The Grain Grubbers Film Thread

[photo_chick]

I love using my Pentax 110, but the film is getting hard to find.

 

[cpbjgc]

I have been wacthing Ebay for a Yashica mat 124G and, I don't know what's gotten into everyone's coffee, but they ain't selling for $150 anymore except for "as is, found this in a storage locker, don't know anything about cameras, but ask any question you want"

I have also established there are no servicers of Yashica's anywhere near me, and people around here have been sending their's to Mark Hama for repair (which is great, but pricey when shipping to and from Canada). And as for the prices on Rolleis not being sold for parts .

So now I am considering a Mamiya C330 as they are seeming to price the same as the Yashica. Anyone with experience with the Mamiya? I like the interchangeable lens and the bellows, but will also need to get a light meter which may not be required with the Yashica.

If anyone has experience with the Mamiya, I would love to hear it. My main goal is I would like to shoot 6x6 as opposed to 6x4.5, so if you have other suggestions, I would be happy to hear them as well.

Thanks!

 

[Groucho]

Were you successful in you covert mission?

I had one of those Looooong ago. Not a Pentax though, can't recall the brand now, but it was fun and easy to shoot with. Thanks for the trip down memory lane .

I haven't used it for anything covert yet... but it would be good for that! (The wedding picks I mentioned were shot on a couple of my K1000s.)

I think the Pentax was the only true interchangeable-lens 110 SLR, but Minolta and maybe one or two others made fixed-lens SLR-types? I'm not sure off the top of my head.

I love using my Pentax 110, but the film is getting hard to find.

I bought a 10-pack of Fuji film last year after getting the camera. It was brand-new and from what I understand, one of the very last batches they'd make. The 10 rolls will probably last me a lifetime. I don't expect to actually take a ton of photos with it, but it is just so much fun to play with, and to appreciate on a purely mechanical level.

 

[AlbertZeroK]

I have been wacthing Ebay for a Yashica mat 124G and, I don't know what's gotten into everyone's coffee, but they ain't selling for $150 anymore except for "as is, found this in a storage locker, don't know anything about cameras, but ask any question you want"

I have also established there are no servicers of Yashica's anywhere near me, and people around here have been sending their's to Mark Hama for repair (which is great, but pricey when shipping to and from Canada). And as for the prices on Rolleis not being sold for parts .

So now I am considering a Mamiya C330 as they are seeming to price the same as the Yashica. Anyone with experience with the Mamiya? I like the interchangeable lens and the bellows, but will also need to get a light meter which may not be required with the Yashica.

If anyone has experience with the Mamiya, I would love to hear it. My main goal is I would like to shoot 6x6 as opposed to 6x4.5, so if you have other suggestions, I would be happy to hear them as well.

Thanks!

Yeah I just messaged a guy on craigs list about a yachika. Scary, he would tell me it worked but wanted $140 for it. Ouch.
mamiya... well I have an RB67 and a 645af. Both are great cameras. I have sekonic L358 light meter which costs more than my RB67. But you can also meter off a dslr or 35mm body which I do alot. But the mamiyas are good cameras.

Also not sure I would trust a meter in such an old camera. They where to get u in the ball park and often tend to be reliant on a specific and expensive battery type.

 

[Bstanley]

Groucho - you are a baa-ad man...showing enticing pictures like that.

That Pentax 110 SLR was so intriguing I did a search on EBay and found an entire Boxed Set with Camera, auto-winder (not working), 3 lenses (18, 24, 50mm), filters, flash, etc. for $110 or so (including a ridiculous shipping charge), hopefully I'll get it for that - no bids so far.

As a reasonably competent mechanical tinkerer I have high hopes of fixing the auto winder.

So now it's off to Google to try to find someplace that sells 110 cartridges...

 

[Groucho]

Groucho - you are a baa-ad man...showing enticing pictures like that.

That Pentax 110 SLR was so intriguing I did a search on EBay and found an entire Boxed Set with Camera, auto-winder (not working), 3 lenses (18, 24, 50mm), filters, flash, etc. for $110 or so (including a ridiculous shipping charge), hopefully I'll get it for that - no bids so far.

As a reasonably competent mechanical tinkerer I have high hopes of fixing the auto winder.

So now it's off to Google to try to find someplace that sells 110 cartridges...

I was aware of them but didn't see one in person until I was buying something off else off Craigslist and happened to find out that the guy had one. He wasn't selling but let me look at it and I feel in love and had to get one!

They generally can be had for pretty cheap. Mine actually came from Adorama's used department, $40 for the camera with three lenses and the original bag. It seems to work fine; although I did manage to break the winder. A little superglue and some wire for strength and it's better than new! The one thing I found that I had to do (which I didn't notice originally) was tighten down the screws on the lens mount; it was just a touch loose when I got it. You can find the manual on the internet if you want to know more. One interesting thing is that it has a 2x crop compared to 35mm - just like 4/3rd DSLR sensors! Yet it's tiny compared to those.

It is a joy to use though; wonderful dainty manual focus, a lens cap the size of a nickel, nice mechanical noises when taking a photo, etc.

 

[AlbertZeroK]

Do they even make 110 film anymore?

 

[Bstanley]

Do they even make 110 film anymore?

Not that I can find.

There are a few places on the inter-web selling film that was manufactured as late as 2007 though.

EBay has various mid-200x dated rolls listed at ~$5 a 12 exposure cartridge and ~$10 for 24 exposure cartridges.

Not something to shoot your entire vacation with

 

[AlbertZeroK]

Not that I can find.

There are a few places on the inter-web selling film that was manufactured as late as 2007 though.

