No, it should have been 24 shots on Kodak Gold 200.
In my last #FullRollFriday post I mentioned that I went through a phase of acquiring various cameras to try. I wanted to share one of the more interesting rolls of film with you.
Almost all my cameras were either free (from friends and relatives) or cheap. They were cheap because I tended to buy “untested” cameras. My Canon EOS 600 was £12, the Box camera was £5, the Chinon CX was about £10, and so on… I was drawn to the Exa 1C because it was a 35mm camera with a waist level viewfinder and I LOVE a waist level viewfinder!
Please excuse the camera/art/craft mess in the background!
Testing out the film advance and shutter it all sounded fine so I loaded a roll of film. It was 2016 and my husband and I were going to Perugia, Italy for a short holiday and I brought the Exa IC along for the ride. I was not expecting the results that I got.
Clearly the film advance does not work correctly and the images ended up over lapping. Bizarrely though this happened in 3s, I don’t really understand how that works but I’ve included a picture of the negatives so you can see. I’m also not sure why it only let me get to shot 8 on this roll before telling me the roll was finished (even if it did think I had taken 12 shots).
Exa 1C negatives
When I finally master digitising my own colour negatives I’d like to rescan these in their little threesomes as I think they will be quite interesting to view. For the time being though I just have the scans provided by the lab and those are shared below.
Actually shot 0 on the roll.
Shot 1/2
Shot 2/3
Shot 4/5
Shot 5/6
Shot 7/8
Shot 8/9
Shot 10/11
Shot 11/12
What do you think? Would you be interested in seeing them in their psuedo-triptychs?
I really enjoy going through full rolls and sharing them, I hope you enjoy this too! You can follow along with my learning log here or follow me on instagram.
26 Comments
Art Tafil
September 11, 2020 at 6:20 pm% frames is fine if 35mm> if 120 or 220 then 10, 12, 15 or 20/24 is fine also.
Holly Gilman
September 11, 2020 at 9:26 pmI’m not sure I understand what you are saying?
Louis Sousa
September 11, 2020 at 6:32 pmThese cameras are notoriously fiddly. The rendering is beautiful from the Pentacon lens.
Holly Gilman
September 11, 2020 at 9:28 pmI’d love to learn to fix my own cameras so perhaps this will be one to learn about …
Louis Sousa
September 12, 2020 at 3:29 amThere is an active Exacta facebook page with lots of info and links on Exacta repair. It’s not for the faint of heart. The shutter cloths usually are wrinkled and this might lead to problems with the film advance. Aside from the wrinkling there is also the “swiss cheese” problem with the cloths. A guy on Ebay named cupog sells CLA’d exactas for reasonable prices, usually with a nice Zeiss lens attached.
Holly Gilman
September 13, 2020 at 9:54 amThanks for the advice, I will certainly check that out!
BG
September 11, 2020 at 6:56 pmI absolutely love these! There’s no denying that that lens is really nice, too.
I’ve always liked the waistfinders. I look over every Exacta I come across for this very reason, but I haven’t found one that’s in working condition AND affordable. The DIY Lomography Konstruktor is a funky little 35mm camera with a waistfinder, but it’s quite a few steps below an Exacta.
That film advance quirk is certainly a double-edged sword: these images, especially as triptyches, are really great, but it would be nice to have the control of a working film advance.
Holly Gilman
September 11, 2020 at 9:29 pmYes, it may be one to try another roll of film through with the knowledge that it works in 3s and see if I can more effectively control it…
Sacha Cloutier
September 13, 2020 at 6:26 amIf you got the spacing down, you could possibly have some form of panoramic shots. Such an interesting quirk to have. It makes it both maddening limiting yet creatively limitless.
Michael J
September 11, 2020 at 9:20 pmThese are way cool. Obviously we’d rather our cameras worked, but when they misbehave it might as well be for poetic effect rather than just getting a blank roll which is utterly deflating. Funny that it’s done the squished frames in threes… my beloved Voigtlander Vito B does something very similar for the rest of the roll if you try and use the self-timer. My solution is not to try and use the self-timer!
