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Great video! I'm enjoying your channel!

The truth behind the underrating of Praktica cameras is because many assume that they are crappy Eastern Block cameras, which aren't worth shooting film with, with Japanese cameras and Leicas being the only worthy cameras for shooting film. Oh my, how wrong those persons are. I use a Praktica MTL 5B, which still works perfectly nearly 40 years since it roll off the Pentacon factory in Dresden. This is a fully mechanical camera, with the only electronic part being the lightmeter. The other advantage of Praktica cameras is the PL (Pentacon Loading) film loading system, which makes loading film in a Praktica a lot easier.

When I was a kid, I shot photos with a point and shoot camera, mainly on vacations. In 2007, on my 13th birthday my parents gave me a Praktica DCZ 5.3 digital camera. My interest towards analogue photography began in 2021, when I decided to buy myself a film camera (In that year I also bought my first DSLR - Canon EOS 2000, because I wanted a camera for my PhD thesis and documenting archaeological structures on site). I bought a Praktica MTL 5B with a Pentacon Auto f 1.8 50 mm lens. Since then I bought a Pentacon Auto f 2.8 135 mm telephoto lens and a Tamron CF Tele Macro 80-250 mm lens from a fleamarket. So far I'm happy with my Praktica, it runs like clockwork and best of all, the TTL lightmeter is still functional. I used it in my first test roll and the all of the photos were exposed correctly. I'm still wondering whether to buy a spare M42 camera body or not.

I really like the double exposures and the picture with the small mirror.

At first I thought we were going to have a film made by Ingmar Bergmann...or "Interiors" by Woody Allen...either way, the portraits towards the end reminded me of Man Ray. Well, that's enough name dropping, eh? I would think 10 year old film would cause SOME kind of problem...

...."and then we'll do a portrait of your face". Rather weird English, Elsie.

yes, perhaps, as the goo thats the developer 'packet' is hardened, and its this you see, aka residue of the rolling of the dev. over the paper, and it not tidy, but rough (think darkroom paper)- if the process isn't agitated well, or it could be old emulsion, which has 'lifted' off the paper.

Well that was a interesting shoot as I think Gregory was having more fun teasing you than posing as he was having fun with the mirror for sure. As he was getting into his grooming and not paying attention to that bossy photographer trying to tell him how to pose and wearing his arms out trying to hold the mirror the way she wanted. Of which of course she needs to be more careful with as bleeding on the model is no fun. Just joking as you two look like you were have a wonderful day just the film was not working with you that good. Seems as if it could have had something pressing or laying on it seeing how its in the same spot every time in each shot. But overall it was from what I can tell it was a wonderful day you to shared and that's the most important thing as cherished moments and memories as this are always the best things in life we are given to share in moments of love with the one who is worthy of our hearts and love. For truly Els I think Gregory would agree he's loving every moment in life he gets to share with the beautiful Els and the fun times they share as in this fun shoot that though not as hoped for still was a great day for the both of you to share on a beautiful day of which is a cherished memory now you have in the life you share together. Keep safe and enjoy these beautiful moments and memories of the two hearts of love coming together as one in beautiful days as these. As for me still working on cleaning up after hurricane Helene as the weather is still a scorcher though we got a few days of coolness. But I'll get there as no fire and it's just me and there are others that have lost everything and some still needing help that so many are trying to help as we all are trying to get by with each day we are giving. As well get there just it will take a while as we've not had these kinda of storms in many years. As I think they said made the first hurricane we had that bad was back like 1820 or something back then when they actually started logging hurricane data. But hope we are done as 1 was enough and 3 now was way more than we wanted for sure. Be safe Sweet Els as may Gregory and you have a beautiful week.

Nice floor Els😊

Els, as a general rule of thumbs, you only need to compensate exposure on COLOUR FILM, and not that much onBlack and White. Coulour film is generally 1 stop per 10 years of expiry date, and Black and white should be 1 stop every 30 years...

UNLESS the following were true ... then I would ALWAYS be shooting film exclusively - 1. The cost of film and developing. 2. The storage space necessary for the final results.

Have you had the camera CLA'd?

awesome video editing as well!

looks awesome!!

❤

incredible!

Interesting market, although sometimes with much too high prices for untested gear.

Great shot beautiful Els as love it and the ones before as sorry I've not replied as been busy dealing with hurricanes that came ashore in the area where I live. Coastal lands took a major impact and we lost about 90% of beaches and homes along the coast here. Inland where I live too a lot as well Helene just did major impacts in many more State as it went north. Then just as we are trying to recover from Helene a week later Milton decides we haven't had enough and when straight across the State of Florida in some of major cities that we're just recovering and now have even more of a bigger mess to clean up as everything from Helene is everywhere once again and with some major hits from tornadoes as well. So love this one and the others and hope you are safe and well yourself. Hugs love and prayers beautiful Els.

Congrats! That IS a great shot!

0:46 You might not have had high expectations for this shot but your dog knew it would work 😀

Love these style of images, more please!

Very nice project.

Instax😳. Why not 😊

That turned out so well! Lovely photo.

Bravo!

shooting film is like either you have "expensive mistake" or "happy accident". but i love and enjoy using film

I have gotten a pentakon six medium format camera to use in addition to my mamiya. This guy is heavy… but now I can try to use my mf-lenses a proper way. I love the quiet style of your Video, Els! Have a nice week!

