After months of deliberation, analysis, thinking, and planning, and despite recently purchasing a new high-end digital camera and using it extensively, I recently made a modest investment that I view as a demonstration of my commitment to film photography: I bought a 400-foot (122m) roll of 35mm Kodak Vision3 50D, or what I prefer to call by the name exposed onto the film rebate itself: Eastman 5203. The equivalent of 74 rolls of 36-exposure film, it means I’m going to have a lot of 35mm color photography ahead of me for months, certainly, but likely years to come.
Continue reading…Bulk Loading
How to Cut and Load Film for the Goerz Minicord
In mid-2022, I was generously gifted a very special camera by a friend: a Goerz Minicord, reportedly the smallest twin-lens reflex (TLR) ever made, and one of the smallest truly serious film cameras ever made for that matter. My friend had inherited the camera, I believe, but had never shot film in it. I have very few “shelf queen” cameras — those that sit on a shelf and either don’t function, or for which film can no longer be purchased. If I own a camera, I want it to work, and I want to have used it at some point or another. As a result, my first objective was to figure-out how to get film into the Minicord and give it a go. Now that I’ve figured it out, it seems useful to share what I found.
Continue reading…Combating the Increasing Cost of Film: Why and How to Bulk Load
As I write this article in November 2021, film photography blogs, podcasts and social media are abuzz about rumors (or promises) by Kodak to raise prices on film again in January 2022 — the latest of a seemingly endless series of increases. It’s not just Kodak; Ilford has raised prices, as have secondary brands like CineStill, Lomography, Adox, Foma and others. And as is customary for companies recently, they’re all blaming COVID-19 and supply chain difficulties and their own rising costs as the reason. Whether you believe that story or sense opportunism, it doesn’t matter: film photography is getting more and more expensive, nearly every day. So, what do we do about it?
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