Holga 120N – Foma 100

Olympus AF1 Super #3

2 Replies

30-06-26

The last few images from the Olympus AF1 Super.

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Thoughts

I really liked the Olympus AF1, it has a good contrasty lens (35mm F2.8) macro setting, and it focuses quite quickly. Easy to carry around, having a clam shell design. I shall be using this one again.

Thankfully temperatures in my part of the UK are much more comfortable this week. I have actually seen a bit more of my cat Henrietta and the Feral that lives in the garden. With a bit of luck I might be be able to develop a film this weekend as I should be able to get the chemicals somewhere near 20 deg C.

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I hadn’t seen many Bees in the garden so far this year. But the message seems to have gotten around, and there were quite a few in the garden today, along with a few Holly Blue butterflies. So I grabbed my old digital Olympus C8080WZ and took a few images around the garden (jungle) Click on any of the images if you would like to see a larger version.

Olympus AF1 Super #2 (eventually)

2 Replies

25-06-26

It has taken me ages to get around to posting the second lot of images from the Olympus AF-1 Super. Sadly one of my photo-buddies passed away at the beginning of this month, he lost the battle with cancer, but put up a brave fight. I will miss him, we had known each other from 1970 when we both started at Leicester School of Printing. So my enthusiasm has took a bit of a hit this month,

**Had to take this as it’s my namesake**

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**There were a lot of these around the town foe awhile**

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**Newly re-opened alleyway at the side of the cathedral, the metering did well here**

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Heatwave

The temperature has be hovering around 30-32 deg C (90-92 F) this week. Older British houses were not designed for these temperatures, so I have been slowly melting. I’ve hardly seen my cat Henrietta, she has her breakfast and then comes back in at about 11 pm for her supper. She is a long haired cat so finds a shady corner of the garden to keep out of the heat. I will need to drink plenty of beer tomorrow at the social club to replenish my body fluids !

Olympus AF1 Super #1

9 Replies

03-06-26

Another camera that I have had for over 10 years, this is only the 2nd roll of film I’ve put through it. I think it was the forerunner to the Olympus mju (stylus) series of cameras. It has a fast 4 element auto focus 35mm F2.8 lens that can focus down to 0.5m (1.6 feet) in macro mode. 1/15 – 1/750 auto shutter speed range, auto (DX) film speed setting, various flash modes including off. One CR-P2 powers the camera. It’s weatherproof but I wouldn’t want to test that because of how old it is. Found an expired roll (2019) of Kodak color Plus 200 in the fridge and decided to give it an outing. My usual walk around images. Most of these were taken in the autumn of 2025, i’m so behind with posting.

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**Ripening Apples, took this shot in September 2025**

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**Really liked the textures here and the lone bottle**

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Samsung AF Slim

11 Replies

24-05-26

I bought this camera about 20 years ago to use as a walkabout as it is quite small and fits easily into a pocket. It’s one downside is the noise it makes when powering up and winding on to the next frame. The lens is good, a 35mm f3.5 which can focus down to 30cm just over 11 1/2 inches. The camera is powered by 1x CR123 battery.

While I was looking for a suitable backdrop to place the camera on I found an old photographic book that had a lot of advertisements. The Ad on the right is for a Reid & Sigrist Leica copy, I had forgotten they were made in the county where I live. They fetch high prices now, and came with a Taylor Hobson lens, Taylor Hobson is still operating today, as well as optical equipment they make very high quality lenses which have been used to shoot Hollywood movies.

Anyway onto the images, as usual taken on my walks around the area near to where I live. Expired Fujifim C200.

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**I liked the contrast of the colours on this one**

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I hadn’t used the Samsung for a few years so was glad it worked as it should, and the expired Fujifilm seemed OK.

Soft Machine – Agfa Isoly 4X4

4 Replies

13-05-26

I bought this camera about 8 years ago, and only got around to putting a film through it last year, finishing the roll in Feb 2026. It takes 120 size film and gives 16 images of 4×4 cm. Well it would have been 16 images but when I took the film out it hadn’t wound the roll tightly so the last few frames were fogged. The camera has only 1 shutter speed, about 1/30th of a second, 2 distance /aperture settings and a portrait setting which drops a supplementary lens into play.

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**Nottingham City Centre** (bit of camera shake I think)

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One of my Photo buddies, taken when we visited the “Make it Easy Lab” in Nottingham nearly a year ago. He has been through a really tough 12 months, in and out of hospital for treatments, but he is a fighter.