The argument, to use film as is slows down is not a big valid reason to use film. I used a film camera from my early teens to my late 40s, I started digital photography with a point & shoot Canon cameras and a basic 6 ink Canon printer. Being able to edit and print my own work with out the use of a dark room was a big part of going from talking basic photos to eventually photographing events. Film photography was the ultimate straight out of camera photography as I had Kodak process my film and make my prints, I was never happy with the results or process. Using DSLR cameras and mirrorless cameras from Pentax, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Olympus, NIKON Sony and a Canon 90D gives me a variety of different cameras that I use for different kinds of photography. When I want to take my time, I use a Fujifilm XT3 and XT5 or NIKON ZF, I use the files on top of the cameras, set my camera 📷 to single shot,use the view finder and take the time to get my composition right before I take the shot. The Zf and Zfc along with the XT3 and XT5 are perfect cameras if you want to slow down and smell the roses 🌹 while you are taking photos.

The difference between ftlm photography and digital is the difference between reading a book, and watching a film of the book. Or, if you get a ready meal out of the freezer and put it in the oven for twenty minutes, are you a chef?

Lovely photos!

You are very late to the party - I have been shooting film since 1958. 😂

if you do have focus issues, try shims on the shutter body, aka adjust the shutter to the lens board, if it doesn't have shims it may need them, as the focus is not just the viewing lens, but if its wrong in the SHOT, then the lenses aren't synced together like they should be, either the lens board isn't sitting flat at the bottom, aka crud in between the two, or as I said earlier, the shutter needs to be shimmed away from the lens board. If thats Ok, then you need to shim under the viewfinder ground glass, or check the mirror stops {the focus calibration of the viewing optics}, either of these may fix it.

another thing to check is, as they have interchangeable lenses, there is a 'baffle' plate which swings down, to save the film, it should be interlocked with the shutter levers, so, like a hassleblad V or H, if the slide is in, you cant shoot, and waste a frame, the "zero exposure safety" and if this knob isn't all the way up, it could lockout the shutter to, worth a check.

a tip, these can do multi-exposures, its the silver thumb knob nearest the winder, it clutches this in-out, so check its all the way over to OFF, if it isn't that could be the reason, lack of service means thick grease, therefore hard to turn, or you could have a worn gear.

Nice video. I loved my Mamiya twins lens camera I bought new in 1975 but unfortunately lost it in a house fire in 1998. I miss it. I would really try getting all the issues fixed as it’s a great camera.

today I can see the outdoors digitally 🤔. But the best pair is you and your medium format Mamiya. You mentioned something about macro photography. I decided to try it and bought three extension rings, manual ones from Vivitar, and something that makes macro photography a real Byzantium. Pentacon bellows rail (East Germany DDR). This is where the ride begin😊

Both close-up lenses (if they are of good quality) and extension tubes works well I think. Extension tubes take up more space in your bag and you have to remove the lens in order to put them between the camera and the lens which can be a disadvantage. A third possibility is to put a reverse mount on the camera so you can use your lens backwards on the camera. I prefer using close-up lenses it's faster and easier and you can have them in your pocket 🙂

Nisi has some close focus lenses that you can screw on like a filter. They produce a decent result and are a lot cheaper than macro lenses. Search for close focus lens or adaptor, I don't remember the name exactly.

Lovely to see the dogs waiting for you when you got home. There's no welcome like a doggy welcome!

Ahhhh....into the wild only to find dead batteries...a pox upon them! If you can find one on the cheap, try an Olympus u9000, SP310 or many others (like the 565UZ). Olympus has macro settings and I got great results such as the water droplets you saw. Pocket size for a first shot and go back to the spot with one of your film cameras.

Diopters, extension tubes and lens reversals are fairly cheap solutions to get into macro photography.

Els, I like your videos and photos very much, they brighten my day!

Hello Els, I have no experience with diopters, but I have used extention tubes. The advantage of them is they use the original lense without any other glass, regardless of quality and just move the lense forward with the same optical quality. Most of the time they come in a set of three in difrent lenghts and can be used alone or any conbination to increas magnification to 1:1. I even have one tiny set for my half frame Olympus pen and they all work great. I hope this helps.

Hello Elza🌹

if not for anything else, there's at least one feature (among other things) to do with film that digital will probably NEVER be able to beat ... and that is True Sharpness inherent in a film's emulsion, that NO digital sensor of any build or size etc can even mimic, much less to reproduce! when a piece of film is (correctly) exposed and (correctly) developed, take a loop and view the grains true size, structure and their granularity and distribution / definition etc --thus sharpness -- right on / in the film's emulsion material ... try doing that with a digital file on a monitor screen ... the fail is so big and disastrous the real winner is the film emulsion ... but of course, all that said, now scan that film emulsion and work on it using digital technology ... and the results are just amazing! super amazing! that's why digital is also great no matter what ... long story short, use digital cameras for more than 90% of commercial photography ... and then leave film for that extra special 10% of commercial as well as perhaps 100% of artistic and creative types of photography ....

Film gets in my way to create I'm so glad digital came out 😂

Maybe consider getting a YashicaMat 124G. Inexpensive, built in light meter and excellent lenses. Btw, how comes your English is so good?

The slides are stereo pairs so now you need to look for a viewer at the next flea market.

I started into photography when I was fourteen in 1961. I started at a studio when I was sixteen. I am 79 now and still have a darkroom. My main cameras are medium format TLRs. A Rolleicord, Ricoflex and a Mamiya C330f . I would recommend using a camera like a Nikon D40 with a kit lens on the manual setting to get used to aperture and shutter differences. A D40 can be bought for £70. Then move on to something like a Nikon FG 20 film camera .

Inspiring video, thank you very much.