The ramblings of a Professional Entertainment Press & Editorial Photographer using Fujiflim Cameras & working mobile.
Says the header…. so here is yet another post where I go totally away from all of those possible subjects.
Regular readers will know (most of) the (Fujifilm) cameras I use for work. In addition to these I also own 4 film cameras. (one is missing from this photo).
- Wide‑Angle Rolleiflex or Rolleiwide
- Bronica ETRS
- Olympus OM-10 (with manual adapter)
- Olympus Trip 35
Maybe it was the run up to this year’s significant birthday, maybe it was something else. I’m unsure of the trigger, but I decided in July to shoot more film.
As the last film I shot was 2020, the first stage was to look over all the cameras to check they were still ok. Despite not shooting film for 6 years, the top shelf of the fridge still had a few unused rolls stored. I also found an unfinished roll of 35mm Jessops colour film in the 35mm film back for the Bronica so this was where I started, making test images at home.
Whilst I was waiting for that film to return from Analog Wonderland (great service, very happy with the scans – but very slow turn-around), I grabbed an old Agfa Vista 200 35mm from the fridge, loaded it into the OM-10 and took it to WOMAD.
The final image in the above block was a film-roll finisher and along with the blurry sunflower (too slow a shutter speed in the breeze) are my favorites of the roll.
With the Bronica test film back, confirming all was working ok, it was this (bulky beast) that I decided to take (along with 2 film backs) on a birthday trip to Jamacia.
The backs were loaded with Kodak Portra 160 & Ilford FP4. Only the Portra has been developed so far..
The first image in the above block was a film-roll finisher and one of my favorites of the roll. The Sunsets although corny were a proof to self that I can judge the exposure to get it as I want. The final image? Well I do not know what caused that, some kind of wind-on “fun”.
The Rolleiflex; A model 1, one of approx 3500 made in the early 60’s (so older than me), was all a bit stiff so, instead of loading a film straight away, I took it in to Aperture for a clean, lubricate and adjustment.
The fascinating thing to get my head around (quickly) was the lack of information. Only the Olympus and Bronica have light meters and on these, the only information offered is the shutter speed that needs to be used to obtain the “correct” exposure (and of course at this point, having been a long tine since I had used either of these cameras, I need to understand how these cameras expose compared to how I see the final image.
My focusing on the Bronica has not been so “on point” as the Olympus, mainly I think, due to the plain focusing screen I have fitted at the moment. I do also have a screen with micro-prisims but its a bit scratched and I found it annoying (although it obviously has no bearing on the final images).
The other noticeable of the 2 medium format cameras is how I am struggling with the total lack of muscle memory, missing the shutter button many times when trying to shoot.
The only real failure so far has been the Minolta light meter, which not only eats batteries but it totally failed in the humidity of Jamaica (its working now we have returned).
At the time of writing, I am still waiting for the first scans back from the Rolleiflex (I loaded a roll of FP4 and used at a Premiere and Frightfest). I will post these (if I am happy with them) once they are back.
I am not sure the reason for picking these cameras up and shooting with them again, hopefully I will use them more and more.
Maybe it was the significant birthday triggering me back to my youth, when I first started photography on a simple Practika MTL-3.
Maybe it is just the desire to slow down when I am making images away from work; to get away from the instinctive fast image making to a more considered flow.
If you are interested to see how this progresses, I have started (yet another) instagram account just for the analogue work: @edwards_film
More soon .
Julie Edwards-X 
My experience with those specific models suggests a significant difference in visual interpretation. A single exposure setting does not always translate to the desired result.
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Of course. And the key is to quickly get a grip on how each camera or light meter performs so that my interpretation becomes instinct allowing me to get the results I want in each case. Of course 30 years ago when I only had a single film camera it was fairly easy because you knew how it performed but when you are using three different cameras which will behave differently, dialling myself in is becoming a little bit tricky, especially as I’m older now. I guess there are people that will make notes after taking each roll of film or maybe after even each shot of how it was metered and what the settings were, but I’m not that sort of person it’s all got to be on instinct.
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