The real reason why I’m not buying any more 35mm Film Cameras...
Okay, super dramatic and we all know that’s a lie, but it sounds good, right?
Hi Film Fam!
Every single time I come back to write the next newsletter I’ve got another handful of subscribers. So if you’re new here, welcome to ‘Josie On Film’ which started out as my professional career - mainly portraiture - and now has shifted into… who knows? That’s what we’re both here to discover and find out about together!
I hope you’ve had a great few weeks. I’m currently in the middle of scanning my Grandfather’s film from the 1950’s which has been such an honor to do and I’m about halfway through them all. Early next week I’ll be testing a few of the camera’s mentioned in this newsletter and developing my latest batch of film - which means soon you’ll be the first to see them (after me of course!)
As always these newsletters tend to be quite rambly, photo heavy, and have the vibe of catching up with that one friend you haven’t seen in a while who’s just very passionate about all things film. So if that’s your kind of jam, you’re in the right place!
Grab a coffee, settle in, and let’s get into it!
How many cameras is “too many” anyways?
Anyone who knows me, or follows along on my Instagram will know I’m almost always posting about some grubby half broken camera I scored on Ebay, or at a thrift store, or just happened to know someone who was selling theirs at the right time to fill that mechanical void in my heart.
As it stands I have 15 working 35mm film cameras, and a few more I’m in the middle of repairing.
I can admit I have a problem with impulse buying cameras if I know I can lovingly bring them back to life - Ricoh’s especially - and in saying that I do in fact own three each of the KR10M and the KR-10 Super. Both original ones became a ‘daily carry’ at some point. While I was shooting portraits I would have both set up with different lenses and film stocks and juggle the two around my neck quite happily.
At the time with my ‘professional career’ taking off I really needed to purchase at least one backup body for my main cameras so it just made sense to get the same as what I was comfortable with. I didn’t really want to buy a freshly restored one because of the increased prices, so I turned to the “used/for parts” market instead. There’s just something about saving a camera that would otherwise be tossed out due to a minor repair or it being untested that hits a soft spot in me. Thanks to that soft spot I picked up and repaired a few cameras myself and couldn't be more thrilled about it!
The ironic thing as well is that I absolutely hated the second camera I ever got - the Ricoh KR-10 Super - with a fiery passion. I didn’t read the Ebay listing properly and I thought it was another KR10M (which I adored and spoke about in my first newsletter!) so I purchased it without really looking into it further. It somehow didn’t click at the time just how many similar labelled models there were in Ricoh’s range. I opened my package to this dusty crusty manual cranking camera and was not impressed at all.
I took the lens from it, slapped it on my other camera and simply packed the KR-10 Super away. I didn’t know that only a few months later I’d give it a second chance on a whim and from there, well… it didn’t leave my side.
When I started to get more seriously into film the KR-10 Super became the best learning tool to help elevate my photography to another level. It has Manual settings from B up to 1/1000, an ‘Auto’ mode which I never use nowadays but is accurate, and it has an easy to use focusing screen. I read the manual cover to cover to ensure I could problem solve on the go easily, and imprinted every little quirk about my specific one into my brain.
It was for the most part reliable and an absolute joy to use, until every photographer’s worst nightmare happened - the electronic shutter started to de-sync and I got back rolls from the film lab (before I got into self dev!) that got significantly worse, until they were simply blank. To say that I panicked about my camera ‘dying’ is an understatement. At the time I was utterly obsessed and frankly in love with it and the whole process of cranking the little lever and the ‘clunk!’ of the 80’s shutter - so I scoured the internet for days looking for somewhere to get it fixed.
In early 2021 I dropped my camera off to Sydney Camera Repairs and they confirmed that the shutter had indeed died. My options were to do a complete refurbishment, or buy another camera - and in their opinion it was a fantastic little camera and worth their time to fix. Although the cost was daunting she had become my life partner at that point and I’d grown attached, so a complete teardown and rebuild was approved - and now she’s an absolute beast!
