Photos: The Next Generation (Film Edition)

I put up a post the other day with some photos I took when I went to the ocean and Plum Island. At the time I said there would be a film edition of the post to follow and this is it.

Sort of.

I shot two full rolls of film. One 35mm and one 120. I also finished off the last few shots from an old roll of 35mm. I got them all developed and the scans came back the other day and last night I uploaded them all to Flickr and now it’s time for another post here.

Sort of. I am saving the 120 shots for another post. These are just 35mm pics. I’m also thinking of trying to sort of mirror the previous post. This plan probably won’t last for long, but let’s see.

The sunrise view sort of sucked, but I got a little glimpse of it. This is my Nikon FG-20 shooting my first ever roll of Lomography 800. I like the way the sun flares. At least the tiny bit of the sun we could actually see.

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I think my plan to follow the first post is already dead… maybe not. I think this is from Salisbury Beach but I’m not sure. This is from my Pentax K1000 shooting Kentmere 400.

(note: on second look, I’m pretty sure this is Hampton Beach when the digital post was still at Salisbury Beach. Let’s not worry about that now though)

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This next picture is crap, but speaking of sun flares! Woah!

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Here’s one that I took on both film and digital. I can’t tell which is better. Maybe the film?

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Another that I can’t tell whether it is better or worse than the digital version. This was with a 50mm lens and the digital was with an 85mm so the crop is different. Is crop the right word? I don’t think so.

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The digital version of this is way better. Oh well.

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Shooting black and white at the beach seems sort of silly, but I kinda dig it.

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That moment when the sun came out… nice.

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I thought maybe the light was better at this spot when I was shooting film than it was for digital. Maybe not.

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Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant. Please don’t explode, m’kay?

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For the birds, at Hampton Beach.

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More birds. I don’t think I have enough bird-centric film pics to stay on track with the previous digital post. Sorry.

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Plum Island airport.

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Why do I always stop here on the way out to the lighthouse? I haven’t a clue.

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The Merrimack River from Plum Island.

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Dig that blue water.

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And by this point both 35mm cameras were out of film and I was not going to take the time to reload so this is where this post ends. There will be another post from this day that will have the 120 film shots. That’s going to be grouped with some pics I took in Boston last week. I’ll explain later.

Fail

That camera I bought on ebay a couple of weeks ago? The Nikon F-401? The camera with the autofocus that was going to make my film shooting life so much easier?

The aperture dial doesn’t work. It just spins, it doesn’t click. It doesn’t actually affect the lens’ aperture at all. Not even a teeny tiny bit. If you try to use the aperture ring instead of the dial as a work around? The camera doesn’t fire.

Failure. Total. The lens is nice though so I probably won’t send it back. Anyone know any place that fixes cameras?

Frugal Film Project

I wanted to do this back in January but it was cold out there and I forgot.

The Frugal Film Project is an internet challenge to buy a cheap camera and shoot a roll of cheap(ish) film through it every month for a year. The rule used to be that you had to grab the camera for under $50 but that was before prices ballooned during the pandemic so now it’s $75.

I bought my little Soviet TLR camera, a Lomo Lubitel 166 Universal, for about $40 so it qualifies. You’re supposed to use budget film but I don’t think such a thing actually exists anymore. Even cheap film is grossly expensive. I am going to play this game with the Lubitel and Kodak Gold 200 film. I started it on Memorial Day at Riverside Park in Methuen, a couple of weeks ago, so month number one is May 2025. I’ve already shot a roll in June too, in Harvard Square, but I won’t get that developed for a couple of weeks.

The camera only shoots 12 pics to a roll and (magically, for me) all 12 on the May roll came out okay. Here they are……..

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Film Thoughts

Two thoughts on the mountain of film I got back from the development lab today.

First, I need to learn how to hold my camera without leaning to the side.

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Every square format shot is tilted. Do I have one leg longer than the other or something?

Second, I am not vibing with this brand of film. I bought two rolls of 120 and two rolls of 35mm. I shot the two 120’s last week and one of the 35mm’s today. After I finish the last roll I think I am done with this brand. Oh well.