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The hardest way to make a GIF

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Why This Matters

This article highlights the intricate and labor-intensive process of creating a GIF using vintage film cameras, manual film development, and DIY scanning techniques. It underscores the lengths enthusiasts will go to for nostalgic or artistic expression, emphasizing the evolving relationship between technology and creative experimentation in the industry.

Key Takeaways

Everyone loves a good GIF, and my favourite (of all time) is this one (circa 2015):

Let’s make a GIF in the hardest way possible.

Why? It’s pointless, but some pointless things are just fun to do.

Step 1: Acquire photons

For this step I’ll be using the Lomo ActionSampler, a plastic camera made in China by a series of anonymous unknown factories. It’s been branded as many different things over the years, including as the Revolver Selby in 1991, so it’s a design that’s at least 35 years old.

The camera uses a unique clockwork spring-powered mechanism to rotate a circular shutter over 4 different lenses, at a speed of around 1/250s per frame. This means, if you’re lucky, you can capture 1 second of action at a glorious 4 frames per second.

Because you never really know how the photos will turn out, I’ll shoot a 36 exposure roll of Lucky SHD 400 film, and we’ll see what we get. Now that our photos are captured on China’s finest cheapest black and white film, we need to make them visible.

Step 2: Develop film

I could send the film off to a lab for developing and scanning, but this is the hardest way to make a GIF. I develop film at home so luckily I have all the requisite parts:

Developer tank and reel

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