26 Instax Packs - #18 - Lilo & Stitch Instax Mini Frame in Lomo'Instant Automat. I needed to get Brenda out of the house, she had recent carpal tunnel surgery and wasn't able to drive. So we headed out to the Pleasant Hill Fire Company Carnival when I got home from work to get dinner (totally not good for you but delicious carnival fare). We filled up on fried vegetables, italian sausage, kraut dog, and cheesecake on a stick. Our carnival ride days are long over and we weren't really interested in playing any games (brenda was still having after surgery pain), so we headed out early to go back home. Needless to say, I passed out on the loveseat from carb overload, sketchbook in hand later that evening.
Kodak Brownie Fiesta
Week 51 - Kodak Brownie Fiesta Camera in original box with exposed roll of film found by a friend in a Goodwill Store in West Virginia. I successfully developed the roll of film and posted about it previously in "A Visit To Summersville Dam".
The Kodak Brownie Fiesta is a simple point and shoot plastic camera using 127 roll film that was made in the early 1960's. I had another roll of Triple Print Film that I had purchased in a lot from ebay to use in the Fiesta camera. The last roll turned out pretty well and I was hopeful this one would as well.
Nearing the end of my year long 2016 film camera project, I've found it difficult to find the time to finish it up with the hustle and bustle of the holidays. I started the roll in the beginning of last week by stopping on my way to work at the MICA campus on Mount Royal Avenue in Baltimore. I grabbed a few shots there and then in my hometown to finish up the roll. The camera is very easy, just frame up the shot and press the button. The camera makes a sort of springy sound when the shutter fires, seeming like the photo would come out blurry.
The photos seemed to come out in focus, but the quality of the shots was not as good as the previous roll. I had some difficulty removing the tape at the end of the roll of film in the changing bag and ripped the corner off one of the frames. I developed the roll in Kodak D-76 stock solution and scanned the negatives with Epson V500 Photo.
Agfa Isoflash-Rapid
Week 44 - Agfa Isoflash-Rapid 35 mm film camera purchased at the Westminster Antique Mall for $7. The Agfa Isoflash-Rapid is a German made camera produced in the 1960's that uses two rapid cassettes instead of the standard 35mmh film canister. The film from a rapid cassette is advanced by a gear inside the camera into a second empty rapid cassette. The second cassette was then sent in for processing. This two cassette system was brought back by Agfa to compete with Kodak's 126 film cassette. The Agfa Isoflash-Rapid's shutter will not fire without film in the camera. Fortunately there was film in the camera for me to test out the shutter at the antique store. I tried to develop the film in the camera but it came out blank.
I used an expired 12 exposure roll of Fujicolor 100 as the camera is only able to shoot 16 frames on a regular 12 exposure roll of 35mm film. I had to load the film from the Fuji canister into the empty rapid cassette in a changing bag before loading the film into the camera. I went for a nice walk around Hanover last Saturday morning with the intention of grabbing a few shots of autumn color, but the leaves on the trees were not quite ready. I thought the expired film performed well though, the camera was small and light, easy to shoot with using the fixed focus lens.
I hand processed the roll with Film Photography Project's C-41 kit and scanned the negatives with Epson V500 Photo.
Generic Plastic Camera - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks
Week 31 - Generic plastic camera purchased at Morningstar Flea Market Antique Mall for $10. The tag said "Argus 35mm Camera" on it and came in a bright yellow box with the words "Say Cheese" and "Storer Cable", whatever that means. It also came with a cheaply made pleather carrying case. I did an internet search but could come up with nothing on a plastic Argus 35mm camera, or anything using the other words on the box. I thought at best, it could be a generic Holga or Diana type of camera. It felt quite heavy, probably had a weight in the bottom of the camera.
On the front, the lens reads "Optical Color Lens, Auto Fix Focus 50mm Lens 1:6." It has a tripod socket on the bottom and a rewind release button. I used a roll of FPP EDU 400 Black and White film from the Film Photography Project, as my color chemicals were recently expired. Photos were shot on a morning walk around Hanover, PA and also around Baltimore, MD on my lunch break. I found that the lens was much wider than the viewfinder indicated, I could have gotten closer on some of my shots.
