I thought I might try some color film and was shocked at the prices of color film and processing. Looking around I did find a place with some inexpensive film at $5.76 a roll it is a bargain compared to most color film. Fujifilm 200 35mm | Bay Photo Film I ordered five rolls for a which came out to $7,27 a roll including tax and shipping.
The last couple of years I become bored with photography. Too much the same stuff the same look.
Last year I decided I wanted to shoot film, again and took trips to Colonial Beach to take photos. That kind of fizzled out too much traveling. Too much other stuff going on.
I am hoping the 365 Project for 2024 will motivate me to photograph more. I am changing the way I photograph.
365 Project for 2024
Plan (the plan is still evolving):
Half frame cameras only
Portrait format only
Photos to be in diptych format
Minimum one diptych each day
Photos of something in my life
I bought two half frame 35mm cameras that are point and shoot. These cameras have one f stop, one shutter speed and no focus. One meter minimum focus distance. This reduces photography to the essentials. Since these are half frame cameras you get two exposures in the same space as one 35mm negative (hence half frame). I intend to try and make as many diptychs as possible using adjacent exposures on the film. Also, I plan to use only the portrait format no landscape pictures. I intend to try to make at least one diptych every day. I also have a Olympus Pen EES that may or may not work. I will have to try it and see.
Diptych of store window in downtown Fredericksburg.
The two cameras are the Kodak Ektar H35N and the Corex CHI. I have put one roll through each. I am not sure who makes the Corex but I see several cameras on the market that look just like it and have specs that seem to match up. Someone is making them for different companies. I will do a review of each camera in the future.
Originally, I planned to use Ilford HP5+. I exposed one roll in the Corex under cloudy bright conditions and it seemed a little over exposed. Really bright days or beach scenes would probably be over exposed. I ordered some Fomapan 200 and plan to shoot HP5+ in the Kodak indoors and outside cloudy conditions and Fomapan 200 in the Corex under bright sunny conditions. I plan to try some Arista 100 in the Pen EEs as the meter does not work but it has adjustable f stops to control exposure.
If you are considering getting or using a 4x5 camera. Matt Marrash's youtube channel is a good place to start and in my opinion of the best. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnNpToTfpj8
I started out shooting 120 film, after the pandemic started, I shifted to shooting 4x5 and pinhole cameras. During the shutdown I built one 2 2/4 by 3 1/4, two 4x5 pinhole and one 8x10 pinhole camera. All the cameras are a box built from foam core sized to accept sheet film holders. I used laser cut pinholes in the cameras that I purchased on ebay. The 8x10 has been my favorite. I use Arista.EDU Grade 2 photo paper for the negatives. The 8x10 is a bit slower than the 4x5's, but, it creates magnificent 8x10 negatives and prints when I do my part. I even thought about buying a 8x10 camera, but, everything about 8x10 is expensive. The 8x10 pinhole camera and 8x10 paper negatives will have to do. I printed a lot more in the darkroom than previous years. I sold a lot of unused cameras and gear. The funds from the camera sales funded a new Intrepid 4x5 camera. I started shooting shooting paper negatives in my lensed 4x5 cameras. I completed a long thought about photography project, Elephant Rocks.