AP’s film issue
I absolutely loved the ‘Shoot Film’ edition of AP (17 July). It brought back so many memories. The article on 120 roll lm camera left me pining, not for the fjords but for my Mamiya 645J that I sold nearly 20 years ago. A wedding photographer friend had borrowed it on several occasions and made me an unexpected offer which I felt was generous: a lump of cash and a Minolta Dynax 7xi (at the time still a very nice camera). In a moment of weakness I rashly took him up on the offer.
Your feature reminded me of it, and how each photograph was almost an event as the shutter clicked. With only 15 shots each one was meticulously framed in the waist-level
nder. A light reading was taken on a meter and the shutter pressed with the aid of a cable release, all done whilst attached to my trusty Benbo Trekker. I do now regret selling it, especially when I sold the Minolta 7xi recently for around 20 quid. I do still have the Benbo though.
I also still own an Olympus OM10, which was a teenage birthday present from nearly four decades ago. Recently I got it out of the loft and put a lm through it. Memories ooded back from when we had been inseparable (before the Mamiya) and my ngers deftly twisted the dials and the manual focus as though I was 20 again. So different from today’s cameras where you have to get a PDF of the instructions on your phone to remember all the modes.
I certainly won’t make the same mistake again. The Olympus OM10, my rst real camera, will be in my will, left to my son.