So hard to choose the best ones from the worst.
From left to right camera & film:
Kodak Pocket Instamatic 200 & Fujicolor Super HR 100 (expired 1990)
Fujica Flash S & Fujifilm Superia 200 (most likely expired)
Closter C63 & Washi X 100
A flea market find. Like most of my cameras. I bought it because it was cheap not knowing if there's any film sold for it anymore and because it seemed to work.
And what do you know, there is still film made for it and I actually bought one 110 cartridge for it last year but never got around to using it. That film is still in my fridge waiting for another 110 film camera, hopefully a better one than this, because I made a find.
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13 expired 110 films and one 135mm dia film, also expired some 20 to 30 years ago. It was a find from an antiques and old household appliances seller couple of moths ago. He wanted to have 40 euros for all those 14 films but I managed to buy all of it with 20€. I really didn't want to spend too much money on film that may or may not still work because it wasn't stored in a freezer or even a fridge but in an old house that's hot in summer and cold in the winter. I've heard that color film and especially dia film loose their sensitivity quicker and easier than black and white and there also can be variations within the film.
I had to explain that to the dealer to get the price lower. And now I have lots of 110 film but only one working 110 film camera. The other one of my finds, a pocket camera too, just didn't feel like it. I got one photo and after that rewinding to the next frame was just too much for it.
Anyway, this one required only a bit of cleaning and I used the cloudy choice for every picture. Even in the bright sunlight. Just to make sure.
As usual I've done nothing to the photos. Few of them might be better if post-processed but as I want to show you what kind of results does this camera and this film give in different conditions, I've left them as they are and I'll show you the photos with all of mine and the cameras flaws in the pictures.
Oooo! I see green!
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Something went wrong with the film at one point and the few last frames were on the wrong place.
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| Kodak Pocket Instamatic 200 | Closter C63 |
I sure like to do comparison photos so here's three. The cameras are all in quite different leagues but who cares! Photographing with crappy, old cameras is just as fun as playing with the latest and the greatest new toys. (Not that I have ever had any bran new camera but you know what I mean.)
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| Kodak Pocket Instamatic 200 | Closter C63 | Sony A6400 |
It seems that my digital camera makes things loooooooooonger.
Lets move on to the next crappy camera.
This one had a film inside it! And of course I rewound it so that I can shoot it again. I had no idea if the film was expired or not (probably was), how old it was or how long it had been in the camera. But I sure wasn't going to waste a film and it's potentially weird double exposure possibilities.
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The rewind lever was broken and it took me a while to make it turn and to get the back lid open, so I had high hopes that perhaps no-one had opened it in the flea market I bought it from.
The camera had two iso options. 100 or 400. And someone had bought 200 ISO film and put that in. It was set to the 100 ISO so I just continued with that and hoped for the best.
I've photographed old films before that have been in the camera I've found and never ever have I had any results that would show anything that someone else would have photographed before me.
Until now...
As usual I've done nothing to the photos. Few of them might be better if post-processed but as I want to show you what kind of results does this camera and this film give in different conditions, I've left them as they are and I'll show you the photos with all of mine and the cameras flaws in the pictures.
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Yes! Green is the new green.
The image is okay in perfectly bright conditions and when there are no reflections in any surfaces and the light comes from just the right direction.
You can't take double exposure photos with this camera (unless you rewind the film and start it again) so all the double exposures are made by me and the previous owner of this camera.
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I've photographed trees, not the amaryllis on the table or the toy dog (?) on the green couch. Nice!
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I photographed traffic signs, not tombstones. Spooky!
I did some searching and found a tiny bit of information about Johan Seelim Lahti. First of all my hunch is that this camera is from a deceased person's estate. So who ever took the tombstone photo might not live anymore.
The internet says that Johan Seelim Lahti either was born or died in Ruovesi (Tampere, Finland) so if there's a cemetery in Ruovesi and you're near it, would you be ever so kind to go and check if this tombstone is there and if there is a fourth person underneath the name Hannu Olavi? Or perhaps it's the Behse family someone has photographed.
