User:Livestockgeorge

I'm George Parkins, and in the last year or so I've gotten into film photography, especially medium-format. I very much like the sensation of shooting with a fixed-focus, fixed-exposure medium-format camera and still getting better results than a small-format with AE and autofocus. I re-spool modern 120 onto 620 spools, with mixed to positive results. My list of 620 cameras is pretty huge, thanks to the frequency with which they come up at thrift-stores for five and six dollars.

My opinion is that roll-film is a perfect invention, one of those things that do not become obsolete merely because more advanced options are available. Bicycles did not make walking obsolete and motorcycles didn't make bicycles obsolete. Digital may be more practical for most applications, but film is a better artistic medium, and roll-film holds a special place in my heart as a solid, straight-forward piece of 19th/20th century engineering. No sprocket holes wasting film space, a built-in frame counter, no cumbersome cassette to open before developing... it's perfect for what it does. Plus, there's something about the feel of a roll of 620 with the metal core.

I'm also into stereo photography, but I doubt I'll ever invest in a nicer 3d camera than my shitty old Delta Stereo, which has more than a handful of design flaws, in my opinion.

I develop some of my own color film with a daylight tank, but I'm still getting all the kinks out of it. I ruined my first batch of chemicals because I accidentally poured the fixer back into the bottle of the developer, due to not maintaining an organized space. I'm considering a better daylight tank, because the "Yankee Clipper II" leaks something awful, and I don't like wasting the chemicals. I like putting fixer down my kitchen sink even less, in fact; it's not good for the septic field.

Cameras I Own:

• 135:
  • Canon AE-1 -- my baby, at least as far as small format goes. I love the physical-needle-style meter. I only wish it could take an action grip like the...
  • Canon AE-1P -- a hand-me down from Mom! While I don't love the LED meter, I must admit that it's a better all-around camera in many ways.
  • Canon EOS 650 -- which I got out of an optometrist's automatic camera machine in a dumpster, in perfect shape.
  • Delta Stereo -- funny story about this, but I doubt the man who sold it to me wants me to tell you. It leaks light badly and any ASA above 200 tops is useless in daylight with that slow shutter, but it's still such a cool format.
  • Asahi Pentax Spotmatic -- I'm repairing this one, my first venture into focal-plane shutter repair. I got it for $20 at a thrift-store in New Orleans.
  • Argus C3 -- God, this is just the cutest thing. I've wanted one forever. Mine is a 1948 model (or something close), with a blue filter in the rangefinder, ASA-type film reminder and no "Argus" badge. It works pretty well, now that I've calibrated the rangefinder. I could imagine this being my main shooting camera. I'd miss sharp lenses like my FD's, but mostly I'd miss having a DoF calculator. Eventually I'll get the 135mm and 28mm lenses. Bought for $20.

• 620:
  • Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash -- My very first camera, though I've since gotten one that works better, and my original has fallen apart.
  • Kodak Brownie Bull's-Eye Flash (black model) -- The Hawkeye's big brother. You can see one identical to mine being used to photograph the dictator in "In the Time of the Butterflies," believe it or not. That movie is hard to watch, though. Bought for eight dollars.
  • Kodak Tourist (Kodet Lens, fixed focus) -- with a complete flash setup, no less. It looks like a miniature press camera with the flashgun mounted, and the gun makes such a nice action grip. Bought for seven dollars.
  • Imperial Reflex 620 Duo Lens -- Lee Harvey Oswald's camera, but also a very functional box camera. Bought for five dollars.
  • Argoflex EF -- Problematic. The lens gearing is partially stripped, so it tends to lose calibration and it's a pain to collimate.
  • Kodak Medalist II -- I just bought this. It has a fault with the DoF calculator, which seems to have been repaired once already, but otherwise everything works, including the automatic frame spacing (though this can be temperamental. The shutter is as crisp and accurate as the day it rolled off the assembly line.

• 120:
  • Diana (Original)
  • Diana Plus (missing the mask for 4x4) -- both gifts from Mom long ago.

• Instant:
  • Some variant of the Polaroid Onestep Flash. They made too many different models, man. I don't shoot on this one regularly because it's literally $2.50 a shot and the color response is shitty. Still, I made one perfect shot on it, long ago on a foggy day.

Cameras I lust after:

• Kodak Retina Reflex -- I almost bought one at a thrift-store once and I've regretted missing the chance ever since.
• Horizont (Original)
• View-Master Stereo Color -- This would give me even more troubles with developing and printing (what with the tiny staggered frames), but it's so cool.
• View-Master Personal
• Olympus Pen F -- What can I say? It's a cool little SLR and it's adorable.
• EOS 3: While I'm not huge on autofocus (or plastic SLR's, for that matter,) the idea of eye-controlled AF is pretty cool.