Robs film cameras

In a sudden change around and some re-kindled interest in film photography I have dug out the old film camera equipment but also bought some Olympus OM equipment with a view to getting back into using film and even doing my own processing and printing.

Digital meets film, left to right Olympus E-3 digital, Canon EOS5 and EOS300 both for film.

And below Fuji X100T and Olympus OM-1n! (Amazed at the size comparison Fuji rangefinder to Olympus SLR!!)

Zorki 4 with Jupiter 8 50mm f2 lens

I'd been looking at these for a while and a visit to Plymouth in June 2021 'obviously' meant a quick visit to Soperfect Images camera shop in their new home in Ebrington Street (I worked just around the corner at one stage years ago). The Zorki was a USSR 'copy' of the Leica film camera with no meter but a split image rangefinder. At time of writing I have yet to see the results but it is certainly an interesting experience and slows you down as a photographer to really think about what you are doing and what you are photographing!

Olympus OM-1n

This started the resurgence in interest in good old 35mm photography. I had picked up one or two OM Zuiko lenses for pocket money prices in a car boot sale for use with my 4/3 digital a few years ago then during April 2017 I spotted the silver OM-1n at the local camera shop/repairer in Jersey with 50mm f1.8 lens for £50, it included new light seals and a film so why not?! The 'ever-ready case' was in very poor condition but had preserved the camera in beautiful and almost 'as new' condition so I've resurrected the lower section, re-covered it and use it as a half case. Then my mate Kevin spotted an advert on LeBonCoin for a secondhand film camera here in Huelgoat and it turned out to be a very nice 'pro-black' OM-1n with winder 2 and assorted lenses all in an aluminium case for the princely sum of 75 euros, J bought it for my birthday so as of Feb. 2019 another nice toy to play with!!

Olympus OM-1n (c.1979) one in chrome and one in 'pro-black'

50mm f1.8 OM Zuiko lens (three!)

28mm f2.8 OM Zuiko lens

100mm f2.8 OM Zuiko lens

135mm F3.5 OM Zuiko lens

200mm F4 OM Zuiko lens

T20 flashgun and Power Bounce Grip 2

T32 flashgun

Olympus OM Winder 2

Canon AE-1

My original AE-1 from 1981, looking forward to using it again after so many years!

CanonA-1

I spotted this 'semi-pro' camera from the 70's in a charity shop in Launceston, Cornwall. £50 for the camera body with Power Winder A and a couple of (film) photography books. It needs servicing and new light seals (both of which I can do myself, thank goodness for mechanical cameras!) and I am really looking forward to trying out this superb piece of photographic history.

Canon T90

My old Canon T90 from 1992. Due to lack of use having seen no activity for about 10 years the shutter occasionally misfires and gives the message 'EEE HELP' but I have found a fix online for this (the shutter was after all replaced in about 1994 so it shouldn't have actually warn out from usage). Problem solved though I hope; switching to 'Lo continuous' drive and fired a few frames, then 'Hi continuous', then back to single and ran a test film through a few times and no more misfires!!! The data back indicated that about 1450 frames have been taken since fitting the databack and that would have been in about 2004!!

Canon EOS 5 (A2E)

October 2017 on holiday in Dorset with Mum and Dad and spotted this at Wessex Photographic in Blandford Forum for the princely sum of £50 with a 28-90mm zoom lens. I mostly use this with the 'plastic fantastic' EF 50mm f1.8 mk2 which suits it rather well I think and certainly provides good results though I recently obtained an original generation metal mount Canon EF 35-70mm at a car boot sale for £3!

Canon EOS 1000N

Several years ago this EOS-1000n was at a car boot sale in Jersey with its 35-80 and an 80-200mm zoom lens and a Canon camera bag which I still regularly use. It cost me less than £15 as I recall for the whole lot and whilst I've not used it the lenses have been and the camera works so will definitely get tried out properly soon.

Canon EOS 300

My good friend Kevin had this kicking around unused for many years and gifted it to me complete with the 28-90 lens and a Sigma 80-200mm zoom. It still had the film in it which I used up and printed and gave him the set of photos which were of his son and daughter when still young and his dog (long since departed) so rather an emotional moment. Good little camera though and looking forward to trying it out.