My brain cells need this information. Thanks!
P.S.
And I'm sorry I ruined the tombstone photos with my traffic sign and tree branch shots. Where ever you might be, the previous owner of this camera.
Moving on.
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Election day and a wintery photo.
The previous owner had only taken few photos or max half of the film so the rest of the film is just my picks.
Here come the comparison photos!
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| Fujica Flash S | Mamiya M 645 |
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| Fujica Flash S | Samsung Galaxy Note 8 |
I know what you're thinking. You would have had a really hard time to see which one of the photos is taken with the crappy cam and crappy film if I hadn't written the right answers beneath the photos.
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| Fujica Flash S | Closter C63 | Sony A6400 |
"And I'll see your true cooooooolor shiiiiiiii-iiining through!"
And last but not least, the third camera: Closter C3.
I've actually photographed with this camera before but as it had some focus ring issues, I fixed it (or tried at least) and used it again. This time with color film.
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The focus ring had only one screw and the only one that it had was too long and it scratched the inside so that there was this metal dust or grain everywhere. I changed the long screw and added two more.
Here's the Closter photos.
As usual I've done nothing to the photos. Few of them might be better if post-processed but as I want to show you what kind of results does this camera and this film give in different conditions, I've left them as they are and I'll show you the photos with all of mine and the cameras flaws in the pictures.
I love the Washi green. So delicious. And actually I love the Washi yellow too. And Washi blue. And Washi red. And all the other Washi color variations the Washi X film has. But I guess the colors would be different, more true colors, as most people see colors if the film was developed through E-6 process and not C-41. I'm not sure but I suspect that the E-6 process would cost more and I have to think carefully which camera is worth spending more money. Closter C63 perhaps isn't.
I made few kaleidoscopish mandalas from this photo. Check it out from my Instagram post.
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Slightly blurry, overexposed as the shutter probably is slower than what it used to be but still the best camera of the three I've selected to this post.
I fixed the focus ring (by adding three better screws and not screwing them too tight) and spent quite a long time double checking if I understood correctly when the focus is supposed to be sharp on which distance. The bench on the front. Some part of it in the middle is supposed to be sharp and that's the best this camera has.
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A tractor spotted in a small village called Viiala near Tampere. And a piggy ride!
Middle toned or slightly darkish orange chairs in front of dark turquoise wall. Closer to the real color tone photo here. The chairs are from my classroom. If you've missed it, I'm studying fine arts in open university. Anyway, this photo is taken so that the camera was on the table, I checked the shutter time from light measuring app and just counted the seconds in my head holding the shutter open. I can't remember was it 1, 2 or perhaps 3 seconds. Obviously too long but this over exposed photo has a certain eery or weird feel to it. And it's easily corrected in Photoshop if I felt the need to do that.
But hey, it's time for the final comparison photos and what better subject than the tram in Tampere. These are not taken on the same day or even in the same conditions but again, who cares. It's a tram! And old crappy cameras!
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| Kodak Pocket Instamatic 200 | Fujica Flash S | Closter C63 |
See my excellent photographing skills and the absolute fidelity of the cameras and the films!
What did all this cost me?
Kodak Pocket Instamatic 200: 2,90€
Fujicolor Super HR 100: 20/14 ~ 1,43€
Film developing: 12,90€
Film scanning to TIFF: 20€
Fujica Flash S: 1,50€
Fujifilm Superia 200: 0€ (included in the camera price)
Film developing: 9,90€
Film scanning to TIFF: 10€
Closter C63: €
Washi X 100: 13,50€
Film developing: 9,90€
Film scanning to TIFF: 10€
Too much I say but who cares. I'm thinking I could just redirect my salary straight to the place I buy and develop my film. Or ask them if they need someone to do all that work that does not require any knowledge of cameras, photography or selling stuff.
