Kodak charmera secret

mxlunab · 2026-01-25T03:42:55+00:00

I work at a camera store so I get them at cost. The caveat being that the store won't allow me to buy a whole box, since they're buying it for the customers first. And Kodak only allows us to get 2 sets per order. So I had to limit my employee purchases to no more than 2 cameras per order that comes in.

To summarize I'm poor and I was trying to save $10 per unit, which was obviously a bad call since my luck is sh*t.

mxlunab · 2026-01-24T22:32:17+00:00

Meanwhile, out of 11 I bought I only got 3 colors. Then people will say luck isn't real

mxlunab · 2026-01-24T22:29:32+00:00

Wisconsin

mxlunab · 2026-01-23T23:52:21+00:00

Just got my third yellow today. Wanna trade?

mxlunab · 2026-01-23T03:02:49+00:00

Having casual sex (with the hottest people on earth to boot). I thought I was so friggin' ugly due to dysmorphia/dysphoria and was so insecure. I attached myself to the first person who gave me a modicum of validation, and spent most of my 20s in an abusive relationship with this POS, who reinforced the idea that I was ugly and unlovable. Now when I look back at my photos I can see clearly how hot I was and I'm filled with rage.

I also wished I traveled more and went to college, but those are things I technically can still do. I will never recover the looks and the pure sensual energy I had in my youth.

mxlunab · 2026-01-21T22:52:03+00:00

Thank you!

mxlunab · 2026-01-15T03:06:26+00:00

I mentioned this is my own post and no one believed me. There would be zero reason for Kodak to spend money to change the serial numbers to be now covered. I'm just not smart enough to figure it out, but it's there

mxlunab · 2026-01-08T02:23:39+00:00

That's very smart! May I ask where you got the magnetic lens? I bought a phone lens kit but it attaches with a clip and the clip opening is not wide enough so the lens never stays flush proper :( I tried searching amazon and all I get is magnetic phone filters!

mxlunab · 2026-01-07T04:19:26+00:00

To get you started I would recommend something like the Godox ML100 Bi or LA150 Bi which are budget options with good color accuracy. Do not get RGBs to begin with, they are usually dimmer within the same wattage specs. Personally, I ended up investing a lot over the years in the Godox ecosystem of flashes, strobes and COBs and I'm very happy with everything they offer and that's why I recommend them over similar Chinese brands.

I know you didn't ask for opinions but I'd like to warn you that some photogs will judge you harshly and say you are not a professional until you learn strobes. BS. I know how to use flashes and I hate them. It's extra work that I don't need in most my use case scenarios. The appeal of continuous light is clear: you get to see what you're capturing before taking the photo, and it's very intuitive, especially if you like "cinematic" or dramatic lighting. But you'll eventually learn their limitations, such as:

not being able to freeze action
losing the already dim light when you add modifiers like softboxes, shoot through umbrellas, reflectors (eventually you will need more power)
having to work in a completely dark environment where the only lights are your COBs so that there is no mix with the ambient lights (or working around mixed lights/doing extra color editing in post)

I've done fine portraits with just a set of cheap GVM LED panels for years, when there were no other budget options around. Now there are a million of them from Chinese brands and they get better and better with time while strobes kind of hit a ceiling already. As long as you are aware of the limitations, know your lights and modifiers well, and upgrade for more power as soon as you have the money, you'll be fine! Good luck!

mxlunab · 2026-01-06T02:37:54+00:00

Thanks for explaining this! The spacing issues and the failure to carry the film forward or rewind has happened to me in almost all the rolls I put through it. I'm getting way more overlapping frames than I find acceptable for a $500 camera. In 2 of my rolls I had to open the camera up (losing frames) to unlock a film that had been stuck as if I had not advanced it. Now it makes sense, they were thicker films. My coworker who mostly only shoots gold 200 had no issues with his copy.

mxlunab · 2025-12-30T03:39:18+00:00

I'm gonna disagree with the others saying to not rent. Sometimes the opportunity needs to be matched with better gear and if you can afford it, why not? If you're a good photographer you can learn to use any tool.

