GAS Dear Giary!

But this year has seen a great decline in my photography hobby. The mundane stroll photos, I feel I've already shot all of them once already. It doesn't tickle my creative urge anymore. The more exciting and original stuff like street photography involving human components, I don't find the energy in me to exercise it. I think it could be a strong way to proceed, though.

I start to lack motivation in my strolls to wear the camera. It just gets dragged along in the Billingham. My back aches more -- it doesn't think it's right for it to carry the gear if it just freeloads. (The back doesn't mind the weight if the camera and lenses see action.)

Tomorrow I start for a short Tallinn trip. I'll take the M + 50 Summilux with me, due to favorable weather forecast. Previously it predicted rain and drabness -- I'd have packed the Oly and 12-50 in that case.

I actually think that the upcoming dark season will jolt my energies up somewhat. But my spring and summer has been very quiet photography-wise.
 
mike3996 said:
But this year has seen a great decline in my photography hobby. The mundane stroll photos, I feel I've already shot all of them once already. It doesn't tickle my creative urge anymore. The more exciting and original stuff like street photography involving human components, I don't find the energy in me to exercise it. I think it could be a strong way to proceed, though.

I start to lack motivation in my strolls to wear the camera. It just gets dragged along in the Billingham. My back aches more -- it doesn't think it's right for it to carry the gear if it just freeloads. (The back doesn't mind the weight if the camera and lenses see action.)

Tomorrow I start for a short Tallinn trip. I'll take the M + 50 Summilux with me, due to favorable weather forecast. Previously it predicted rain and drabness -- I'd have packed the Oly and 12-50 in that case.

I actually think that the upcoming dark season will jolt my energies up somewhat. But my spring and summer has been very quiet photography-wise.
Click to expand...
It comes and goes. Just enjoy what you got and photography will again raise the head. And as a bonus, the less practise the more things to find out again. I feel you, I've been quite passive lately on photography. Some pictures made though, during the summer.
 
I've drifted dangerously close to Polaroid photography again. I placed a stupid bid on some expired Polaroid film packs and if I win it, might be necessary for me to get a camera to go with the film packs.

I am not pouring my time into camera research just yet. I know I want a camera that can disable the flash and the camera should hopefully meter accordingly. Long exposures would be cool too, but with this requirement now I'm basically down to Polaroid Now+ or the new I2. (Those expired film packs may all have dead batteries, which would be a nonissue for me with the Now/Now+.)

~

On my autumn survey stroll today I started to think: can the Polaroid experience be emulated with a digital printer? Here's what I would do in this case:

  • Mirrorless camera: perhaps for ease of use
  • Disable pic review and restrain from reviewing them
  • Commit to print every single shot you take
  • Shoot JPEG
  • print everything after the stroll

  • Fuji Instax costs about €1 a shot, Polaroids are €2.
  • A brief survey uncovers: Canon Selphy printer costs about 110 € and a 108-ark paper (4x6") pack with ink costs 33 €. This starts with roughly €1.50 per 4-by-6 picture printed and goes down to €0.33 per pic printed as you go through enough packs.

This grants you many options. Interchangeable lenses, even interchangeable bodies because every digital camera on planet produces JPEG. Because you compose and shoot with this 4-by-6 in mind, it grants you extra options, such as unlimited ISO capabilities and such.
 
mike3996 said:
I've drifted dangerously close to Polaroid photography again. I placed a stupid bid on some expired Polaroid film packs and if I win it, might be necessary for me to get a camera to go with the film packs.
Click to expand...
I am afraid I have to buy the expired film (from 1999) I bid on, but in case somebody snipes me, the Canon Selphy CP1500 looks like a fun thing.

Canon SELPHY CP1500 review | Cameralabs

www.cameralabs.com www.cameralabs.com

According to his review, you don't even need a phone connection to make prints. Just shoot blindly (while committing to print every exposure you take), stick the SD card into the printer and off you go. Format the card after printing. Feel like a polaroid shooter. One day, your Polaroid camera is a Pentax K200D and 21 limited. On the next, it's the Fuji X100.
 
mike3996 said:
I've drifted dangerously close to Polaroid photography again. I placed a stupid bid on some expired Polaroid film packs and if I win it, might be necessary for me to get a camera to go with the film packs.

