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You may or may not remember me posting about how I found a used film camera for cheap during my trip to Japan last year. In particular, what I got was a Canon 10QD SLR for about $9. What's notable about this particular one is the QD was a Japan-only version of the 10S. The difference being the QD has an automatic pop-up flash, a feature that didn't make it to the US version for some reason. The one I found is also in a metallic silver instead of the typical black, and the unusual color is because it was to celebrate Canon having made 60 million 35mm cameras, as of 1991. A mere cosmetic difference, but I'll take that bling.
https://global.canon/en/c-museum/product/film140.html
Canon's model numbering scheme is such that higher numbers are of a lower tier than lower numbers. So, something in the 600 or 700 range is going to be entry level, while a simple "1" means it's their flagship camera for professional use. (Canon's Rebel series is sold as a 600 series in other markets.) Since mine is "10", it's more for advanced amateurs. The original MSRP was somewhere in the range of $900, back in 1990/91. That said, a 2-digit series film camera from almost 30 years ago does go for cheap these days, but a 1-digit film camera still commands a price in the hundreds of dollars. (Nikon has a similar method.)
The really neat features started showing up once I got it home. It works with my EF lenses, and I didn't feel silly mounting an L lens on it. It works with the external flash I got for the T3i. It even works with the infrared remote, so I can do selfies on film if I so desired. It doesn't work with my EF-S lenses, but I knew that ahead of time. After finding a user manual online and reading through that, there were a lot of "I didn't know it could do that" moments. Mind that when it comes to film cameras, I'm used to the simple point-and-shoot variety, such as this.
That brings up another thing: It is a film camera. There are reasons, lots of reasons, why I primarily use digital. The lead time between taking the picture to having something I can post online can be in the scale of weeks. Then there are the costs. It costs money to buy film, there are 24 to 36 shots per roll, and it costs to have them developed. And I won't know if the pictures are any good until that happens. Film requires patience while having none for its users.
Digital does away with that; for the price of a couple rolls of film I can have an SD card that will hold thousands of pictures. I can look at the results as soon as I press the shutter. If I want to post it anywhere, I can either send it directly from my phone, or in the case of my T3i, transfer it to a computer first. (Given that the T3i takes much better pictures than my phone, it's a trade-off.) Digital is very forgiving of mistakes, and lets you experiment.
Anyway. I finally had a roll of film developed from the camera in question. So far the results look great. Out of a 36 picture roll, every one came out sharp. So it's not that there was something functionally wrong with the camera (or the lens I used), it was just old and obsolete. Ebay listings for the same model are consistently between $20-30, and when I found this in Nakano Broadway, there were plenty of other SLR cameras on the same shelf for about the same price. Despite being only $9, I could have easily gone even cheaper and gotten a different one for half the price. It's on the same scale as getting a super-size meal plus bacon because that's what you're in the mood for and you're willing to drop an extra couple dollars for it.
At some point a few months ago, a similar search on ebay yielded a listing for the factory service manual for this particular camera. I ended up getting that too. So if I do have to take it apart to fix something, the only issue would be finding parts for it. Then again, for what they're going for in general, it might as well be disposable. Then again I have a penchant for fixing things that no longer have any real financial value, just because I can, to see if I can.
So the question becomes, why? Why should I bother with film now? Aesthetics, pure and simple. Sometimes you want to take a picture and you want it to have that purely analog feel, and the only way to get that is with film. Sometimes you just want a certain result and no amount of Photoshop will recreate it. It helps that I've gotten a lot of experience through digital. It helps that I got the camera itself for a hundredth of its original cost.
Meanwhile, I also found some old rolls of film from way back in the day. They were originally taken back in 1998, when I bought my simple point-and-shoot 35mm film camera. I had those developed by a pro, and most of them seemed to come out ok, if quite grainy and with a bit of a color shift. Given that the film was from 1998, the pictures ranged from "looks good for its age" to "is this lomography" and it looks like a few of them didn't make it. The ISO-400 film seems to have fared much better over time than the 800, regardless of when the pictures are taken.
The place I took them to will develop film, scan them into .jpg for web use, return the negatives, and it's not far out of the way of my work commute. A little on the pricy side but there aren't many places like that anymore.
