I have updated this post, Olympus Mju 140 Zoom, as I have tried a new example. I took it to Blackpool to visit the location of the glass plate I found when using the Victorian camera I was given. The area looks very different now as the original building was demolished and over 100 years has past. Around the back of this building you can find Old Tom’s Cabin.
A while ago I bought a Polaroid camera, I know I said I would not try them again, but you should not believe anything I say. Anyway, it didn’t work very well and I had 3 packs of film. The film is expensive, so I looked for a cheap replacement. Then lo and behold one of the same film type was pictured in a Facebook Marketplace sale near my house. Brilliant. And the whole lot was cheaper than the original Polaroid I bought.
…look at that “Button” peaking out. Sod the rest, I wanted that. But wait what is that camera at the bottom to the left?? So I went for a look. It turned out to be a Franka. I have also wanted one of those for a while. Double brilliant. AND an APS camera with a flip up flash, kind of wanted to try one of those too. I won’t say triple brilliant, but you get the idea.
Anyway I paid the money and took them home to try. Out of those cameras only two didn’t work and neither were the ones I wanted. Looking at my camera post list I definitely have enough cameras to try for a while and enough to head to a vintage fair again.
Well, I thought I had tried this camera before, but that was the mju version. They are very similar, but apparently this is the cheap version. Both cameras were out at the same time, this one released in 1999. The superzoom was not as pretty, but bit more rugged. You can find some German technical details here.
I really liked the mju version, but I didn’t have much luck with it so I eventually sold it. If this one worked I might keep it…might. Inside was a found film which I finished off while on a bike ride. Why not? The camera is rugged and in its case it fit perfectly in the water holder.
There were only a few shots left on the film, the rest of the shots were fogged. Someone probably opened the film door at some point.
Well, for an expired film these are ok. There isn’t much to the camera for the user, the best feature is the titled “superzoom”. I also liked the addition of the diopter as my eyesight is getting worse with age.
It is a fine camera and a great, cheaper, alternative to the mju version. It is not exactly a heavy duty camera, but it is cheap enough to through around a bit.
I obtained this camera in a pile of point and shoots along with some containing films. The film I tried in this one was a retrieved film. I took it out of a camera that was already on my list, used a screw driver to change the position of the indicator and reloaded it in this camera. The original camera’s counter was set at two exposures and the first two of this film were double exposed quite nicely so that left 23 of the Kodak Advantix Ultra for me 🙂
When I lived in Japan lots of the Canon APS cameras I found where named IXY, now they are Ixus as I am in Europe. They can also be called Elph, this camera from 2000 also has many names. You can find them here along with some extra details here.
It is tiny but feels well built. When you turn it on the flash pops up, but you can turn it off manually. I would say, if you are going to go for a small point and shoot APS camera, then this is a good one to try. Though I am sure the flash is not very powerful so it would be best to use it outside on a nice day.
I took my found film and camera on a trip to Huddersfield. It was my first visit there and I quite liked it, not that I would go back as the train journey back was a real pain but that was not Huddersfield’s fault. I was just unlucky with demonstrations and accidents.
The film didn’t do too bad considering it was left inside the original camera for an undetermined amount of time in undetermined conditions. This camera’s ISO cannot be changed so that did well too. A nice, small camera to keep in a pocket…except I have a few APS cameras of that description so it will be moved along.
This is photo post as I want to show the reader who sent me two rolls of Kodak Advantix 400 black and White APS films a while ago. I was saving my last one for something interesting. Finally I have managed to use it, firstly at Ilkeston’s Heritage Fair. Then I finished the roll at Castle Howard where Country File was being held.
I put the film in my Canon ix7, which I feel is the best APS camera I own. I loved the results from this film.
Ilkeston
Castle Howard
As far as APS goes, these two rolls are probably the most successful. I think the grain and the monochrome really adds to the subjects. I really appreciated the chance to try it.
Thank you so much for the gift.
Well school has started in some areas, not in others. Either way it is highly unlikely a supply teacher gets a job on the first day and I did not, so I am at a loose end. That being the case, why not experiment?
I read this article recently and found it very interesting. I thought why not try it, so I did. I won’t go into the technical details as the original article has all that and the history of DX coding, read that post.
