Oh Good Lord – Starting down the 35mm Film Path…

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The selection of M42 mount stuff that fits in the bag: 135mm prime, 28mm Wide-Angle prime, .22x Fisheye, 2x and 3X Teledaptor, 4 sizes macro tubes, Agfa Lucimeter S, 4x & 10x magnification lenses. On the Mamiya-Sekor: 85-205mm Close-Focusing Zoom.

The selection of M42 mount stuff that fits in the bag: 135mm prime, 28mm Wide-Angle prime, .22x Fisheye, 2x and 3X Teledaptor, 4 sizes macro tubes, Agfa Lucimeter S, 4x & 10x magnification lenses. On the Mamiya-Sekor: 85-205mm Close-Focusing Zoom.

 

Vivitar 250/SL, made by Cosina around 1976. This is the "Truck Camera", and it came to me loaded with a half-exposed roll of film. Still working on finishing that roll.

Vivitar 250/SL, made by Cosina around 1976. This is the “Truck Camera”, and it came to me loaded with a half-exposed roll of film. Still working on finishing that roll.

 

Updated: December 4, 2013 — 11:25 pm

8 Comments

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  1. Imagine finding some old rolls of film that had already been shot – that’d lead to some dark room excitement (shock or disappointment). :)

    1. I’ve got an old Vivitar body that had a half-exposed roll in it when I got it. I suppose that body is my first toe dipped into film – it has a beat-up 50mm prime on it and I keep it in the truck. haven’t finished shooting that roll, though.

      Come to think of it, that Vivitar is also M42 mount…

  2. Oh, you have got it bad! I have a similar row of vintage glass lined up and ready to shoot. I love the Pentax and Leica thread mount lenses. So uncomplicated. Someone on G+ provided a tip on mounting Canon FL and FD lenses to adapters properly and that has helped a lot.

    I hope your film experiment works out. I found a Kodak Fiesta with half a roll exposed inside. I’ll shoot the rest in bright daylight and see what happens.

    1. Oh, please don’t tell me it’s easy and cheap to mount FD lenses to M42. I see so many cheap FD’s that I would be sorely tempted to expand my collection. I usually dismiss FD’s out of hand because of the issues with mounting them to the Canon EF-S. :P

  3. Finding old cameras with film in them is exciting. Never know what you will find when it is developed. I have found all kinds of film and photos as well as film way beyond being able to print in cameras. B & W finds are the best the dyes in color film tend to deteriorate quite far beyond usefulness in old film.

    Good luck with your film.

  4. One of the joys of film photography is the first unwinding and squinting at the negatives. Persevere, Ted, in acquiring the simple equipment. All you need is a developing tank and a few chemicals, and a way to hang the negatives to dry. Processing is the core to being a complete film photographer. My granddaughters and I enjoyed a weekend this year, first on an outing photographing with 35mm Tri-X, processing later that day, then scanning, editing, and printing a few. It was a treat to see their pleasure as they first unwound the dripping negatives. I have a 35mm processing tank I would be happy to pass on to you, should you decide to take the plunge.

    1. I think I’ll take these first rolls to CVS or Walgreens unless I run into someone locally who has the darkroom bug. I thank you for the offer, though (:

      Plus, I have run into developing tanks at thrifts before (once, 3 brand new ones in the box for $5). I’ve passed ’em up (and also probably a half-dozen enlargers, gods help me), but who knows what the future holds?

  5. Interesting! Lately I got a bug to try the medium format so I bought a cheap Rolleicord and a roll of film. And it came out o.k – I really liked it. As a lightmeter I used an app on my iPhone (since I usually have it with me – one less thing to forget). It was nice to slow down when taking a shot, think longer about the light, the scene, the composition.

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