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Lomo'Instant
Week 45 - Lomo'Instant Camera received as a Kickstarter reward two years ago. I decided to use the Lomo'instant this week in anticipation of receiving another Lomography Kickstarter camera in a few weeks, the Lomo'Instant Automat. I thought I could compare the new camera with this older model.
Last Saturday was a beautiful Autumn Saturday and I was eager to get out and shoot some instant film. I loaded my Lomo'Instant with expired Polaroid 300 film and headed over to Lake Marburg at Codorus State Park. The trees were in full fall color and the temperature was just slightly cool.
I want to really love the Lomo'Instant and when the photos come out right, I really love them. The results from the camera are quite unpredictable, but then maybe I need to use this camera a lot more to really get the settings down. Today, the photos were coming out really well. I find the best results with the camera are when shooting in sunny weather using the minus 1 or minus 2 exposure adjustment. There's so many things that can be done with this camera with the different settings that it has. There's two focusing distances - 0.4m to 0.9m and 1.0m to infinity. It has a bulb setting, unlimited multiple exposure capability, selfie mirror, exposure compensation, flash and the ability to turn off the flash, color flash gels, a wide angle 27mm 1:8 lens with attachable portrait, fisheye, and close-up lenses. There is also a tripod mount and threaded socket for a cable release for long exposures. I just haven't been able to fully explore all the different creative possibilities available with this camera. If only I had more hours in the day for film shooting (and of course an endless supply of instant film!)
Today, I was mainly focusing on capturing the fall color in the changing leaves of the trees at the park. I was looking for good framing and the right exposure. I tried a couple of multiple exposures and a selfie as well. Later in the evening, I took a portrait of Brenda with the attachable portrait lens using the automatic flash setting. I also grabbed two flash photos of our cats, but they were both overexposed, possibly because of their very light fur color. Brenda's flash photo came out fine, but the same settings with our cats, not so well. That's what I mean about this camera - I think that I've got it figured out, but then something throws it off.
Overall though, I am pleased with the way the photos came out, most of which have a little vignetting in the corners, an effect that I like with the Lomo'Instant photos. I'm really looking forward to the new Lomo'Instant Automat, hopeful that it will be much improved over the original Lomo'Instant. I'm also eagerly awaiting my order of Fuji Instax Mini Monochrome film from B&H Photo. I ordered a few packs with the intention of using it with the new Lomo'Instant Automat.
Polaroid 420 - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks
Week 35 - Polaroid 420 Automatic Land Camera received from my nephew in a junk box of cameras. I tested the camera with a 3 volt battery with some juice left in it and loaded it with my last pack of Fuji FP-100c peel-apart film.
Our family is going through a difficult time right now - my mother is terminally ill with breast cancer and recently went on hospice home care. On Sunday morning, Brenda and I took a little break and drove to Cylburn Arboretum in Baltimore to spend an hour or so walking the grounds and gardens of this beautiful and peaceful city park. The Cylburn mansion was completed in 1868, with a Carriage House, which currently contains a nature museum. I shot the entire pack of instant film while we walked around the park, thinking that it would be nice to come here and sketch sometime. After leaving there, we drove back to Hanover and had a picnic lunch at Codorus State Park, near our home.
Most of the photos from the pack came out with accurate focusing, using the rangefinder on the camera. I thought the photos turned out nicely and am pleased that those will be my last Fuji FP-100c photos. Well, I may at some point purchase additional Fuji pack camera film, but for the foreseeable future, I will be shooting with Fuji instax mini and wide films. I also occasionally purchase impossible project films when there is a sale on expired packs and factory seconds.
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.
Polaroid Spirit 600 - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks
Week 7 - Polaroid Spirit 600 Camera with expired Impossible Project Color Block Film. Another Polaroid camera that I've had in my collection but never used, I believe my wife's sister found it in her closet and gave it to me when she saw how much I liked collecting cameras. I wasn't sure that it worked, but I tested it with an empty Impossible Project film cartridge and the camera whirred into action. I had bought the expired Color Block film from ebay sometime in the past year, so I wasn't sure that was going to work at all either.
The Polaroid Spirit 600 camera has a built in flash, which was one of the reasons I chose it for this week, as I was planning to shoot indoors. It has a plastic fixed focus lens with a minimum focusing distance of about 4 feet. There is also an exposure compensation slider on the front. There were many variations on this same basic camera made in the 1980's and 1990's like the Polaroid Sun, Polaroid SuperColor, Polaroid Camel, etc.
It was really cold outside over the weekend and I wasn't about to go out around town and try to get photos with an instant film camera. I shot a few photos around the house of ordinary things, though the unicycle is a bit unique. My son has built and rebuilt that unicycle over the years, he doesn't ride it as much as he used to but it still commands a space in our dining room for when he feels like trying a few tricks in the alley beside our house. We went grocery shopping in the beginning of the week when it warmed up a little and I stashed the camera in my bag with the intention of grabbing a few shots around the grocery store. The cashier asked why I was taking a photo of the flower display near the register and I explained that I was working on a photography project. She asked what class I was taking and I explained further that I collected cameras and I was posting my photos to my website on a weekly basis. I guess it's not everyday a customer comes in the store with a Polaroid camera shooting photos of the canned food display.