Sure she’s a bit battle-scarred now and I need to touch up her paint here and there, but since the rebuild it hasn’t skipped a beat. This little pocket rocket has become my most accurate and reliable camera and the one I compare any other up against. It’s bang on with the metering, it’s the perfect size, shape, and the lens I have on it - Rikenon 50mm f/1.7 - is the most gorgeous lens and I use it for absolutely every style of photography I do.
I know people kind of turn their noses up at Ricoh’s, especially after the later models left behind the metal bodies and leaned into more electronic and plastic parts that break down a lot easier, but if you get a solid 70’s or 80’s one that has been looked after it’ll probably outlast you - especially so if you keep on top of somewhat regular maintenance! And on top of that 90% of my portfolio has been done with this camera, so I can’t recommend it enough.
The obsession with Mechanical Cameras begins.
I didn’t really know much about the Ricoh Singlex TLS a first - as seen in one of my previous newsletters:
I just saw a $20 camera that was fully mechanical and said “Well, if it sucks and I hate it, it was only $20.” and that’s where that side of things kicked off.
I unintentionally fell in love with this big awkward camera too. It’s heavy, it’s clunky, the shutter sounds like a bomb going off and is really obnoxious when trying to do street photography. It’s ridiculously simple and as bare bones as they come. It was nice to have this 70’s brick that I knew would more or less never die on me unlike one with an electronic shutter could.
Part of me wishes I stepped into the film world with this camera instead of my 90’s auto-everything KR10M, because it taught me what I was truly capable of and how far I can push and experiment with film. I have shot more weird and wacky film and tried more styles with this camera than any other.
Night photography? Does it with ease as long as you have a tripod, timer, and a shutter release cable. CineFilm? Loves the stuff! Just have to meter externally. Redscale? Yes please! Surprisingly the internal light meter is bang on accurate with Redscale film so that was handy. Regular film? Heck yeah it can do the boring shit as well! It’s been able to handle everything I have thrown at it so far.
My plans for this camera is to send it in for a professional refurbishment and it’ll become specifically a CineFilm camera for a major project I want to work on later in the year (I’m talking ISO 1-6 level CineFilm. If you know, you know) So I’m excited to see it evolve into it’s final form.
Not long after getting the Singlex, I saw the TLS 401 - which has a dual viewfinder with a fancy switch flicks between a waist level one and the regular eye level one - and I had to have it. It was just so cool!
It’s even bigger and more ridiculous than the Singlex TLS and is officially the heaviest camera I own. I paired it with a beautiful vintage Tamron 38-100mm M42 lens (which was sadly dinged while shipped). It weighs almost 2kg where as my other cameras are around 500-800g, so I’ll be film testing this sometime soon with the use of a tripod to make it a little easier on myself.
Finding the perfect fit
As you know by now, I have a few injuries that won’t allow me to carry my heavier cameras for very long at the moment, which kind of means I can’t really use either of the TLS’s for more than 10-15 minutes - so I started looking for a small mechanical camera. Enter the Pentax MX. I stumbled across it randomly on a YouTube review, and then saw that the same seller I got my beautiful Pentax ME Super from had one for sale. Of course I immediately started saving for it.
The ME Super and the MX are practically the same, one just has an electronic shutter, and one is fully mechanical. Outside of that, appearance, size and functionality wise they’re almost identical except for a few buttons here and there.
The ME Super was my most expensive purchase - it was a really special camera for me to get and has been absolutely lovely to use over the last year. I adore using it for portraits as the 50mm F/1.7 is just gloriously dreamy. The top speed of 1/2000 has been really handy on sunny days too. And yes if the battery dies mid roll there is a single mechanical speed so you can keep going (unlike the KR-10 Super which doesn’t have this feature)
It’s the perfect size for me too as I have slender hands that struggle to hold bigger cameras. I was told it was jokingly dubbed the “women’s film camera” and I still to this day hear guys complain about how it’s too small and the buttons are impossible to use. Luckily it’s not a problem for me, if anything it's why I was sold on it immediately.
