Challenge Entry: /u/latermuse
Submissions (click to see a larger version):
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Itemized Purchases:
| Purchase | Name | Price | Source | Receipt Link |
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| Camera | Nikon F60 | 500 Yen | 2nd STREET | Receipt |
| Lens | Osawa 85-300 F5 | 500 Yen | 2nd STREET | Receipt |
| Film | Kodak Ultramax 400 | 750 Yen | Yodobashi Camera | Receipt |
Total Price: 1750 Yen ($15.52 USD @ 112.7)
Description:
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Submissions (click to see a larger version):
Description:
On a trip to Hokkaido, Japan, I found a bin of fossilized lenses and cameras in an ancient trunk at a second hand store. Everything in the box was labelled individually with 500 yen stickers; broken lenses, hazy glass, cameras without shutters - nothing was in good condition. After a brief survey, I fished out a few lenses and body combinations that had matching mounts. Internal debate subsided, I settled on an old Nikon with a broken shutter curtain, paired with a hazy paparazzi lens built in the 1970's from a now defunct, no-name company. I bashed the camera on a table until the shutter curtain worked, then hastily loaded film after a cursory check of the other internals.
Determined to play the paparazzo game with my new (to me) private detective setup, I hit the streets of Sapporo on a snowy afternoon. It didn't take long to realize that at 6 feet and 180 pounds, stealth is not my forte. With my tail thoroughly tucked between my legs, I accepted the situation and bitterly ended up playing a waiting game instead.
Camp in a spot until conditions line up, wait until the subject notices me... shoot! This must be what it feels like to be a sniper stalking his mark, a jaguar waiting in the bush for the lone antelope to walk by. My daily shooter is a range finder -- the sudden jar of mirror slap and loss of eye contact made me lose my bearings with each press of the shutter. I wasn't sure if I got any of the shots. Hell, I wasn't even sure if I fixed the shutter curtain correctly.
Half expecting a buffet of light leaks and blown out film, it was a delight to get back 24 shots of creamy goodness. I scanned my three favorite to share with you. Enjoy.
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Challenge Entry: /u/xp2fan
Submissions (click to see a larger version):
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Itemized Purchases:
| Purchase | Name | Price | Source | Receipt Link |
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| Camera | Disney Frozen Camera | $2.14 | HOPE Helps | Receipt |
| Film | Kodak Ultramax 400 & Ilford XP2 Super, 135 36-exp ea. | $15.36 | Colonial Photo & Hobby | Receipt |
| Tool | Electrical Tape | $1.07 | Dollar Tree Stores | Receipt |
Total Price: $18.57
Description:
The second roll was shot at random haunts of mine in the Orlando area. Knowing that, unlike most fixed-focus cameras, this one was only sharp up close, meant the second roll was not a waste. I also had to compose using the viewfinder as a very rough guide of the middle frame. Being so close, I did compensate for parallax, but far too much. I still managed to get a few usable shots. I included the Hummus shot mainly because I wanted to submit something from the color roll, and I did find the light leaks on that shot appealing.
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Submissions (click to see a larger version):
Description:
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| Disney Frozen camera and film |
I was extremely lucky to find this thrift store that had bins full of cameras. Most of them are digital point & shoots - very overpriced, missing chargers, and scratched up pretty badly. The store displays their P&S cameras in wicker baskets. After pitying all the cameras that are now good for only recycling, I noticed a 35mm Minolta model, then a Canon, and Pentax. They had been picked over in the bin so many times that their wrist straps had become tangled. I pulled one out of the basket, and they all came together in a lump reminiscent of the christmas lights that Clark hands to Russ in Christmas Vacation. After carefully untangling the whole mess, it wasn't promising. All of the cameras had battery leakage inside. I was trying to guess which was most likely to still work when I decided to dig through the baskets one more time. There it was, the camera that was perfect for this challenge! It was fixed-focus, fixed-aperture, manual advance, so I could test it by opening the back, winding the advance, and firing the shutter. The advance worked and the shutter fired!
