…or: the bittersweet joy of falling in love with a film long discontinued.
Over the Christmas holidays, I was pleasantly surprised to receive some old 35mm films from my aunt. Expired, but she had kept them in the fridge like a pro. There was some (lower ISO) Superia, then some Swedish or Norwegian budget brand that doesn’t exist anymore, and one black and white roll, Kodak Plus-x 125 Pro. I hadn’t shot true black and white for over a decade, when I was a teenager on an exchange year in England, having access to a darkroom at school (what beautiful times). Then last year I shot two or three rolls of (the “non-true” black and white) Ilford XP-2 Super 400, but me and that film don’t seem to like each other at all.
About the camera then. I had been thinking of selling my Canon Prima AS-1, as it seems to be a quality lens (well, for an underwater point and shoot), and it seems to have something of a following, but I bought it quite cheap. I hated the first roll I shot with it. It was a Portra 400 shot over a weekend of very dull light, and although I suspected this wasn’t really my camera, I also knew it was unfair to judge it from that boring roll alone.
So off we went, the toy looking camera with the old film, and me, for a day trip to Falsterbo in southernmost Sweden. It’s very sandy making the sealed underwater compact an apt choice. The camera is very pleasant to shoot with, responsive, not too noisy. It is nice with a 90s compact that doesn’t feel all fragile and flimsy (like my Konica a4) nor heavily oversized (like some other underwater cameras).
I am happy I moved past that dull test roll, and will hang on to my Canon for a while. I dearly wish I could shoot more Kodak Plus-x 125. What a bitter sweet thing, falling in love with something that is gone.
If anyone can recommend a replacement, please speak up.
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Lukas Hromek on 5 frames with a Canon Prima AS-1 – By Linda Terstad
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Malcolm Myers on 5 frames with a Canon Prima AS-1 – By Linda Terstad
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Olle Pursiainen on 5 frames with a Canon Prima AS-1 – By Linda Terstad
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lori_brooks on 5 frames with a Canon Prima AS-1 – By Linda Terstad
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Mark Kronquist on 5 frames with a Canon Prima AS-1 – By Linda Terstad
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Damon Lapas on 5 frames with a Canon Prima AS-1 – By Linda Terstad
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George Appletree on 5 frames with a Canon Prima AS-1 – By Linda Terstad
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Daniel Steinle on 5 frames with a Canon Prima AS-1 – By Linda Terstad
Comment posted: 20/03/2019
I found the look of Arista EDU 100 in D76 1:1 has a very similar feel to Plus X. Arista is pretty cheap as well. Have fun.