The article gives a link to a template which I downloaded. To alter the codes I had to delete the frame around the codes then the tables and texts become more easily editable. Plus as I wasn’t using labels the frames did not matter to me. I made my own page of a variety of different codes and also added a code for the +1 and -1 exposure rating because I could.
Next I found a test film to glue it on, meaning I just use the film to test the loading functions of cameras without wasting an actual film.
So the camera should show 400??
OK, so now for the actual film I want to try. An expired one I found in a point and shoot purchase. Recently I have acquired lots of point and shoots, so this hack will be very useful in trying out those cameras. Only….the first film I chose was a 200 and I set it to 50.
I tested it in a Canon EOS 300 before putting it in a point and shoot as they sometimes do not let you know the film speed on the display panel. Once I knew it was working I had to pick a camera, and there was the rub. Many point and shoot cameras have a limited ISO range. The first one I picked up was a Yashica Zoomate 70. As you can see from the photo below, the DX contacts were not a complete set of 6. On checking I found it only recognised films from 100 ISO. Hmm…
I had a look through the cameras I obtained and checked the contact points. The Pentax 738 had more than the Yashica and I found it accepted films starting from 25 ISO. Perfect.
So I put the film in there. Now you will have to wait for the results 🙂
Continuing with the photo posts, I have tried my pinhole cameras again. This time with Svema 125 film from around 1990. The first camera I reused was the Ondu. Each of these were exposed for 2 minutes, on a tripod of course. The film was developed with ilfosol 3 as that is all I have right now. I presoaked the film for 5 minutes, then developed for 14 minutes at 20 degrees. I found that over developed the film, so will try 10 minutes next time. I used water and a few drops of vinegar as a stop bath, then fixed it in the regular way.
The photos are very grainy. I have a love/hate relationship with this pinhole camera. I think the actual camera is beautiful, but am struggling to love the images it produces. The one where I shot straight into the sun had a black hole where the sun was, I deleted that so the rays would be more of a focus.
The next camera, and only other pinhole I tried was the Diana F+, the multi functioning toy camera. I mainly stuck with the 2 minute exposures except the ones inside. One of them is 4 hours long. Now to be fair, I screwed this film up royally. I HIGHLY do NOT recommend trying to thread an old film onto a developing roll in a dark bag when it is hot and humid. I just could not get it to go on. It just kept getting stuck, bending and I was touching it all over the place. I did not have fun!
But you can see the Diana is not as sharp as the Ondu. And if I do bother with Pinholes again that is the camera I will choose. But why, it is just not my thing. I would prefer to put the film in the Kiev 88 or another medium format camera.
I hope my next post has much sharper photos 🙂
Just when I said I would scaling down the camera reviews on this site, I go and get a bulk load of point and shoots!
I saw them on Facebook Marketplace, which seems to be the place to get a few bargains these days. No selling fees, no paypal fees, bargains galore, maybe.
Anyway I saw an advert for 16 point and shoot cameras untested, but some of them were Olympus, Nikon, Canon etc. So I thought why not.
I went along to check them out and most of them had batteries inside, only one had any kind of corrosion. Six had films inside, two of those were APS.
In the end this is the list of cameras I picked up for £30. Nearly all have cases.
Tried before -seem to be working
Canon Ixus M-1 – APS (film inside, I removed it)
Olympus Mju Zoom 140 (tried before, but this had a film inside so will test as I liked it)
Untried with film Inside – seem to be working
Canon Ixus Z50 – (APS, I put the M-1 film in this one)
Canon Sureshot AF-7
Chinon 35F-EE
Minolta Vectis 20 – APS
Nova dx-5 (seems like a toy camera)
Olympus Superzoom 140S (film inside)
Pentax Espio 738 G (The S and G seem to have the same specs but look different)
Pentax Espio 738 S
Pentax zoom 70-R (film inside)
Ricoh FF-9
Yashica Zoomate 70
Not working – tip material
Canon Ixus Z70 – aps (had a film, able to retrieve)
Nikon AF200
Nikon TWzoom 85
Olympus AZ-300 Superzoom
So not bad really. I get to try 13 cameras with 2 APS films. So about £2 each. The person selling them had found them by hunting the car boot sales. So in terms of time and petrol saved, that makes it even more of a bargain.
