In 1980, a coal mine in the Welsh mining town of Blaenavon closed after 100 years of service. The site was reopened for visitors 3 years later in 1983, and has since remained a popular destination for those looking to learn about Wales’ past in mining fossil fuels. On a seemingly unrelated note: That same …
5 Frames in Blaenavon with a Nikon L35AF – By Ellis Thomas Read More
I started shooting film at the beginning of last year when I picked up a mint Canon Eos 620 that I intended to use with my EF lenses (which were tired of my aps-c digital camera). Shortly after I felt the need to add another film camera to my collection, as the Canon felt clunky and the autofocus was kind of frustrating. This unbearable necessity overlapped with my all-time desire of a camera that I could keep in my pocket at all time and bring with me everywhere, so I started my search for a compact camera with a fixed lens. There I watched a big fat world of possibilities unfold before my eyes.
With the way I use point and shoot cameras, it usually takes a while for me to go through a whole roll of film. I throw them in a bag or in my jacket pocket and shoot a few pictures here and there. Therefore, my Olympus MJU I is often already loaded with a film that I don’t want to shoot in the moment.
If you’ve got a dodgy or non-working Nikon L35AF 35mm compact film camera lying around, or are willing to buy one, you might be prepared to throw caution to the winds and destroy it in the name of experimentation. It could give you an interesting and inexpensive lens on Sony E mount digital cameras, but with the right adapter might work for others such as Fujifilm X-mount, Canon EF-M mount, Sony FZ mount, Leica SL mount and Micro Four Thirds.
In the last part of this story I was deliberating over the choice of converting the Yashica T4’s Tessar vs the Nikon L35’s Sonnar to M-mount. Whilst I was dead set on the latter, the lens I now have might look like I went for the former…? Actually there’s more to this than meets the eye.