EBay has various mid-200x dated rolls listed at ~$5 a 12 exposure cartridge and ~$10 for 24 exposure cartridges.

Not something to shoot your entire vacation with

Ouch! That's more expensive than shooting high end 35mm or 120 film! But probably not as fun

 

[Groucho]

Not that I can find.

There are a few places on the inter-web selling film that was manufactured as late as 2007 though.

EBay has various mid-200x dated rolls listed at ~$5 a 12 exposure cartridge and ~$10 for 24 exposure cartridges.

Not something to shoot your entire vacation with

You can buy Fuji 200 speed, 2009 manufacture, here for $8.29/24 exposures. This is the stuff that I've got. I believe I bought a 10-pack off eBay; you may or may not be able to find more of it.

For developing, I think you've pretty much stuck with Dwayne's Photo.

The shot I posted was scanned directly off the negative with my Coolscan 4000. Scanning it is a bit cumbersome as I use the standard 35mm holders and move the negatives around inside the holder. (I do the same to scan disc film.) I believe that somebody makes a 110 holder, but it's ridiculously expensive, just like everything Coolscan-related! A good flatbed scanner like the Epsons may work just about as well and much easier.

You might actually get better results scanning the prints themselves, though; it seems that the grain is controlled better that way. (Same with disc film; the scanned images are quite noisy. Wet scanning may help but that's more work than I'm willing to put into it!)

 

[photo_chick]

You can reload 110 film casettes with 16mm film. I've not done it, but instructions are pretty easy to find online.

My dad handed the Pentax 110 down to me when I went to Washington DC in junior high, which was in the late 80's, so film was abundant still. But it was shelved for many years and I didn't really appreciate how unique it is until the last few years.

 

[cpbjgc]

What I distinctly remember about the 110 camera my parents had was that we got it spefically for a Disney roadtrip and I actually got to use it (as long as I bought the film). The family camera before that was a Kodak brownie of some type that used single use flash bulbs. I wasn't allowed to use that camera as I was a bit indiscriminate in my shooting back then (as now ).

Hey folks, still waiting on some pinhole scans...

Could use some dreamy photos around now!

 

[Bstanley]

OK, so it's not a Pentax 110 (I still have my eye on a Kit with all the lenses on Ebay so we'll see in a couple of days), but I just bought my first 110 film camera:

 

[AlbertZeroK]

I'm almost ready to do all the film I want! The dark room is almost ready.

 

[Pooh2]

Oldies from Nikon FM 2 (Still have the camera in mint condition and cannot bear to part with it!)

 

[cpbjgc]

OK, so it's not a Pentax 110 (I still have my eye on a Kit with all the lenses on Ebay so we'll see in a couple of days), but I just bought my first 110 film camera:

Ooooh! Nice find! And the film is still fresh in its foil pouch!

I'm almost ready to do all the film I want! The dark room is almost ready.

You are braver than me! Never been in a darkroom myself, but I understand there is some funky stuff going on in there, especially developing with household products. Looking forward to seeing what comes out of the room!

And Pooh2, some very cute shots! Thanks for sharing those!

 

[cpbjgc]

Still searching for a medium format camera. Starting to consider the low tech alternatives again given the lack of reasonable priced TLRs around (which is what I would like). Thinking about the Diana F+ from those Lomography folks, but I think I will hold off a bit longer to see if a TLR comes up locally. In the meantime, I still have my Fisheye toy to share some shots from:

A night at the "Local" both shot on Bulb at about 4 seconds each using 400ISO film. I used my "sunny 16" table to give me the shutter and the turned out pretty good (exposure wise)

Couple from sledding last weekend on an overcast day.

 

[cpbjgc]

Fell all the way to page 7! In any event, just wanted to share my recent ebay acquisition (photo courtesy the vendor, waltcanon):

I will be picking it up tomorrow and I am just trying to decide whether the first roll should be colour or black and white

In the meantime, here is a recent picture using the Lomography Fisheye 2

 

[AlbertZeroK]

Fell all the way to page 7! In any event, just wanted to share my recent ebay acquisition (photo courtesy the vendor, waltcanon):

I will be picking it up tomorrow and I am just trying to decide whether the first roll should be colour or black and white

In the meantime, here is a recent picture using the Lomography Fisheye 2

I just got back a roll of 220 E-6 (Slide Film) Color and let me tell you, if that doesn't make you love film, nothing will. It's a positive film so just hold it up to the light and you see everything in it's amazement!!

If you don't know, you can send 120 and 220 film in through wal-mart. Here in va, it goes to Fuji's SC plant, then to Dwaynes. I just paid $4.88 to get a roll of 220 E-6 Chrome developed, but it takes 2 weeks. A roll of 220 C-41 with prints was less than $4. But beware, I've had rolls come back unprocessed with light leaks from where they unrolled them and frames missing - the processing is not high quality. But now I have a Jobo, so I don't send anything off anymore.

 

[cpbjgc]

Thanks for the processing tips - I will check with Walmart and Costco here. THere is a store close to my work that will process it, but I am not adverse to saving some cash if I can.

I picked up my Ricohflex Model VI - looks to be in very nice shape with nice clean lenses and viewfinder, but it needs a good CLA and the shutter is dead Got it in to the local shop and should have it back by the end of the week with a 1 year warranty . I have my roll of Ilford HP5 Plus 400 ready for action once I get it back.

In the meantime I will be cleaning up the various accessories that came with it: a 35mm film case, Proxar No. 1 close up lens kit, yellow filter, lens hood for the taking lens and some other stuff I am still trying to figure out .

One more scanned fisheye print of our DVC Home to keep things flowing!