It was very humid on the day I was trying to wind the film onto a developing reel in the changing bag, which resulted in a first failed attempt where in frustration, I shoved the film into the tank to protect it from light. I cooled off a bit and went back in while in a cool air-conditioned room. As a result the film got a little banged up with a few scratches and creases. I don't think it detracts much from the low quality of the photos that I got from this camera, I was hoping for photos with a dreamy quality and a little vignetting. The film was developed in Caffenol and scanned on Epson V500 Photo.
Kodak Brownie Target Six-16 - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks
Week 25 Camera - Kodak Brownie Target Six-16 with expired roll of 35mm Kodak Portra 160NC. I thought I would shoot sprocket hole photos with this camera rather than respooling 120 film onto a 616 spool. I like the look of color sprocket hole photos and thought they would be a nice change this week.
I brought the Kodak Brownie Target Six-16 with me on a photo walk around Hanover last weekend. I had a bag with three cameras (the Brownie, Canon AE-1, and Nikon EM), water and a snack when I went on the walk last Sunday morning. It was a beautiful day, but it did start to get a little hot walking around town. Before heading out, I taped the viewfinders of the box camera to limit my view to an approximation of the area that would cover the much thinner 35mm film area in the camera. I had previously calculated how many turns of the film advancing knob would advance the film far enough to not overlap exposures. I managed to get 5 and half sprocket photos out of the 35mm roll. Another thing to consider when shooting is to try to hold the camera level and against your body to stabilize it to make sure the resulting photos are straight.
I mostly shot some of the old buildings around town, my favorite subjects when walking around Hanover. When finished, I needed to place the whole camera in a changing bag and rewind the film into the canister by hand before opening the film canister and placing the film in the tank. I developed the roll with the Unicolor C-41 home kit from Film Photography Project Store, I'm up to 16 rolls developed with it now, I think the results are still satisfactory to me.
Polaroid 3400AF - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks
Week 15 camera - Polaroid 3400AF with 28mm f4.5 lens, purchased at the Community Aid thrift store for $2.50. Film used was expired Easy Clix 200, developed in Unicolor C-41 home kit and scanned with Epson V500 photo. Photos were shot around Hanover and McSherrystown PA.
Kodak Instamatic 500 - 52 Cameres, 52 Weeks
Week 12 - Kodak Instamatic 500, the rolls royce of Instamatic cameras. A metal, solid camera made in Germany, with a button triggered pop out Schneider-Kreuznach f:2.8/38mm lens. A rangefinder camera with bulb to 500 shutter speeds with a built in light meter, though it was suggested to use a light meter for correct exposure. Most Instamatic cameras feature only fixed focus and shutter speeds.
The Instamatic 500 uses 126 cartridge film with is no longer available, but if you have an empty 126 cartridge, you can refill it with the film of your choice. I watched a youtube video on how to refill the cartridge as well as looking at several websites with instructions. I chose to refill my cartridge with Kodak BW400CN, one of my favorite C-41 films, producing great black and white photographs that can be processed wherever C-41 is still done. In this case, in my kitchen with a Unicolor C-41 kit from Film Photography Project. I gathered my supplies for refilling the cartridge, sat down with my film changing bag and patiently followed the steps to get the film into the camera.
The instructions for shooting with the Instamatic 500 were to take a shot then advance two strokes of the film advance lever and a partial one to get the correct spacing of the frames. After developing the film, I think maybe I should have done just two strokes as there were large gaps between the frames. I think that you could get away with just taking a photo with each stroke as I accidentally shot two frames that way and they came out fine. One cool feature of the cartridge on the negatives is that there are sprockets on the top edge of the negatives. One video I saw, showed the bottom plastic removed from the film frame to produce sprockets on the bottom as well.
Even though a light meter was suggested, I shot sunny 16 and most of the photos came out properly exposed. For the most part, the photos turned out the way I had framed them in the viewfinder. Focusing is measured in feet on the front of the lens with zone focusing on the bottom of the lens as well. I was on vacation this week, so I was able to take a walk around Hanover on a sunny, warm Wednesday to complete the roll of film. The negatives were scanned on Epson V500 Photo and levels adjusted in Photoshop.