New ways to support Analog.Cafe are launching soon for all readers!
This blog hosts over 600 articles and apps, with contributions from more than 120 film photographers — all of which are ad-free. It uses software I built up through its seven years online, and services that transfer over 50GB of image data or 1.3M photographs per month to thousands of daily visitors.
New and avid film photographers rely on Analog.Cafe’s resources daily to advance their hobbies and careers. All this is possible thanks to the generocity of the GOLD members and their monthly contributions.
I understand that reoccuring fees aren’t for everyone. I’ve also come across a few folks asking if they can do more to keep this website going. I appreciate everyone who ever considered helping (thank you!), so I’m gradually rolling out two new ways to contribute:
🔜 One-time donations. You can give as little as $1 anytime — even if you’re an existing subscriber.
🔜 $15/mo GOLD membership tier for folks who are feeling generous and would like to ensure the continued survival of this website.
Along with these options, I’m adding a few behind-the-scene improvements to the security and usability of this website, including an easy way to subscribe and unsubscribe from the monthly member-only newsletters. I’m testing these features with a select group of readers this October — they should be available to everyone by the end of the month.
Crown & Flint, an app for keeping a record of your film exposures with a built-in light meter, has just got a significant update.
I covered this app and its most prominent features earlier this year (here: analog.cafe/comments/uyb3). Today, its founder is adding a few features requested by the community:
- Improvements to the light meter,
- A Quick Shot button for jumping back into the action from anywhere in the app,
- A way to filter and sort your equipment catalogue,
- And fixes to the UX, design, and support for FilmTrackr imports.
Crown + Flint is free to try (you can store data for five frames) and $24.99 for unlimited use.
Speaking of app updates, I’ve been working on a few significant improvements to Analog.Cafe’s GOLD membership experience. I will gradually roll them out over the course of this month, starting with a few select subscribers.
I’m also taking feedback for the Film Log app (analog.cafe/app/film-log), a lightweight, web-only alternative to Crown + Flint. It will also get an update this fall.
Nice! Rokkor lenses are some of my favorites in terms of price for quality. Better yet, the 28mm on Minolta TC-1 is one of the best lenses I ever used in a camera.
Спасибо на добром слове, Дмитрий! Мне недавно повезло купить очень недорого приличную TLR-камеру Минолтафлекс 2 В 120 формата плёнки, в отличном рабочем состоянии, с полным комплектом светофильтров, блендой и крышкой обьективов, в аутентичном кожаном кофре. Поразительно, но это чудо мне стоило чуть менее 160 $ USA! Я отснял пробный B/W фильм в разных условиях и был поражён резкостью, чёткостью и контрастностью объектива Роккор, по схеме Тессар, это в самом деле потрясающее японское качество начала 50-х годов прошлого века! Сейчас в камере плёнка Фуджихром Астиа 100 и я планирую завтра окончить съёмку и проявить её, надеюсь что результаты меня не разочаруют !
Polaroid just made a new special-edition film available at their store: Reclaimed Green.
You may remember last year’s Reclaimed Blue release (analog.cafe/r/polaroid-rec…), which sold out quickly as it was the first emulsion of its kind.
Unlike the Duochrome editions, which are essentially black-and-white films with added dye, Reclaimed Blue is a colour film capable of rendering whites (Duochromes use colour dyes which cover whites of the black-and-white positives, yielding darker images).
Reclaimed Green is nearly identical to Reclaimed Blue in the way it works (including its ability to produce whites), only with a yellow dye added to the formula, which turns it green. However, the resulting effect is lighter than that of Duochrome Green (see analog.cafe/r/polaroid-gre…).
Polaroid Reclaimed Green 600 is available at the web store for $16.99 ($3 cheaper than the regular colour film): polaroid.pxf.io/an3RPZ [affiliate].
You can learn a bit more about this film from the excellent In An Instant channel on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=5sSpVp….
Доброго времени суток Дмитрий! Вчера сделал проявку Е6 четырёх фильмов, в том числе Провия 100 Ф в 120 формате, результаты меня очень обрадовали, чудесная плёнка, приятные и красивые цвета, несмотря на то что плёнка просроченная, обработать до 2007 года. Это мой первый опыт проявки Е6 и работа с форматом 120. К сожалению нет возможности показать здесь снимки, еще не отсканировал. Но уверяю что они достойного качества. Не обошлось и без моих досадных ошибок, наложения кадров, двойной экспозиции… но в целом хорошо получились 9 кадров, из них 5-6 прекрасного качества! Два других фильма Эктахром 100Д, 35 мм, свежие были сняты и проявлены без сучка и задоринки. еще один фильм 120 формата Эктахром 100 ЕРР 2004 года был изначально неисправным, после прояки полупрозрачный с большим чёрным облаком через весь фильм 12 кадров. Но я не расстроен, я готов был что с просроченными фильмами это возможно
It would be interesting to see this one get picked. Lego already has licensing with Kodak, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to see sample rolls of film included. But any set selected to become a product gets tweaked by Lego designers. So I’d love to see an updated shutter mechanism that operates with a simple button press at a fixed speed. Or even some clever way to fine adjust the focus (worm gears?). But this would definitely be a day-one buy for me.
