Shooting film well requires a kind of patience most modern photography has trained people out of, and @droneshotsmtl demonstrates exactly that discipline in this video. Shooting on an Asahi Pentax 6×7 loaded with Kodak Portra film, the creator walks through the deliberate, viewfinder-first process of carefully composing a car show before the shutter finally clicks just once.

The Asahi Pentax 6×7 holds a near-legendary status among medium-format film photographers, often nicknamed the ‘camera that looks like a 35mm SLR but shoots like a medium-format,’ thanks to its unusually familiar handling for a format that typically requires a very different shooting posture. Its larger negative size produces significantly more detail and tonal range than standard 35mm film, which is exactly why dedicated film photographers continue seeking out working examples decades after the camera went out of production.

Medium-format film photography occupies a genuinely distinct niche within the broader analog photography revival that has gained real momentum over the past several years. While 35mm film has become relatively accessible and mainstream again among younger photographers, medium format demands meaningfully more investment, in both equipment cost and shooting discipline, since each roll typically yields far fewer total exposures than a standard 35mm roll, making every single shot count in a way digital photography rarely requires.

Kodak Portra specifically has earned a devoted following among film shooters for its distinctive color rendering, particularly its flattering, natural skin tones and forgiving exposure latitude, qualities that make it a favorite choice for everything from portraiture to the kind of vibrant, detail-rich subject matter a classic car show naturally provides. Pairing that specific film stock with a car show subject suggests a deliberate, considered choice rather than simply whatever happened to be loaded in the camera at the time.

The viewfinder-first, single-shot approach documented in this video stands in sharp contrast to the rapid-fire, take-dozens-and-pick-the-best mentality that digital photography has normalized for most casual shooters. Film’s cost per exposure and the complete absence of an instant preview forces a photographer to slow down, carefully consider composition, lighting, and timing before committing to a single frame, a discipline that many film photographers describe as fundamentally improving their overall photographic eye.

There is a natural, fitting synergy at work in pairing vintage film photography equipment with a classic car show subject, since both pursuits share a deep cultural reverence for mechanical craftsmanship, deliberate process, and objects built to a standard of durability that modern mass production rarely prioritizes anymore.

Content documenting this kind of deliberate, patient shooting process serves a genuinely valuable educational role for photographers newly curious about film, demonstrating in real time exactly what separates the medium-format film experience from the instant, forgiving nature of digital capture, and why so many photographers find that slower process genuinely rewarding rather than simply inconvenient.