Holly Gilman
September 11, 2020 at 9:31 pmYes, I’ve got a camera that jams on shutter speeds between 1/20th and 1 sec but on all others including bulb is fine. These little quirks are so odd!
Castelli Daniel
September 11, 2020 at 9:46 pmA set of beautiful “fails.” The images resemble clear tissue overlays, much like a collage. You must continue working and exploring in this vein. I bet they would be great framed prints.
Holly Gilman
September 13, 2020 at 9:50 amI’m glad I wrote this article because it’s inspired me to pick up that camera again and see what I get next time!
George Appletree Photography
September 11, 2020 at 10:04 pmI think when you have that result you think what a shame and feel disgusted. But when a photographer realizes casualty is a part of this and any other game, then you have another look at the film and make some beauty from it. Shot 0 is a lovely one. And, as far as frame limits really dissolved, you are free to scan the ones you want. Of course that can’t be a regular procedure, mainly because it’s annoying and there’s no control of what you will get out. So, better to make the camera work fine.
Holly Gilman
September 13, 2020 at 9:51 amThanks for your comments – I’m not sure whether to try and fix or to see what I can get out of it now I know it’s issues…
David Hume
September 11, 2020 at 10:49 pmHa! That’s brilliant Holly. I have to try to make my fully working cameras do this, and yours do it for you without you asking. You are a camera-whisperer.
Holly Gilman
September 13, 2020 at 9:52 amhaha – thanks for the comments, definately feeling inspired to give this camera another go!
Tobias
September 11, 2020 at 11:40 pmWhat a painful discovery to make! Still, you managed to find the bright side of it all.
I’ve shot a lot of vintage cameras over the years. The only cameras I’ve really had trouble with were a Canon EOS 650. The shutter jams on it at higher shutter speeds, and a Pentax ME Super that arrived from eBay with a shutter mechanism. In the case of the latter, the camera was supposedly testest so I got my money back.
I shot for years with a 1940s Argus C3 and I briefly used an early FED 2 rangefinder before I sent it to my buddy for his birthday. We met in a film photography class.
I’m curious about what film you were shooting. It looks like either Gold 200 or ColorPlus 200. I am a big fan of Gold 200. It was actually the third film stock I wrote a review of. Still one of my favorite color negative films.
Holly Gilman
September 13, 2020 at 9:53 amIt would have been Kodak Gold. I must admit that looking back at my archives Kodak gold is calling out to me so I’m going to have to get some more rolls of that!
Huss
September 13, 2020 at 5:54 amDon’t get this camera fixed. Use it as a tool for this effect! Very cool images.
You’ll have plenty of cameras that take normal 35mm film images..
Holly Gilman
September 16, 2020 at 3:50 pmI’m so glad I wrote this post as I am so inspired to get it out again!
Tejim
September 13, 2020 at 6:22 amits offtopic, but I wonder if Leica Designer saw exa and decided… yeah, lets make a leica like that and call it R8.
Huss
September 15, 2020 at 7:24 pmThat would be the Zenit 212K which came out a few years before the Leica. Here’s mine next to my Leica R8:
https://flic.kr/p/RXXzjk
Sacha Cloutier
September 13, 2020 at 6:30 amNow that is personality! Granted it is more the awkward person at a party than anything but that is also endearing. The 5/6 shot is particularly interesting to me because the left looks like a reflection off a window. It’s life a double exposure without even trying but being able to have it be only half the frame is something most cameras don’t have. I hope that you do run more rolls through it. Maybe you can find expired rolls of 12 exposures. I got a couple in my fridge and that would be my first thought.
Holly Gilman
September 16, 2020 at 3:50 pmDefinately going to be trying something through it. I’m so glad I wrote this post – it’s inspired me to give it another go!
Sacha Cloutier
September 17, 2020 at 2:28 amThis site is amazing for that.