A new film scanning project, several new film cameras, and some news about Kodak and Lucky colour films surfaced recently.
Something happened at home, and I couldn’t write about any of these projects in time; this video summarizes all of the above, plus the sad news of the Epson flatbed scanner line discontinuation:
Restoring old tech is a lot of fun! I wouldn’t be able to run this blog if I didn’t know at least a little bit about doing this kind of work. Honestly, I’m amazed at how long some of our tools can last. We really ought to repair more and buy less.
From what I’ve heard recently, you’ll be better off taking all your film to Japan, as all colour is priced highly there. That said, I’d probably pick something ISO 200-400 or maybe even Portra 800, as that would make shooting zone-focusing cameras much easier, if you’re still considering that!
It was only recently that I read about Selenium cell deterioration, specifically relating to the professional Weston Euromaster meters. There are a few experts who can replace the cells and recalibrate the Weston meters. It not cheap in the U.K. at $US 230+ but after doing the repair a Weston will probably last another 40-50yrs! Of course a refurbished meter costs about the same as the repairs, so it’s more about gear continuity in a family.
I’m looking at getting my 1970s Weston refurbished to use with my father’s Voigtlander 6x6 fold out clockwork camera that he bought when based in Singapore in the early 1950s.
I’ll need to use some leather conditioner on the bellows of that camera. In its superb brown leather case it looks immaculate.
Dad is 91. He bought the camera when he was 19. It would be great to take his portrait on it. I guess I could use my DSLR to ensure accurate metering.
You’ve solved my dilemma on which stock to take on a holiday to Japan. It doesn’t matter. You’ve also part explained why film is so expensive in Japan…it’s all imported.
After having my beloved Practika L stolen in the very early 1980s, I bought one of these excellent pocket cameras. It went everywhere with me taking really sharp photos of my young son (from 3 to about 10), my beautiful and classy new girlfriend in 1986 (we were married in 1990 and still are) and my lovely mum (she is no longer with us for the past 3 yrs).
If you understand depth of field, hence zone focus, it’s really easy to use. My standard approach for holiday shot was to try and shoot and f5.6 (sharpest performance) or f8 then set infinity at one extreme of the engraved DOF markers then try and ensure no on walked into the closer distance. At f8 this is about 10 ft.
It’s been all over Europe, Malaysia, America and was my pride and joy until I got my first Canon EF 600, then my EOS1 and onward into Canon DSLR and M series.
In the 1990s I did get a Fuji DL mini for its great lens and autofocus speed, plus wider angle view.
Indeed, Gold and ColorPlus are nearly identical, though I think I saw some minute differences when I compared them a couple of years back: analog.cafe/r/kodak-gold-v…
Great compatison, thank you very much. I shot both films this year (but did not make exact comparison) and agree that the differences (if any) are totally negligible. To me, also gold and colorplus appear nearly identical in general shooting.
Jason used Negative Lab Pro to invert his scans with some editing after the fact. While that makes it harder to compare its colours to other films, it appears to have a great dynamic range and good grain control.
This camera made waves last year as a handheld large-format SLR that could accept peel-apart film, Instax film, medium-format film, and even offered its gigantic top-down finder as a way to create optical bokeh on a smartphone camera. (I wrote about it briefly, here: analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…).
The Verge (Andru) reviewed two new cassette players and a CD player, all of which were made with high-quality materials and featured modern circuitry and software.
This new technology shows familiar parallels to modern film cameras, all of which show the same drawbacks:
Consider Minolta TC-1 (analog.cafe/r/minolta-tc-1…), the world’s smallest full-frame camera. Yes, it’s smaller than the smallest full-frame digital camera in 2025, and it’s made with a titanium shell. Compared to the top-of-the-line iPhone, which features the thinnest titanium coating on its edges you can imagine, TC-1 is more valuable. Could Ricoh have achieved this level of quality, design, and performance on the same production line that their Pentax 17 (analog.cafe/comments/ssin) was manufactured on? Absolutely not.
Harman Phoenix is the newest colour-negative film on the market from a factory that isn’t Kodak. Made by the same company that sells the famous Ilford black-and-white film, Phoenix is their massive investment into a medium they haven’t worked on since the 1960s.
Harman Phoenix II features substantial upgrades to the dynamic range/contrast, grain, and colour over the original.
Since I published the original review, I’ve shot many more rolls of the old and the new Phoenix, staged a few experiments with that film (like turning it into slides), and compared it to other emulsions.
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