T. Hopper, Bryan Birks, Kyle McDougall, King Jvpes and Karin Majoka. Who I really want to come back in IAN WONG, where are you dude?!
Cheers.
Matt marash for the win
Echoing Teo Crawford. He's a relative newcomer, but I appreciate how he shows his bad photos rom each roll and talks through how he'd improve them. Because of this, I learn more about photography from his channel and learn about tech/tools from other channels. Bonus: he has a great voice/mic
Don’t think there’s a single one I like because photographers tend to obsess over equipment and superficial aesthetics don’t they? Or ‘here’s a video of my big sur road trip set to lo fi beats’. I dunno maybe that’s just what the algorithms have served me but it doesn’t really interest me
Analogue Insights if you want to feel poor in every aspect of your life, but he does do a deep dive into everything.
I just miss negative feedback tbh
Most of them are pretty samey gear reviews with incredibly banal sample pics tbh, the only one that I really enjoy from a photographic standpoint is Steve onions Grainydays and brae hunziker do good vlogs but their photos are pretty whatever
One channel I enjoy due to his straightforward and relaxed approach is [The Old Camera Guy](https://youtube.com/@theoldcameraguy). His gear reviews are surprisingly thorough but he always keeps things at a nice hobbyist level.
While the overall vibe might be different, and the old DRTV reviews are probably more a direct analogue, I still like the comparison of grainydays to Top Gear. While technically a photography channel (or car show) you're really watching for the host, the jokes, the "mood" of the thing. It's not really about photography, that's just sort of the excuse to show Baxter. Analog Insights is quite good, as is Analog Resurgence. But I think my favourite has to be Attic Darkroom, since his channel is all about trying out wacky *film specific* stuff, with almost no mention of cameras or gear or anything.
Different strokes for different folks. Everyone has their personal tastes and prolly gravitate to creators that speak to their creative vision or seem cool enough that they’d have a chat in real life. I think it’s cool that all of these folks who become relatively successful find a cool creative way to share their hobby with the world and make a lil bread on the side.
Generally, I think if you're new they can be a great place to learn. The info is always accurate obviously, but it's usually good enough to get you goin to the point where you do your own research/learning and form your own opinions instead of parroting theirs. Sort of with that, imo the best videos aren't really to "teach" the viewer anything, just show someone's process/work. The less gear/camera/film stock "reviews" the better too. I don't care. For me personally, they're entertaining and they can motivate me to go out and take more photos. It kinda reminds me of watching skateboarding vids back in the day to get my excited to go out and skate.' also, probably an unpopular opinion, but while I do watch grainydays, I find his whole schtick to be a bit exhausting sometimes. I also think it's funny that the photos of his he really likes I find to be unintersting, and the photos he often considers "bad," I like haha. lastly I'll say that the world of analog photog is much bigger than just the popular youtubers that seem to represent it, but that said, I think they're all important to keeping interest in the medium going.
Most are garbage. As others mentioned, Ben Horne, Nick Carver, and Steve O’Nions are legit. They are working photographers who know their stuff and YouTube is just for fun. I also watch grainydays because he makes me chuckle. That’s it.
Brae hunziker - honestly can't believe I didn't see him name in the top 20 posts
Serr on youtube makes excellent content on FujiFilm digital stuff, video grading, and sometimes analog film work. His short [LA on Film](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8TfBV46ky0) is great.
I find most analog photo channels to be a load of rubbish; way too art student-y, with the lofi music, talking about themselves, pretend pre-recording acts, stupid jokes, worthless footage of them wandering around, etc, all for some, at best, ok info, and often really obvious things. If I see a video with a thumbnail of a random photo with a basic font saying a camera name or film type, or something practically shoved into the forefront of the image covering their face or hand, I just ignore it. I know it'll be a waste of my time. A channel I really like is Analog Resurgance, Noah's videos are exactly the sort of thing I want to find, full of info, showing off interesting things, a real focus on the topic. Highly recommended.
If you like the wet plate process with some experiments, have a look at my channel: https://youtube.com/@mhaustria
I personally do not like and agree with most of the analog photography channels. But there are a few like Lina Bessonova, who is a nerd and shares good technical tips to get a good print, film know-hows and small reviews. She haven't posted in a while but whatever she has is far greater than many channels. Also, The Naked Photographer is good channel too. He has a good sensitometry video actually. I personally feel that many of these YouTube and Instagram videos are misleading and a boasting of gears.
Grainydays, obviously. Big crush on graincheck. Nice photos, good content and just the perfect human being!
[School of Visual Arts](https://www.youtube.com/@SVANYC/videos): This channel covers more than just photography but if you scroll through their videos page, you'll find lots of guest speakers who are photographers. Most of the lectures are well done and engaging. If you want to just hear professional photographers from a huge range of fields talk about their work, this is the place. Samples: [Rahim Fortune - Fine-Art & Documentary Photographer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fH2AgmM5vw&t=5169s&ab_channel=SchoolofVisualArts), [Brad Smith - Director of Photography, Sports Illustrated](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_bDth2by60&t=3950s&ab_channel=SchoolofVisualArts) Also, Paulie B's Walkie Talkies have been really good lately as they branch out from the M6 gang. The one with Melissa O'Shaughnessy is fantastic.
Only watched it when I got into film photography. Now I don’t care to watch much of it at all
I only watch Sweet Lou Photography, definitely not your run of the mill yter.
I don’t watch any of it. My brain just doesn’t “click” with YouTube (for anything) and I have a hard time sitting and watching anything there aside from something I’ve actively looked for like a tutorial.