I am not pouring my time into camera research just yet. I know I want a camera that can disable the flash and the camera should hopefully meter accordingly. Long exposures would be cool too, but with this requirement now I'm basically down to Polaroid Now+ or the new I2. (Those expired film packs may all have dead batteries, which would be a nonissue for me with the Now/Now+.)

~

On my autumn survey stroll today I started to think: can the Polaroid experience be emulated with a digital printer? Here's what I would do in this case:

  • Mirrorless camera: perhaps for ease of use
  • Disable pic review and restrain from reviewing them
  • Commit to print every single shot you take
  • Shoot JPEG
  • print everything after the stroll

  • Fuji Instax costs about €1 a shot, Polaroids are €2.
  • A brief survey uncovers: Canon Selphy printer costs about 110 € and a 108-ark paper (4x6") pack with ink costs 33 €. This starts with roughly €1.50 per 4-by-6 picture printed and goes down to €0.33 per pic printed as you go through enough packs.

This grants you many options. Interchangeable lenses, even interchangeable bodies because every digital camera on planet produces JPEG. Because you compose and shoot with this 4-by-6 in mind, it grants you extra options, such as unlimited ISO capabilities and such.
Click to expand...
Too bad we're in such different locations, as I have a Now+ that hasn't done anything for a while and could be yours for very little! 😁 Postage might not be worth it though.
 
Thank goodness I was outbid! 😅
Now I'm left with a feeling that maybe I should indeed try the Polaroid route? Maybe not with 24-year-old expired 600 film but with a modern setup.

Maybe not now.

The whole Canon Selphy route seems dumb after a night's sleep.


I so wish that MiNT or somebody made fun bodies that took Polaroid film packs.
 
If you want my two cents, Instax is a better/more reliable instant film than Polaroid produces these days, I have only personally used Instax Mini format, but the square and wide formats are compelling. If you can find a camera which shoots them that you're happy with, that is.
 
agentlossing said:
If you want my two cents, Instax is a better/more reliable instant film than Polaroid produces these days, I have only personally used Instax Mini format, but the square and wide formats are compelling. If you can find a camera which shoots them that you're happy with, that is.
Click to expand...
Instax has many positives to its side. The color film has a very glowy Fuji Provia look to it and it's a bit cheaper than Polaroid. And also yes, the film is more reliable.

But Instax just feels so limited. Not just the image area but the ecosystem as well. Sure there are various Instax cameras from Leica to MiNT but what about the film? Just two varieties. I'm not saying Polaroid has huge variety of offerings in this department but imagine if there were several different B&W films and color emulations for offer, not just by Fuji but also say Lomography. Pair that with a MiNT RF70 and you might have a mighty fun tool on your hands... But I am not willing to put down the money for this experiment when just about everyone says they prefer Polaroid to Instax.

Polaroid ran the special yellow & black monochromatic film as a limited series and I think it's the most exciting thing.
 
but here's the thing. Fuji Instax Wide 300 Camera costs 109 €. 100 frames of film (50/50 color and b&w) runs about 109 €. (They don't sell B&W in big 5x10 boxes.) For a 216 € shipped I could run an experiment on the film and then sell the camera if I'm not satisfied. I get the feeling of the film stock and if the B&W stuff looks interesting enough, I could start thinking about a MiNT camera. The Provia style color film I have already shot enough to know it's not super duper exciting to me.

Plus the fact that Instax BW film isn't sold in bulk, is enough to make me angry. :D
 
Last edited:
Fuji Instax Wide 300 doesn't do long exposures so that camera is off the table.

And last night I had a moment of clarity. Insta film photography is basically for people and social life. I really shouldn't but let's see how much film and processing 300 € (100 polaroid frames and camera) buys...

Pretty much actually. Some cheap 90s Nikon camera and off I'd go? Am I ready for this? 🥵

Three rolls of cheapest Ilford, expensive lab development + scanning for the rolls, and an entry level Nikon F camera would run me 125 €. Weird little trial for winter.
 
Last edited:
I have a basic selection of AF(D) lenses: 50mm f/1.4, 85f/1.8, Sigma 70-300 and Zoom Nikkor 28-70.
To complement these I of course have some select Ai lenses: 28mm f/2, Zoom 35~200, series E 75-150.

