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.

Camera and Film Prize

A couple of weeks ago, Brenda and I attended the 8mm movie screening of "The Basement" at Midtown Cinema in Harrisburg, PA sponsored by Film Photography Project. The Film Photography Project is my favorite podcast to listen to while commuting to my job in Baltimore. I listen to several other film photography and camera related podcasts, but this is the one that brought my love of collecting old box cameras and shooting and developing my own film together. I have been collecting old cameras, mostly Kodak Brownie type box cameras, since I purchased my first antique camera and a box of junk for $2.00 at a fire department auction back in 1989. The mirror was broken in the Spartus Full-Vue faux TLR film camera, but I took it apart and had a small mirror cut to replace the old one. My then mother-in-law bought me a roll of film to try it out and then I put the camera on the shelf and started my collection of vintage cameras. Several years ago I was intrigued when I saw a video on using Fuji peel-apart film in old Polaroid Pack cameras. I was amazed that film was still being made for these cameras and then I remembered that I had a Polaroid One Step in my studio closet. A search for Polaroid cameras on Youtube turned up a whole slew of videos by Film Photography Project and I proceeded to watch every one of them. Seeing that film was still being made for most of the cameras in my collection, I started a quest to shoot a roll of film in each one of my working cameras, now numbering over 100. So after finding the Film Photography Podcast several years ago on Itunes and listening to the entire back catalog and also keeping up with the current episodes, I was excited that I could meet the hosts from the show at the movie screening in Harrisburg. "The Basement" was a fun movie to watch and Brenda won an awesome Nikon N50 SLR with a Sigma 28-200mm zoom lens and I scored some free film (you might say that I won the camera, as Brenda has since given it to me). The next day I took the Nikon around town loaded with a roll of Svema 125 color film from the prize pack, then developed the film later that evening. I used the auto settings on the camera and plan to give it another test this weekend down in Washington, D.C. when we go to visit my son. A few samples from the Svema roll are shown here.

Evening Walk on the Hanover Trolley Trail

Earlier this week, Brenda and I took and evening walk on the Hanover Trolley Trail in Spring Grove, PA. This recreational biking/walking trail that goes from Hanover, PA to York, PA is in progress and two sections have been completed. The trail follows an abandoned trolley trail that originally connected Hanover and York. This section is approximately a mile and a half long and passes beneath a railroad bridge. Future plans call for the entire distance between Hanover and the Heritage Rail Trail in York to connect. I took the Nikon FG-20 SLR camera that I bought at the Rinely Yard sale last month with a newly acquired Nikon Series E 50mm 1.8 lens. I shot with Kodak BW400CN black and white film, one of my favorites, which has been discontinued. I still have a few rolls tucked away in the fridge. The next morning I developed the roll in a Unicolor C-41 kit purchased from the Film Photography Project store and the photos above are the result. I liked this film because I could get it processed for a couple of dollars at the local CVS, which I would scan myself and get some nice quality black and white images. I was very disappointed when the local CVS stopped processing film in the store and I don't think I've been back since. I've resorted to processing my own film now, which can be done anytime I have a few minutes, including 3:30 in the morning when our beagle wakes me up for breakfast.