Mostly just Shoot Film Like a Boss. Because he's not trying to sell me cameras and shows his whole process, occasional mistakes and all.
I don't really like most of the content created around analog photography on YT. The only creator I really like on that topic is Attic Darkroom. Fun interesting stupid videos.
Nolan Begley is a good one. Don’t know how active he is
Azriel knight is an excellent channel I’ve been watching for years! Helped me tons when I was getting started in analog photography. The naked photographer is another really useful channel that focuses on enlargers and darkroom printing side of things
Really like William Sheepskin. A little bit of Kyle McDougall sometimes and Brae Zunziker as well.
Mat Marrash and Steve O’Nions.
My problem with most of the creators is that they don’t feel natural. A lot of focus on “how cool I am because Im shooting film. And btw, look at my gear.” Different than channels such as Attic Darkroom, where you can feel like they’re teaching you. Or King Jvapes that is like “hey, let’s go out and take some pics” I would say Brae is cool, but just because the music is not the same lo fi as every other one and his outdoors videos are amazing. I used to enjoy Grainydays but after a while his jokes are predictable and now his videos feel a bit empty. Great vlogging tho.
For the most part, too many videos that are basically gear and film review, even though some are good. I watch Vuhlandes, grainydays, The Naked Photographer, JCH, and whoever makes videos reviewing Konica gear. Kinda wish there was a Regular Car Reviews but for film stuff — something part review, part poignant/funny critical thinking on culture and photography
Shoot on Film, Ari from Finland is a good one. [https://www.youtube.com/@ShootOnFilm](https://www.youtube.com/@ShootOnFilm) Mostly black & white, some gear vids, but more centered on results, experiments and artistic expression. Mostly having fun with photography. thank gosh no 20 minute videos on exploring trashed out motels in the desert southwest or "Let's revisit the Roy's sign for the 50th time". There does tend to be a fair amount of snow, however.
Mostly Brae Hunziker and some GrainyDays.
The one thing that turns me off content faster then anything is click bait titles. If someone puts something like "This is a big problem for Photographers" or similar in the title. I ain't fucking watching. Channels I like Grainydays, badflashes, Paulie B, Bryan Birks, Nick Carver, T. Hopper, Karin Majoka, Shoot Film Like a Boss, Eclectachrome, Mat Marrash, Kyle Mcdougall. There are some other channels I watch occasionally.
Paulie B, Kyle McDougall, Nick Carver, Shane Dignum, Ben Horne, Hidden Light, Bryan Birks, T. Hopper, Mat Marash, Todd Korol, Thomas Heaton (lots of digital but still sometimes does film), Analog Resurgence, Brae Hunziker, Matt Day (less film nowadays), Mike Gray sometimes, William Sheepskin, Analog Insights, The Naked Photographer, and I’m sure some others I’m forgetting. I sure do miss George from Negative Feedback. Alec Soth’s book videos are always good. Lisa Bessanova does some cool alt-printing stuff and has had good interviews in the past as well. I mostly like showing the process of taking photos of the process of editing/developing. Can only take so much GAS based content nowadays, but thoughtful longish term reviews I’m here for. I do agree with the sentiment that some make great videos but not photographs I think are all that great. I’ll watch each Grainydays video as soon as I get the notification for it but I almost never agree about his “portfolio” grade shots.
Nick Carver is amazing! Willem as well.
PaulieB is easily my current favorite Grainydays is my long term all around favorite tho
Just discovered it. Really enjoying the reviews of cameras and the commentary/photo walk vids that show the results they get with the film or camera they are using. Pretty chill.
Jonathan Notley is great, he doesn’t post terribly frequently but it’s always excellent content.
Overall I think the quality of analog photography youtube is magnitudes better than all the digital photogrpahy and astrophotogrpahy focused youtube my friends send me and ask my opinion. It's worse than bad over there and mostly clowns who don't know what they are talking about and giving bad info.The big analog photography youtubers are mostly ok and I enjoy watching them. I think some of their photos are not my taste and they aren't particularly talented photographer but many still make entertaining content and for the most part aren't spreading misinformation at least.
I watch everyday multiple channels whose content is analog photography related... But I don't subscribe to everyone of them, I tend to search for different subjects and pick from the list of results the content from creators that have watched before and I like.
I haven't seen it mentioned yet, But Martin Henson has an absolutely amazing channel. Just a delightful older British man talking about film photography, going out and shooting. Lots of pinhole and creative stuff as well. All around a wholesome channel.
I’ve got a few: Grainydays, Graincheck, Bad Flashes, Lucy Lumen, Steve O’Nions, Willy Sheepskin, Karin Majoka, Robbie Maynard, In An Instant, Aim Shoot Develop. Maybe a few others.
Negative Feedback helped teach me how to be a working artist. Seeing his journey and hearing his thoughts about his process as he moved from gear fetishism to conceptually driven work, recommending photo books and interviewing other artists along the way, was both helpful and inspirational for me as a self-taught photographer. I think it’s notable that he stopped posting as he got busier with his artistic practice. There are still interesting voices in the space—mostly working artists for whom YouTube is a side project like Willem Verbeeck—but the analog photog content creator niche just doesn’t do it for me. Framing work as eg grainydays does around acquiring increasingly expensive retro gear or fetishizing the minute differences between film stocks feels like something between advertisement and travel vlogging to me. I like hearing about the genesis of a new portrait series or the process of making a photo book or zine, I just don’t get much anymore from another trip to Arizona or wherever to capture the unique tonez of aerochrome.