But I kinda wish I could shoot my 105mm and 135mm Sonnars.

The cheapest checked (to be working) Nikon in the store supports AF and Ai lenses but they seem to be clunky cameras (the notorious F70 with its FAN being the cheapest) and I am not sure if I like shooting matrix meter.

Going full manual with a Nikkormat FTn could basically offer me meterless and batteryless experience for all my lenses starting with preAi and going to the 85mm f/1.8 (it has a surprisingly good, light focus feel).

But really speaking maybe I should enter the world of film slowly, with some trusted AF lenses (50 and 85 makes a good pair any day). I just fear I might be disappointed in some of these cameras that don't have BBF and they don't have a good manual focuser's screens on them.
 
Today is the "last" day to make (rash) decisions but I think I am passing on the film thing for now.

The store has been having a mild sale during this week. Save a couple of bucks, nothing huge here. I'm mildly crippled by the abundance of selection, but only mildly. The big obstacle here is that by now I am familiar with the GAS attack and how buying new stuff doesn't solve the underlying problem of shifting motivations.

Secondly, while I can afford to conduct a relatively cheap film trial, it just doesn't feel right when I haven't secured me a new job yet. Speaking of my job hunt: while I am slightly worried that I've been out of a job for 6 months, it's been a fun rollercoaster so far. The early months were crazy and good things where so close-by. Had very good interviews. Then due to some unfortunate factors the summer months came by and my leads all dried up because of the holiday season. And now that the season is over, the jobs have been rather boring looking. Luckily I have a solid clue about what the prospective employers would love to see in my skill portfolio so I am going to spend time honing those skills (the previous job, we weren't huge on getting into AWS and that's the thing people now want to see). I believe by [the end of] January things will be looking really interesting.

~

Film gear wise, there's intriguing options in the Nikonland for an entry level film body. A plastic cheapo Nikon body that has AF and matrix metering would be a safe place to start but I think I might get frustrated because of their automation and lack of pro features I've come to enjoy in my digital gear. I don't have many AF lenses and these entry-level Nikon bodies are not designed for manual focusing, despite them having the digital rangefinder dot. Then there's the oldschool meterless solid metal Nikons that offer very little in terms of fancy features. But they would offer a solid no-frills experience and a wide lens support (basically, no Ai tab). I basically am not forced to choose one or the other. I could buy them both for a $100.
 
A word of warning about the Canon Selphy devices:

I have a Canon Selphy CP1300. Its prints are... fine. Not spectacular, but not particularly bad, either. My Epson XP8500 inkjet is miles better, however, and not all that much more expensive. However, the major pain point is that driver support for the CP1300 is woeful. Amongst my five computers (old Apple, new Apple, Windows 10, Windows 11, recent Linux), only the Linux box is still able to connect to it. Only one of our phones can connect to it. And prints are really very slow. Still, I like the CP1300 well enough for what it is (when it works).

So about a year ago, I bought the portable Selphy QX10 for Polaroid-sized prints with the same technology. Now that piece of junk is just utter garbage. When it works, its print quality is as adequate as the CP1300. That part is fine. But when I tried to use it in anger, I discovered that the slow prints are a real issue for a portable device, as they chew through that tiny battery in no time at all. I got out six prints before the battery died. Recharging is easy enough, through micro-USB, but super slow. After ten minutes, I got one more print. And you can not print while charging.
And then it died. Dying, in this case, means it reports "empty cartridge", and unspools the entire toner cartridge. All $10 worth of remaining pictures. So I pop in a new one, and it does the same thing. Fun. $20 going up in smoke.
I sent the darn thing in for warranty, waited two weeks for the replacement, and got sent a new one. After a few prints, same story. Eats the cartridge, then another. At this point, it had eaten my entire stash of cartridges, and a good chunk of my sanity, so I threw the thing into the garbage and tried to forget about the entire regretful episode.

Maybe you can completely baby the QX10, always leave it in a clean room on a perfectly level surface, and never touch it. Maybe then it'll keep working. And maybe you only print one or two pictures per charge, and the slow print speeds don't bother you. Maybe other manufacturers are more reliable, even though their mechanism looks completely identical, and is likely licensed from the same OEM. But as it stands, I can not recommend these devices at all. So beware.