The ME Super is the lightest camera in my collection, and I planned to swap it for my ‘daily carry’ rather than my TLS during my recovery which I thought was only going to last a handful of months. But late last year things didn’t go so well and I had to seriously consider what would be best for me long term. I really loved the experience of a fully mechanical camera for certain film applications (e.g. the CineFilm), so I decided to just go for it after having spent time working with the ME Super and enjoying its size.
Almost 6 months went by since first seeing an MX and I was still just as in love with the idea of one. I had planned to reach out and ask if the one I saw for sale was still available, but the stars aligned and instead a dear friend of mine Melody shot me a message one night asking if I wanted to buy a camera she had. It just happened to be an MX!
It needed some work and I had to cannibalise another dead Pentax to steal some pieces for it, but I ended up with a beautiful little camera, which has more or less completed my 35mm SLR collection.
Okay, but which one is the “best” camera to get?
Well, that’s a matter of perspective isn’t it? The question you have to ask yourself is what type of photography do you want to do, and how do you want to experience taking photos.
Do you like using an SLR, or is a compact Rangefinder more your style?
Do you want to run around with a point and shoot that snaps photos instantaneously can be easily tucked away, or do you want a big mechanical brick that’s entirely manual and forces you to take your time metering every single scene - sometimes even twice - before you can think about hitting the shutter button?
Does having an electronic shutter with speeds above 1/2000 matter for your shooting style, or are you okay with having a max mechanical speed of anywhere between 1/250 - 1/1000?
Do you want to be silent and unnoticed in a crowd, or do you want to hear a shutter slap so hard it makes everyone turn and stare at you?
Do you want something that has all these extra features like double exposure, “Auto” mode, Long Exposure and Bulb mode, auto flash sync, self timer, remote control ports, etc, or do you want something that has a basic light meter (or none at all) and you just crank it and snap the photo?
Do you want something that’s in perfect working order and serviced or Near Mint A++++++ Excelent Quality, no tiny dusts, no tiny fungus, original in box! (heh) or do you not care if it’s a bit banged up, engraved, has a few slow speeds, and has history soaked into its very being?
There’s so many things to consider and it leads to the cliché answer - the best camera for you is the one you’ll enjoy using the most, and actually take photos with! And heck, if you don’t like the camera you have there’s a huge community out there of people who are constantly buying, selling, and swapping various film cameras. You’re guaranteed to find the right one.
All cameras are good cameras at the end of the day - even the gross rejected ones that I pick up that only work at 1/125th at f/11. If it shoots and the photo turns out, that’s all that really matters.
Let’s be real, in an ideal world I would carry at least 4 cameras on me at all times like an absolute maniac but I can’t do that.
It really depends on my mood that day, what I’m going to shoot, the film stock on hand, etc, as to which camera I decide to put to work.
If I absolutely have to choose what is the “best” all around camera for me then it’s the KR-10 Super, followed by the KR10M and then the two little Pentax’s I have. But even saying that I feel like I’m betraying half of my girls by picking favourites (all cameras are girls to me, no idea why, just roll with it.) I have too many cameras I love and each one has been assigned an important role to play in co-creating my art.
If I’m going to the mountains on a holiday or road trip, maybe I’m checking out a waterfall or walking through the forest, or 4wding up through Abercrombie National Park, then it’ll likely be my KR10M. It has enough bells and whistles so I can play with some long exposures and double exposures, plus the ‘Auto’ mode is very fast and very accurate when needed.
If I plan to set up a tripod and do some landscape work, then the big mechanical beasts like the TLS 401 will come out and it’s really a no-brainer. Slap some fun film in it, put on a shutter release cable and away you go! Just make sure you have a sturdy tripod because I have had my Singlex TLS fall and smack me in my face one night shooting the moon - not a fun experience.
