An Afternoon Out with a Compact Camera

Recently I wrote a blog about the joys of compact cameras.

In-Praise-of-Compact-Cameras

The compact camera is a great carry around camera and sometimes the thought of carting around a heavy bag full of lenses, camera bodies and all that jazz, it just a bit much.  My 35mm film compact camera of choice at the moment is a Lomo LC-A.  It's definitely not perfect but it produces images that are not dreadful.  This is a very low bar, I know.  

The internet influencers would have you believe that a Yashica T4, Olympus Mju II, Contax T2 or Ricoh GR1S are the best compact cameras for 35mm film and so they may be, but now that the cat is out of the bag the prices match the hype that the influencers create. And that serves no one well, least of all those of us who are on a budget.

The LC-A isn't hyped by anyone, apart from the Lomography people - because they sell them, but that doesn't mean it's no good. Mine is from the early 1980s and is a genuine Soviet built one. You can pick them up for a decent price if you exercise some patience and avoid instant gratification syndrome.  I used the camera for a walk around one of Somersets' prettiest towns Frome a couple of days ago.  Here are the photographs.

2020 - Pandemic Photography

It seems like it never really happened now. 2020, the year that Boris Johnson asked everyone in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to stay at home in order to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. During the period where we all stayed at home, I found myself getting a bit bored. I'm sure I wasn't the only one.

Anyhow, I had some adapters that would allow 35mm film to be shot in a medium format camera. Sprocket hole photography.  There was an article that I found where you had to create a leader for your 35mm film from a scrap length of 120 backing paper.  Then you wouldn't loose any frames when the film was loaded.

Like so. This allows the takeup spool to be standard 120. Once the film is exposed you have to unload in a dark bag and wind the film back into the 35mm canister.

I loaded a roll of Fomapan 100 into a 6x7 medium format camera and during my time outside, shot these while observing social distancing (remember that?).

I'd forgotten all about these negatives until I came across them in an envelope recently.

The first frame thanks the NHS. Funny how we all did that when we thought we were going to die isn't it? (Bit of politics as Ben Elton might have said).

    

    

Sedgemoor Vintage Show 2026

Having moved to Somerset about a year ago, I decided to attend the the Sedgemoor Vintage Show, last weekend. The weather was a cool 32 Celsius and the barometer said it was due to be dry (no kidding?).  I went last year and really enjoyed the show. 

Apologies for the state of this but it was a well used resource.

I decided to take the Polaroid Flip camera, on loan from Dave Whenham. I took two packs of Polaroid iType Monochrome film and one of iType colour. The polaroid camera allows an easy photography style at these events while bringing its own retro vibe.

They have vintage cars, motorcycles, tractors and farm machinery, lorries and finally the stars of the show various steam powered road engines and rollers.

Nicely restored steam road roller

A lovely display of stationary agricultural engines, pumping water  or sawing wood was available to view.

The programme was a really useful tool, giving the history of individual vehicles, who they were supplied to (Coventry Council in one case) from new, who owns them and who restored them.  Some vehicles have had several restorations due to age.

There was a period correct tea marquee where you could have a cuppa and a slice of homemade cake.

The beer tent was a busy area and a nice selection of beer and cider was on offer.

Parking was free and entrance was a tenner. You got a programme free and a wrist band. Once you've paid for entrance you could go on the second day for free.

My favorite tractor the Field Marshall

An excellent afternoon was spent here.

Racing Cars

Now and again, I enjoy going to motorsport events. I'll take a camera with me and see if I can get close to the cars.  I enjoy the design and engineering work that has gone into the cars and I try to capture some of the design choices with my photography. These photographs were taken on 35mm film. Fomapan 100, if memory serves.

In Praise of Compact cameras

There are times when you want a camera that is a serious tool to take properly exposed, beautiful negative frames. However all of the technical activity to get a properly exposed, nicely developed negative makes the whole process really slow. If you are having a trip with a friend to London, for example, as I did recently,  you cannot make your friend ( a non photographer) slow down and stop, while messing around with meters, f stops, apertures and shutter speeds, not to mention intentional composition. No, you want to point and shoot and crack on with enjoying the company of a friend.

Bit shonky due to an expired roll of film that was (accidentally) exposed both sides.

Luckily the trajectory of camera and photographic refinement made much of the technical work automatic, allowing even non photographers to take some nice photographs. Non photographers don't buy SLRs or Medium Format cameras, they buy a little automatic compact camera.  In the early 1980s there were loads on the market and the improvements in automation carried on until the 1990s.

Japan produced some lovely compacts such as the Olympus trip or the Nikon L35AF. 

Here is a trip down memory lane.  In 1991 I bought a Canon Telemax Sure Shot 35mm film camera as a tool for making family memories. The camera we (read my wife) already had was appalling. While I can immerse myself in technical detail and the finer points of photography, my wife wasn't interested. She wanted to make snaps of the kids, our days out and our holidays. We'd send our film off to Truprint for processing and get back negatives, 6x4 prints and a free Truprint film.  The Canon was perfect. An automatic camera with film auto wind, really sharp lens and perfect metering. The Telemax also had a two position zoom, 38mm or  70mm.  The DX encoded films allowed the cameras internal brain to configure the ISO of the film in the camera and use that to calculate the exposure and meter the subject. Finally the camera used a near infrared beam to assist with the focusing of the lens.

It was a great camera and served us well. Interestingly the resulting photographs and negatives are still in the photo albums.

