Tag Archives: Expired Film

{2017} Junkyard Film

Things have been kinda quiet on the Shoot with Personality front. A big reason for that is I had secretly done a daily photo project on film back in 2017, and it took quite some time to get all the film developed from that. But since I have finally started publishing those photos on my daily photo blog, now I can start posting more things to Shoot with Personality again!

I pretty much have to get through a backlog of photos from 2017 that either weren’t for the daily photo project or which were b-roll from that project. You will end up seeing some of that here.

Today’s post is a roll that I didn’t shoot for that project. It actually was taken with a Canon Rebel 2000 that a former co-worker of mine found in a car at a junkyard and which he gave to me. There was film in the camera, and I decided I would try to see if it was viable by shooting it. I was fairly sure that the film had expired in 2013, as there was a box of the film in the camera bag with the Rebel 2000 that was stamped with that expiration date. And I knew that the film had very likely been in extreme temperature conditions since it had been in sitting in a car for who knows how long?? So I shot the film at ISO 200 instead of its box speed (400,) and did a lot of double exposures in case the film needed more light to be properly exposed.

Incidentally, I don’t need to do a review of the Canon Rebel 2000 because I already have an homage to the Rebel 2000 I used to have.

Canon Rebel 2000 + 28-80mm kit lens
Fuji Superia 400, expired and exposed to extreme temps

{Getting to Know You} Mamiya M645

This was an “oops, I did it again moment.”

Last year, I bought a Mamiya M645.

I once extolled the virtues of another 6×4.5 medium format SLR I owned- the Bronica Etrsi. I’d found The One! Then I let it slip through my fingers. I sold the Bronica to a friend on Twitter who had been eyeing one. I have to say that I regretted letting it go…

Maybe I should have righted the wrong and bought another Bronica, but I decided to go in a slightly different direction by getting a Mamiya M645.

Some differences and similarities between the Bronica and Mamiya:

  • Film backs: The Bronica allows you to change film backs (and, therefore, film types/speeds) mid-roll. A Mamiya M645 does not, though you can get extra film inserts to pre-roll with film so you can change film quickly once you finish a roll. I liked the idea of changing film backs, but, in reality, I didn’t really do it with the Bronica often. And carrying multiple film backs was just one more thing to keep up with.
  • Construction: The Bronica is largely constructed of plastic. Not so for the Mamiya M645, which means the latter is more hefty than the former (weight of camera gear is a significant factor for a lot of people.)
  • “Grip” options: I had a speed grip for my Etrsi, which allowed it to function almost like an overgrown 35mm SLR (you can see photos of that set up in the blog post I linked earlier in this one.) It allowed the shutter to be triggered with a button on the grip rather than the one on the camera, and film was advanced with an advance lever instead of a crank. All this is done on the right side of the camera. I do not have a grip for my Mamiya (yet?) I have been reluctant to try one for that camera, because its grips are left hand grips. I have felt dubious about that because I’ve felt that it might feel awkward to have the shutter button/film advance on the left side. I don’t know…it doesn’t appeal to me. I might try one eventually, because handling the camera without one is sort of like holding a cube!
  • The shutter types are also different between these two cameras (Bronica: leaf shutter in the lens, Mamiya: focal plane shutter.) I won’t go too much into the differences here, except to say that for my style of shooting, the differences really don’t matter all that much to me!
  • On the subject of shutter speeds, the ETRSi and M645 have the same shutter speed range: 1/500s – 8s, plus Bulb
  • Multiple exposures possible on both. I used this often on the Mamiya, not so much on the Bronica. (I wasn’t that into multiple exposures when I had the ETRSi)
  • Mirror lock-up on both (to reduce vibration during certain types of exposures.) Not that it was a feature I utilized often, but mirror lock-up on the ETRsi is more tricky than the M645 because, on the Bronica, putting the mirror back down fires the shutter. To avoid wasting a frame of film, you need to take the film back off, return the mirror to the down position (which fires the shutter,) flip the multiple exposure lever to activate that “mode,” then put the film back on again, take your next photo, flip the multiple exposure lever to exit, and finally advance the film. That’s A LOT. With the M645, you just flip the mirror lock-up lever to return the mirror to its down down position and move on with your life!

One reason I took the plunge and purchased the Mamiya M645 is that I got it for a song…seriously, it was a price that made the choice feel like it wasn’t much of a risk. I bought the body and lens (80mm f/2.8, the standard lens) then purchased the prism separately to complete the kit.

The format of this blog post is unlike most of my camera “reviews,” but it’s because I went about trying “new” cameras differently last year, so the posts I write about the cameras are different too! Side note: I only have limited photos from the first two rolls I took with the Mamiya, because most of those photos are allocated for different projects (which I keep alluding to on here…I’m promise all will be revealed as soon as possible!)

Roll #1: Fuji Provia 400F, expired in 2005, cross-processed (June 2017)

First frame! This is of a Russian wooden box I’d gotten at a thrift shop. 

Elderflowers

Roll #2: Ilford FP4+ (June/July 2017)

So I’d had those two rolls developed (though I have shot another that hasn’t been developed as of yet.) I decided I needed to go ahead and replace the badly deteriorated light seals. The following photos were from my post-light seal replacement test roll (looks like they worked!) I can share all of the results from this roll because, well, they were just for this blog!!!

Film: Lomography Color Negative 400 (April 2018)

I will say that I don’t feel as if I bonded with the M645 as quickly as I did my Bronica ETRSi, but I also have had my {camera} attentions divided this last year, so I haven’t invested as much time getting to know the Mamiya as I should have. When I do pick it up to use, I really enjoy the experience though! I mentioned that handling the camera without a grip attached is like holding a cube, but it’s not been as awkward in practice as it sounds.  I hope that, with time, I will also get to add another lens or two to my M645 kit – there’s a drool-worthy 80mm f/1.9 available for it that I’d LOVE to try! Not to mention a wide angle lens would be nice too.

{Late Entry} Expired Film Day 2017

Oops, I did it again (many a blog entry starts this way actually.)

Like last year, I shot for Expired Film Day on March 15. Like last year, I waited awhile before getting the film developed, thus falling outside the deadline to submit photos to the Expired Film Day website. (OOPS!)

This year, I again used my Yashica-Mat TLR camera. I chose to shoot a roll of Kodak Pro 1000 film that expired in the year 2000. I don’t know what kind of magic the photo lab worked when they developed and scanned these photos for me, but I think they look very cool and prettier than I expected!

Yashica-Mat • Kodak Pro 1000, expired 2000
(I rated it as 200 when metering, to account for its age)

{Mississippi Past}

Lomography Diana F+ • Fuji Provia 400F, expired in 2005 & cross-processed 

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