I was doing a screen share with a colleague in Germany when Tom told me I should wrap up my call. The confusion caused by the unusual request was only heightened when Tom said, “we’re getting a TV set up, you should see this.” On a small staticky screen we watched large passenger planes crash into a New York City sky scrapper. The clips of the tragedy were on loop, on every station. It took a short eternity to realize that this was not an accident. More planes had crashed, and the incidents were related. Once I understood what had happened, I was certain that my National Guard unit was going to be activated and deployed.
The situation presented more than one paradox; I was concerned by the one that I knew would change the trajectory of my life. There was no nation to mobilize against, yet the nation was mobilizing. Though I did not think it was entirely rational, I understood the need. I knew that I would need to collect up my military gear.
Perhaps surprisingly, combat vehicle crew equipment is mostly harmless. That was certainly true of the equipment which we were allowed to keep at home. The CVC uniform helmet with its padded ear cups and boom microphone was a curiosity that young boys such as mine could not resist. I might have to pull it out of a toy box, wipe of the remnants of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and prepare it to remove any innocence that may have had left.
The film was shot at ISO 80, as per my rules of thumbs for shooting expired film.
I did not expect much from a 40 year old roll of color film, so I was thrilled by these results. The color is a bit off, but that is to be expected from wildly expired film. And, if you look closely, in the dark areas of the photos you can see printing from the paper backing. The film was developed in FPP C41 / ECN-2.
The film was shot at ISO 16, as per my rules of thumbs for shooting expired film.
A few years ago when I started shooting film I decided to digitize the negatives using a light box and an old 2011 Canon EOS Rebel T3i. This digitizing process worked great for 35mm and was decent for 120. But, once I began shooting a 4x5 view camera, I needed a different way to digitize the larger negatives. I found an old Epson Perfection V700 for a reasonable price and was ready to begin scanning negatives.
Scanned negatives still need to be inverted and color corrected. I assumed that since the V700 was designed with negative scanning it mind the stock scanning software would be more than adequate. I quickly found my assumption to be incorrect. Not only were the drivers lacking functionality, the color conversions were wildly off. This sent me on a journey to find the least costly way to scan my film negatives with a decent amount of quality.
I did not set out to compare the functionality or design of the various scanning softwares. My main concern was whether or not they could simply invert a color film negative properly. If they could not convert colors correctly then a nice interface would matter little. Fortunately, none of them have nice user interfaces, they are all horrendous in their own way.
Modern cameras have evolved towards a uniform set of ergonomics. If you are looking for a new, high-end, mass-market camera, there’s a good chance the one you get will be covered in black plastic, have a hand grip on the right side, and place the majority of controls within the reach of your right thumb and forefinger. And there is nothing wrong with this uniformity, these cameras are like this because the layout works. Vintage film cameras, on the other hand, are what evolved into this form, so they come in a larger variety of shapes, sizes, and layouts. The layout of film cameras is also influenced by the type of film and the functionality that was available when the camera was produced. Film cameras simply have more diversity with regards to form and function.
Since I dropped back into the world of film photography and my eyes were opened to the number of choices available, I have been searching for the kit that works for me. I tried a lot of cameras. After an obligatory TLR phase, I briefly thought that mid-century rangefinders would be the camera for me. I eventually realized that I was looking for two different cameras. When I go out with the intention to take photos, I like a medium format camera with a large aperture manual focus lens. When I just go out, I like a small, capable point-and-shoot; I’m looking for an alternative to the fine-in-their-own-right iPhone cameras.
As time moves forward preferences change and get refined. This is how my camera choices have evolved over the past year.
This roll of Fuji Super HQ 200 is probably the best roll of expired film I have ever shot. I really love how the photos turned out. The grain is amazing and the colors have a contrasty, vintage look that is not skewed too far towards one color. The 2000 Canon EOS ELAN 7e (and the FPP C-41) paired nicely with the Super HQ 200.
The film was shot at ISO 80, as per my rules of thumbs for shooting expired film.
Just twelve photos taken with the Hasselblad 503cx on Kodak Vericolor III which expired in 1990. The images were metered according to the rules of thumbs for shooting expired film.
A few photos taken with the Hasselblad 503cx on Kodak Ektar which expired in 1991. The photos are not great, but the film turned out better than I imagined it would. The images were mostly shot metering for ISO 8, or +1⅔ stops of exposure compensation from box speed. This was done according to the rules of thumbs for shooting expired film.
Christopher