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I enjoyed using the Agfa, nice big bright viewfinder (so so accuracy though) and a wind on warning dot on the top plate. The lens is not that sharp, hence “Soft Machine” who incidentally were also a band I really liked from the early 1970’s Canterbury music scene.

Henrietta Update

She climbed on my lap and went to sleep, a first for her.

My garden this week, and the cats.

8 Replies

24-04-26

The weather seems to have finally shifted into spring this last week, still cold in the morning though. My garden is nicely green and the Bluebells, Lilacs, and Corn Flowers are in bloom.

I bought a small job lot of photo accessories of that auction site, when the package arrived it was completely different from what I had bid on. It was OK though, I got a lot of lens attachments, wide angle and telephoto, some close up filters, a Canon FD 50mm f1.8 with M4/3 adaptor, and a Mitsuki M42 135mm f2.8 lens. All the items were in great condition.

These were taken on my Olympus EPL1 with the Mitsuki lens.

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These were taken on my old Olympus E400 with a Zuiko 35mm Macro lens.

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Cats

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**The homeless lad warming himself in the sunshine.**

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Well I’ve had my breakfast, porridge oats with sea salt, butter, and hemp seed hearts, took my multivitamin tablet, and had my high dose vitamin D3 capsule. Just need to iron a pair jeans and a T shirt ready the walk to the social club to see my friends band play, meet some good friends, and of course have a few pints of beer.

It Wasn’t Me, It Was The Camera

9 Replies

14-04-26

As usual I’ve been burning the candle at both ends and skipping the light fandango a bit too much lately. I have quite a few images to post and now, and the weather has finally moved into spring, sort of, so I hope to be out and about with a camera a bit more often.

I thought it was the developing temperature that gave me the contrasty negatives on the roll from my Pentax ME Super. After looking at the negatives I can see that the shutter wasn’t firing correctly especially towards the very end of the roll (dark band on one edge of the frame) The shutter has now refused to fire and the mirror is stuck in the up position. It’s quite difficult nowadays to get SR44 batteries that aren’t meant for use in watches (SR44W) My Nikon FE, and Olympus OM cameras don’t seem so fussy though.

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**There are some lovely old houses near to me, and the orange filter helped the sky and clouds.**

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**The modern house I don’t know if I like**

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**Shutter capping on the right hand side**

I’m guessing the shutter was running slow throughout the roll, shame as the camera is in really good condition. I have another (battered) Pentax Me Super an MX, and 2 or 3 K mount cameras that I can use with my Pentax lenses.

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Henrietta

Henrietta is settling in nicely, she is watching MotoGP on this shot. She even sat on my lap, quite a big step for her.

Monochrome Magnolias

6 Replies

24-03-26

It wasn’t my intention to photograph Magnolias in monochrome. I loaded up my Pentax ME Super with Ilford HP5 (pushed 1 stop to 800asa) and a Pentax 28mm lens with an Orange filter. Set off for a walk, and what had been a dull day turned bright and sunny, so not the best combination for the film. Can’t believe this was nearly a year ago, I’m so far behind with my blog posts.

I haven’t added any sharpness or contrast to the images, but did have problems keeping the developer at the correct temperature. It was the first time I used HC110 to develop HP5. The negatives were quite grainy, they could have done with less time in the developer, but I quite like the effect, and the Orange filter darkened the sky on most of the images.

Agfa Optima Parat #3 My Two Favourite Images From The Roll

14 Replies

21-03-26

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These are the two images from the roll that I liked the most.

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It was a really bright day for the first image and a really dull day for the second. Quite impressed with Kentmere 100 and surprised that the film turned out so well as it was really cold in my film processing room (Kitchen) and my first time using Bellini HC with this film.

A Touch Of Spring

Olympus E620 – Zuiko 35mm Macro Lens.

**Henrietta catching the rays with the first Grape Hyacinths**

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Agfa Optima Parat #2

4 Replies

18-03-26

Spring seems to have finally arrived in my part of the UK. I saw my first Bee of the year on Monday and a pair of Butterflies yesterday.

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A few more images from the lovely Half Frame Agfa Optima Parat camera.

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**Arts & Crafts supplies, still going strong since 1898**

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**Modernism in the suburbs, not sure I like it**

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Henrietta looking in through the cat door, no doubt wondering if there are any cat treats on offer.

