I apologize for the long absence, but significant events have occurred in my life since May. Street photography has been temporarily (unfortunately) set aside. The sudden change in my life due to the birth of my daughter Camilla in may has revolutionized everything. Due to the extreme heat weather in Rome over the past month and a half I haven’t gone out to photograph at all. I plan to return In the streets maybe in September.
Well as you can see in the latest posts I’ve been experimenting with analog photography. It was April when I started this new exciting experience. I’m using film compact cameras, everything is automatic and essential; you just have to press a button and decide whether or not to use the flash (when it is possible to decide it). I did a first test with a Yashica Minitec, which was really satisfying and fun. I managed to get a legendary Olympus Mju-II at a good price after reading about its image sharpness and extraordinary autofocus. I tested it in the field during several sessions (streets, home, car, work).
In this post, you’ll find some sample photos taken with Kodak Portra 400 and Mju-II. What can I say? It’s pocket-sized, super compact, lightweight, and fast. But AF is very noisy as the shutter. Quality is almost good but not as amazing as people declare on social media and the web. But that’s how it was supposed to be, it is a simple old film compact camera. So let me tell you that on the web prices are too high; I’m thinking also to Yashica T4 and T5, and obviously Contax T2,T3. Prices are crazy, film cameras are coming back just like vinyls.
Essentially the main problem is that these cameras are 20-30 years old; so the overall quality is obviously questionable. Additionally the risk to have malfunctions, both in their mechanical and electronic parts, is not negligible. For example I bought a wonderful Yashica T4, but unfortunately I had to send back immediately due to issues with the AF and lens mechanism. I have also a Yashica T3 that often doesn’t shoot, and the same Mju-II has damaged seals, causing light leaks that ruin the film. Compact analogue camera are really expensive, and remember that you have to pay a lot of money also for films, scan (I do it by myself), development (and print). Some kind of damages are not reparaible due to the absence of spare parts.
If you want to buy an analog camera, take into account all these potential issues.
That’s all folks
Stay well, have always light in your life
Best, F.S
Here is the link to my personal best pictures: street photography and landscape galleries
Read more about street photography, art, cinema
Read my latest articles about film photography here here:
Using film in street photography: let’s do it
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