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| The Aperture |
I spent most of my remaining budget on two rolls of ISO 400 negative film: Kodak Ultramax and Ilford XP2 Super, each in 36-exposure form. I started with the Kodak to test the camera out, mostly at a local Pontiac car show that is held every year. When I got the roll processed, it was almost a total loss. The flip-up gray plastic viewfinder showed maybe the middle 40% of the actual frame. There were light leaks, which weren't surprising or even that bad. However, the only shot on the whole roll that was in focus was the first test shot I took of a plate of Hummus (photo #3). It turns out that the little piece of black paper, that serves as the aperture, is not centered. So I could only take close shots for the second and final roll. After buying some tape to take care of the light leaks, I started the XP2.
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| Dropping off film selfie |
The sumbissions are all scanned on my new PacificImage PrimeFilm XE with automatic dust removal. The black and whites were also cropped and straightened.
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Challenge Entry: /u/Steaktartaar
Submissions (click to see a larger version):
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Itemized Purchases:
| Purchase | Name | Price | Source | Receipt Link |
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| Camera | Mamiya 135EF | €4 | Kringloopwinkel (thrift store) | Receipt |
| Batteries | Duracell AA | €7.99 | Brico | None, price on store page |
| Film | Ilford HP5+ | €6.99 | Foto Studio | None |
Total Price: €18.98
Description:
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Submissions (click to see a larger version):
Itemized Purchases:
Description:
I hadn't planned on taking part in the challenge, since there are few places nearby that sell old cameras. Flea market season hasn't started yet and while there is a thrift store in the area it rarely has anything other than old clothes and furniture.
Last Friday however they had some film cameras and while most were Instamatics there was one camera in the display that looked promising. One, it was a Mamiya and two, it had 135 in the name so at least film would be easy to source.
I became the proud owner of a Mamiya 135EF. Produced in 1979 it is a stripped-down version of a similar rangefinder camera with automatic exposure, zone focusing and a built-in flash. It has a fixed 38/2.8 Sekor lens with speeds of 1/25, 1/60 and a blistering 1/250.
Getting the extra materials to use it turned out to be the real money pit. The camera runs on AA batteries and since I had no idea what setting it would default to without power, I got a pack of AAs. Since I wouldn't be able to afford development of colour film I decided on black and white, and that was only available in a brick-and-mortar store at a painful price. That one stung even harder since I had cheaper film from MacoDirect in the fridge...
Using the camera is easy and pretty fun. The zone focus system goes from 0.9m to infinity with click stops for portraits, half-body shots, group shots and landscapes (or: 0.9m, 1.5m, 3m and infinity). The viewfinder had dimmed a bit but was useable, and it shows the selected aperture in a readout. I was very happy to see the flash worked fine, and it's fun to hit the switch, have it pop up and hearing it charge.
Now that I have the batteries and can switch to my own cheaper film, I may keep using the camera. The lens is pretty decent and while the results aren't stellar they are far from bad.
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Challenge Entry: /u/_helmholtz_watson
Submissions (click to see a larger version):
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Itemized Purchases:
| Purchase | Name | Price | Source | Receipt Link |
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| Photo Paper | Ilford Photopaper | $19.95 | Amazon | None |
Total Price: $19.95
Description:
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Description:
Okay so I've been working with pinholes this month, so I made the camera out of an old shoe box, uses masking tape and old black spray paint I had laying around. Then cut a square out of my box, covered that with metal from an old soda can. Poked a hole in it with a pinhead. Then covered all the edges with the light safe paper that photo paper comes in. My only expense was I ran out of photo paper and had to buy a new box. I really tried to focus on time, so the one I titled "Testing" was a 2-2.5 hour exposure, "The Shop" was a 3 hour exposure I believe, and "The Classroom" was about a 16 hour exposure(left it overnight in the classroom). Ultimatley this was playing it safe, with the settings I have its really hard to overexpose, and you tend to get good tonal range. It made me think a lot about how things will appear over time, how to trouble shoot bad shots and most of all patience. As for actual shooting, I used photo paper as my film. So I would develop it like a normal print when it came out of the camera, and then I scanned it and just inverted the colors.
