2015 Film Update

Feature General

Happy New Year, my dear readers. I was just folding laundry last Sunday and now I thought it’s Thursday again already, and the first week of 2016 has already past us by. Seriously, where are all the time that we have go?

As the title suggests this entry is about the previous year’s film photography status. Last week K and I attended a local film photography photowalk and the question “how many rolls did you shoot last year?” came up. As I only started utilizing Google Keep in the middle of the year to keep track of my film usage I wasn’t able to remember all. I went back to my EHD to count my folders as I already backed up last year’s files to make space for this year’s. So here’s the complete list, including the cameras I used to shoot them:

Diana F+
Kodak Portra 400 VC
Lomography 200 Xpro Chrome
Kodak Ektar 100 (x2)
Kodak Ektachrome 64T

Belair Globetrotter
Lomography CN100
Kodak Ektachrome EPN100
Lomography 200 Xpro Chrome

Fisheye 2 Shiawase
Ferrania Solaris 200

Instax
Mini 20 – 1 pack
Mini 55 – 1 pack
Mini Neo 90 – 12 packs
Instax Hello Kitty – 3 packs
Instax Wide – 2 packs

Horizon Kompakt
Fuji Superia 400

Juice Box Camera
Easypix 400

Kyocera Samurai X3.0
Solid Gold 200

LC-Wide
DNP Centuria 400

Nikon F100
Fuji Superia 400
Ferrania Solaris 100

Olympus mju II
Ferrania Solaris 200
DNP Centuria 400

Olympus 35 SP
Ferrania Solaris 100

Nikon FM2n
Ferrania Solaris 100
DNP Centuria 200
Cinefilm 50
Fuji Pro400H
Fuji Superia 400
Kodak Portra 400

Olympus XA2
Kodak Portra 400

Polaroid Land 420
Fuji Pack Films – 3 packs

Polaroid SX70
Impossible Project – 1 pack

Rolleiflex 2.8E
Kodak Ektar 100 (x2)
Kodak Portra 400
Lomography Earl Grey 400
Ilford HP5 Plus

Konica Big Mini HG 300
Kodak Profoto 100

Konica AA35
Ferrania Solaris 400

Pentax ME-F
Easypix 400

Yashica A
Kodak Ektar 100
Kodak Portra 400

Yashica T4
Fuji Superia 400

So adding it together I shot 36 rolls of film and 23 packs of instant film, so 59. That’s pretty good if you ask me. I am also surprised by the amount of pack films I shot. Including the instant films used on our wedding guestbook I am guessing I had around 40 packs used. 2015 was my instax year, and will continue to do so since I am in love with the format.

Moving to Toronto meant I need to find a new lab to process my C41s. K recommended Downtown Camera and that is where we’ve been sending our films since. K has also taken the task of developing my black and white films although I haven’t shot a lot of them last year.

You may have noticed that there are a various of random cameras I used last year. I ended up a) rummaging through my camera boxes and pulled out a few cameras and b) doing some test runs on new to us cameras purchased by my husband.

In regards with (a) I found that K has a habit of leaving film inside his cameras so it happened that the cameras I wanted to borrow from him are out of commission. I wasn’t able to avoid not going through my boxes because of this. In regards with (b), I am meaning to do reviews on these on my YT channel soon. I keep saying it but I keep putting it off. I just have to make time again for those.

I also started collecting Instax Minis and I am pretty much done acquiring the older, discontinued units. I am just looking forward to get my hands on the newer ones (Mini 25, Mini 55 Piano Black, Mini 8, and Mini 70) later on.

For 2016 I already put back majority of my cameras back in their boxes. This year I intend to use just a couple of film cameras: Nikon F100, Yashica T4, Instax Mini 90 Neo Classic, and Rolleiflex 2.8E. We’re actually out of space in our room so it would be best to minimize the number of cameras unpacked to avoid clutter. Or I might swap the F100 with my FM2n, but that all depends on my mood (also I really enjoyed using my cable release shutter, so that gives me more opportunities for shots of myself and my husband together).