The disappointment part 2

hope this is the last part

A few weeks ago I posted an article about my disappointment regarding the focusing of my Ricoh FF-8WR fully automatic camera. If you want, you can read it here:

This is the follow-up of that article. In my first attempt of keeping a visual diary, I used the Ricoh camera loaded with a Kodak plus-x 125px film, a film that can’t be find anymore. The results were a disappointment to me but being a good guy, I said I’ll give the camera another chance. Everybody deserves a second chance, right? So are the cameras. Ok, my thoughts: first time I used an expired film with low ISO, this time I will use a faster film, in date. So I loaded a HP5 as I have a good stock of them. By the way, HP5 is made by Ilford and has a 400 ISO. In theory, a higher ISO should not give a better focusing. Anyway, the camera is an automatic one so the ISO doesn’t matter. Yes, a higher ISO can help achieve a faster shutter speed and therefore less shaking but should not affect the focus.

And it didn’t - the results were similar as you can see in the following photos.

All I can say at the moment is that the Ricoh camera is resting on the shelf. Susanne suggested to use the camera but change the mindset which is a great idea (Thank you, Susanne!) but not now.

Also, in the previous article I mentioned that I went to a car boot sale and I picked-up an Olympia camera. Taiwan made, fully plastic, the Olympia Big Royal View looked like a good choice to follow the Ricoh. It looked like it, doesn’t mean it was one. Loaded the Olympia with a Delta 400 film and I managed to shoot 4 frames out of 36. After 4 frames the motor of the camera got stuck. It wouldn’t go either forward nor backwards. Not even when I change the batteries. Stuck! Managed to transform the bathroom into a complete darkroom, open the back of the camera an manually (don’t ask me how!) removed the film. And after that, camera start working again! Crap!

Brought the film to the lab without to many expectations. When I went to collect it, Dan at the lab went:

“Man, I feel sorry for you”

“Is it that bad?” I asked

“Well, … errrr … I let you decide that” , said Dan trying to be polite and supportive.

“Dan, don’t worry! It was just an experiment, I’m ok with whatever comes out”

He just smiled.

Now I know why. This is why

The forth image is not an image, is something unreadable. It doesn’t even go into abstract category.

Needless to say that the Olympia was an experiment that won’t happen again. The camera will sit on the shelf for a long time.

The good news is that I didn’t stop the visual diary. Being disappointed with the results of the film cameras I choose a digital camera (a very small camera that used to be mounted on my bicycle when I had one) until I’ll go back to one of my trustworthy old German film cameras. I’ll keep you posted.