It’s been a little while since my last post (I’m a slacker I know), but I have been out shooting a fair bit with the wheelchair camera mount, and I thought I would share some of what I have done. So far, I have shot up nearly 10 rolls of film (that is a lot for me in a month), using 4 different cameras. I was even able to shoot a roll of 620 film using my 70+ year old Kodak Medalist II, and even got to see through the viewfinder/rangefinder without using a tripod. With a little assistance, I am able to shoot a lot more photos, a lot quicker, and with a lot less effort than usual.

Here are some of the photos I’ve made recently using the camera mount.

 

Pentax 645N
SMC Pentax-FA 645 45-85mm f/4.5
Expired Kodak Portra 400VC

Pentax 645N
SMC Pentax-FA 645 45-85mm f/4.5
Expired Kodak Portra 400VC

Pentax Z-1p
SMC Pentax-FAJ 18-35mm f/4-5.6
Expired Kirkland (Agfa) Color 400

Pentax Z-1p
SMC Pentax-FAJ 18-35mm f/4-5.6
Expired Kirkland (Agfa) Color 400

Kodak Medalist II
Ektar 100/3.5
Expired Kodak Pro 100

Kodak Medalist II
Ektar 100/3.5
Expired Kodak Pro 100

Pentax Z-1p
SMC Pentax-FAJ 18-35mm f/4-5.6
Lomo F²/400 Color Film

Pentax Z-1p
SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5
Lomo F²/400 Color Film

Pentax SF10
SMC Pentax-FA 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6
Expired Fuji Superia X-TRA 400

Pentax SF10
SMC Pentax-FA 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6
Expired Fuji Superia X-TRA 400

Pentax Z-1p
SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5
Kodak Portra 400

Pentax Z-1p
SMC Pentax-FAJ 18-35mm f/4-5.6
Kodak Portra 400

Pentax Z-1p
SMC Pentax-FAJ 18-35mm f/4-5.6
Kodak Portra 400

Pentax 645N
SMC Pentax-FA 645 75/2.8
Kodak Ektar 200

Pentax 645N
SMC Pentax-FA 645 75/2.8
Kodak Ektar 200

Pentax Z-1p
SMC Pentax-F 28/2.8
Lomo F²/400 Color Film

Pentax Z-1p
SMC Pentax-FA 50/1.4
Lomo F²/400 Color Film

A few weekends ago Tiffany, Etta, and I decided to go for a short adventure in Northern California near a town called Weed. Before leaving, we looked up the area on Google Maps and figured out a route that would take us on mainly small back roads. One road in particular I have seen many from the freeway and have often wanted to stop and take a photo of Mt. Shasta. It turned out to a beautiful January day.

I took my Pentax 67 with us, and with Tiffany’s assistance, we made a total of 6 exposures on Kodak Portra 400 with it on the trip. Here they are,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On paper, the Minolta PROD-20’S makes almost no sense. It’s nothing more than a dressed up cheap plastic Point and Shoot camera. Why would anyone pay over $100 for a camera that (internally anyway) is basically identical to the Minolta Freedom 202, a camera that you can probably find in good working condition for under $10. Looking at the specs isn’t exactly exciting either. A slow triplet (?) lens, limited ISO range, and fully automatic flash… who wants that? Is it really worth buying, or is it (as another review called it) just a sheep in wolf’s clothing?

Here’s what it has,

Lens – 35mm/4.5 triplet (some sources say it could be 4 elements in 4 groups)
Shutter – In lens shutter with speeds 1/40s – 1/150s (source unconfirmed)
Film Speed – Crippled DX decoding; films below ISO 400 are exposed as ISO 100, those above as ISO 400. Non-DX films exposed as ISO 100.
Focus – Active infrared autofocus from 0,95 m to infinity.
Finder – Simple bright-line viewfinder. No parallax correction.
Flash – Built-in, automatically activated, no manual override.
Self Timer – Electronic, On or Off.
Film transport – Automatic loading, advance and rewind.
Battery – 1x BR-P2N lithium battery

If you buy a complete original kit, it includes,

Camera
Metal lens cap
Leather bag
Strap
Retro style cardboard box
Assorted paperwork – manuals, etc. I’m not certain on what is all included in the paperwork.

In early 2015, after being intrigued by the PROD-20’S for years, I bought an incomplete kit which only included the camera, lens cap, leather bag, and strap.
After using the camera for almost 2 years, here are my thoughts on it.

