Tag: film camera

No Pain, No Gain, Something Something

I walked/marched in place for 30 minutes this morning before work. At lunch time I rode the exercise bike for 15 minutes. I have been trying to work the bike into my daily routine for a couple of weeks. Hopefully things will work out in such a way that I can do this regularly.

The downside is that my legs feel like rubber and walking is a little bit of an adventure. Yikes.

Here comes some camera nerd thoughts. Ready? Okay, I installed a light meter app on my phone yesterday. Dad’s camera has a built in light meter and I would utterly be toast without it. I assume my Nikon has one built in too, but I don’t know where it is or how to use it (now that I think of it, it’s probably just the auto mode). At lunch today I tested it out a smidge. I picked something to shoot, used the light meter, used manual mode on the Nikon, set everything the way the meter told me to, and took a picture. It looked okay on the D90’s little view screen. I then turned off half of the lights in the cellar and did it again. The picture looked okay but it was a little on the dark side (insert Vader’s breathing here).

I then repeated the entire process with the Pentax. The internal light meter looked good in both cases, so I think the app is probably close to accurate. How will the pictures look when I get them developed? I haven’t a freakin’ clue. Not even a tiny inkling of an idea. It may be a long time before I get the results. I took the roll that was in the camera (the 35ish year old roll that Dad started and I finished) to CVS on Saturday. They said 7-10 days… so I should be getting a call from them any minute now. (For those of you reading this post at some random future date, it hasn’t even been 48 hours yet. I was kidding. Get it?)

What else? Do I need to get a camera bag for Dad’s camera, or do I need to rearrange the bag that I have so that it can hold both cameras? My bag has the D90, two lenses, and some other little things. I can change the size of each section in the bag so I know I can fit the camera in there somehow, I just won’t be able to fit all of the other stuff. I have three lenses for the D90, including one that would be on the camera, and two for the K1000, again including one that’s actually on the camera. I may have to leave the extra lenses at home when I take the bag out somewhere. Maybe I get a bag for the two cameras and another bag for the lenses? Do amateur goofballs do that?

I also saw some youtube videos showing a couple of accessories that have kicked off my camera gear acquisition syndrome. Amazon has a remote shutter that screws on to the actual shutter switch. I could use the shit out of that for long exposures. I also saw a timer that is a little windup clock thing that also screws onto the shutter. I think K1000s might have come with that at some point. I wonder if Dad had one. I can’t find any of those anywhere online, including ebay.

And that, dear friends and neighbors, is my lunch break post for today.

I Don’t Have a Clue

I experienced my first loading of a film camera today, and I sure as hell fucked it up. Of course. The question then is… how bad?

I’ve been sitting here watching youtube videos both on my camera and on tips for shooting film, and common mistakes. This video is on common mistakes:

One of the mistakes noted is failing to advance the film after each shot. Specifically, the film comes off the track and doesn’t move when you wind the film. I took two pictures earlier today but I thought to myself, what if I am guilty of this? I took a third pic, advanced the film, and nothing happened. I had to open the back of the camera and fix it. In doing so I exposed the film to the light. My question… how much did I expose? Just the area that I could see? Did I burn the entire roll? I won’t know until I get it back from the developer.

Yippee Skippee. The first of a lifetime of film related fuck ups has been fucked up. Amen and Huzzah.

I Have the Bug Again

I have it again. I definitely have the ol’ shutterbug once again. And I ain’t talking about no iPhone here.

I took the roll of film that was in Dad’s camera to CVS today. They will send it somewhere to get developed and I should have it back in 7-10 days. Still no clue how much it will cost.

I spent some time today trying to find stores that actually sell 35mm film. There are none. At least not in a reasonable radius from home. I even put a post onto a film photography subreddit and got nothing back. Looks like film shopping is a fully online experience for me. No instant gratification for this guy.