Self portraits are where some of the more modern SLR’s come in handy. I’ve previously used a Canon 3000n, but have been using a Pentax SFXn lately. It’s a very big loud obnoxious 1980’s camera with Autofocus lenses - the Pentax F series - and it’s been a blast. I got a shutter release cable that allows auto focus when half pressed and it’s made a huge difference in how quickly I can set up for each frame.
I’ve also successfully taken self portraits on a KR-10 Super, the 3rd self repaired $15 one I saved from being binned that just needed the shutter reset. These manual cameras are a little more tricky to use. You kind of have to guess the distance or set up something where you’ll be, set the camera on a table or leaning on a rock or something, crank the camera, then press the self timer button and you have 10 seconds to get into position. Not impossible to do, just really slow.
I could go on endlessly but I think you get the idea…
Regretti Spaghetti - The camera I wish I never got and ultimately is why I'll never risk it again.
Okay, maybe that’s a tiny bit exaggerated but for the last month until I sorted the issue out I was really upset with the last mechanical camera purchase. So much so that I made a declaration about it and swore off buying another untested camera ever again.
I picked up a Ricoh SLX 500 from an estate sale which came with a roll of film still in it and the shutter was jammed. Luckily as I know how to repair most basic mechanical functions on cameras I got it unjammed within a few minutes, and lo and behold - another working camera, yay!
The only downside and the one that made me almost scrap it altogether - it smells like an ashtray. Severely. Like pack a day smoker was blowing nicotine stained breath into the back of this thing on a near 24/7 basis so it soaks into every pore of the leather. It absolutely reeked. And I tried everything to eliminate the stench. Degreasers got so much tar residue off it was almost sickening. Then the disinfectant, soapy towels, and isopropyl alcohol kind of helped. But after a day or two it started stinking up the place even more because suddenly the protective layer of filth was lifted, ugh!
It’s been scrubbed with bi-carb soda, and eventually a little bit of vinegar on a toothbrush and gently rubbed till clean, then aired out for a few weeks. It doesn’t stink as bad, just a little waft of it is left. I hope with more time it’ll fade to nothing. I spent hours restoring it, replacing light seals, cleaning every part of it inside and out. It’s received more love than any other camera. It’s scrubbed up nicely as you can see and I’m film testing it next week.
Mechanically speaking it’s perfect (so far). The lens is perfect too and I’m so thrilled to have a beautiful Rikenon 50mm M42 lens I can use on my other Ricoh’s as well.
But oh boy, that’s honestly turned me off buying cameras anytime soon. So I think that’s it for my collection. I’m pretty satisfied with the cameras I have, they cover everything I like doing and each one gets rotated through over time.
Although I wouldn’t mind getting a Minolta SRT series camera one day… hmm.
What exactly do you plan to do with these cameras? I mean… ‘Josie On Film’ doesn’t really exist anymore, right? So you don’t reeeeaaally need that many…
Well I’m glad you asked! Sorry to disappoint but I don’t plan on selling any of my collection for a loooong time. And I’ve cut myself off from buying any more cameras or film as I’m determined to use what I already have. So while I hear your concerns, I promise I have it under control and there’s a good reason for chatting about my collection.
I’ve recently been reading some books on planning and goal setting and one of them spoke about a “sprint” where for 3 weeks you pick a single goal to work towards. This gives you enough time to settle into a routine, but not so long that you give up halfway, or procrastinate or straight up convince yourself it’s the end of the world because it’s taking too damn long.
It was very bold of me to brag to friends and loved ones back in December that I would shoot nothing but black and white film for a year and leave the colour for when I pick up my Digital cameras. But let’s be real… 365 days of black and white film is going to drive me nuts. And I’m not that disciplined. Hat’s off to Graincheck for committing to that!