Closter C63
| Film cameras Baby Brownie 1 Balda-Bünde Baldixette 1 Bilora Bella 66 1 Bilora Bella 66 Standard 1 Certo-Phot 1 Closter C63 1 Coronet D-20 1, 2, 3, 4 Cosina Flash 35E 1, 2, 3, 4 Dacora Daci 1 Fed 3 1 Felica 1, 2, 3, 4 Halina Paulette EE II 1 Mamiya M 645 1 Kodak Box 620 1, 2 Kodak Brownie Six-20 Model C 1 Lubitel 2 1 Voigtländer Bessa 66 1 Yashica 44 LM 1 ZIAG Colora F 1, 2 ____________________________________________________________ Digital cameras Sony A6400, 16-50mm 1Sony 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 | Films (color) CineStill 50D 1 Fujifilm 200 1 Kodak Gold 200 color 1, 2, 3 ____________________________________________________________ Films (b&w) Adox CMS 20 II Pro 1 Adox HR-50 1 Adox CHS 100 II 1 Fomapan 100 1 Fomapan 200 1 Fomapan 400 1, 2 Gevaert Gevapan 1, 2, 3, 4 Ilford PanF Plus 50 1 Ilford Delta 100 1 Ilford Delta 400 1 Ilford XP2 Super 400 1 Ilford Delta 3200 1 Lomography Fantôme 8 1 Rera Pan 400 1 Retropan soft 320 1 Rollei Retro 400S 1 Rollei RPX 400 1 Washi A 12 1 Washi Z 400 1 |
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I am always fascinated by these “old photographs” of contemporary things. We see the past through the old photographs; and by taking photographs using old cameras we actually see ourselves in these old style photographs. Maybe it is just me but it is really interesting! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for your comment! I know what you mean. Everything just appears so different, sometimes much more interesting when photographed with an actually old camera than with a technically magnificent digicamera. That's the phase I'm in now and I hope I still have that same feeling towards old cameras after few decades have past.
I am sure you will have. It is really a fascinating journey you are on! I have tried to work with film, but I could not get into it. But I use a film camera lens on my DSLR, which is really strange but it takes some of the most clear and amazing photographs. I heard from a fellow photographer that these old "glass" is much sought after.
That is weird. But of course great that you've found a good lens. I thought that tech and the things related to it is supposed to be better and better but I guess it's not. Perhaps we, the people who build things, have forgot the good old ways to make quality stuff.
Maybe. That is an interesting thought. Not everything is good though, but the things that were built to last were great. Because this old lens you can feel is made to last. It has no plastic and a very smooth focusing ring. Most of the photographs on my blog are taken with it. And on a different topic but still about this strange lens, I do not think I would have gotten where I am now with photography if I did not stumble upon that lens. Life is weird sometimes.
Plastic on things that should be made of metal or wood or something else that lasts better and also planned ageing is the nuisance of our time. I'm fascinated of old cameras that may be the same size as modern day cameras but weigh much more because then you know the camera is built to last. I wish things would soon go back to what it was, that things are made to be fixed if they break, not just thrown away after just couple of years use.
Exactly. You can literally feel it was made to last. I have a 2007 (I think) Nikon D300 and the body was made from some or other durable plastic (albeit not something more rigid) but comparing it with the modern ones (I think I have my granddad’s D7500 or something like that) and it is basically plastic. I know you cannot compare the two really, but you can really just feel the difference. But I hope with you that we go back to the days in which things were made to last.
Nice! Three cameras in one post! You're really forcing the rest of us to step up our game.
I really like the idea of rewinding a 35mm film to double expose it. I have four shitty cameras with film in them that I might need to do that with.
I'm intrigued of the thought that I can make double exposures with a stranger, perhaps with a person who's long gone. That actually is quite a spooky thought but still I want to try. Again I've found a camera, Bilora Bella 66 that had a 120 film in it, a full roll and I decided to rewind it and try what kind of artsy double exposure photos it might give me. Can't wait to see the photos.
I'm hoping my film camera posts will force other people to post more about film cameras so that I'm not the only one posting to analog community. And of course so that I can read about all the interesting and weird cameras people have!
Cameras, like cars, used to look like something decades and a century ago. Nowadays both are just all the same, smooth and dull.
Your level lowered and you are now a Minnow!
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