Testing My New Replacement Cameras

As I mentioned in my January 2021 Update, I bought 2 cameras to replace 2 that had stopped working.

I bought a Flexaret VI to replace my Flexaret VII. However, it seems like the VII may, in fact, be functional. I’ll know for sure when I finish a roll and get it developed.

I also bought a Olympus Pen EE-3 to replace my Pen EE which, without question, does not work.

I have finished a roll in each and have gotten them developed and both are functional. I’m not entirely pleased with the results, but I think that has more to do with a lack of effort on my part since I wanted to quickly finish the rolls to see if the cameras work. I didn’t want to invest much time in them in case there were problems.

In the case of the Pen EE-3, I shot a roll of Kodak Tri-X pan 400, mainly because it was a roll of 24 exposures which meant needing to shoot 48 pictures since the Pen EE-3 is a half-frame camera.

I had shot a couple of rolls of color film in my previous Pen EE and was curious about shooting black and white, although, I suspect the Tri-X might not have been the best choice.

Most of the pictures came out dark and grainy which would be fine in a larger image, but with the half-frame photos, the distinctions between the side-by-side images get lost. The Pen EE-3 automatically sets the shutter speed and aperture so I had no way to make any adjustments in darker situations. It’s probably best paired with a more forgiving color film.

Another issue is that I ended up with only 21 pictures. So it might be advancing a bit much between frames. This will be less of an issue when shooting a roll of 36 exposures (i.e. 72 pictures). It won’t be a big deal to lose a few shots when I’m shooting that many.

Many of the pictures turned out OK, but I’m hoping for better luck in the future with a different type of film and a more deliberate effort. After some frustration with cameras not working, I’m just glad its fully functional.

Decorated Utility Box and Micro Flat Iron Building

I shot a roll of Kodak Portra 400 in the Flexaret VI and had decent success.

I found focusing the VI a little more difficult than the VII and it seems like there is more in the final pictures than I anticipated based on what I saw through the viewfinder.

I took a couple of test photos in our apartment, one inside of a tea cup and one out our window, before taking it outside. It was a somewhat gray afternoon so the lighting wasn’t the best. The two pictures of the newly built flat iron type building had what little sun there was behind it. I knew they probably weren’t going to turn out that great but I really wanted to take pictures of that building. I’m sure I’ll try again on a better day.