User:Livestockgeorge

I'm George Parkins, bartender, amateur writer and vine-dresser. In the last year and a half 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 paper-backed 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. Still, I lust after both the Kodak Stereo and the Stereo Realist, and I've recently run another roll of low-ASA B/W film through it that I've yet to develop. I have an affection for it as my first 35mm, if nothing else.

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 stop 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.

I have experimented with Caffenol, an alternative developer based on instant coffee and washing soda. For low-ASA B/W films it's an okay developer that's dirt-cheap, but it tends to fog any fast film at or above 400 ASA. Soon I'm going to try the version with vitamin C powder. My experiments are hampered by the fact that I don't own a film scanner, so I still have to pay someone else to get my pictures printed or on disc.

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. I need to get the mirror brake looked at, as it does have the Canon squeal.
  • Canon EOS 650 -- which I got out of an optometrist's automatic camera machine in a dumpster, in perfect shape but missing the grip. In many ways this is my most technically capable camera. The combination of this and my superzoom EF 28-90mm II lens can do just about anything my AE-1's can and more, but something about it feels fake. I dunno, I just don't like light plastic cameras. That lens, of course, has no DoF calculator, but who needs it when you can stop down. There's also an autofocus-based DoF priority mode on that camera, but I haven't had good results with it, and I prefer manual focus.
  • 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.
  • Minolta SRT 101b: I picked it up for ten dollars with a lot of lenses. I'll eventually buy another one cheaply to use with the lenses. The shutter fires, but is only accurate at fast speeds, most of the auxiliary mechanisms do not work, and it needs new threads to connect some of the interior mechanisms. I can't repair it. Hit me up on my talk page if you want it; I'll give you a stock 50mm lens and the camera body if you pay shipping.
  • Kodak Retina IIF: I bought this for fifteen dollars at a thrift-store that everyone avoids because they try to preach at you. As a result, they have a lot of really interesting antiques sitting around completely unsold, with prices that they're just dying to negotiate on. The meter is dead and I can't open the battery compartment to see if the flashgun works, but otherwise it's in perfect shape and I have B/W film in it now. I think this is fixing to be my main shooting camera for a while.
  • Rectaflex: yeah, you read that right. I'm more surprised than you are. Serial number in the 4000's, two flash sockets. It was in the same display case as the Retina, and they would have been twenty each but I'm an expert haggler and religious types dig me. It actually fires the shutter very crisply (jewel bearings in the mechanism, I'm told), but the trailing curtain is slow, extremely so at slow speeds, so that one side of the image will get more exposure than the other. There's lens-ferns all throughout the viewfinder optics, the split-image device looks like it never worked and the lens situation is weird. Essentially it's got some kind of adapter bolted onto it behind the bayonet plate for mounting a screw-mount lens of some sort. It has a weird lens I've never heard of: a "Dittar." Coincidentally, the Dittar has the same specs as the Xenar on the Retina: 45mm f/2.8. I'd sell it, but it's in such poor condition that it's worth more to me as a shelf-warmer. Eventually I'll put a roll of expired film through it because I'm like that.

• 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.
  • Kodak Brownie Target Six-20: What can I say? It's cute and I find it easier to shoot on than the more finicky Bull's-Eye (which has a surprisingly narrow depth of field). Bought for $12.

• 120:
  • Diana (Original)
  • Diana Plus (missing the mask for 4x4) -- both gifts from Mom long ago, before I took up photography in earnest.

• 116:

• • Kodak Folding Cartridge Premo 2A: What can I say, it was cheap, in great shape and it's a sexy beast for a 90-100 year old camera. I think I can respool 120 to 116 easily enough.

• 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 (the same place where I bought the Imperial) 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 and pretty much any other 35mm stereo.
• 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.
• Voigtländer Vitessa L: I mean, isn't this a sexy beast?