So I don’t have any film for Dad’s camera. I guess I’ll go shoot the sunrise with my digital tomorrow. The sunrise is at 5:09am. My alarm is set for 4:00. I’m a psycho idiot and proud of it. We will see if I actually get up, and if so we will see how the pictures come out. I’m going to try to use Manual mode as much as I can, duck and cover.

Sort of Back to Normal

It’s amazing how going into the office used to be the norm, and now going in one day just murderlizes my entire routine.

Wednesday night I packed up everything I needed for the day in the office (except my headphones, damn it) and put out my clothes for the next day and all that fun stuff. On Thursday I got up super early and did my 30 minutes of exercise, made my lunch, did the rest of my morning stuff and left (without my headphones).

That doesn’t seem like a lot, but it really is. It’s like throwing a giant monkey wrench into the whole day.

Fortunately I am back in my home office today. I’d like to say I feel like everything is back to normal, for the most part it is, but I slept really late today. Not late enough that I didn’t have time for my morning exercise and all of that, but I did start work before I made breakfast (scrambled eggs, yum). I generally prefer not to do that.

Today is going to be a little weird here at the home* too. I went in to work yesterday, and Jen is going in today. Actually… not to the office? Not sure of the details, but she’s going to see people today. After work we’re planning on doing some grocery shopping. This is going to sound selfish of me, but I really enjoy that Jen and I have been doing that together. It’s silly, but I like it.

Best of all, on the Friday front, Harry will be coming over after work and he’ll be here for the whole next week. Excellent. We are still a few weeks away from Bellana coming home from Europe, but it’s one step closer to having the whole family together.

On unrelated notes, I am listening to the new Porcupine Tree album, which was finally released today, and I’m giving it five stars and two thumbs up and all of the accolades. It’s a great record. CLOSURE/CONTINUATION (yes, the album title is in all caps), check it out. I am planning to visit my mother a couple of times over the weekend. I’m not sure if I will get over to see my father too, but we’ll see. We talked about watching the Obi-Wan Kenobi series in its entirety in one sitting this weekend. I think maybe after Harry comes home from work on Sunday? I came up with a goofy project for the film camera. I’m thinking of trying to take the same picture with Dad’s camera and my camera and comparing the results. I’d like to use exactly the same settings, but my camera can be a little bit of a bitch to setup manually, and Dad’s seems to have a different labeling system for the aperture settings? I’ll have to consult the manual on that.

Okay, ladies and germs. Time to get to work. Those customers aren’t going to support themselves!

*Here at the Home is the title of the first album by one of the great Boston bands from the late 80’s/early 90’s, Tribe. When I went to my parents house the other day it was to pick up all of my old records that I hadn’t brought to the house already. There were a whole bunch of Tribe records in the pile.

The Other Lens

I changed the lens and I think it works! The light meter is not a big fan of this lens in this room. I expect the two pics I just took will be underexposed and blurry.

I feel like I am becoming a little obsessed with Dad’s camera.

Light Meter

Dad’s camera has a built in light meter. It runs on a little watch battery. The battery hasn’t been changed since the 80’s (if ever). Luckily I had a pack of the correct batteries (thanks to the pocket watch reclamation project from last year) and it turns out the meter works!

I took a couple of pictures, despite my microscopic knowledge of full manual camera operation. I’d use one of those pics for my photo a day thing but… you know… film. No instant gratification here.

The film in the camera has been sitting there since the 80’s. I don’t know anything about expired film besides the fact that it does expire. When the roll runs out, will anything be developable? Will anything work? Who knows. Also, there were six or seven shots taken before I got involved. I’m a little afraid to find out what they were. I haven’t a clue.

I think I’m going to try to put the other lens on next. Sweet!

User Manual

Remember two posts back when I asked if anyone had a user manual for my father’s old camera?

I found it.

Pentax K1000. Now all I need to do is find someplace that develops film. Weeeeeee!

ADDENDUM: That manual is actually a service manual. The owner manual lives here.