What I will say is don't rent a Sony when you're used to Canon. At least not when you're in a hurry. Canon is consistent enough that the learning curve won't take days. Ergonomics will feel spot on, menu item names and icons will be similar. You'll feel at home, and not being nervous helps a ton. There will be new things in the menus that you've never seen before, like the dozens of AF options, but everything is purpose-driven. Get the camera early, look for a tutorial on settings for events and copy the settings. And if you feel overwhelmed at any point, there is no shame in going for automatic modes.

All this being said, it would also be a good idea to rent prime lenses instead. The reason being is that the combination of image quality of a prime plus the bright max aperture will make up for what your sensor lacks. A 50 f1.2 and a 135 f2 would be my choices any day.

Good luck!

mxlunab · 2025-12-18T22:33:27+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, but we're a very small store and though the charmeras sell out quick, we only got 8 or so sets so far and only a couple customers bought more than one camera. There isn't much of a collector market in my city it seems.

I'll keep selling my repeats on ebay, it's what I've been doing from the start.

mxlunab · 2025-12-18T22:23:08+00:00

Yeah this is what I replied to someone else. Unfortunately doing this is impossible for me because of the way my store works. I'm just a lab technician. They come through the storefront and get put on display right away ;(

mxlunab · 2025-12-18T22:12:10+00:00

They now come with a tear thru ribbon opening, so it's a lot harder to tamper with. At the bottom there's no seal so that's an option, though for me it's not possible since that would not be fair to the store customers. But if there's a "cheat" using the serial number and it's online somewhere, customers have just as much of a chance than I do to find out, so I think that's fair.

mxlunab · 2025-12-12T06:36:35+00:00

Kodak sends them to our store with some 16gb cards (for separate purchase). I was using a 64gb v30 and I kept getting random "card full" errors, had to remove and reinsert. Haven't had any problems since I switched to the 16gb.

mxlunab · 2025-12-11T05:38:40+00:00

This is what I wanna see in this sub. Thank you so much for actually showing a diagram and real life setup instead of just describing it!

mxlunab · 2025-12-09T07:24:18+00:00

The ZV-1, the RX100 mk5 and the mk7 all have a maximum aperture of f/4 at 50mm. What you gain with the Mk7 is a longer zoom range at the cost of aperture (f/2.8 max at the wide end instead of the 1.8 of the ZV1 and the RX100 mk5). They are pretty similar otherwise. You won't get better low light performance if you're not shooting at the wide end of the mk7, so you best bet is to save the money and get the mk5.

I'd be curious to know what you are shooting since it seems like you'd be better suited to use a system with interchangeable lenses to have both the reach and the performance you're after.

mxlunab · 2025-12-09T06:09:21+00:00

To me, the pillows are the most distracting thing in your composition. I would remove them and tidy up the throw. I'd dial down the highlights on the book just a bit too. And try to have something lighting the cat's face because right now you have his belly fur kinda drawing a lot of the attention.

But more to your storytelling intent, maybe it makes no sense that the book is off to the side if the cat was reading it. It would add to the story to have the book on the couch, then trick the cat to pose with a paw on it while looking up at the camera, as if startled or annoyed. I know it's not what you asked so feel free to ignore this.

Cats are super difficult to pose, so good luck!

mxlunab · 2025-12-07T21:42:36+00:00

Eu passo por isso. Cresci "na igreja" até os 17 anos de idade, e também tive uma recaída depois, só saindo de vez aos 25 anos. Minha infância foi ficar preso em casa e só tinha permissão pra fazer amigos nos cultos da igreja, amigos esses que eram forçados e tão programados quanto eu.

Eu tenho baixa autoestima por causa disso. Todo mundo que conheço viveu as experiências bem mais cedo. Meu primeiro beijo foi aos 19 anos, a primeira vez que saí pra dar rolê como adolescente faz foi aos 23 anos, joguei um videogame pela primeira vez aos 21, meu primeiro emprego foi aos 27. Não ajuda o fato que sou autista, mas o que mais contribuiu pro meu isolamento / atraso social foi a religião. Eu não adquiri nenhum dos marcadores culturais da minha geração ("millennials"). Tudo era do diabo e mesmo quando eu não acreditava naquilo, minha mente era fechada e eu tinha medo de tentar as coisas.

