And more film photos coming–plus I have a roll being developed at the moment.
I did a photo shoot yesterday in Ponce Inlet with my friend Valerie–mostly digital, actualy, because it looked so gloomy outside–but then went on a photo walk later in the day with the St. Augustine Analog Club.
So, yeah, busy day.
And my wife’s other camera problem. She dug out her Pentax P30t from BITD.
It has fresh batteries.
The film advance works and advances film.
The shutter will not fire, even with film loaded.
Any guesses? Can a shutter button go bad while a camera is just sitting?
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Any corrosion on the battery terminals, possibly from old batteries leaking?
I know my Minolta X-700 stopped working when the capacitors that fire the shutter went bad, as most of them do. Dunno if the Pentax has a similar setup?
Good question about the battery terminals. I’ll ask her to check.
David S. Wallens said:Good question about the battery terminals. I’ll ask her to check.
Also some chatter on the Pentax forums about the wind lever not cocking the shutter.
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
Thanks and, yeah, I think she found that very thread. The advance lever is advancing the film, but maybe there’s still a problem? We can bring it in for service. Can they fix? And is it worth the $100+ repair bill, or do we just find her an A-1?
Tomorrow, hopefully, I drop off her follow-up roll of film. Then we’ll see if the Sears camera works. I know, so excite.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Yeah, the online consensus seemed to be "given the low value of the P30T, just buy another one in working condition."
I like your A-1 plan.
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
Yeah, let’s see how her Sears camera works. If these photos come out, we might be set. Film is sitting here on my desk–just need to drop it off.
Film has been dropped off: one roll for her and two for me.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Any idea who made the Sears camera? I mean it's gotta be a re-badged something or other, no?
Edit: Ah, looks like Ricoh and Sears had a thing that lasted a quarter-century:
https://www.aperturepreview.com/the-legacy-of-ricoh-and-sears
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
Yeah, it’s a Ricoh.
So, was it operator error or do we have a camera problem? We’ll know more soon.
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
Exactly.
If this next roll comes out, she has an SLR for the $6.99 or so she spent on the seal kit.
David S. Wallens said:In reply to 1988RedT2 :
Exactly.
If this next roll comes out, she has an SLR for the $6.99 or so she spent on the seal kit.
The Sears labeled Ricoh's seem to be very competent cameras that are generally overlooked because, you know, Sears. What model is it?
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
Sears KS 500, I believe.
Dropping off three more rolls today, hopefully. Two were started a little while ago, so eager to see how everything comes out.
PS: Reformed has a rewards points system, and I recently realized that I had way more points/store credit than I thought so totally taking advantage of that situation.
Got back half a dozen rolls in the past week or so. Still need to go through everything, but I’m happy at first blush. I made this with Flic Film Wolfen 100:
A cinema film reminiscent of Kodak’s Plus-X Pan 100, this 35mm black and white fim is rolled from Orwo 54 reels, produced by the legendary East German company Filmotec. It can be developed in any black and white developer but shows its best attributes when developed in Flic Cine Film Developer, a developer based on Kodaks D-96 formula.
I haven't clicked on this thread in a while and didn't know that the Sears KS-500 wasn't working right. Those should be pretty reliable, looks like a mechanical shutter with no automatic mode on the camera, so if the light meter fails or battery dies the camera works as normal (besides the dead meter, obviously) and one could use a separate light meter to gauge exposure settings. But they're still a kind of complicated device and they're not young anymore...
The Pentax P30t is from an era where I just don't get excited at all about Pentax cameras. It's DX locked, so you can't set the ISO to whatever you want, and you have to use film with DX coding on the cassette. The body doesn't allow the user to set an aperture, it only works in automatic mode, so a bunch of modern(ish) Pentax glass that should work is hampered by the body designers expecting there to be an aperture ring on the lens for full functionality. I would rather find a Z-1P that lets the user pick their own aperture setting for lenses that lack aperture rings and isn't DX locked. Or just skip it entirely and go back a generation or two and go with classic manual glass, which is what I've elected to do when I've looked into this same situation.
I'd look at this like a chance to upgrade from the P30t if it isn't an easy fix; technician time on one of these cameras would be very hard for me to justify, personally. I think a good working Z-1 or Z-1P would cost about $200 via online auction sites or maybe operations like KEH. Or time to go back a few years and get a Ricoh XR-1 or a Chinon CE-4s.
In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
We got the scans from the Sears camera over the weekend, and looks like it works! No light leaks, no weirdness. Exposure looks good. (I believe she overexposed by one stop.)
Well, some images have a very thin blue line across them. I need to look at the film and see what’s up. There might have been an issue when winding the film back into the canister (possible operator error) but, so far, things are looking promising for her free camera.
Do we know why the shutter wasn't working the last time she used it?
In reply to aw614 :
No, sadly. That camera has been sitting for about 25 years.
I attended Not Another Film Lab’s print swap yesterday. Healthy crowd. I was the oldest person there.
Also, I was interviewed for a student doc about the resurgance of film. :)
I was busy this weekend and now have four rolls here on my desk to drop off. I’d like to first finish the one in the camera, though.
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