Cheap Camera Shootout! Canon EOS 300

 In 2024 I picked up a couple of entry level 35mm SLR autofocus film cameras from friends and gave them a test run with their own introductory blog. You can read the one for this camera via the link below. I had planned on using them side by side to see how they compare, and then got sidetracked by a squirrel. Well, the day finally arrived to do this fun look at my cheap entry level cameras and compare them to my semi pro Nikon F801S.

I say "day" but it soon turned into a project.

I had planned on doing a swift review accompanied by the same photos taken with each camera and I had to take a step to one side and re-think this project. It was too much, too quick and my brain can't handle that intensity. I decided to give each camera it's own blog and not just shoot a roll of HP5, but also a roll of ColorPlus in each one and it would take me until summer to finish it. With this in mind I set out in mid March to start my project with my Canon EOS 300, a gift from a dear friend who figured I would use it and enjoy it.

The Canon EOS300 is a camera all Canon DSLR users will be able to pick up and use straight away. The layout is virtually the same with the command dial on the top left and LCD screen on the top right. I'm not a Canon DSLR user, but it didn't take me long to figure out the things I needed to use. Two CR2 batteries go in the comfy hand grip and loading the film is easy.

Slot the cassette in on the left, pull the leader over to the red mark on the right and close the back. Switch the camera on and it does its party trick. It winds out all the film and rewinds it gradually as you take each shot. This ensures you wont lose any shots of you accidentally pop the back open. The unused film will of course be instantly exposed, as would happen with any other camera, but at least you will have something thanks to this feature.

I loaded a roll of Ilford HP5+400 into my Canon EOS 300 and headed into town on a sunny spring day to visit my favourite classroom, Mesnes Park, to take a couple of shots that I would replicate with each camera. They would be my control set for a direct comparison, the rest of the roll was just happy snapping around various local landmarks.

I only took a few shots in the park as I wandered around on this fine sunny day. I was pulling double duty and shooting my Frugal Film Project offerings for March and switched between cameras as I made my way around the park and onwards into town. The second half of my walk was all about my Canon EOS 300.

Being a creature of habit I shot my roll of HP5 in AV mode, which is "Canon speak" for Aperture Priority. Given the bright sunshine and lack of clouds I was happy to shoot at f/11 and let the camera choose the shutter speed. It's something a beginner could do right away and then give manual a try after gaining a little confidence.

It's a very easy camera to get along with, autofocus is fast and quiet, the zoom range on the 28-90mm lens is comfortable to use and it only takes 1/4 of a turn on the zoom ring to go from one extreme to the other. Add it's light weight and ergonomics and you have a camera a beginner would swear was never 35 years old. It looks and feels modern and it inspired me. It didn't take me long to finish my roll of film and I headed home for a well earned cuppa.

I developed my film in Bellini Euro HC 1+31 dilution B for 5 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, K&F Tripod, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

This is always the time when anyone, beginner or pro will look at their photos and say something along the lines of "I say, they're jolly nice". The big players in the hey day of film really went all in with electronics and it shows in my photos. I didn't have to do much to them and I got the roll processed in the space of one evening. Happy days!

Here's a few photos from my roll of Ilford HP5+400 shot with my Canon EOS300 for part one of this Cheap Camera Shootout. I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Canon EOS300 - Ilford HP5+ 400
Canon EOS 300 - first blog

Frugal Film Project 2025 - March

 March came around quick, but that's because I left February's roll a little late and I gave it a couple of weeks before venturing out and about around the Spring Equinox to take photos with my Kodak Retina 1a in Mesnes Park for my March roll of Type 517 Cine Film for the Frugal Film Project 2025.

Spring has definitely sprung here in Wigan, flowers are beginning to bloom with daffodils, crocus and snowdrops leading the way. Spring is a magical time as the northern hemisphere of Planet Earth wakes up from it's winter slumber and here I am shooting B&W film. Fear not, I will have colour photos to share at some point.

On the day I shot my film this month the sun was bright and there was hardly a cloud in the sky, it was beautiful. The Parks and Gardens staff had been busy mowing the lawns and planting early spring blooms in the beds they prepared over winter to add a splash of colour that's guaranteed to make me smile. I appreciate the effort they put in all year round to keep our public parks looking their best.

The sun brought out a lot of folk who were also enjoying spending some time in Mesnes Park and also a lot of folk who chose to walk through the park instead of getting a Bus and enjoy the fresh air and sense of hope that springtime brings each year. I was beginning to rue wearing my hoodie under my jacket as it was gloriously warm, a rarity at this time of year and getting warmer as the day went on.