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Challenge Entry: /u/popocuffs
Submissions (click to see a larger version):
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Itemized Purchases:
| Purchase | Name | Price | Source | Receipt Link |
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| Paper/Camera | 25 sheets Fiber Based 5x7 paper | $4.99 | Adorama | Receipt 1 |
| Tape | Black Masking Tape | $6.95 | Adorama | Receipt 1 |
| Tripod | Mini Tripod with Ball Head | $1.99 | Adorama | Receipt 1 |
| Pinhole Material | 24oz Coors Banquet | $1.99 | Walgreens | Receipt 2 |
| Viewfinder | Paper Clips | $0.99 | Walgreens | Receipt 2 |
Total Price: $16.91 ($18.46 after tax)
Description: DIY 3.5x5" Pinhole Camera with built-in Tripod and Viewfinder
I actually had to go out to the beach twice; the first day everything came out way overexposed, so I had to go back. The photos at the beach of the camera itself are from the first day (hence that portrait/landscape difference). I had actually hoped to capture more detail on the sand itself with the tire tracks, but I guess the photo paper just wasn't sensitive enough to the red tones. Also, on the second day I underexposed the paper.
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Description: DIY 3.5x5" Pinhole Camera with built-in Tripod and Viewfinder
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| the package the enlarger paper came in |
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| packaging exposed |
I figured it was time to finally give pinhole photography a try. It's been a busy month for me, so I knew I wouldn't really have much time to get around and do any groundbreaking photography. Because of that, I decided I'd at least have as much fun as possible making the camera itself. Frankly, I'm surprised I even got photos at all.
In order to save money I made the body of the camera out of the package the enlarger paper came in, rather than buying any actual material. I had originally planned to leave some of the packaging exposed so you could still identify the box, but the cardboard wasn't lightproof, so I ended up blacking out the whole camera with tape.
Since the camera's size was limited by the dimensions of the package, I had to cut the 5x7 sheets in half, which made them 3.5x5.
When it came time to buy the pinhole material, I realized I still had room in the budget, so I went all out and bought a tall can. I found the needle in the sewing kit, and I have no idea what size it is, so I can't calculate aperture or anything. Sorry about the gross cutting board; I had just sliced a loaf of bread on it.
I guess I had the unfair advantage of having Adorama conveniently on my way home, so this was all face-to-face transactions. Yes, the tripod is only $2.
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| viewfinder |
What surprised me the most was that the viewfinder actually worked. I kind of had it on there as a joke, but it turned out to be reasonably accurate and very useful for framing my photos. However it did get bent around a bunch in the changing bag while I swapped papers.
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| The camera itself |
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Challenge Entry: /u/fortworthbret
Submissions (click to see a larger version):
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Itemized Purchases:
| Purchase | Name | Price | Source | Receipt Link |
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| Foam Core Board | 20X30 Black | $7.57 | Michaels | Receipt |
| Beer | Natty Light (cheapest possible) | $1.89 | Minyard Food Store | Receipt |
| Film | Ilford Delta 100 | $5.25 | Don's Photo Equipment | Receipt |
| Tape | Blak Eletrical | $3.00 | Home Depot | None |
| WInder | Nut Driver bit | free | Found in street | None |
Challenge Entry: /u/filmdxyost
Submissions (click to see a larger version):
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Itemized Purchases:
| Purchase | Name | Price | Source | Receipt Link |
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| Camera | Vivitar CV35 | $5 | 2nd Sunday Camera Show | Receipt |
| Film | Kodak ColorPlus 200 | $5.50 | Express Photo | Receipt |
Total Price: $10.50
Description:
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Description:
I purchased a Vivitar CV35 for $5 (never mind the $10 dollar tag) at the 2nd Sunday Camera Show in Redford, Michigan on 3/13. As soon as the gentleman selling the camera saw I was looking at it, he said I could have it for $5. I forgot to get a receipt though! I hope this passes the "sniff" test. I used Kodak ColorPlus 200 ($5.50) from my local one-hour photo.
The camera itself is sharpest between 2-15 feet, which is a shame because most of the photos I took were beyond 30 feet. The corners are muddy, but there is some center sharpness. No adjustments were made. They are exactly as the one-hour shop processed and scanned them.