Analog Sparks has announced the winners of their 2024 International Film Photography Awards 🎉!
In its second running year, the competition received over a thousand submissions in eight categories: Architecture, Fine Art, Human, Lifestyle, Nature, Photojournalism, Technique, Zines, and Photobooks. Each submission was judged based on originality, creativity, excellence of execution, and overall impact.
This year’s awards winners will be featured at the Analog Sparks Best of Show Exhibitions in the House of Lucie Galleries in Ostuni, Athens, and Budapest. Cash prizes, up to $2000, were also awarded.
I’m attaching a few more winner photos to this thread below.
The next competition round will open this October, so you have a few days to prepare your work! I’ll post it here once I know the exact date, rules, and entry fees.
I love Alan’s openness and positive attitude towards cheap new cameras, which often undeservingly get flack just because they’re made of plastic. Diana Mini (analog.cafe/r/diana-mini-7…) was an excellent example of such a camera, and Super Sampler was another one that was my entry into the film photography world (analog.cafe/r/lomography-s…). There are others like the Ektar H35N (analog.cafe/r/kodak-ektar-…), which feature a glass and an aspherical element.
FND aimed to make a premium version of a cheap new camera with a metal casing and a quirky autofocus mechanism. Unfortunately, the focusing system did not work out, and the quality of the Nana lens does not appear any more impressive than of the cheap plastic “toy” cameras mentioned above. Worse yet, according to Alan and FND’s blogs, there seems to have been an attempt to circumvent Kickstarter’s TOS with a significant (allegedly ~AU$20,000) “self-pledge” to force the project into fruition. This is a big no-no.
FND is offering refunds to anyone who wishes to withdraw from the project. I’m curious to hear user feedback once Nana, which is admittedly a pretty camera, is in the hands of its backers.
I’ve dedicated a large portion of this article to explaining why sending a camera to the shop isn’t always feasible. I’ve also cautioned the reader against forcing any components into movement. I’ve since added edits to clarify those points.
That said, slow shutter speeds can have various causes, including oil vapour on the blades (which is addressed in another portion of the article, analog.cafe/r/home-film-ca…) and various kinds of oil contamination. Proper re-lubrication may solve these problems, but this procedure is costly, and it comes with additional risks of wear and, as you said, improper lubrication.
I reached the above conclusions based on my experience and extensive research. Following your concerns, I’ve asked around and received similar responses (like this mas.to/@sandehalynch@masto… and this bsky.app/profile/an.empty.…) from people who repaired numerous shutters, including the brands you mentioned.
I repair cameras professionally and I think you should consult with a repair shop for their advice on this article. I do not have time to review it all myself, but there is obviously bad advice in it, for example the advice to use cameras with slow shutters or simply try tripping the shutter many times; if the shutter is slow, there is additional friction somewhere, and if that’s the case, then you’re wearing the parts out much faster than you think. You’re grinding bits of metal off with every cock and release. How do I know? Because I’ve seen enough shutters (and other mechanisms) full of metal dust, and grease loaded full of grit, carving grooves into parts. The service manuals for the great shutters e.g. Compur, Prontor, Copal, all emphasize that the life of an improperly lubricated shutter is expected to be 10x less cycles. The best advice for any old machine is to have a qualified expert examine and service it as needed. Most people wouldn’t even treat a lawn mower the way you’re suggesting to treat a camera!
Jonathan Paragas, or @KingJvpes, recently published a video about his incredible experience finding a Leica M3 at a thrift store for $30.
Jonathan is a San Francisco/Bay Area photographer who’s got over 175K subscribers on YouTube thanks to his popular film camera thrifting videos and content about analogue photography. Of course, there’s more to his fame than just the subjects he picks.
In his recent video, @KingJvpes is seen shaking with excitement after finding a Leica M3 at a thrift store for $30 — a camera that sells for over a thousand dollars on eBay. Though the video had a lot of extra content, I was most impressed with Jonathan’s honesty (he didn’t try to make himself look cool or cut his emotional reaction to such a find from the reel) and his commitment to do the right thing.
Gear theft is a big issue, particularly in the Bay Area (from what I gather online). Which is why Jonathan spent considerable effort to see if his Leica find was lost or stolen before adding it to his collection permanently. But after months of scouring the internet, he determined that it isn’t (besides, why sell it at a thrift store if it could fetch a lot more on eBay?)
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