My wander took me around the Park and eventually out and onwards to the construction site where demolition of the old College buildings has finished. The machinery operators were busy sorting the rubble and metals out ready for removal from the site. Just about all of it will be recycled with only a small amount of waste going to landfill as the site is cleared.

It always seems like a waste to remove a building and replace it with another, but from what I have been told, the concrete was at the end of it's life and it was cheaper to replace the building than repair it. Wigan will have a state of the art educational facility before the decade is out and I hope to document it as the construction work progresses.

I took the long way around back into the town centre, I have been stuck indoors a lot and need the exercise. I headed towards Wigan Hall and Santus Toffee factory where one last shot of the Uncle Joe's Mint Balls sign finished my roll and I rewound it, happy to have been able to shoot my March roll of Type 517 Cine Film in the sunny conditions it thrives in. I hope April is as kind to me as the spring equinox was.

I developed my roll of Type 517 Cine Film in Bellini Euro HC for 14 1/2 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, K&F Tripod, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

When I hung my film to dry my heart sank a little, it looked like I had massively over exposed my film. When it came to digitising and processing the RAW files, it wasn't nearly as bad as I first feared. I am still learning to how use this film and I was able to bring my photos to life in Affinity Photo 2 without any difficulty.

One thing I have learned so far is Type 517 Cine Film, based on Ilford FP4, has enough exposure latitude to forgive beginners mistakes and it was probably used in Colleges who offered courses in Cinematography. I am steadily learning how to get the best from it and so far I really like it. I hope there's more sunny days as we get deeper into spring and summer.

Here's a few of my favourite photos from my March roll of Type 517 Cine Film for the Frugal Film Project 2025. I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2025 album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2025 - March

FED 2 - Ilford HP5+ 400

 For the second half of my walk on the last day of February, I switched to my FED 2 that I had loaded with Ilford's finest HP5+ 400. My lens of choice to use on my FED 2 is the Jupiter 8 50mm f/2 and this Soviet era camera and lens were heavily influenced by Leica designs. The FED factory in Kharkiv, Ukraine was destroyed during WW2 and was quickly rebuilt after the war and back into production by 1950, giving employment to men and women demobbed after the war ended.

The FED 2 was made between 1955 and 1970, I believe mine is a FED 2d and had been serviced at some point before it came to me. This is the important thing to remember if you decide to give a former Soviet Union camera a try. There are vendors out there who will sell you a fully serviced camera that will give you years of reliable use for a reasonable price.

You can get lucky on ebay, as I did, but it really is a gauntlet that will bite you in your wallet all too easily. Stephen Dowling wrote an excellent guide to buying Soviet cameras on Kosmo Foto you can visit using the link below. It's well worth doing research for any camera, but for the budding Soviet camera owner it really is a necessity. Caveat Emptor, etc.

Over winter there has been a lot of work been done to improve the paths and give more people access to the local countryside and I was really pleased to find the second half of my walk has changed from being on a muddy, ancient trackway to a smooth, asphalt path. I mentioned the improvement to the pathways last week, but the extent of those improvements is much longer than I have been used to thus far. Almost all the second half of my walk was on the new path and it's good to see my taxes being spent to improve access for everyone. If you're riding a bicycle, pushing a pram or a disabled person riding an electric buggy, the new and improved paths are well worth using.

I was really enjoying my walk, taking photographs of the route and the gnarly trees that I found interesting along the way. I was having so much fun I wasted a few frames by forgetting to remove my lens cap. This is the bad thing about using a rangefinder. They don't have a through the lens viewfinder, nor the protection of a mirror between the lens and shutter, so I have to concentrate more than I do when using one of my basic viewfinder cameras or an SLR.

Daft me forgot and had to retrace steps to retake a few shots that I got excited about. It happens to the best of us, from total novices, enthusiasts with a few years experience and even to the odd professional. I do have a great reason for putting the lens cap back on. A common problem with Soviet rangefinders is pinholes in the shutter curtains. This is caused by sunlight being magnified by the lens and burning through the cloth curtain.

The aperture does not close fully after each time you release the shutter. With it being a really sunny afternoon, I was being cautious and put the lens cap back after taking a photo, but let it slip my mind a time or two. It's a daft mistake to make and I'm owning it. We shall never speak of it again. Well, until next time I do it, lol. I saved my last few shots for the duck pond in the hope the surface would be like a mirror, and it was. With my last shots done, I made my way home for a well earned brewski.