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Challenge Entry: /u/CholentPot
Submissions (click to see a larger version):
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Itemized Purchases:
| Purchase | Name | Price | Source | Receipt Link |
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| Camera | Sakar FF9 | Free | Family Junk Pile | None |
| Exhausted C-41 kit | None | |||
| Film | Kodak Gold 200 Expired | Free | Gift with about 50 plastic panorama cameras | None |
Total Price: $0.00
Description:
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Description:
I found a Sakar FF9 at my in laws. It's a plastic fixed everything shutter box camera. I have a load of very very expired film I got for free Gold 200 I rate at 25. I ran this through some worn out C-41 developer and flipped to b&w on the scan.
The negatives have large uneven spaces between frames and the film kept slipping around. I was shocked I got anything off the roll. In the end I got 15 shots off a 12 shot roll and they were all scan-able.
This is the camera. I laughed the whole time I was shooting it.
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Challenge Entry: /u/CorianderPanic
Submissions (click to see a larger version):
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Itemized Purchases:
| Purchase | Name | Price | Source | Receipt Link |
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| Camera | Agfa Silette Vario | Free | Freegle | Receipt/Ad reply |
| Film | Tesco 400 film (expired 2009) | Free | Freegle | Receipt/Ad reply |
Total Price: $0.00
Description:
This is my first ever venture into film photography (since using a camera as a kid) and I was keen to get started. My first idea was to get hold of a cheap disposable camera and try some hacks with it. However I found it impossible to source disposables from a local shop.
Instead I decided to try my luck and whack ads out on two recycling sites Freecycle and Freegle. I had never used these before but figured people would have plenty of old 35mm film cameras lying around at home. Shortly after I received a response for a JVC mini-dv camcorder (wrong type of film!) and one other response...
...following my lead I head to some nearby streets to pick up the cameras (I had no idea what they would be!). I waited outside a house where I met a kind gentlemen to offer me his mystery cameras. This was a bit of a jackpot as I managed to source not one but TWO free cameras. I was kindly donated an Agfa Silvette Vario and a Olympus Mju. The real bonus here was that the chap also gave me 4 rolls of old Tesco 400 film expired in 2009.
I decided to shoot with the Agfa as it had fully manually controls although I've since heard good things about the Mju particularly for street photography. Shooting with the Agfa was an interesting experience with the manual controls and the viewfinder being unable to focus. It really was a case of point, shoot and hope for the best! Overall I really enjoyed using the camera and shooting on film. The whole process made me slow down and really think about what I was doing, often having to make best judgement in the environment I was in.
I shot in various locations around London and Portsmouth (UK). I had read tips to shoot outdoors in well lit scenes with expired film and I agree these gave my best photos. Towards the end of the film roll my natural inclination for street photography took over and I took a few shots on the London underground. I really liked the compact size of the camera and the lack of the shutter noise which made it great for some sneaky shots. I'll definitely shoot another roll with it soon.
Cheers
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Challenge Entry: /u/commyostrich
Submissions (click to see a larger version):
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Itemized Purchases:
| Purchase | Name | Price | Source | Receipt Link |
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| Camera | ImageTech 3Dfx | $15 | Craiglist | Receipt |
| Film | Kodak TMAX 400 (Expired) | $2 | Kubus Photo Store | Receipt |
Total Price: $17.00
Description:
Nothing like cutting it close!! SO... I scoured craigslist in NYC but was finding nothing really. Or either stuff for $20 then I found this magical camera. A 3D camera! Supposed to be used as a lenticular camera where you'd get it printed on that special plastic that I grew up with on lunchboxes and what not as a kid but now you can just scan the negatives and make gifs instead. I had to go waaaaay out into Brooklyn and buy it off a very stubborn old lady who guaranteed it worked. Well it didn't... at first. I had to clean the terminals for the flash and I have to slap it around for each shot but it worked! It requires 400ASA film and flash for best results. Here's a better photo of it than the CL one.
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
Description:
Also film would be difficult with $15 gone but luckily my local photo shop run by a friendly old Polish man was my savior. He just bought a bag full of expired Tri-X and T-Max and was getting rid of it for $2/roll so I scooped up 3 (saved 2 for another time) and I was set.
It was a fun camera to play with given the 3D nature and trying to play with the best distance for 3D-ness. Trouble was the finicky flash and that it had a locked aperture of f9.8!!! And shutter locked at 1/100!!! Hence the required flash. But I got some good shots. Here's the full album.
Original Reddit Entry: Submission
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