So I’m going to see how I go with picking a subject or theme and sticking to it for at least 21 days, and use nothing but the bulk roll of Fomapan 400 I picked up recently. To inspire myself I’ve pulled out my past black and white photos to give myself a kick in the pants and be like “SEE, YOU CAN DO IT!” - a gentle nudge to get that imposter syndrome of mine out of the damn way.
Okay, but how do you really feel about getting back into shooting film after a break?
I just want to document daily life again if I’m being honest!
And with the pressures of being a ‘small business’ or ‘professional’ pushed to the side till at least 2024, I’m really committing to reconnecting with the essence of why I love 35mm film. I want to create things just for myself that make me go “Wow that was pretty sweet” and that will have that nostalgia factor for me when I look back.
I’ve been trying to track down some of my original film shots from 2015 when I started so I can maybe find a pattern in what drew me to it, and then revisit those themes again. I also caught this YouTube video today where Willem Verbeek spoke about how committing to a single subject allowed him to really take his time and enjoy his surroundings. This is something I haven’t done in what feels like years. It’s always been snap and go, meeting deadlines, not really taking my time with it but rather finding ways to be quicker while still accurate.
I also just really miss having a messy photo journal where I half assed stuck badly printed Kmart photos in and cut them into shapes and doodled all over the page about what happened that day and why I snapped an (honestly terrible) photo of the clothesline with a sheet blowing in the wind or something like that. There’s something so joyful about the mundane that I want to grasp onto and explore further.
Finding inspiration in other areas of my life
A poet by the name of Andrea Gibson has undoubtedly shifted my perspective on joy and taking in the present moment following a deeply vulnerable video they shared. That desire of wanting to find joy again combined with the grief and loss of my Grandfather that I’m still moving through has made me want to embrace every moment of life around me. Romanticize it all a little bit.
I have more or less stopped planning too far into the future. No more than a week ahead if I can help it at the moment. This is intentional to help break burnout and bad habits from over a year of constant hustle and grinding.
I barely check my schedule anymore, although I still kind of have a loose routine sorted - I know which days I’m consumed by medical appointments and generally doing the things I need to do for my recovery process. But on those days in between where there is a big blank spot and nothing in particular I have to do, that’s when I just wake up and decide what feels right.
And since I’ve been experiencing some decision paralysis, it’s a lot harder than I thought! I usually thrive on routine but it’s also something that sparks a lot of frustration because of the inflexibility of it all.
Lately there are days where I wake up and want to sit at my Knitting Machine all day long making beautiful lace dresses and blankets for myself while watching Star Trek Voyager all over again.
Other days I want to do nothing but read books and I allow myself to get lost in the pages for a few hours, sip some fancy tea and take it easy. I miss the days where I’d consume books within a day or two and have a constant rotation going. ‘Bookstagram’ (aka spicy romance book Instagram lol) has really been a saving grace and inspiration for introducing that hobby again. I’ve even started using some as props in photoshoots and it’s been fun to play with them in that way.
Some days I want to go for long drives down windy roads just for the fun of it, see how far the half tank of Diesel will get me and worry about how much it’ll cost me to refill it later. My dad and I recently went to the Blue Mountains to visit family, and the drive itself was just so peaceful I couldn’t stop smiling. He grew up in the mountains and was pointing out all the neat little pizza places and ‘the good bakeries’ along the way.
He suggested I stop by the next time I go for a road trip, call in for a hot bread roll and make a cup of tea out of the back of the car on the little hiking stove he gifted me a while ago… I think I'll do just that.
I’ve been trying to find simplicity in the in between. Put my phone down and pick up a pen to put to paper - write some poetry, start a memoir perhaps - just let it pour out without trying to edit or criticize. I’ve picked up a few more writing classes to help inspire me in that space too.
