I Love a Good Mystery Box

November 2021 I was really starting to take Film Photography more seriously. Using different settings and lenses were getting me more interesting results, and I was to the point I wanted a little more creative control in colors and “tones” from my photos. At the time there were a plethora of color film rolls available and I just didn’t know what to choose that would challenge me to be more thoughtful in my decision making and I really didn’t want to buy experimental film I wasn’t sure would turn out with anything usable. Being in the position I was in I decided the best option for me would be to order a “mystery box” from an online shop and just make whatever they sent me work. I sent an order for their 6-roll pack and received 5 rolls of very normal film from Kodak and Ilford, a good variety of color and B/W. There was also a roll from a company by the name of Revolog. I had heard of them and briefly looked at what they offer in the past but hadn’t really been in a place to use it effectively so had never even considered ordering. They sell intentional “defective” film stock that will end up having results like static electricity discharges, unusual color shifting and blobby bubbles. If these were to show up on an ordinary roll of film, I would be unhappy, but if it’s expected I can plan for how it will turn out somewhat. I set aside my roll of Revolog Streak for almost 2 years and finally just decided there’s no better time than late summer to try it out. I read it should end up with a vintage look, almost as if I were shooting through a scratched window. Walking back through Downtown Brighton I tried recreating a few of my favorite photos with the twist of now using color film instead of Black and White.

It was early evening on a Monday, and most of the shops were closed. Construction already keeps the foot traffic low, so I was basically by myself shooting store fronts, alleys, and an occasional interesting car. I knew I only had 36 shots. Trying to remember things I had learned from making this same walk just over a year ago wasn’t much help, I wasn’t even using the same type of camera this time. Now I was using one of the most advanced autofocus SLR bodies ever made from 2006, while previously I was using a fixed lens Rangefinder from 1972. There has been a reset in the way I do this over the past year, and it was time for me to move on and do things in the new way. I have been able to look beyond just interesting observations, getting a little deeper into line of sight and different lighting. In a back alley by the Brighton School of Ballet there is an art installation that can be lined up with the Lions Club statue to create a nice frame. Is it groundbreaking? Not really, but I’m glad I saw it this time so I can integrate that into something later.

I’m still learning how to capture wildlife and vehicles. There’s not much to be done that hasn’t already been done over and over. Maybe someday I will discover something, but for now I still really like just seeing the lines of an exotic car and adorable animals through the lens of my camera. Brighton has an active car culture, both classic and exotic with a few camouflaged preproduction models from time to time and everyone is more than willing to let me take a few shots when I ask. If any of you have an interesting car and want me to come do a photoshoot, I’m sure we can work something out. Unfortunately, an ongoing color film shortage has made the mystery boxes I was enjoying a thing of the very recent past. I’m hoping this comes back soon as it’s really quite a fun experiment…or maybe I’ll just go to one of the local shops and ask them to build one for me and make a whole new post about it.

Overall, I am very satisfied with how this roll turned out. In the future I would probably overexpose it a little as they are a little dark. I think it’s supposed to be that way since the scratches are more pronounced in the darker areas. The rolls are marginally more expensive than standard premium rolls which makes sense as they have added the special effects in house, or at least have the know how to do it consistently to existing film. I think I may need to order a roll of their Tesla film for some Halloween shots this year, and some a roll of Paper for some old-fashioned shoots.

Retrospective Travel Blog: Chicago 2022

April 2022 was a turning point for me and the confidence I had in my photography skill. I had been watching lots of YouTube travel videos of my favorite creators and finally decided I would take ONLY a film camera on our planned trip to Chicago. Prior to this I was using a very competent Mirrorless Nikon 1 J2 I had gotten from a friend. It served me well in its bright orange super compact body, but it was time for me to just jump in and give up the security of knowing instantly what my photos looked like. This would also be a warmup for our next National Parks trip planned for later that summer, and to be honest it worked out better than expected.

When I was choosing what camera and lens combo to take, I ended up taking the only autofocus body I had at the time, a Nikon N8008s. It is a very early model, built sometime between 1992-1995. The autofocus is slow and noisy, but accurate once you get the hang of it. The light meter is also accurate, and I never worried about it getting the exposure just right in bright light, shadow or even at night while wandering through the theater district. It just works. I paired it with a zoom lens that is also not really known to be anything other than an “adequate” do it all tool. The NIKKOR 28-85mm 3.5-4.5 AF is a good match to the N8008s as they are both good at everything and excellent at nothing. I also wanted to take something I would not be terribly upset if either one ended up being broken or lost. I did end up having a heavy glass door slammed closed on the body but not even a scratch was sustained.

Walking with this hanging around my neck for 2 days was a little cumbersome, but it felt less heavy than most of the other autofocus cameras I’ve had. I also got more compliments on this one than I’ve ever gotten for any camera. Shout out to Zach at the Downtown LEGO store. I did make a mistake and loaded it with Black and White film before we went to the top of the Willis Tower, but it still made some nice photos. Much better than I took in the early 90’s when we went with my youth group, and it was still called the Sears Tower. The sunset wasn’t amazing, but it deserved better than BW film.

