spiderbraids

I already tried the low-priced Vibe 400 full-frame previously, so let's see how it does half-frame in the Kodak H35, as shot from last December to March :-) In short, rather grainy, especially indoors and lower-light conditions (and sometimes, even higher-light conditions :-\)

( A grainy Vibe )

Picking up a disposable to cover a specific event in color while having black and white in my regular cameras... sounds familiar :-) Anyways, this time it was a Fuji Quicksnap, 27 exposures for THB600, which was steep, but still the lowest price I could find for a disposable with flash, given that other places were selling them for THB50 more (they also did have Kodak Daylight, 39 exposures for THB580, but that doesn't come with flash, and hence only suitable for daylight)

I couldn't find any info about the film itself on the package, but looking online, it turns out the Quicksnap has less sensitive film than the Kodak, ISO 400 vs ISO 800; that said, the film is apparently Fuji's own Superia X-Tra, otherwise discontinued in box-form :-) Also of note is that you don't have to worry about holding down a button for flash, as the Quicksnap uses a switch for the flash, that even pushes up a small plastic block that lights up, so there's no mistaking whether you have flash on :-) (That small plastic block also means that it cannot be dismantled for reloading as readily as the Kodak; I know from experience) Also, after taking the last exposure, the advance wheel advances the film straight into the cylinder rather than locking the shutter a few more times like the Kodak did, so no chance of losing a great moment to being on the lightstruck film leader :-)

( A hopping good time with Fuji )

Despite Kentmere Pan 400 normally being robust even with suboptimal lighting, this one felt like it needed more than the normal amount, even after using the wide aperture of flash mode to help... on one hand, plenty of my shots were indoors, on the other hand, it seems like there might have been some sort of light leak at the top of the film :-\ (And when the lab returned the film, they made a point of showing how thin the negatives were, so they had to put it in a canister instead of strips)

( Quite a bit to SEA )

Here's a very special one... In 2024, my father showed me that he had a Pentax Spotmatic F, a classic 1970's film SLR as opposed to my usual point-and-shoots, and told me that if I was interested, I could go have it cleaned... I finally got it cleaned at Mega Plaza (near the roadway arch seen in a couple previous rolls) for something THB1500 in January 2025, and loaded it with Kodak Vision3 250D for THB260 :-) Chris Chinnock called the Pentax Spotmatic F "very well made and very simple camera with no bells and whistles, it just does what you need it to do without getting in the way." While Jim Grey called it "Pentax's ultimate achievement, M42 screw mount at its best. And for me one of the top 3 Pentax cameras ever built." High praise, and well-deserved :-)
It took almost the entire year to get through this roll, since the camera was too large and heavy to take to uni every day for use as a daily beater, though I did do so for a few days early on, but I mostly took shots near and around my home, with the camera making a larger thunking sound than my usual point-and-shoots... That said, even as a "basic" SLR, having a light meter, adjustable shutter time, and a focusable lens opens up opportunities that my daily beaters could never hope to achieve, like closeups, great indoor/nighttime shots, or freezing quick sports action, and many of the shots look so much better (and sharper :-)) that either of them would have made :-)


( Spot-On )

Time for another cheap film, this time the Chinese-made and recently-relaunched Lucky SHD 400, retailing for THB220 (<7 USD) at my usual lab, in the Kodak M35 :-) Despite the name, things weren't always so lucky with this one: while the outdoor shots mostly looked great, indoor shots were not so good, and even some outdoors shots lost plenty of low light details in shadow... In short, you get what you pay for with this film

( Not always so Lucky )

I had black and white in both of my cameras in June 2025, but there was one event that month I really wanted to cover in color, and with the rolls nowhere near being finished, I decided to pick up a disposable Kodak Funsaver for THB 620 (about USD19, and that was actually a discounted price), which is steep especially for 27 exposures (!) Obviously the extra money goes into the camera mechanisms, but what also makes the Funsaver different from typical box film is that Funsavers are loaded with 800 ISO film, thus making it twice as sensitive as 400 ISO film, and therefore more capable of getting pictures, as long as you hold down the flash button firmly for indoor shots that need it :-) (Although, strictly speaking, these disposables can be reloaded and even enhanced while we're at it, that's something for other more capable persons :-))

( Color at my disposal )

Or, an imminent lack of Vision :-\

It's been quite a bit since I used cine film, and judging from this post I might not have the opportunity to use it for much longer :-\ (Petapixel article on why, but long story short, there are essentially two Kodaks, and the one selling regular film doesn't want the other one to sell cine film to anyone except film production companies) Anyways, this one's Vision3 500T (now THB 270), half-frame in Kodak H35, with the usual problems of having the scan returned as full frames (because my ECN2 lab only does it that way) where having bright scenes and dark scenes on the same frame result in over/underexposure in the scans :-\

( All shook up )

Between sports with uni employees and students, I've got at least two rolls with plenty of sports stuff to get through, so here's another roll demonstrating the robustness of Kentmere 400 Pan in the Kodak H35, working great even for indoor sports, at least exposure-wise anyway :-) Of course, there's some non-sports stuff in the mix as well :-)

( A sporting chance )

New year, "new" film brand :-)

In the early part of 2024, I got one roll each of the newly-revived German film company Orwo's color films, NC400 and NC500, on separate trips to my usual lab (IIRC, THB420 and THB380, or USD12 and USD11, respectively; I do remember the NC500 having a low price for an ISO 400 film) Despite the names though, both are nominally ISO 400, and I decided to try the NC500 first, in the Kodak H35 from October 2024 to January 2025 :-)

In fact, this forum post suggests it should be treated as ISO 250, and many of the shots turned out rather darker/grainier than I would have expected from an ISO 400 film... The most telling sign of this is that I only got 61 scans from back from the lab, compared to 77 from the previous half-frame roll, with a few of the scans straddling the frame boundary (That said, it also seems to overexpose the sky easily) This review says that NC500 is based on an old Agfa cinema film, also noting that "NC500 is not a true-to-life film" and adding that the color is "de-saturated, slightly under-exposed when shooting at box-speed, low in contrast, high in grain, very green and very yellow", which looks about right from my results...

( A tale of Orwo )

Partially because I took the other camera out more often trying to get through the Harman Phoenix, this roll of Kentmere 400 was a pretty long-running roll, shot from mid-to-late May to early October (!) in my Kodak H35, and I ended up getting 77 exposures (!!) out of it :-)

( Half-frame Kentmere )