I developed my roll of HP5+ 400 in Kodak HC-110 1+31 dilution B for 5 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I had continued to meter with my Gossen Trisix and I managed to get well exposed photos on this roll of HP5. My day without batteries was, and always will be very therapeutic.

I digitised it with my Nikon D700 and Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens mounted on my K&F Concept tripod. My film was held in my Valoi 35mm film holder mounted on my Pixl-Latr and lit using my A5 sized led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

I'm quite happy with my effort as it's been a while since I used my FED 2. Ukraine has a great history of building decent quality Soviet era rangefinder cameras derived from Leica and Contax. The first editions are direct copies, but there's always someone with an idea for an improvement.

Even today, with no cameras being manufactured in Ukraine, there are still trained technicians and engineers who know these cameras literally inside out. They tweak and refine each camera that comes to them and there's a lot more good quality Soviet era cameras thanks to their dedication to their craft.

My photos turned out well thanks to the sunshine and I had a lot of fun using my FED 2 again. It wont be long before I use it again as Papa Shitty Cams has organised another #CrappyCommieCameraParty starting on June 1st and running through the summer. if you fancy joining in, all you need is a Soviet era camera from any of the former Soviet Union nations, plus East Germany and China. We are posting our photos, the good, the bad and the ugly, on Bluesky. We might even dance like Cossacks.

Here's a few of my favourites from my roll of Ilford HP5 shot with my FED 2 and Jupiter 8 50mm f/2 lens on the last sunny afternoon in February 2025. As always, I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Kosmo Foto Guide To Buying Soviet Cameras 
Fed2 - Jupiter 8 - Ilford HP5 

Frugal Film Project 2025 - February

 It's been a while and seems like I have missed a month. I got January's roll done on the second day of the year. It was on the last day of February, very nearly 2 months later, when I was able to get out on a glorious afternoon to shoot my February roll of Type 517 Cine Film. There was three, yes three hours of daylight left in the month as I headed off to my local countryside to find something to photograph for the project.

I deliberately left it late this time because I have been frying my brain with a project that my friends and I in the Photozine Collective have been working on, with the aim of producing a Photo Zine with profits going to Asthma & Lung UK. I will do a blog for that when we are ready to announce it properly, but it's safe to say it drove me quite mad.

The Photography Gods must have recognised my efforts and blessed me with a superb afternoon for photography. Overhead the skies were clear with clouds over the hills in the distance giving me a nice back drop for a few shots. There's nothing special about my compositions, they are locations I have shot many times, but not with this film.

My January film was shot on a sunny day in town with lots of shadows and contrast. This month I was able to take advantage of the sunshine in my local countryside and also found several gnarly trees to photograph. The shadows and highlights snaking along the twisted branches caught my eye and I couldn't resist them. I metered with my trusted Gossen Trisix and dialed in my focal distance with my Watameter rangefinder, ensuring I was having a battery free experience.

Once I got confident with my focal distance I was able to work quickly at each of my locations, but I had to loiter a while and admire the scenery in various places. It's been a long winter and sunny days have been few and far between. Taking time to just look at the view on a sunny afternoon really does soothe the soul.

I was really enjoying my afternoon walk and it wasn't long before I had finished my film, happy with what I found, and with an hour or so of daylight left. I put my Kodak Retina 1a in my bag and got my FED 2 out, which I had loaded with HP5, for the second half of my walk, but that one's for another blog.

I developed my February roll of Type 517 Cine Film in Kodak HC-110 1+31 dilution B for 14 minutes and 30 seconds at 20 celcius. It's a long time to develop a film in dilution B, but well worth the effort, as I saw when I was hanging it to dry in my bathroom. Once dry I digitised it with my Nikon D700 and Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens mounted on my K&F Concept tripod. My film was held nice and flat with my Valoi 35mm film holder mounted on my Pixl-Latr and illuminated with my A5 sized led light pad. I processed my RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

 Whilst editing my photos with Affinity Photo 2 I knew immediately I had done a good job of this months roll of Tye 517 Cine Film. My exposures were decent and developing was again right on the money for this film. I also took my time to dial in my DSLR when digitising my photos to take full advantage of my Nikon D700's legendary dynamic range. This left me with a simple and easy reversal and small tweaks as I processed the RAW files, which suits me just fine.

