My "World Toy Camera Day" camera choice for this year was my green HolgaGlo 120N loaded with expired Kodak Portra 160NC. I took the camera along for a visit to my mother-in-law's house just outside of Elizabethtown, PA. Most of the photos were shot on the drive from Harrisburg through Steelton, PA. My favorite shots are of the turnpike underpass and the abandoned Getty gas station.
The roll was developed with Film Photography Project C-41 Kit and scanned with Epson V500 Photo.
Week 38 - Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta 531A received as a gift from my sister-in-law. She gave it to me stating that her father had given it to her years ago, but she knew that I would get more joy out of owning it than she would. It's a very nice piece to add to my collection, but I was more excited that it was still in working condition and that I could put a few rolls through it. I've had the camera for several years and this week is not the first time that I have used it, but it really is a nice little camera so I took it off the shelf.
I loaded the Super Ikonta 531A with expired Kodak Portra 160NC (I know I said I wasn't going to use any more expired film for this project, but this batch of film has been tested). The camera has a Compur Rapid shutter with speeds of 1 to 500, a Carl Zeiss Tessar Jena f3.5 lens. The shutter release has a lock which will not allow a double exposure. There are 16 6x4.5mm frames on a roll of 120 size film. The shutter must be cocked before pressing the button and sometimes I forget to do that, thinking the camera is jammed. As best as I can determine from my web search, it is a prewar model made in the late 1930's.
My mother is under home hospice care, so I have been spending a lot time at her house, but this past weekend Brenda and I had a break for the day. It was a beautiful fall-feeling morning as we drove out to Gettsyburg and went on some of our favorite parts of the auto tour. I had to catch up on my camera project so I was shooting with this camera and the following week's camera, a Rollei Prego 90. Look for those photos later this week. I tried to capture some interesting landscape photos with a few cannons thrown in and of course, a couple of photos of the always lovely, Brenda. We happened upon a cannon firing demonstration by Confederate Reenactors and I was able to snap a photo of a Union Reenacting couple.
The roll was developed at home with the FPP C-41 Home Kit and scanned on Epson V500 Photo.
Week 33 - Olympus OM10 purchased from someone on Craigslist for $10. It came with a 70-205mm Vivitar Zoom lens, but I purchased a 50mm Olympus Zuiko f1.8 lens for it from ebay for $20 with free shipping. The camera came with 36 rolls of exposed color film that I plan to develop in the coming weeks (it could even take months). I'm not sure if the photos will turn out as the camera and film were in a storage shed for years.
The film for this week was expired Kodak Portra 160NC and the photos were shot around Baltimore, MD and Codorus State Park, Hanover, PA. My favorite photos are the sunrise over Lake Marburg and the field landscape with big puffy clouds.
I mixed a new batch of C-41 Chemicals for this roll, scanned with Epson V500 Photo and Spot Dusted and adjusted for levels in Photoshop. Adjusting for levels is simply scanning the film on automatic, opening the file in Photoshop and selecting the lightest and darkest points in the levels dialog box. This brings the colors into range with the least amount of manipulation of the file.
I had been looking forward to this year's Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day on April 24 for several months and had made plans with a friend to go to Patapsco State Park in Maryland. But as the day approached, I came down with a cold and was not feeling up to a daylong excursion carrying my pinhole gear. So, I made the best of it, and made it out to the front yard to photograph our blooming Dogwood tree. The featured blog photo here is my entry in the WPPD online gallery this year.
Camera - Holga WPC Wide Pinhole Camera. Film - expired Kodak Portra 160NC. Developed with Unicolor C-41 home kit. Scanned with Epson V500 Photo.
Week 17 Camera - Kodak Brownie Flash 20 purchased at one of the local antique malls in Hanover. This week's post is a little late as I didn't finish shooting with this camera until yesterday. I was not feeling well last weekend, then it rained for a few days, but I managed to get this week's roll finished.