Agfa Optima Parat #1

4 Replies

03-03-26

Yes, I still play cassette tapes.

I have been skipping the light fandango quite a lot lately and haven’t had much time to write a blog post. Two of my lovely social club women friends have gone on a cruise to the sunshine, and won’t be back for a couple of weeks, so I won’t be having quite so many late nights. And, at last the weather seems to be picking up a little, it’s been realty awful here in my part of the UK, days of rain, grey skies, and cold temperatures.

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Thought it was time I gave the half frame Agfa Optima another try, I got a lot of overexposed frames last time I used it, my fault for not giving the old selenium light meter enough time to react. Better results this time. Kentmere 100 rated at 200asa, developed in Bellini HC.

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**Former site of the IL Rondo music venue**. **Saw some amazing bands here in the early 1970’s**

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Hopefully I will be posting on the blog more often, certainly have a lot of images in the files B&W and colour on various cameras.

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PS, Henrietta seems to be settling in really well.

“Happy New Year”

11 Replies

04-01-26

Wishing everyone a peaceful and Happy New Year. I survived the celebrations largely unscathed. It has been really quite cold here in my part of the UK, lots of ice and a dusting of snow. Managed to take a bit of a tumble on my way home late on Friday. Fortunately no harm done due to being fairly fluid (ahem) it all happened in slow motion and I managed to soften the fall with my arms.

I have a few rolls of film to develop, probably next week if it warms up a little, and a new camera to test. I’m scanning in a folder of negatives for an old friend of mine, and he gave me a Contax 139 camera as a thank you.

“Merry Christmas”

9 Replies

24-12-25

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Peaceful New Year.

Starting Where I Left Off – Chinon Bellami #2

3 Replies

18-12-25

My last post about the Chinon Bellami was in August. Life took over, things happened but it’s time to conclude the Bellami’s outing.

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Considering it was a dull rainy day and the film was expired (Kodak color plus 200) the Bellami’s lens did a good job.

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**St Andrews Church at the start of autumn.**

I think the Chinon Bellami has a great lens, quite characterful. The camera is tiny and easily fits in a pocket. The only slight downsides being, it has zone focusing so you have to guesstimate distance, and it’s maximum film speed is 400 asa.

Autumn to Winter, and losing a friend

19 Replies

02-12-2025

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on my blog. A buddy of mine passed away unexpectedly, we had been good friends for 65 years. It knocked me back a bit to say the least. Along with other friends we would meet up once a week for breakfast and a beer. We were all in shock for a while. Then to top it all my cat Claude has decided to go absent without leave. thinking about it he probably had a second home all along. His chip is registered in my name. So it’s me, Henrietta (floof ball) and the very feral lad who lives in the cat kennel in my garden.

I have been taking photographs, film and digital (good therapy) I’m way behind with posting them.

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**The 2025 Christmas Tree Being Installed In the City Centre**

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These were all taken on my old Olympus E620 or Canon Ixus 300 (3mp)

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**C’est moi, One Of My Photo Buddies Loves Taking Impromptu Photos Of Us**

Been going out to the social club and a few other music venues. My beer consumption (pale ale) often followed with a spiced rum chaser has been more than usual over the last few weeks, settled back down now. Made a lot of new friends, guess that’s what social clubs are for. Oh, and I was 3 score years and 13 in October.

3 cameras are loaded with film, 1 roll waiting for development, 2 colour rolls back from the lab and 2 or 3 rolls scanned in waiting for me to post on the blog.

A strange few weeks and 11 years blogging on WordPress

19 Replies

09-09-25

Three weeks ago last Sunday evening I fed my cat Claude and Henrietta, (the homeless cat) that I let come into the house to sleep if she wants to. The next morning (Monday) there wasn’t any sign of the cats, didn’t think too much about it as I thought they would be somewhere in the garden. I started to worry when by the evening they hadn’t put in an appearance. By Thursday they still hadn’t returned, I had asked around and called out for them in the garden, I was getting quite stressed and upset. I let it be known that I would be contacting Cats Protection, the RSPCA and the Police. Friday I went to the Social club to drown my sorrows and then on to a couple of bars with some friends. Wobbled back home on autopilot and went to bed. At 2am I heard the cat door, rushed down stairs and there was Claude closely followed by Henrietta. They both looked OK and unharmed, sat up until 3am with them. To say I was relieved would be an understatement. I have an idea what happened to them but this isn’t the platform to go into detail.

