A few film photographers had asked me, "Why don't you give 35mm a try?" And I had been repeatedly shelving the idea.
Perhaps I just needed a gateway to something other than 120.
After a period of some fairly cheap camera acquisitions, and a feeling of overwhelming contentedness with the 120 format, I'd begun a new period of complacency. I'd felt that my stable of oddball medium format film equipment was pretty much more than I'd ever need, and really didn't feel the need to expand upon it any further by acquiring any more cameras of any format. As well, I didn't see where most of the offerings in 35mm allowed me anything new in the way of shooting experience that I did not already have either in 120 or in digital. However, I was open to the idea of trying 35mm if I were to find a very affordable camera that offered something interesting in its shooting experience.
Interestingly enough, I found such a camera, and it was right in the curio cabinet in my living room.
Say "Hello" to the Praktica FX3:
At least once each week in this blog, I undertake the process of taking one or more physical objects that look like this...
and turning them into something that looks like this...
Do I simply plop these slides in the scanner, only to then drop and drag them into the pages of this blog? If only it were just that simple.
I've been known to bemoan technology at times.
I routinely vocally berate my "smartphone" for bungling the words in my text messages, wiping them out altogether, or doing seemingly random and insiduous things on its own accord as it sits in my shirt pocket. I tire of software bugs, and continual calls to "update" a piece of software or mobile application. And I so often question the totality of these headaches when taken in the vein of the catch phrase "technology makes our lives easier."
There are those times however, when I am left in awe of technology, for the ability to look up the answers to my continually rambling curiosities on a device that fits in my pocket and for my ability to pair up lens hardware of the 1960's with digital sensor cameras from the present day.
And now this:
