New Film Cameras? Maybe!
Richo / Pentax investigate the possibility of making a line of new film cameras. Will it actually happen? It's too early to say but it's a neat idea & I hope so! Read more bout it & watch the video here
The Double Digit OMs
The Double Digit OM Cameras. Olympus made two lines of Cameras, their professional single digit range OM1, OM2, OM3 & OM4 with some variations. The other range were their cheaper midrange consumer models OM10, OM20 (OMG), OM30 (OMF) & the OM40 (OMPC). Just like the single digit models one did not replace the other, The OM10 was produced for the entire production run of all the double digit OMs with the others being added and produced concurrently. Over the late summer & Fall I took all of them out for some hikes on Mt Hood to see how they compared with each other. You can see the photos from each here: OM10 | OM30 (OMG) | OM12 (OMG)
12 Cameras, 12 Months, 12 Films, November 2022
For my November 12 Cameras, 12 Months, 12 Films project I loaded up a Chinon 35AF with some undated expired Fujicolor Superia 800. I shot it at 400 and found that the colors of the film came out really well. I also discovered that the camera has a pretty serious light leak visible on almost all of the photos.
The 12-12-12 Project
Kodak Aerocolor by other names.
2022/12/05: I recently purchased some Santacolor 100 all the way from Finland! The bulk roll of Kodak Aerocolor was purchased in the US sent to Finland where the folks at Santa Film cut it up and spooled it into used 35mm cassettes. Then shortly after arriving I ran across Flic Film Elektra made in Canada which they say upfront is Kodak aerocolor IV. I'll be interested to see if these 2 versions perform the same way.
kodak aerocoloraerocolorsantafilmsantacolor100flic filmelektra 100
Chinon World!
2022/12/01: This past year I developed quite an interest in Chinon Cameras. The Chinon Company was founded in 1948 and in the 60’s & 70’s it was primarily a camera component company, like Cossina they also made lots of cameras for other brands such as Revue, Argus, & Prinz. Though they never became a first tier camera producer during the 1970’s they made some solid well built if bare bones cameras. They stuck with M42 lenses longer than most and that probably didn’t help them. They finally switched to the Pentax K mount in 1979 with the release of their CM-4 (mechanical) & CE-4 (electronic). I have found that tracking down information on Chinon Cameras is a bit harder that it is with some other brands. Firstly because there is just less info out there but also because Chinon has an unusual array of models and release dates. Often releasing models that were less advanced than others released earlier!
Photos here
Film Washi
2022/12/01: I recently took a bit of a dive into some of the offerings of Film Washi. Film Washi bills itself as “The World's Smallest Film Company” Founded in 2013 by Lomig Perrotin in the closet of his Parisian flat, and later in the family garage in Saint-Nazaire, Film Washi remains a one-man-business. Lomig specializes in hand coated emulsions on Japanese Washi Paper. He also specializes in making available industrial, medical & any other films that are typically not made for traditional photography. Photos Here
Lucky Color 100
2022/12/01: Lucky film was made by the China Lucky Film Group. It was a budget color film produced until about 2006 - 2008 on a unique Chinese emulsion. Thinking that Film still had a good future in China Kodak entered into a 20 year deal with Lucky in 2003 providing over $45 million Dollars to improve their color film production lines. Then in 2007 seeing the writing on the wall for film even in China they pulled out of the deal and production stopped. I picked up 5 rolls of the film dated 2006 to give it a go as an emulsion that I have not yet tried.