Lately I’ve tried to focus a lot more on improving my photography rather than harming my wallet and picking up new gear. However, since getting back into photography I have been regaling in the nostalgia of shooting and developing film back in high school (a jaw dropping 20+ years ago). I’ve chatted some with my sister about my desires to shoot film again and she brought my the Canon II-F camera that my great uncle brought back to the states after being briefly stationed in Japan during the Korean War.
Unfortunately that camera had some issues, The lens had drawn moisture and while it appeared to be fungus free it did have a film that needed to be clean. The winding mechanism didn’t work either. I took it to a local camera shop here in the Tampa Bay region. After digging in they determined that it would be a substantial effort and cost to repair. Dismayed, I thanked them for their work and brought it back home and put on my shelf. I mostly forgot about film for a few months at least until the release of the Pentax 17 and the glorious work being done with Pentax’s Film Project.
The Pentax 17 didn’t really appeal to me outside of excitement of a new film camera being released in 2024. However, it did get the gears spinning. After doing some research I decided to pickup a Minolta X-700 with a 50mm f/1.4 lens. This past weekend I was able to finally get out and shoot with it and it was love at second click! The first click would have been instant love but after shooting the Z7ii in full electronic shutter, the sound of the mechanical shutter startled me and I’m sure resulted in an ultra blurry frame. I cannot wait to develop the film and see what I got!