I did encounter a problem when I got to my open country shots, scratch marks across a few frames were glaringly obvious and I did try to remove them, but wasn't entirely successful. I'm not too stressed about it as it is expired film and it could be either the film or some grit in my camera. I gave my camera a good clean and will know for sure after I develop my next roll.

Regardless of that little problem I got some great photos on my February roll of Type 517 Cine Film. It loves sunny days and has enough dynamic range to forgive mistakes we might make with a stop of exposure either side of the right one. With the aid of my Gossen Trisix and my Watameter Rangefinder, I managed to make a pretty decent go of it for this roll, and with no batteries required!

Here's a few favourites from my February roll of Type 517 Cine Film shot in my local countryside for the Frugal Film Project 2025. As always, I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2025 album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2025 - February

Afga Isolette I - Ilford FP4+

I have waxed lyrical about my fondness for my Agfa Isolette I in the past. They are cheap to buy and a great way into medium format for anyone willing to give it a try. If you want one, the usual caveats apply to any used camera, condition is everything. Avoid the "fungus farms" and buy a nice clean example, which is usually a good sign it has been looked after, as was the case with my Agfa Isolette I when I liberated it from ebay for not much cash.

I really enjoy using my Agfa Isolette I, it's simple to use and has handy red dots for those of us too lazy or not too bothered about getting creative with it. Set your aperture to f/11, distance to 30 feet and snap away! All you need to worry about is your shutter speed. I metered the light with my trusted Gossen Trisix selenium light meter set at 100 iso. The extra 25 iso with FP4+ 125 really makes no difference to it.

I shoot familiar compositions from slightly different angles, and to be fair use mostly the same settings. Shooting at f/11 with the distance at 30 feet gets most stuff from 10 feet to infinity in focus. I adjust the shutter speed and aperture as needed, especially when I get to the shaded woodland paths.

I headed to The Wash and, you probably guessed it already, my old friend the lone tree there. I have enjoyed photographing this tree over the years. It's solitary position gives me a range of angles and I have come to favour a couple, especially on a sunny day. I like to photograph it with my back to the sun or at 90 degrees to the sun, but anywhere between 90 degrees either side is good.

I also took a few shots of the derelict car that is still slowly rusting away. Each time I see it, there's a few more dents and dings thanks to the kids that play on it. Every year it loses a little mass and in the years to come will eventually rust into the ground, but it will still be around for a good while yet.

I headed to the woodland path where there has been a lot of activity over winter. The once muddy bog of a path has been given a complete make over and is now a smooth asphalt path. This has been warmly welcomed by everyone who uses the path regularly and disabled folks who get about on electric buggy's can now enjoy the path too. Drainage from The Wash has been improved, the ditch cleared and routed further from the path.

A lot of the dead trees have been removed too. Ash Die Back has blighted woodlands across the UK and beyond, killing many trees. In most places the dead trees have rotted down into the soil, but in places like our local woodland paths, there were a number of dead trees that were still standing and eventually they would fall.

Before they fell on someone, our local Council invested in having them felled and removed. They also took the plunge and invested in improving the path and I'm glad my local taxes have been used in this way. I photographed a number of trees that line the path and headed on my way to my favourite tree by the farm.

I'm sure a lot of you are probably sick of the sight of my favourite tree, but I'm most certainly not. It's my barometer, my window on the seasons and it is just about to grow it's foliage for 2025. Late February is a magical time as snowdrops dazzle us with their white bell shaped flowers and crocus begin to rise from the ground, ready to bloom in early March.

Through photographing my local countryside over the years, I have developed an appreciation of nature and the pace Mother Nature operates at. It changes by the day, particularly at this time of year as winter comes to a close and spring begins. It also clears away my winter blues and gives me hope for the coming year ahead.

I took my last few photos as I walked along the farm road and headed back towards home. The fields are looking greener as this years crop begins to grow and the Sheep have been moved to their home farm, complete with the few lambs born this year already. I took one last shot through the trees to the houses on the other side of the valley and headed for home and a well earned brew.