And so, I've decided that for my next trip to Japan, I'll keep an eye out for more used/old camera items. Or not, because there are some places around here (relatively) that are selling used cameras, including some I would consider. It might not save me a trip but it would save some room in the luggage.
https://global.canon/en/c-museum/product/film140.html
Canon's model numbering scheme is such that higher numbers are of a lower tier than lower numbers. So, something in the 600 or 700 range is going to be entry level, while a simple "1" means it's their flagship camera for professional use. (Canon's Rebel series is sold as a 600 series in other markets.) Since mine is "10", it's more for advanced amateurs. The original MSRP was somewhere in the range of $900, back in 1990/91. That said, a 2-digit series film camera from almost 30 years ago does go for cheap these days, but a 1-digit film camera still commands a price in the hundreds of dollars. (Nikon has a similar method.)
The really neat features started showing up once I got it home. It works with my EF lenses, and I didn't feel silly mounting an L lens on it. It works with the external flash I got for the T3i. It even works with the infrared remote, so I can do selfies on film if I so desired. It doesn't work with my EF-S lenses, but I knew that ahead of time. After finding a user manual online and reading through that, there were a lot of "I didn't know it could do that" moments. Mind that when it comes to film cameras, I'm used to the simple point-and-shoot variety, such as this.
That brings up another thing: It is a film camera. There are reasons, lots of reasons, why I primarily use digital. The lead time between taking the picture to having something I can post online can be in the scale of weeks. Then there are the costs. It costs money to buy film, there are 24 to 36 shots per roll, and it costs to have them developed. And I won't know if the pictures are any good until that happens. Film requires patience while having none for its users.
Digital does away with that; for the price of a couple rolls of film I can have an SD card that will hold thousands of pictures. I can look at the results as soon as I press the shutter. If I want to post it anywhere, I can either send it directly from my phone, or in the case of my T3i, transfer it to a computer first. (Given that the T3i takes much better pictures than my phone, it's a trade-off.) Digital is very forgiving of mistakes, and lets you experiment.
Anyway. I finally had a roll of film developed from the camera in question. So far the results look great. Out of a 36 picture roll, every one came out sharp. So it's not that there was something functionally wrong with the camera (or the lens I used), it was just old and obsolete. Ebay listings for the same model are consistently between $20-30, and when I found this in Nakano Broadway, there were plenty of other SLR cameras on the same shelf for about the same price. Despite being only $9, I could have easily gone even cheaper and gotten a different one for half the price. It's on the same scale as getting a super-size meal plus bacon because that's what you're in the mood for and you're willing to drop an extra couple dollars for it.
At some point a few months ago, a similar search on ebay yielded a listing for the factory service manual for this particular camera. I ended up getting that too. So if I do have to take it apart to fix something, the only issue would be finding parts for it. Then again, for what they're going for in general, it might as well be disposable. Then again I have a penchant for fixing things that no longer have any real financial value, just because I can, to see if I can.
So the question becomes, why? Why should I bother with film now? Aesthetics, pure and simple. Sometimes you want to take a picture and you want it to have that purely analog feel, and the only way to get that is with film. Sometimes you just want a certain result and no amount of Photoshop will recreate it. It helps that I've gotten a lot of experience through digital. It helps that I got the camera itself for a hundredth of its original cost.
Meanwhile, I also found some old rolls of film from way back in the day. They were originally taken back in 1998, when I bought my simple point-and-shoot 35mm film camera. I had those developed by a pro, and most of them seemed to come out ok, if quite grainy and with a bit of a color shift. Given that the film was from 1998, the pictures ranged from "looks good for its age" to "is this lomography" and it looks like a few of them didn't make it. The ISO-400 film seems to have fared much better over time than the 800, regardless of when the pictures are taken.
The place I took them to will develop film, scan them into .jpg for web use, return the negatives, and it's not far out of the way of my work commute. A little on the pricy side but there aren't many places like that anymore.
And so, I've decided that for my next trip to Japan, I'll keep an eye out for more used/old camera items. Or not, because there are some places around here (relatively) that are selling used cameras, including some I would consider. It might not save me a trip but it would save some room in the luggage.