The film I used was from my batch of expired Kodak Portra 160NC given to me by a friend who found it in an old unused darkroom. The first photo on this roll was of course, one of our house, a frequent subject when trying out a newly acquired camera. I was not up to going out last Sunday though it was gorgeous out (and also Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day!). When Saturday of this week came I was excited to get back out there and decided to hop in my car and drive to a few spots that I had been wanting to photograph. First stop was our lovely Mt. Olivet Cemetery but seeing that there was a funeral about to take place, I quickly drove away. I then remembered that I hadn't seen my son's Eagle Scout project in a while and thought that would make a nice photo. For his project six years ago, he coordinated the efforts to replace the roof and repair an old historic spring house at the retirement village. It looked really nice with fresh landscaping and blooming shrubs, it made nice photos.
I then drove south of Hanover and darted into the parking lot of a pit beef joint and shot a photo of an enormous painted metal chicken that I've driven past many times, hoping the owner wouldn't come chase me away. Whew! I made it. Further south I turned on a country road to see a church and barn. While taking those photos, I noticed a small prayer garden, lush with greenery and dogwood blooms in the background.
I headed back home for a lunch break, then the sun came out! I drove back to Mt. Olivet cemetery and made a few photos and the roll was finished. Now I can concentrate on this week's camera!
Film was developed with Unicolor C-41 kit and scanned with Epson V500 photo.
A bonus camera for my 52 Cameras project this week - with my birthday cash, I ordered a Holga WPC 120 Camera that I had been wanting to get for a couple of years. I thought I should get one soon as I wasn't sure how long they would still be available at a reasonable price. I bought one from Lomography's online store seeing they still had them in stock at a much lower price than other places where it was still available. I thought I would try another roll of the 2002 expired Kodak Portra 160NC in it and brought it along this past Sunday when we went to Codorus State Park and Glen Rock, PA. The camera is capable of shooting 6x9 or 6x12 photos with two interchangeable masks and has an f/135 pinhole, requiring the use of a tripod and a shutter release cable. I have been very impressed with the ultra wide photos that can be achieved with this camera, with some great examples being found on Flickr. After finally shooting with it myself, I can see that I need to try to come up with more interesting angles and subject matter and get in closer. Next time I will use my old standby, Shanghai GP3 100 Pan film developed in caffenol.
Film developed in Unicolor C-41 Kit purchased from Film Photography Project store and scanned with Epson V500 Photo.
At this year's family Thanksgiving celebration, I received a camera gift from a relative that was quite a surprise. My sister-in-law gave me her uncle's camera that he used in World War II as a reporter, a 1938 Agfa Karat 35mm camera. The camera has an Oppar f4.5 lens with bellows and uses two rapid film cassettes that can shoot just 12 photos. It was stored in a leather 1943 Eastman Kodak camera case and appears to be in working order. The focusing ring seemed to be stuck, so I took out a few screws and and loosened it and put a drop or two of household oil in it and is seems to be turning a little better now. It only had one empty film cassette, so I found a second one on ebay along with a few expired 12 exposure rolls of film to give it a try. I will need to transfer the film to the empty cassette and load it into the camera to feed into the second cassette. Fortunately there's a video on how to load the camera on YouTube. My sister-in-law gifted me with the camera as she knew that I would truly appreciate and care for it and it would probably have wound up in the donation bin at the Salvation Army otherwise. I'm still waiting for the second film cassette, but I should be able to get out and shoot with it on my upcoming vacation. I have several cameras coming my way, hopefully in time for my Christmas vacation. I backed a Kickstarter for the new Ondu pinhole line of cameras, pre-ordered a Lomo'Instant Wide camera from Lomography and ordered a neon green Holga camera from B&H when I heard the Holga factory had shut down last week. And this week, a good friend gifted me with a stash of expired Kodak Portra 160NC from an old dark room, both 120 and 35.