For what it's worth, I now use an INSTAX Square printer. It connects via Bluetooth, which works quickly and reliably every time, and without fumbling with device Wifis. Prints are quick, and the battery lasts basically forever. The device seems robust, and has lived through several bumpy backpack vacations. Print quality is somewhat worse than the Selphys, but adequate for what they are. I will note that the sticky backs of the Selphys were cool, and that it's a bit of a shame that you can't cut the INSTAX prints.

Still, the INSTAX system is an easy recommendation. I frequently carry mine on trips, and surprise my co-travelers with instant portrait prints. It's small and light enough to never be a big bother. It really is a cool gadget.
 
Good Monday morning everyone.

I am having quite a bit of moral hangover over here.

Because last night I piled up a small shopping cart over at Kamerastore.com and then threw coin wheter or not I proceed. And of course it was heads. It's always heads.

I ordered the Nikkormat FTn because it's a rock solid camera, loved by many. While not strictly needed for this film experiment, I threw in another copy of the Nikkor-S 50mm 1.4. I already own one Nikkor-SC 50/1.4, but as you may know, my existing copy has a loose element or something. I reckoned a period-appropriate fifty goes very well with the Nikkormat. Besides, this fifty is my favorite for Nikon F mount.

Per my original plans I was planning on shooting 100 frames of film over the winter. I ended up on getting one roll of Kodak Gold 200 and three rolls of the cheapest Ilford Kentmere stuff. Kentmere I am planning on shooting at 1600.

I was very, very close on getting the chemicals for doing development myself. It's not rocket science. But I also ran the numbers, and it would be cheaper to have it developed elsewhere when I am planning on exposing less than 10 rolls of film.
 
The hangover is subsiding. I am left with cautious optimism and also with some worry.

Is this the new whirlwind sinkhole?

Am I going to be looking at sites such as buymorefilm.com and seeing as they offer free shipping for orders above €500, I'm all like "let's ****ing goooo!"

Am I going to be sampling all these funny little films and eagerly waiting to stock up on classic Fujifilm products? (Superia and Velvia)

Am I going to (rightfully) denounce expensive €9000 digital Leica cameras and instead "cheaply" buy me a fully restored Leica M3 after careful GAS period, and then a brand spanking new M6 for much more money as an impulse buy a month later?

Am I going to start selling digital cameras and exchange them for their older analog models in the system (could work for Pentax)?

Am I to start a collection of priced quality point-and-shoot cameras such as the Nikon 28Ti and Ricoh 21GR?

Not just getting into Leica film photography, what about larger formats? Pentax 67 and all that. Once I learn to take my time and start carrying a tripod everywhere I go, it's just another purchase.

Am I going to soon get all those nerdy inside jokes about Rodinal abuse?
 
Rodinal is and will always be the choice of true refinement and panache. I accept no argumentation, thank you and good day.

I find that I myself have a semi-regular swing between analogue and digital. Sometimes I'm really happy to have the relative ease of digital, and the quick access to the images. Other times, I want the process of shooting and developing (and even scanning, boring as that can be) film. It can be tempting to free up time and money by selling off some of one to invest some more in the other, but I don't think that's a good idea in the long run: it just means I cycle through gear that much faster. That was one reason why I chose both the Pentax K-1 II and the MX, so I can share lenses and not be tempted to sell from one format to purchase another. Also, the anchor of lenses helps me avoid thinking too much about giving up one of the bodies and moving to something else (I even had a fleeting thought about the Sony A7c the other day, before I talked myself down for the silliness involved).

There are even times where I really want to be shooting and developing film but have absolutely no time for it. I've been in that boat lately.
 

Similar threads

Alf
    • Like
    • Appreciate
    • Cool
GAS Dear all, what should I want?
Replies
2
Views
461
Alf
Alf
Brownie
    • HaHa
Sony Dear Sony...
Replies
11
Views
504
John King
John King
agentlossing
    • Like
    • Agree
Hot Deals! Ricoh USA Has GRIII Diary Edition In Stock! (Sold Out)
Replies
3
Views
294
agentlossing
agentlossing
Back
Top