The camera looks and feels great. I’ll be quite honest here, as shallow as it may sound, the looks were a pretty major factor in my interest and purchase of the PROD-20’S. The fit and finish is quite good. The top and bottom plates, and the plate around the lens,  are all metal, finished in satin chrome, as is the lens cap. The leatherette is a dark brown faux leather, and any visible plastic is also dark brown. I think the combination of the dark brown and satin chrome looks fantastic. The viewfinder is actually decently sized. To load the battery, the entire bottom plate comes off, reminiscent of old bottom loading rangefinders. With the battery in and film loaded, the camera has enough weight that it doesn’t feel cheap and flimsy. Another reason that I bought this camera, is because it has two proper neck strap lugs. It’s surprisingly difficult to find P&S film cameras with neck strap lugs. Most have a single wrist strap lug, or two lugs on the end of the camera for attaching a shoulder strap. Because of my particular situation and ALS, I can’t really use any camera on my own unless it has a neck strap that holds the camera up horizontally.

It’s about as simple to use camera as there is. Auto film loading (just drop in film, pull leader out over spool, close back), auto exposure, auto focus, auto flash (whenever camera decides ambient light is insufficient), and auto rewind. The only controls on the camera are the shutter button and a self timer switch. The self timer switch looks like an old fashion mechanical lever, but is really just an electronic on/off switch.  User control is really limited to just framing and shooting.

Most serious photographers will tell you that it all comes down to the lens though. Take the Olympus Stylus Epic for example. It is another fully automatic P&S film camera, and it’s almost universally lauded as one of the best P&S cameras money can buy. Most of that fame comes from the superb 35/2.8 lens on the Stylus Epic. Compared to the Olympus, the lens on the PROD-20’S is, quite frankly, terrible. With a maximum aperture of f/4.5, it’s about as slow as P&S cameras get, it is sharp(ish) in the center and not at all sharp in the corners, it has terrible barrel distortion and terrible lateral chromatic aberrations, and it has low contrast, Really not much going for this lens is there? Over the years, I’ve come to realize that there is a big difference between Image Quality and Quality of Image. I think to often people obsess about Image Quality, and lose sight of Quality of Image.  The PROD-20’S is rather unimpressive when it comes to the conventional idea of of image quality, but in my opinion it has loads of character which all add to the quality of image. I like a razor sharp, aberration free lens as much as anyone, but sometimes it’s nice and just plain fun to make images where sharpness isn’t a big part of it.

So, while it may just be a sheep in wolf’s clothing, it looks cool as hell, it’s fun as hell, and I absolutely love the images I get from it.

Here are some of my favorites,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spent part of the afternoon rescanning some expired Kodak Gold 100 that I shot in 2014. I was never really happy with the scans I originally did, and I was hoping I could squeeze a bit more from the film, but for the most part it was just crappy film. Sometimes expired film can be great, sometimes it’s terrible. I got a few decent frames from it though. These were shot using a Canon EOS Elan II  and EF 50/1.8. Scanned on my Epson V750-M using the method in the Articles section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the photographers that I know are into their gear as much (or more) as they are into making photos, and I’m not really any different. Back when I was a carpenter, I learned that there is nothing quite like working with a really well made tool. I’m not talking about a DeWalt circular saw, or a Hitachi nail gun… I’m talking about about using a Stanley Bedrock No. 605 that has been well tuned and razor sharp, or a hand made Japanese chisel that fits so perfectly in your hand that you don’t want to put it down, or a Disston No. 8 handsaw that’s set and sharp and perfectly balanced. For me, using old film cameras has a very similar feeling, so it’s not really surprising that I own some 30+ old cameras, and try to use all of them. A well made camera is sometimes enough inspiration in itself to make me want to go take photos just to use it.

One camera that continues to inspire me that way is my 1960s Zenza Bronica S2 and its Nikkor-P 75mm f/2.8 lens. The camera aside, the Nikkor-P 75/2.8 is reason enough to pick up one of these cameras. It’s a fantastic lens with fantastic rendering, and is one of the best bargains in medium format optics. The camera is also a great camera and usually a great bargain. Competing with names like Hasselblad and Rolleiflex, the early Bronica cameras developed (whether deserved or not) a reputation for being unreliable, so these cameras can usually be found for a song. As for reliability… I doubt the original Bronica was any less reliable than the original Hasselblad, and the later Bronica S2 and S2a and still very good cameras. They are also beautiful cameras. To me, the Bronica S2 is the Dusenberg of cameras. It’s a symphony of chrome and steel, with a touch of Art Deco design. Everything operates with precision and smoothness. The shutter is nearly the loudest I’ve used, but is actually quite smooth still. The Zenza Bronica story is a fascinating story. If you get a chance, google it and read up on it.

Here’s a photo of my Bronica S2,

 

And here are some photos that I’ve made with it,