On the way back to the hotel all the streetlights were coming on and made the buildings feel like they were coming to life. We were staying in one of the hotels attached to a theater and those last few blocks of walking were brilliant.

 Chicago during daytime was slow to wake up. We made it to Cloud Gate (The Bean), and it was almost deserted. They were filming a scene for Chicago PD and said we could stay to the side as a part of the background extras. I was the only one interested, so we wandered back over to the sculpture, and I took what I would consider a selfie from the inside of it. I felt very much like I was working on a random college project and it was 1995 again.

The rest of the day was spent walking to and through the Museum of Natural History, Soldier Field and then some casual shopping while trying to avoid obvious tourist traps and dark alleyways. Of course, we did have to have Chicago Style Hot Dogs at Portillo’s…It was worth the 2-mile walk. Trying to squeeze a full Chicago weekend into just under 1000 words is tough, so I’m going to let the photos tell the rest of the story.

Overall, I was very pleased with how well the camera performed in so many different situations and have recommended it to multiple people looking for an inexpensive film camera. I got mine from KEH.com in excellent condition for around $60, and the lens came on a different body I bought previously. It can be had currently for around $50 and works with any manual focus Nikon body going back to the original F from 1959 and I still use it with my newest Digital D500. If you need a lens and I still have this one, I’d be happy to rehome it. These late 80’s to early 90’s autofocus film cameras are a steal of a deal for anyone that wants to learn to take a nice photo.

Expired Film Can Be Fun

For anyone that has even a passing interest in film photography, you have probably noticed there seems to be a plethora of options to choose from when buying a roll of film. There are options for different styles of shooting, color temperature, each brand offers different film speeds and sometimes the film has a characteristic that makes it especially good for a very particular subject. An example would be when someone chooses Cinestill 800t to take pictures of neon or a gas station at night because they like the glow the lights create in the photos. Some brands like Revolog have made entire lines with artificial artifact on the film stock like scratches, color shifts and even static electricity discharge. It's certainly a fun novelty when you are expecting it, though I have not used any of them yet. I do have a roll of “scratched” film I received in a mystery box a few years ago but have yet to figure out the situation I want to use it for. Regardless of what anyone chooses to shoot with, it tends to run on the expensive side, and is only getting more expensive. One way some photographers have chosen to combat this (me included) is to shoot expired films.

 Film is like most other consumable goods; it has a date the manufacturer considers to be a cut off for when the end customer can reasonably expect it to be the same as the day it was created. Over time the chemicals start to break down and become less predictably sensitive to light once exposed. This break down can be slowed by keeping it in cold storage and there are a few cases of companies finding bunch of deep freeze stored stock they can resell. Film Photography Project Retro Chrome is the only one of these I’ve used, and it did not turn out right. I am to blame for the weird turnout I assume. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but it was all dark blue when I had it developed.  The more common option of shooting expired film is to literally find a roll in a closet, cabinet, garage or stored in an old camera bag. This creates a much less predictable change in the photos, and there has been an entire community of folks that seek these rolls out just to see what results they can get. I’ve had the “pleasure” of shooting a handful of these and it’s either been very good or subjectively terrible. I did have one creepy jack-o-lantern picture turn out from the bad roll I kind of like though.

 The worst roll I’ve ever shot came from a garage sale Canon T50 that had been sitting in an unprotected attic for at least 20 years according to the lady I got it from. She gave me a good deal on it because I helped her bring down an old bench from the rafters. It was a roll of Kodak Gold 200 which typically has a brownish tone and reasonable graininess. It ended up looking like there was a haze over the photos with more grain and had darkness that a 1970’s horror movie would be thrilled to have. Only 7 images even showed up out of the 24 I shot, but they are all gloriously weird.

 A more typical find would be something from the 2010-2013 timeframe. This is when digital cameras were starting to surpass film quality, so people were putting what they had away and forgetting about it for the last decade or more. The rule of thumb I’ve been told is to overexpose by one stop for every 10 years it’s expired. If there’s no visible date, or it’s already in the camera I assume it’s from around this time and shoot 400 iso at 200, and 100 iso at 50. For some reason every expired roll I’ve had the last 2 years is either Kodak Gold 200 or Kodak Ektar 100, and both have given me some nice pastel images. I wouldn’t use them for my portfolio, but they look nice. It tends to make peoples skin look reddish pink I think, so I try to just get city and naturescapes.

 In My Favorite Things blog post I mentioned, I really like to shoot Kodak BW400CN. It was discontinued in 2014, so obviously it is well past expired at this point. This is one stock I just load and shoot at box speed, and it turns out nice. I don’t have anything extra to say about this, but if I ever find a brick of it, I certainly hope it’s priced well because I will absolutely buy it.

One last thought about shooting expired film is entirely theoretical. I don’t shoot slide film because my local film shop doesn’t have the chemicals to develop it. Everyone I have talked with says you should not try to shoot at anything but box speed and hope for the best. If you want a roll to try out for yourself, I have some in my freezer I am pretty sure is dated 2009. I have no idea how I ended up with this stuff, but I am never going to say no when someone offers it to me.

Thank you again for spending time with me today. Please go out show someone you love them.