I shot about two rolls of expired 35mm Fuji slide film in my last trip to Descanso Gardens on May 21, 21. I used my old Canon T-90 camera that I dug out of the closet where it was comfortable in hiding during the past 5 or so years. I don't even remember having used it ever, I quit my habit for 35mm long, long ago, when I became a Rebel and went over to the digital side. Before that, I was still using my Canon T-70, the older version of that model, and I remember it failed me miserably at the Rose Parade maybe 12 years ago, when I was trying to photograph a band and it jammed on me. So I think that was what motivated me to buy the Canon T-90, that and the allure of rock-bottom analogue camera prices when it seemed film was about to slink away. But film came back. I don't know if we can say roaring, but it is meowing a little.
So, I didn't really even know if my Canon T-90 camera was working. And here I was, trusting finicky (all the more so since it was expired) slide film. But I had to see how it was doing. It had a roll of color film in it, and I had to finish off that roll before moving to slides. I used it at the El Dorado Regional park, a trip that was an outing because, basically, it wasn't really a beautiful nature reserve, it was Lakewood's version of Fairmont Park in Riverside. Even the ducks were in abundance, and the sidewalks were caked in their filth.
But going back to Descanso, I took it there and finished off the roll of slide film I had started at El Dorado, then shot another one-and-a-half rolls. I sent two 35mm rolls to be developed. Now I know. The camera works, but not the photographer. I made a big mistake, and I realized it after I had finished the rolls, when I was thinking about how long a sound the shutter was making. Here I was, using aperture priority mode, and trying to use f8 up to f16, and really, given some dim lighting conditions and the 100 ISO speed of the film, the camera was choosing very long shutter speeds for me. Most of these 8 frames I scanned are blurry. I should have known, and to my credit, I realized it back then, but the mistakes were confirmed when I scanned the film 30 minutes ago.
Now I know, now I know. If I insist on using this camera with slide film, and my longish 135mm lens, I need to use shutter priority and use a shutter speed of at least 1/100 second. That way, the camera might be shooting wide open, but at least I have much more of a chance of obtaining sharp photos, and not the blur I obtained this time. By the way, you might have noticed the laconic attempt at humor in this post. I recently discovered the Youtube site "Grainydays", by one acerbic and low-key Jason Kummerfeldt, and have been enjoying his humor. It kind of rubs off on me.
So here are the frames I scanned today. I don't really want to finish scanning the roll. I think I will let bygones be bygones.
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