Olympus IS-3000

This was one of the new generation of 'bridge cameras' in the late 1980's/early 1990's, initially with the smaller and slower IS-1000, the faster and more capable IS-2000 and ultimately the top of the range IS-3000 with 35-180mm zoom lens and various other features I won't go into now! Well I was tempted at the time but they were expensive and I opted to get my Canon T-90 as I already had a number of Canon FD interchangeable lenses. But these are just not popular or sought after any more and as such cheap, (I saw a IS-1000 at a 'Troc Puces' in Brittany for €10 at one point!) but this looked a good deal, good condition with accessories including the dedicated flash (though I'm admittedly not a flashgun fan and the IS has a built in 'pop-up' flash) but at just a whisker over £30 for the lot who's complaining!! Initial results were good (black and white) being sharp and well exposed so all good news, also fits a treat in my spare leather Olympus E-System camera bag.

Fujica STX-1

I'd hankered after one of these as a teenager...., in fact I made Dad's life an absolute misery for a while I think! I 'almost' bought an STX-1 a few years ago visiting my daughter in Bournemouth but I hadn't moved back into film then. Well this one came with five rolls of unexposed but out of date Kentmere 400 so the camera was as near as makes no odds free!! The leather 'ever-ready' case was also obtained for about £3 off the bay (£20+ when new in the 70's!) and I had to replace the lightseals (courtesy of Nik & Trik) on line and its all working nicely. I managed to get a Tamron Adaptall 2 adapter so also have access to a number of zoom lenses for it now too.

Nikon F4

I was always a Canon man and latterly Olympus though had flirted with Nikon on odd occasions, the 'one that got away' was a Nikon FM with 50mm lens at a 'Troc Puce' in Brittany for about €60 but that was before my return to film photography (kicking myself still about that one!). Briefly looking at 'proper' film cameras like a Rolleiflex (I just know I wouldn't do it justice) instead I liked the look of this, not cheap but oh my what a camera!! I particularly like its well thought out design but also the good old-fashioned knobs and buttons for control whilst also having modern matrix and spot metering AND it can accept any Nikon lens going back to the late 1950's I understand! Initially used with a Nikkor AF 50mm f1.8 lens and a host of Tamron Adaptall 2 lenses and its good fun though weighs in pretty heavy (similar to my EOS-1Ds mk2). More will follow as this is certainly some piece of work!

Funny how the Nikon F4 felt chunky and heavy until I got the EOS-1DS mk2 and 'L' glass out again, taken out by the lake on a 'golden hour' walk!

(Nikon F4 with the excellent Tamron Adaptall 35-80mm f2.8 '01A' and the Canon 1Ds with the EF 28-80 F2.8-4L).

Durst M370BW

Having been 'bitten by the bug' again after so much time it was essential to start thinking darkroom! My old darkroom equipment was probably last used in the early to mid 1980's and had lived ever since in Mum and Dads attic. Until about 2012 when the decision was finally made to get rid, no interest from adverts and the whole lot was eventually given 'free to collector' to a student who lived near them. I hope he found it all useful and just maybe its still in use!! Well looking at the adverts in Brittany and via the excellent Ebay alternative here in France LeBonCoin I found this set up advertised for €100 (a bit like music on vinyl, film photography is making a come back!). Durst was a superb make and this is a mid range black and white only enlarger but with all the extras necessary to get started again. Quite a few additional bits and bobs have been found at car boot sales and the like for pocket money prices so all that remains now is to actually build a darkroom!

Found these photos on the computer!! From February 2012 which was when the decision was made to get rid of the old gear after probably 30 years of little or no use. 6 years later (2018) and I'm stocking up with a new darkroom!! Ah well at least most of the equipment is actually an upgrade!

Not only but also....!

It may sound like it defeats the object but I have also now obtained a really good film scanner, a Plustek OpticFilm 8100. Some time back Dad had similar, an earlier generation 7200 and scanned all of his slides as well as my colour slides. This left a significant amount of black and white as well as colour negatives to tackle though. At the time (2015?) he offered me the Plustek but it simply at the time could not be persuaded to work on either the iMac or the PC (on Windows 7) so he had it back and sold it on eBay. 2019 and 'Vuescan' software will now resurrect most old film and flatbed scanners for newer PC's and iMac's but a bit late for that one! In the interim they bought me an 'all in one' film scanner as a birthday present but results were frankly awful. So it is I am now the proud owner of a new Plustek with the associated current 'Silverfast' software which 'smartly' fixes and removes dirt, spots and marks from the scanned negatives and its time to get to work with the scanning on films old and new!