The files from the digital cameras that replaced the Sure Shot in the early 2000s have all been lost. Not one of them still exists, even though they were backed up. The backups I still have but the format cannot be read. (why do I hang on to them?).

It is a matter of regret that the camera was not looked after and was consigned to a drawer. Even after I returned to film photography, I ignored the camera. And then it got lost in a house move.

Looking online today nice examples fetch £100 (but I'm digressing. again!).

The point being that a decent compact film camera will serve the user well and allow nice photographs to be taken without slowing down any social interactions/walks/trips/holidays etc.

It was with this in mind that I took my Lomo LC-A to London.

I won't repeat the information that you can look up on the internet.

Here is a link to save you using Google,

Lomo_LC-A

The LC-A is a compact camera that produces decent results. Not top flight, portfolio ready photographs, but decent pictures. It's automatic and is very quick to use.

The LC-A is becoming a favorite as a walk around camera. I took this with my LC-A at a location local to my home in Somerset.

I'd recommend an LC-A to anyone looking for a dependable, compact automatic camera.  The controls fall easy to hand, it's zone focused, which I'm happy with, and the meter is really accurate. It would make a nice travel camera.

The Efficiency Myth

Many of the devices that we routinely use in our daily lives were sold as being more efficient and our busy lives required efficiency. It is, we are told, more efficient to use Google than go to a library. It is more efficient to drive rather than walk. It is more efficient to use a washing machine than spend a day doing the washing.  There are thousands more examples but you get the picture.

I was recently thinking about a compact camera that I bought for my family and how it really did its job and no more. The camera served us as a family well. This line of thought directed me to consider how devices that we use in our lives, on the basis of efficiency, all do more than one job.  It seems to be a "sold" benefit that my phone can be a camera and a navigation tool and a music player and an e-reader and and and.

I must live in Utopia, right? 

But there has been an insidious change in our devices.  My Canon Sure Shot TeleMax only took photographs. It didn't send me notifications, it didn't advertise stuff to me, it didn't demand a monthly subscription to use it. Crucially the camera didn't distract me!

Maybe that's the reason that I like film cameras? Sure I enjoy the tactile and involving process of using film and old cameras, I certainly enjoy the chemistry side and the processing of the latent negatives to permanent negatives, myself. But when I use an old ( but could be new ) film camera, I am not distracted by notifications, adverts, or the promise of a better experience if only I'd sign up for a subscription. I can use the camera in a mental space that is free of that noise.  

The noise of incessant notifications, adverts and reminders for subscriptions has got louder and louder with each passing year.

I am interested in current affairs, what is going on in my country and how the lives of the population is affected.  I want to get my news from a reputable source and not someone on TickTok voicing an opinion from a position of ignorance or racism. But you see a headline from a traditional newspaper organisation, on Google, and you click through. Bang! There is a subscription demand to read the news!

I pick up my phone to use the light meter app and suddenly I'm reading an update on BSky or answering a WhatsApp message, or I've been distracted by a video of a young lady feeding her animals on her Dads farm. I've certainly been distracted from taking a photo and enjoying the environment that I am in.

It wasn't that long ago that I bought an Amazon Kindle E-Reader. It was paper white and allowed me to download books and read them. It didn't send me notifications or advertise anything or ask for a subscription to use it.  Now I attempt to use the Amazon Kindle app and run the gauntlet of notifications, adverts and subscription reminders

The modern phone is a distraction machine that wants our attention and money. It even distracts us from sleep. even when it's in "Do Not Disturb" mode, it's malevolent presence is a siren call to us. And we deliberately avoid sleeping in case we miss out. 

The intrusion is such that I've started to read physical books again.

I like technology and I think that it can be a boon to life in the 21st century.  But cut out the bloody adverts, distractions and begging for a sign up to a subscription!

The problem is that all the apps we use all play the same game. They all notify us, distract us and advertise to us. But the cumulative effect is one of overwhelming the 'phone user. Or at least it overwhelms me at times.

How can it be efficient for me to feel like this? The truth is that the efficiency that we are told that we need only benefits those who are selling efficiency.

So devices that allow all that noise to be cut should be sought, if you feel the same as me.

Here are some points about this.

• Choose a device that does not and cannot send you notifications.
• Choose a device that does not and cannot advertise to you
• Choose a device that only does one thing.
• Choose a device that does not distract you from the task for which you picked it up for in the first place.

To be clear I am not suggesting that anyone dumps their smartphone and gets a Nokia 6110. I am suggesting that you limit notifications, block adverts and try to use the smartphone on your terms.  Now and again, if you need a break from the noise, maybe choose a digital or film camera, an E-Reader that only allows you to read books, a notepad, a music player that only plays music or maybe just sit and do nothing with your smartphone locked away. Maybe buy an alarm clock and leave your phone downstairs? (I need to do this one!!!!)

Cornwall, a land of drama and mood

Cornwall is a beautiful landscape, from Lands End to Liskeard, there is always something new to discover.  But the light in Cornwall does have an eerie quality and the sea mist will often create a mood. A boiling sea crashing over quays and the wind howling off of the Atlantic, makes an invigorating walk. I love Cornwall in the Autumn, when pubs have their fireplaces lit and an afternoon looking out of a window as nature envelops the landscape. The Cornish beers are great as well and match well with a decent lunch. This selection of photos were all taken on a 6x9 Camera while I was on holiday. We did have a couple of nice days but it was mostly dramatic weather.