The best of the worst.
#sprocketholes #sprockets #sprocketshots #sprocketphotography
I am truly amazed that I got any photos after all the challenges I encountered using a 35mm film in a 127 film size camera.
I got this. Yashica 44 LM, wide angle and tele lenses. My second camera that uses 127 size film. Baby Brownie was my first, I have taken photos with it and have developed the film so all that is left is writing about it. But first, this. What a gadget!
Hmph! But I wanna!
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Thingiverse is full of stuff that people have already printed, like for instance if you want to take photos with a 120 film size camera but use the 35mm film, you can just go to Thingiverse and it will provide you adapters which allow you to use what ever film you want. I bet someone has already thought the same with 127 film size camera and made adapters or invented a solution for that and shared it there.
But I wanted to have a backing paper and do things the hard way. Because why not!
So I took two 120 film backing papers, joined them, cut them thinner, calculated how much do I need for a 36 frame 35mm film (about 160 cm), measured the distance for the numbers from an old 127 size backing paper and verified it from the all knowing internet, did my markings, had my doubts about the thickness of the rolled paper and film fitting in to the camera...
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...taped the film...
...and despite my doubts, rolled the film and paper in a dark place a few times again and again.
First it was too loose, then, as I fitted it into the camera (it was a tight fit as I suspected) I broke the spool, rolled the film in to another spool, and then again so that the exposed text was in the end and not in the beginning.
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Some fine lens caps!
After all the swearing and: "Soon I'm going to give up and throw all these out the window" I managed to get the film and the paper to the spool and the spool in to the camera.
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Adox CHS 2, ISO 100.
Again "excellent" lens caps that actually weren't that practical when photographing.
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Thank goodness Thingiverse provided me one. A Yashica 44 lens cap.
I photographed 15 frames and couldn't turn the film winding knob anymore because guess what, the 160 centimeters of film and paper was too thick and it got jammed. So what I did was I opened the camera, took the spools away and rolled the film all the way to the second spool, switched the spool places and started again from the wrong end. The one that says, exposed because I had written 21 numbers so I had 6 more photos to take.
Actually it wasn't that simple since, as I said, the film spool was stuck inside the camera. Quite firmly actually. So lots of swearing, trying to think out of the (camera) box, hair pulling (I think I'll be bald very soon if I continue my film photography obsession) and after giving up something like 8 or 800 times and drinking coffee, I somehow managed to get the film out and start it again. From the wrong end. But I know what I'm doing so I can do that.
My plan was to take photos number 21 to 16, open the camera and roll the film to the spool by hand. Again. And then take it to be developed.
Now you perhaps understand that I did not have that high hopes of the results. I thought that the film surely got exposed when I rolled it again and again or that I at least messed up something else in my calculations so that the photos would be on top of each other and hard to scan when you can't tell where one photo ends and the next one starts.
So I was truly surprised that there were 19 photos. Or exposed frames that had something recognizable in them.
I've done nothing else to the photos than cropped them. Few of them might be better if post-processed more but as I want to show you what kind of results did this whim of mine, this camera and film give, I've left the photos as they are and I'll show you the photos with all of mine and the cameras flaws in the pictures.
Focus is all wrong. The young mother (with the stroller that you can't see) is all soft. I think I used the tele lens for this one. But other than that, I like this photo. Although it's soft.
Taking a hand held horizontal photo with a camera that is not designed for that because normally with a 127 size film, the photos are square so there's no need to turn the camera. But as I had what I had inside the camera, I wanted to take landscape photos too. And boy oh boy was it hard trying to tilt or turn the camera. This is what I managed to do. Almost perfect.
This one was easier because the camera was on a table. This would be sharp if it wasn't for that blurriness in the middle. Obviously. Duh. Sharp if not blurry. My wisdom of the day.
Again, blurry in the middle. There's something weird going on.
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Inside the train, train coming to the train station, rails and scenery from a window.
I know what's going on. I should have rolled the film tighter to the spool. It's quite obvious that the film is looser than the paper so the focus is all wrong. These four were the worst ones.
Almost sharp.
Like an Instagram filter.
And this one? I think there's more issues here than just the loose film. I'm absolutely sure that the focus was on the guy on the right. He. Was. Sharp. He definitely was sharp. But now he isn't. At all. So there are perhaps focusing issues in the camera when the object is close. I definitely need to take photos with this again and use a 127 size film in it.
Fortunately there was this one photo that actually came out good enough. The best of the worst.
What did all this cost me?
Adox CHS 100 II: 5,49€
Film developing: 14,90€
Film scanning to TIFF: 20€
But wait, there's more.
Previous weekend I did some findings.
The first two photos. --> I actually have though of buying these filters few times before from the flea market I go pretty often but have left them be as the prices have been too much (8,90€/piece) because the filter mounts would probably be all wrong for the cameras I already have, and then I would have to start searching for the right cameras for the filters and that would just be a vicious cycle. As if I'm not already in one. Anyway, I got a sweat deal that I couldn't resist and all the lenses and their beautiful boxes came home with me.
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The third photo in the first row is just something I bought because it was so cheap and I thought that I could figure out how to attach these to anything I want. Step-up rings for instance. Or step-down.
It turned out that the close-up set was made for Yashica 44 (and cameras like it) which I have not yet taken photos with since the 35mm film was developed before I got these. So all the more reason for another try with this camera.
Couple of the filters, I think the orange and warm yellow were also perfect for the Yashica 44.
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The color filters perhaps had foam rubber paddings which had turned into dust. I cleaned everything and now the filters are waiting for use in my camera gadget drawer.
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These lenses on the other hand, a tele and a wide angle are for a Sony video camera which I don't have. But that does not stop me from trying them on a still film camera. As I said, there are always conversion rings and what could go wrong and if it did, I at least have to try and see what weird things happen.
What did all this cost me?
Close-up set (Kenko): 3,50€
Filter (green Kenko): 1,50€
Filters (orange, yellow, green, UV haze): 8€
Filter (large yellow): 1,90€
Video camera tele & wide angle lenses: 6€
Let's just say that that really was quite a bargain.
And finally, here are my newest camera family members!
Film cameras
Balda-Bünde Baldixette 1
Bilora Bella 66 1
Closter C63 1
Cosina Flash 35E 1, 2, 3, 4
Dacora Daci 1
Felica 1, 2, 3, 4
Kodak Box 620 1, 2
Kodak Brownie Six-20 Model C 1
Halina Paulette EE II 1
Voigtländer Bessa 66 1
ZIAG Colora F 1, 2
Films (b&w)
Adox CMS 20 II Pro 1, Adox HR-50 1, Fomapan 100 1, Fomapan Retropan soft 320 1, Fomapan 400 1, 2, Ilford PanF Plus 50 1, Ilford Delta 100 1, Ilford Delta 400 1, Ilford Delta 3200 1, Lomography Fantôme 8 1, Rollei Retro 400S 1, Rollei RPX 400 1
Films (color)
Fujifilm 200 1, Kodak Gold 200 color 1, 2, 3
Digital cameras
Sony A6400, 16-50mm 1
Sony A6400, Laowa 25mm f2.8 1
Comparison: Sony A6400, Canon EOS 550D, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P32, Canon PowerShot A550 1, 2