**Claude slept a lot after his adventure.**

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There’s something down there, Claude there isn’t.

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Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!

You registered on WordPress.com 11 years ago.

Can’t believe I have been blogging for 11 years. Now that things have settled down with the cats (and me) I will hopefully be posting more regularly.

Chinon Bellami #1

2 Replies

12-08-25

This is only the second roll of film I’ve put through this camera, a roll of Kodacolor Plus 200, expired in 2019. I bought the camera at least 10years ago, think it cost me £12.00p or thereabouts. The lens trim ring is missing, but it works as it should. The wind on lever doubles up to open and close the barn doors that protect the lens, a nice 35mm F2.8, with manual focussing and a snapshot click stop marked in Green at 10 feet / 3 meters. It needs 2xSR44 button cells to work.

All the images were taken on my walks, mainly to the social club. The film showed strong colour shifts and it was a bit of a ‘B’ to get the images to look ok. I normally scan with the Nikon scanner set to neutral, although it does have lots of adjustments and I had to use a few of them for this film. Probably didn’t help that I loaded this film into the camera in October2024 and it wasn’t developed until April 2025.

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Lately I’ve had to engage autopilot on my way back from the social club and nearby bars. I keep meeting up with people I haven’t seen for ages, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

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PS. The album sleeve the camera is resting on is a 1967 mono recording titled OPEN, by Julie Driscoll, it has an amazing version of the Donavan song “Season Of The Witch.

Pentax Espio Mini #2

7 Replies

08-07-25

A few more images from the little Pentax Espio. Been trying to sort my garden out, but at the moment the garden is winning, hence the delay in posting. Also the weather has been really warm, hovering around 30deg over the last few weeks. My house gets the sun at the back for most of the day so I haven’t been sleeping too well. This has meant having to force myself to go and see lots of local bands and drink beer to cool me down and replenish lost body moisture.

***Ghost sign spotted on the way to the pub !***

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***And another, this must have been an off licence at some time.***

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The weather forecast for the next few days is hot again, so I guess I’ll be doing a good impersonation of a cast member from a zombie film.

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When I saw this it reminded me of an old Bonzo Dog song “Look out there’s a monster coming”

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Used the built in flash for this one, really pleased with the result.

The cats have been sensibly hiding away in the shade to keep cool, only saw Claude late evening or when he was hungry. Been feeding them plenty of wet food and yogurt cat treats cooled in the fridge.

Pentax Espio Mini #1

5 Replies

22-06-25

I bought this little Pentax about 15 years ago, it’s in really good condition. They have gained a bit of a cult following now and the prices for them are quite high for what it is.

Well it’s been a while since I’ve posted on the blog. I have been taking photos but at a slower pace than normal, due to catching another virus that made my muscles feel like lead weights, and a lack of wanting to eat, great for the waistline, even managed to get into a pair of my old 32 inch waist jeans. Added to that the weather in the first half of this year was pretty grim in my part of the UK. So I loaded it up with a roll of expired Ilford HP5, that was in October 2024 and finished it in March 2025 !

***It has a faux panoramic mode, so I thought i would give it a try . One of the few bright days.***

The panoramic mode just masks part of the image frame, and a mask in the viewfinder shows the area that will be captured. This is helped by it having a semi wideangle 32mm lens.

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***Waiting in the Gelato queue, it was very tasty.***

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What to photograph when the weather is not so good and you are on the way to the pub, street furniture I thought.

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There will be more images to come.

coronet66

Film & Digital Photography, Vintage Cameras, Travel, Music.

Holga 120N – Foma 100

Olympus AF1 Super #3

Olympus AF1 Super #2 (eventually)

Olympus AF1 Super #1

Samsung AF Slim

Soft Machine – Agfa Isoly 4X4

My garden this week, and the cats.

Cats

It Wasn’t Me, It Was The Camera

Monochrome Magnolias

Agfa Optima Parat #3 My Two Favourite Images From The Roll

Agfa Optima Parat #2

Agfa Optima Parat #1

“Happy New Year”

“Merry Christmas”

Starting Where I Left Off – Chinon Bellami #2

Autumn to Winter, and losing a friend

A strange few weeks and 11 years blogging on WordPress

Chinon Bellami #1

Pentax Espio Mini #2

Pentax Espio Mini #1