Comments, Page 39

Thank you for your input and suggestions.

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…

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…

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…

A new hand-held large format camera is “coming soon.”

I saw a video this week on YouTube about a 4x5 film camera explicitly designed to be carried and used without a tripod. It uses a mirror and a ground glass for top-down focusing and weighs “just over 2kg.”

This 3D-printed camera also comes with a unique focusing screen mask designed to host a mobile phone for immediately capturing the ground glass output on your digital device. While that may seem unusual and unnecessary at first, from what I understand, it’s…

Chemvert is a new stand-alone, subscription-free scanning software for macOS, compatible with all major scanners and digital camera RAW formats.

This weekend, I got to try Chemlooks’ 163MB software demo with my Nikon Coolscan TIFF scans.

The most impressive part of this app is that, unlike NLP, it doesn’t need any Adobe product to work. It is entirely stand-alone, and it’s possible to complete the inversion and do the most necessary adjustments right there.

Chemvert costs $89.99 as a one-time payment and…

Thanks a lot! I’ll look into it. As for B&W, Delta 3200 would certainly be a safe bet, and it’s not that bad price-wise, but pushing HP5 (and Tri-X, thanks!) sounds like it’s worth trying too. As for colour, I might consider pushing Ultramax but I’ll keep in mind what you say. Unfortunately, all the native ISO800 films are too expensive for me to use more often than once in a blue moon, but as it happens, I’ve recently discovered here in Poland a “homemade Cinestill” making project, so I’ll probably try out…

HP5+ is loved by many because of its ability to handle pushes. But Tri-X shouldn’t be ignored either, it’s a good film for that. This year, Tri-X dropped in price considerably, so it may be an economical option.

I haven’t pushed Ultramax previously. If you develop at a lab, it may be actually cheaper for you to get something like CineStill 800T and develop at box speed or push one stop (since labs often charge per stop pushed). I’ve had good luck pushing Pro Image 100 to 400 (which may be a similar experience…

Buyer’s remorse about the modern film cameras is beginning to cut through the hype.

I’d like to preface this by saying that there’s nothing wrong with being excited about new products. I take a positive approach to most products I review because I love film photography, I understand production constraints in 2024, and I do not expect perfection.

However, it must be difficult to be critical of a relatively expensive gadget that one gets and has limited time to play with. This is also fine. I am not happy about…