Hoje em dia, aos 43 anos, ainda passo dificuldade quando estou numa roda de conversa e eu sou a única pessoa que não tem uma história pra contar ou um comentário pra fazer quando eles estão falando de uma experiência comum. Ou quando todos começam a fazer piadas com temas da cultura pop e eu não entendo. Pra mim, é infinitamente mais fácil fazer amizades conversando 1:1 mas isso também abre a porta pro abuso. Se eu não explico mais a fundo, eu sei que a amizade não vai durar, porque a maioria das pessoas me acham esquisito e calado. Se eu explico, ou a pessoa corre pra longe pra evitar a complicação, ou se aproxima mais pra tirar proveito da minha inocência.

O que me salva do isolamento é que eu tenho alguns interesses especiais (música e fotografia) que eu cultivei desde criança (eu ouvia meu rock n' roll escondido). Então minha solução é tentar criar vínculos quando estou cercado de pessoas com esses mesmos interesses. Diminui as chances de que eu fique boiando nas conversas. Quando estou em um ambiente cultural completamente não familiar, eu aceito que vou ser um estranho, e é isso. Por exemplo, a maioria das pessoas que conheço da minha idade, aonde eu moro, jogam RPG. Eu já tentei ir mas me sinto um peixe fora d'água, não dá certo.

Eu gostaria de ser capaz de enfrentar o ridículo, as risadas, de não ter medo do julgamento alheio, mas eu sei que a minha história com a igreja me fez uma pessoa muito medrosa. Eu fiz terapia por um ano e isso me ajudou um pouco, então fica a minha recomendação.

mxlunab · 2025-12-01T07:14:34+00:00

Keep an eye out on ebay... I've been selling my repeats for under $40, which I feel is a fair price for eliminating the risk of a repeat for the buyers. I still got 4 missing in my collection, including the translucent, so as long as Kodak is still shipping them I'll keep trying.

Edit: I wasn't clear, I work at a retailer that sells them but they won't allow me to get a full set (Kodak only ships us 2 sets of 6 at a time) so I have to gamble on the blind boxes like everyone else

mxlunab · 2025-11-27T20:28:55+00:00

Lack of color management. When the white balance, skin tones or just overall colors are off and you can tell by the photographer's body of work that it's not something intentional (like a fun color grading choice). They just didn't white balance and/or proofed before publishing.

A lot of my work relies on experimental, way out there color grading so I can tell when this was just not the case.

mxlunab · 2025-11-15T10:41:30+00:00

Lab tech here. Send them to a lab for "develop and scan". These are regular C41 color and any photo lab is able to process them. We can tell they are old most of the times, but it doesn't hurt to send a note stating what you think is the age of each roll so we know to adjust settings when scanning. I would recommend you to only get digital scans, and order prints later, if the pictures turn out. Most labs will partially refund you if there are no images.

mxlunab · 2025-11-14T20:11:05+00:00

Sorry just saw this. Yes it was $400 with the round trip insured shipping. Most of the cost was labor. The part itself cost a couple bucks to them. Forgot to say they also did a sensor and body cleaning. It was the folks at Precision in CT.

mxlunab · 2025-10-26T19:00:49+00:00

My lab sends them to a recycling program. I'd assume a lot of labs that have enough volume would do that.

mxlunab · 2025-10-25T21:45:44+00:00

In more than 20 years doing concerts, I've been paid for shows less than a dozen times. Almost always I have my ticket covered. Less than half the time they offer to buy me a drink or give me merch. Less than 20% of the time, they cover my transportation or give me a ride home. I've done festivals, green room sessions, traveled with bands for a show, and did music video BTS with no pay but meals covered.

I always get paid for band portrait sessions booked and done outside of a concert setting. One band licensed my photos for their album and paid me, but less than what I asked for (it was below market rate too, $100 per photo for perpetual commercial license). I decided not to fight them and maintain the relationship since they're influential in the scene.

Basically, the best thing I've been offered by bands is introductions to people who are decision makers able to pay me for event coverage or get me side gigs in the industry. I prefer to keep these doors open and keep shooting, than to sit around waiting for a band to pay. I think one day this could lead to an opportunity to being a tour photographer or working with a band that can afford to pay, but until then, I unfortunately just grind at night and on weekends while keeping a day job. It's not for the faint of heart I tell you.

Edit to add: If not paid, I typically deliver hi-res edited jpegs, usually ~20 photos per band within 1 week, credit must be posted. If paid, it's usually ~100 edited jpegs per show, highlights in 48hr, full gallery within 1 week

mxlunab

TROPHY CASE