I still haven’t committed to journaling daily despite promises to myself but earlier today I tried for the first time in a while and I hope to build on it from there. A fear of being known battles with the fear of being forgotten and find myself freezing up. There’s a deep pull in me to show up as authentically as possible but the ‘what ifs’ and being afraid of someone thinking I’m crazy, weird, or a freak is what holds me back the most.
At the same time I miss the version of me who existed years ago, fearless and didn’t give a fuck what people thought of her. Wore the most ridiculous amount of glitter on her face daily, wild coloured hair, a cigarette hanging from lips and a middle finger in the air. She would happily “waste” film on photos of her bookshelves, of the journal on an open page, a fountain pen on the window sill, a half empty cup of tea. She’d snap mirror selfies, bad photos, candids, out of focus blobs, spooky liminal spaces, literal trash bags on the side of the road - and enjoyed every second of it.
Oh how my rebellious younger self was so much more resilient to the pressures I feel surrounding my photography practice today. I’m trying to find my way back to her carefree nature - minus the smoking of course as I quit years ago. (God forbid my own cameras start smelling like it too, let’s not have a repeat of the Ricoh please!)
Settling on a subject and committing to monochrome.
So, having said all that lovely deep shit, I still haven’t quite figured out what subject I want to focus on first. I need to be mindful that Fomapan is quite punchy and grainy, so perhaps dramatic lighting would work. I also don’t want to take cliché photos even though sometimes they’re the most gorgeous - but I promised myself if ever lost my mind and started a shed series I would quit film photography altogether…
I’ve pulled out a few past photos of mine I like the ‘vibe’ of and I’d love to hear what you think about them.
Do any of them call to you specifically? Can you see any repeating themes? Or are they all just kind of ‘meh’ and I should try to find more interesting things to take photos of? Or should I go more boring, more mundane? Perhaps a blank wall with nothing but the shadows of the window flicking during sunset?
So many pathways to take, it’s hard to know where to start. Starting is always the hardest part after all.
Finding the ‘flow’ and letting everything melt away for a moment is my overall goal so maybe I don’t need to settle on a subject at all. Maybe I just need to walk around and see what my brain decides is photo worthy like I used to. Maybe I’m just grossly overthinking it all.
Finding a way back to genuine joy and the essence of myself is at the root of it all and I’m curious as to how I’ll interpret that moving forward. And I feel that by shooting in black and white film it’ll force me to take in the details and truly soak in the moment rather than trying to quickly snap and move on. It’ll force me to slow down and let myself feel something - or at least that’s what I hope will happen.
I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it because it’s my truth- I want the slowness. I crave it. I want a single day to feel like it’s been 3 days before it’s even sunset. I want to be bored and to not actually do a single fucking thing to try to cure that boredom. I want to stick my toes in the grass and try to snap photos of the bees gently tip-toeing over flower petals, whisking up pollen into their tiny bodies. I want to soak every inch of this life in - and actually enjoy it, appreciate it even. I want to be that wild girl who flew by the seat of her pants and saw each day as a new adventure and challenge.
I want more than anything to find that sense of awe and wonder I had in 2015 that caused me to pick up that damn KR10M in the first place.
I guess what I’m trying to say…
is that I want to find a home within myself and this life I’m living again. And I’m hoping going “back to basics” by doing this little personal challenge during April is the thing that will help it all unfold.
God knows I have enough D76 to develop at least 100 rolls, but let’s start with just a few and see where it takes me, eh?
Thanks for tuning in to this newsletter, it’s been a bit of a wild ride hasn’t it?
I appreciate you spending some time here with me today. I hope something I have said resonates with you, or inspires you to dig through your camera collection too.
I invite you to grab one that’s been a bit neglected and go out there and snap some cool photos, and please do share them with me! Perhaps you’ll join me on this short black and white film adventure too?
As always, you’ll be the first to see the photos once they’ve been developed, so if you haven’t already go ahead and subscribe to get that email straight to your inbox, and share this post with some fellow film friends if that tickles your fancy too.
Until the next roll, take care!
Xoxo, Josie