My Backpack Time Machine
I’ve been a digital camera enthusiast for over 20 years. That’s two decades of sensor sizes, firmware updates, SD card formatting, and firmware-induced existential crises. I’ve shot with just about everything: mirrorless, rangefinders, compact beasts. My Leica Q2 Monochrome is my daily partner in crime, and the D-Lux 8 is like that quiet friend who never fails you.
Everything in my setup has its place. Batteries? Right side pocket. Lens cloth? Upper zipper. SD card case? Tucked in next to my stubborn optimism. It’s a system that works.
Until this morning.
I was unpacking my gear, doing the usual rotation. The Leicas went on the shelf, the batteries came out of the bag like clockwork… and then, without even realizing it, I slipped my Hasselblad XPan into the main compartment. And then, here's the kicker, I grabbed a fresh roll of Kodak Portra 400 and placed it exactly where I usually stash my spare batteries.
It took a few seconds before I noticed the irony. In 2025, a year where AI is trying to teach itself to feel emotion, and smartphones come with more cameras than the street in London. (CCTV), I just packed film. Actual film. In the battery slot.
And I laughed.
But looking back, this moment didn’t come out of nowhere. Getting the XPan wasn’t just about buying a camera. It triggered a full-on analog awakening.
Before I even took my first shot, I had to go back to photography school. Suddenly, I was knee-deep in forums and YouTube videos, trying to figure out things I hadn’t thought about in years. Film stocks. Light metering. Grain structure. How to scan negatives without losing my sanity. I messaged Kim, who shoots with a Leica M4-P, asking him how rangefinders even work. What do I focus on? What do I ignore? Why does everything feel slightly out of alignment, including my life?
My YouTube history for the past two weeks has been 95 percent XPan tutorials and 5 percent people arguing over DPI settings. Scanning turned out to be its own mental obstacle course. It’s not just a plug-and-play process. I was sweating over whether 2400 DPI was too soft, whether 4800 was overkill, and why my first scans looked like they were taken with a potato.
So yes, today I swapped spare batteries for Portra 400. And despite the learning curve, it felt right.
Because while the rest of the world is speeding into the future, I’m quietly time-traveling in reverse. Not out of nostalgia (okay, maybe a little), but because sometimes the slowness of analog feels more real than the speed of digital.
Everyone’s chasing megapixels, 8K reels, and autofocus that can track a mosquito’s heartbeat. Meanwhile, I’m manually winding film and hoping I didn’t mess up the loading. There’s something beautiful and slightly ridiculous about that.
And if you're wondering, no, I didn’t leave the Leicas behind. They’re coming too. It’s 2025, and I carry both timelines in my backpack.
- Thomas
