The Value Of Old Film Camera

An old Leica, Rolleiflex cost a serious chunk of change. They take wonderful images in the proper hands. Today, I decided to send my old Minolta Autocord for fixing at the only place I know in Singapore that repairs old camera.

"This is in quite a bad shape."

What do you mean? It takes wonderful images... there's no fogging in the taking lens. The only problem is the shutter speed timing.

"Its exterior is in disrepair, frankly, it isn't worth much."

Well, I don't care about the peeling leatherette. Just fix the damn shutter and lub the focusing lever. If it looks beautiful and can't take an image, it is worthless to me.

I can't understand why people would value a camera based on the pedigree it comes from and not the images it renders. This Autocord with seikosha shutter might not be the best or the most valuable among its brethen, it gives me joy whenever I develop the film that was taken by it. I have no fear of knocking it around, adding dings and dents to its already rugged exterior. Had I bought a $1,500 rolleiflex, I would have let it sit at home. I have no doubts that many rolleiflex users shoots with their beloved cameras regularly---just don't diss my Autocord like that.

I bought the autocord because it has a beautiful taking lens and cheap. That's all I really care about. When its spirit decides to give, I'll put it up on display or throw it away.

Till then, I need the camera to be shooting like a soldier, not looking pretty.

35mm and Medium Format Wedding Photography

Nikon N80, 35mm, 50mm, Arista Premium 400, Mamiya C330, 80mm, Tri-X

Recently, I shot a wedding using these 2 cameras. I was the second shooter, my colleague covered the event with 2 Nikon DSLR. Choosing to shoot only Black and White film, there were no concerns on white balance issues. However, changing ISO values mid roll was not possible. I had fun, but came to the conclusion that I need the security of:

1. LCD preview
2. 16 Gb giving me 16 megapixels, about 800-900 images
3. Convenience of dropping everything onto Lightroom
4. Ease of post-production

For personal projects, there's nothing else I'd use other than my trusty film boxes loaded with black and white film.

The Impending Death of The Great Yellow Father

Associated Press

The last few days have been depressing in a personal sort of way. I had to buy out the shares of my colleague due to his inabilities to perform in the assigned job scope. I turned on facebook, only to see a link that informed me Kodak is going bankrupted. Funny thing was, I ordered 60 rolls of Arista Premium(Rebranded Tri-x) in 135, 5 rolls of Portra in 120 2 weeks back. I was planning to perform my personal documentary work with black and white film---Tri-x to be exact.

I went to sleep after hearing the gong sounding Kodak's eventual death. I woke up feeling like a good friend died, even though great companies like Ilford and Fujifilm are still producing them films. The fact is: Fujifilm discontinued some old favorites in various formats. That to me, is another nail in the coffin for film.

I still bought 2 Minolta XD11, Mamiya Sekor 80mm f2.8, Rokkor MD 28mm f2.8 and a Gossen luna-pro f lightmeter off keh.com a few hours ago. I hesitated for a minute before closing my eyes and hitting the submit button for a grand total of $500++. That's dirt cheap. I would never had been able to afford so many cameras with just $500 in the past. Even as the users of film dwindles, I'm making a come-back with my personal work---stuff that matters to me, I'll record it on silver.

I'll be using film for as long as I can find it and as if the cost isn't exorbitant. Until then, they can only pry my Kodak from my cold dead fingers.

For now, it's about time to experiment with more Ilford HP5+ and find a replacement for HC-110---just in case Kodak isn't coming back.