It was a few days later when I recovered from my long afternoon walk and I got around to developing my roll of Ilford FP4+ in Kodak HC-110 1+31 dilution B for 8 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised it with my Nikon D700 and Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens mounted on my K&F Concept tripod. My film was held nice a flat with my Valoi medium format film holder mounted on my Pixl-Latr and illuminated with my A5 sized led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

As I processed my images I was reminded of the beautiful afternoon that I had yearned for in the first couple of months of 2025. It was a very enjoyable walk, yet totally exhausting. I was, as is usual for me, using more than one camera and having a heck of a lot of fun. My trusty Gossen Trisix got my exposures pretty much dialled in and I didn't have to do too much to them to be fair. Just a little dust removal and spotting out the scratches as well as adjusting the levels to my liking.

Here's a few photos from my wander in the countryside with my Agfa Isolette I on a gloriously sunny afternoon at the back end of February 2025. I love using this camera and it wont be long before it gets another outing. It may even live in the opposite pocket to dear old Baldy The Baldax, ready to go whenever it's needed. As always I have put these photos and more in an album on Flickr for you to view in full resolution via the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

 

 

Mini Zines On Sale March 1st 2025

 No full blog this week, I have been busy with my obligations to The PhotoZine Collective, a group of dedicated, like-minded film photographers whose aim is to promote and publish Photo Zines with various themes to guide us.

We have been busy having fun and we have a collection of Mini Zines ready for sale on March 1st via our Ko-Fi site. There are only 12 sets of 17 Mini Zines available which have been lovingly collated and packaged by Ian who put a lot of thought into how to present our fun project, done during the horrid weather we have endured this winter. When a photographer can't get out, it's time to get creative with the photos we have.

Over winter we have also been busy with our annual Photo Zine to raise money for Asthma & Lung UK, a Charity close to John Whitmore's family. As I write this the deadline has passed for submissions and our intrepid editors are busy collating everyone's work ready for publication in the coming months.

I have to be honest, I thought I wasn't going to be able to contribute to this years Zine, but I made a big effort and now my brain is fried. I am utterly exhausted, both mentally and physically to the point where I am still trying to recover from a photowalk on a rare sunny day near the end of February.

Trying to get photos for a major project and keeping my blog going has been tough this winter. I had to invoke my spare blog, but it was worth it to continue my involvement with this very worthy cause to honour a chap whose infectious enthusiasm for film photography and silly humour enthralled, entertained and inspired us. 

More details and previews of our work can be found on the Photozine Collective website with the sale of our Mini Zines going live at 7PM UK time on March 1st via our Ko-Fi site. You can visit both using the links below and we sincerely hope you enjoy them.

PhotoZine Collective 2024 Mini Zine Collection
Ko-Fi.com - PhotoZine Collective 

Ferrania Orto 50

*This blog was written in February 2024 and sat for a time in case I needed it. I am working on a couple of projects and haven't anything for this week and, well, I'm glad I have a spare.

Ferrania have been working hard to increase their footprint in the film manufacturing business. I spoke of their excellent P30 black and white film in my first blog of 2024 and they have brought a new film to the market. Orto 50 has been in the stores for a few months as I write this and thanks to my friend Keith's generosity, I had a roll to try out and see what I thought of it. Orto 50 is a 50 iso film that needs a lot of light to bring out the best of it, so of course I left it until a gloomy day in winter to get my first impression of it.

Orto 50 is an "Orthochromatic" film and is only sensitive to blue and green light. It can safely be handled and processed under a red safelight in a darkroom without getting fogged or accidentally exposed. A "Panchromatic" film, such as Ilford HP5 and Kodak Tri-X, must be handled and processed in total darkness. It's a subtle difference and it can produce some funky results.

Because the film is not sensitive to red light, you can't use a red filter with it, you would just end up with black photos. It also means you can have a little fun with traffic lights and red signs. Post boxes and old red phone boxes here in the UK also show up black and if you like portraiture, bright red lipstick turns your model into a Goth.

I chose a dull day to shoot my roll of Orto 50 because I can be a little too impatient at times. I fully intend on getting more later in the year to make full use of what sunshine we get during spring and summer, but for a first use I had some fun and tested the limit of it's ability in dark, wet, cold, dull and gloomy Wigan.

I developed my roll of Orto 50 with Kodak HC110 dilution 1+119 for 30 minutes at 20 celcius. Ilford Ilfostop and Fotospeed FX30 finished my developing and I hung the film to dry overnight. I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and a5 led light pad. Raw files were processed using Affintiy Photo 2.

I wasn't sure about this roll given the dull day so I went long and gentle with developing and It seemed to do the trick. I was able to bring the photos to life in post processing, but see for yourself. Here's a few faves from my roll of Ferrania Orto 50 and as always I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Ferrania Orto 50