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Photo Jottings

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Film, and Smartphone two-shot stitch comparison

Posted in Blog, Comparisons, Film Negative Tagged with , ,

I took some photos of this home last year, it's kind of a dream home of mine, and I drive by every couple of years and take a snap, but I can't afford to live there, or even buy the place, it was for sale recently at $2.75m, do a google drive-by if you like.  A few years ago I posted the first 'Kodak Moment' picture, and it was of this Earl Young 'Storybook' style home; I also updated the feature image.

Anyhow, when I was there I took a couple of shots with my Nikon 35Ti, and then a Samsung Note 8.  Both are two-shot stitches from almost the same perspective.  Of course...

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Kodak Disc Film, better than you think, or worse?

Posted in Blog, Film Negative Tagged with

Today I have a few Kodak Disc negatives to share.  This small format film (about 1/10 the size of 135 format) has been widely ridiculed since it came out in the early 1980s, and it continues to this day, but is Disc film really that bad, and will it even make a decent small print?

Each Disc negative is 11x8mm, and 110 is 13x17mm, so the 110 format has over 2.5x the area of Disc negatives, that's about like going from 135 format to 6x4.5 medium format.  There are some differences other than size though.  For instance...

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Chinon 358RZ Reflex Zoom (Genesis GS-7) Review

Posted in Blog, Film Cameras Tagged with , ,

The Chinon 358RZ Reflex Zoom, (or Genesis GS-7) is another 'bridge' type camera from the late 1980s, and is styled after the one-handed video cameras from the day, just like the Ricoh Murai, reviewed not long ago.  This 'bridge' camera is actually an SLR, so you get 'TTL' through the lens metering, as well as being able to visibly confirm sharp focusing on the matte glass viewfinder screen, and it takes common 62mm filters with a plastic adapter.  There are a few features that are missing on the Chinon that you'd get on a real SLR, like...

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Behind the scenes of the 1958 Western; Buchanan Rides Alone

Posted in Blog, Editorials, Film Negative

Columbia Pictures presents; Randolph Scott in 'Buchanan Rides Alone.'  Big Man!  Big gun!  Big Excitement!  Grab a bag of popcorn and  Watch it now!  Today we go behind the scenes of the 1958 Western, Buchanan Rides Alone, starring Randolph Scott.  Much of the movie was filmed in Old Tucson, which is a famous movie location just west of Tucson, Arizona. 

Anyhow, My Dad took his Aires 35-IIIL along for a random studio/location tour, and it just so happens that some of the scenes for the movie were being filmed that day.  By looking at the pictures and shadow angles, it appears the morning was cloudy, and it cleared up in the afternoon...

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Kodak Motormatic 35F Review

Posted in Blog, Film Cameras Tagged with

Today we step back to the early 1960s for a close look the Kodak Motormatic 35F, one of the last USA made 35mm Kodak Cameras.  The Motormatic 35F has a somewhat unique feature that allows you to take over one frame per second by simply winding up a spring drive mechanism and pressing the shutter button as fast as you can; it actually works quite well and apparently was the forerunner of the modern day spray and pray 'continuous' drive mode.  Additionally, the 'F' in the name means it has provisions for flash use; in this case you can use 'peanut' size AG1 bulbs...

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Kodak Moment #16, The Fred R White Jr, and Mesabi Miner

Posted in Blog, Film Negative, Kodak Moment

Here are a couple of Kodak Gold 200 snaps I took back in 1999/2000 with the Minolta Maxxum 7000 and excellent Minolta  AF 35-70mm F/4 lens while on a trip to northern Michigan.

The two Ore carriers (Taconite) above were leaving the 'Soo' locks at the same time; you could hear the big throaty growl of the engines winding up, and see the churning water from the spinning props behind them.  It looks like the Mesabi Miner pulls a hole shot on the Fred R White Jr, both now hitting about 1 mph!  Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to linger and see who won the race to the St Mary's river, and Lake Superior.  I'm guessing it took around 5 or 10 minutes to clear the locks...

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Kodak Instamatic 100 Review

Posted in Blog, Film Cameras Tagged with ,

Today we review my very first camera; a Kodak Instamatic 100.  My Parents bought this camera brand new for taking snaps of my older baby brother.  Actually, my Dad took pictures of my brother with this good camera, and by the time I came alone, the fascination and uniqueness of babies and pictures was over, and my Mom ended up taking all the snaps of me with this inexpensive instamatic.

The Kodak Instamatic 100 used a new type of film which came in a plastic cartridge, called a 'Kodapak' by Kodak; there was no need for the awkward task of threading film on the take-up spool like 35mm film, you simply dropped the cartridge inside the camera, closed the back, wound it until the lever locked, and started taking pictures, all in about 5 seconds flat...

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Argus Super Seventy-Five update

Posted in Blog Tagged with ,

Here are a few new pictures I took recently with the Argus Super Seventy-Five with 65mm F/8 lens, (I've also updated the review with the new pictures).  These simple focusing box cameras go for a song on ebay, but give you a nice smooth and detailed negative to enlarge in case you get a winning snap among the 12 exposures.  And as a bonus, it'll take common 120 film with a little cutting of the spool discs.

I was trying to decide what camera I'd like to take with me on a midsummer mountain hike, so with a quick glance at my stable, I saw the dusty little Argus Super Seventy-Five in the corner of the cabinet all by herself, and instantly knew she was the one; I'd been almost a year since our last outing together.  So I plopped in a roll of Portra 400, taped up the gaps, and read my own review before heading out.  I actually like using this inexpensive box camera, you'll get a lot of resolution for large prints, much more than even a good...

 

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