Last month, I picked up a Pentax P30N 35mm camera for $20 on Kijiji, got some Kodak Gold 200 from Walmart, and shot my first roll of film in over a decade. Here are a few shots from that roll:
The day we went out for this shoot was a clear day in late fall, so the sun was very low in the sky, creating harsh shadows and difficult shooting conditions, but I managed to get a couple good shots.
The Pentax P30n is a manual-focus camera from the late 80’s. Having not shot on anything other than an iPhone or point-and-shoot digitals for the better part of fifteen years, it took a bit of getting used to.
I shot most of this roll on aperture-priority mode, just trying to get the hang of remembering to advance the film after each shot, never mind trying to frame, focus, and get a shot before my adorable subject would take off running in another direction.
I love the colours and contrast of film. I usually have to tweak digital photos to get the colour in Rio’s coat to really pop, not so here.
The camera seemed to have a film-advance issue about mid-roll (see last pic), so there were some shots ruined due to malfunction, a bunch of shots were out of focus (manual-focus newbie), some were just poorly framed by me, and then of course there were a handful where Rio would look away or move just as I snapped.
These are, of course, the joys and frustrations of shooting on film. The outcomes can be incredible, but every shot can be a roll of the dice, and you won’t know for certain until the prints (and scans!) come back from the processor, likely days later.
Speaking of processing, there are not a lot of options left in Ottawa when it comes to film processing. It’s not like you can just pop by the local Fotomat hut or drug store photo counter anymore, they’ve all gone the way of the dodo in these parts. This roll was processed at GPC Labworks on Bank Street.
All in all, I’m happy with the shots that did turn out, and I’m excited to shoot more film soon!