Testing the Canon Sure Shot AF-7 in Chongqing

This post is Part 2 of a test run did of an old film camera I bought.

✪ Read Part 1 of 2 here.

Most of the background information is in those two posts I just linked, although I can mention a couple of things again:

The camera, a Canon Sure Shot AF-7, was loaded with Kodak ColorPlus.

The images are very, very minimally cropped, if at all. I wanted to preserve imperfections at the edges of the frames and also keep a consistent feel to the set.

I felt too much cropping make some images seem like they were shot at a different focal length, which I didn’t want here. Some will be cropped for Instagram, however, because nobody on there cares.

The images were shot in Chongqing, China, at a local square.

One thing I did notice in the images — despite doing all I can to keep a consistency through the set — was an inconsistency in the textures in some of them.

I have no idea why this is.

Some came out far grainier or even blockier than others, while some, like the basketball one below, were far softer and more dream-like.

Maybe because it’s a little out of focus…

Now here’s an imperfection for you in this one (above).

Had I been shooting digital I would have definitely tried to get another shot without the cable bisecting the lady’s face.

It can’t be helped now.

The chap in the final image was clearly happy to be having his photo taken, and the fact that he noticed me doing it brings up another thing I realized about shooting with a film camera.

When I use the Sony NEX, there’s no viewfinder so I’m often holding it at chest height while shooting. This makes it (and me) more inconspicuous, and having an unlimited number of shots means I can take more of them, more quickly, and delete the ones I don’t want.

Using a film camera with a viewfinder made me conspicuous and slow by making me put it to my eye and really thinking about the frame.

Hence the guy clocked me. I like his message though.

Peace out.