Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Stupid is as stupid does”— Forrest Gump
And so it goes…Last year, I attended one of the Vehicle Vault’s Cars & Coffee events that have been rebranded as Espresso and Exhaust. I planned to photograph the cars at the show using Lomography’s Lomochrome Metropolis 35mm film with my Contax 167MT and Yashica 50mm f/2 lens. Lomo claims the film can be rated between ISO 100 to 400 but based on my experience with Lomo’s Redscale film, I planned to shoot it at ISO 200. (An image from that shoot is today’s feature image.)
The highlight of the show for me was seeing a turbo Isuzu Impulse that was tweaked by Lotus; the first one I’ve seen in person. My photography of the show was going well and I really was enjoying shooting the Contax, quickly burning through 36 exposures. When I got to the end of the roll I pushed the rewind button which activates a motor and rewinds the film. There is no manual rewind or manual crank on the 167MT. The motor made a grinding sound, followed by another funny noise and then an LED started blinking off and on.
When I got to my car and opened the camera’s back and saw the thing film photographers dread: A whole strip of film lying naked across the inside of the camera. Instead of calmly analyzing the problem and slamming the back closed, I freaked out yanking the film out of the camera. Wait…I did think about it for two or three seconds before freaking out. In trying to analyze the problem, I came up with three possibilities:
- Batteries. I had tested this camera but with all-electronic cameras most incidents are battery related. Most likely.
- Camera: My Contax 167MT is 36-years old with a “who knows” history purchased on eBay from Japan, so it might have problems. Possible.
- Film: The film could have been improperly loaded when spooled. Lomography ain’t exactly Eastman Kodak, so it’s possible. Least likely.
When I got home I opened the camera’s (optional) battery holder P-5 that holds four AA batteries instead of the 167’s standard four AAA’s. I swapped in fresh Energizer AA’s and loaded the camera with a roll of Fuji Neopan 400 Professional and headed to McCabe Meadows to shoot a test. Instead of cars I photographed lots of people wheeling by on bikes, quickly gobbling up the 36 exposures. Then came to the moment of truth: Push the button (Frank) and the film whizzed back into the canister like it was supposed to do. When I opened the back, all was as it should be.
I took the film to Mike’s Camera. Most of my previous black and white film was processed by The Darkroom in California and they typically turn it around in about a week after I drop the film off at the post office. The Darkroom had processed and scanned my previous rolls of Fuji Neopan 400 Professional, so I decided to make a video for my YouTube Channel comparing the results of how the same film was processed and scanned at two different labs. The video is live now on my YouTube channel,
Update: Since that unfortunate experience, I have been trying to buy another roll of Metropolis and moaning about it on this blog. I decided to get another roll as part of Lomo’s Analogue Duet Mixed 35mm Film Pack ($28.90.) The pack also includes their new Purple, which according to Lomo the “Psychedelic Purple crafts a heady blend of earthy reds, crisp plums and velvety violet hues.” The Analogue Duet has been out of stock for some time but the Analogue Quartet ($49.90) is supposedly in stock and includes the same two color films from the Duet plus two black and white emulations—Berlin and Potsdam. Berlin is an ISO 400 Cine film that has moderate grain, high dynamic range and a “sophisticated tonal spectrum.” Potsdam is an ISO 100 Panchromatic film with fine grain, and high density and dynamic range. If and when the weather starts acting anywhere near “seasonal” I’m going to try to order the Analogue Quartet. I’ll update this on a future #filmfriday.
UPDATE: I just ordered the Analogue Quartet from Lomography. I’ll keep you posted as to when I receive it. I plan to shoot Metropolis at the February Cars & Coffee, weather permitting, but with one of my Canon film camera, most likely the AE-1. Look for a post in February!
PS: Just a reminder: My video Why Film, Why Now is live now on my YouTube channel, Joe Farace’s Videos, featuring a look at a my reasons and philosophy about why I’m a film photographer.
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