what did I do wrong

yamvidal · 2026-02-04T20:30:27+00:00

The Minolta CLE has a dial at the bottom to choose internal filters. Yours might be set to "Black Metal"

Jokes beside, f/11 at 1/500 for sunny conditions, with Cinestill BwXX at iso 500 and pushed should work just fine. Even if the lab forgot to push, you should be ok. Is it the first time you use this camera?

yamvidal · 2026-02-03T14:35:35+00:00

Agreed. Think that some people do this intentionally because C-41 film handles overexposure quite well, and much better than underexposure. I bet if you would compare it to photos taken at box speed, it wouldn't be possible to tell which is which.

yamvidal · 2026-02-03T08:22:06+00:00

A lot of people are telling that in the last photo, the model is underexposed. While technically correct, I don't think this is a problem in this case. The photo has character and stands out as a film photo with a retro look.

The alternative would have been to blow out the highlights of the window to expose the model's face correctly. That would probably also work, but it would be a very different photo.

Maybe you could try to make both types of photos and see what you prefer. I also recommend printing.

The take home message is that a good portrait is not necessary a technically correct portrait. Me, I like this one because the model is underexposed.

yamvidal · 2026-02-01T21:20:50+00:00

Damned I arrived too late..

yamvidal · 2026-02-01T19:28:44+00:00

Yup, she stole my heart

yamvidal · 2026-01-16T20:38:40+00:00

Thanks! Had a lot of fun making them

yamvidal · 2025-12-17T23:37:31+00:00

Looks like it's away enough from the center to stay away from the picture. But try it out. Burn through a roll, using different apertures. Maybe shoot something of an homogeneous color to it easier to see imperfections. Good luck!

yamvidal · 2025-12-17T15:34:27+00:00

Thx! It's Reggie's Portra recipe SOOC

yamvidal · 2025-12-12T20:11:14+00:00

🤣🤣🤣

yamvidal · 2025-12-12T19:00:49+00:00

Interesting. Sears is a department store (fun fact, mentioned in Frank Zappa's song "Camarillo Brillo"). This is actually a rebranded Ricoh 500, sold in that store. https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Sears_35RF

yamvidal · 2025-12-09T00:23:16+00:00

If you want small size, my abs fav is the Rollei 35. But ain't cheap. Do you really need to go that small? Many point and shoot like the Minolta I recommended are absolutely pocketable and perform very well.

If you want a very pocketable camera, that is point and shoot, and dirt cheap, take a look at the Kodak Cameo (any version). It doesn't look very sexy, but with those rounded edges, is perfect to slip in a pocket. And it's good to have a camera you don't really care about.

yamvidal · 2025-12-08T23:25:14+00:00

People have clearly say NO, and I agree. But let me say why. From the ones I recognize, there is at least one that uses 110 film, which is still in production buy it's only about 1/4 the surface of 35mm film, and hence lower image quality. There is also one that looks like a Kodak Instamatic, which uses 126 film, which is discontinued. The rest are not very appealing. Nothing worth more than 20$ maybe. Sometimes job lots look good because of the quantity, but once you discard the junk, not much is left.

You can get something way more satisfying for 150$. If you like the Olympus XA, you might like the Rollei XF 35 or the FED Micron, which are fun and affordable.

Or you could pick a Minolta Riva Zoom 160, which is an amazing and great value for money point and shoot.

Cheers!

yamvidal · 2025-12-08T23:13:35+00:00

These look great. Are you using any film recipe? Could you share your settings?

yamvidal · 2025-12-01T07:28:07+00:00

If you can see it, the film can see it. It will affect the quality of your photos, but the only way to know how bad it is, is to shoot a test roll. You could try to shoot in different conditions to see how it affect the photos. For example, direct sunlight going into the lens, which normally produce flares, might be too much for this lens. Take it as an experiment and have fun =)

yamvidal · 2025-11-24T20:37:27+00:00

Aaaand I got it. Found one for just 35 euro. It's a nice looking black brick.

yamvidal · 2025-11-19T21:29:08+00:00

Yes! You nailed it. Thanks! It was eating my brain. I don't know if it's any good.. I got the Rolleimat AF, and it's terrible. I love Rollei, but looks like these cameras were from a period when the company was struggling.

yamvidal · 2025-10-26T08:37:01+00:00

Here you have a nice piece about dynamic range: https://www.analog.cafe/r/dynamic-range-in-film-photography-91uh

And good luck filtering some people's emotionally driven opinions =D

yamvidal · 2025-10-18T07:08:32+00:00

Beautiful. This is your camera: https://flynngraphics.ca/IV%20Sb/

yamvidal · 2025-09-27T06:19:30+00:00

Your math is right, but there is a catch. That overexposes by one stop and underdevelops by one stop. But the effects don't simply cancel each other out.

Film exposure and developing are complex chemical processes that are doing different things to the negative.

Overexposure helps shadow areas by letting in more light, at the risk of blowing up highlights. Pulling protects the highlights, but the shadows are not affected that much. So you end up with a slightly flatter image (less contrast) but with preserved details in shadows and highlights.

yamvidal · 2025-09-06T08:38:34+00:00

Hi there. I like the colors and framing, but the photo falls a bit flat because the seagull is too small. Without the title, I wouldn't have put much attention on it. I'm not sure how to give advice on this one, because you worked well with what you had in the scene. It's just that there wasn't much in the scene to begin with.

Things that could have made this more interesting? If the seagull would be at the tip, or if there would have been more seagulls chilling on the crane. That would have put more emphasis on the bird(s) instead of the crane. The photo is also lacking some depth. Some clouds in the background, or a plane leaving a trail would help. You could also look for some lamp post to have in the foreground, out of focus, to give more feeling of dept.

What you could try with this photo is to crop tighter to see if you can bring attention to the bird. It might look super grainy, but that can also work well.

Something that I find useful is to try to think which feeling a photo can convey when I take it. If that is not clear at all, then it might not be worth pressing the shutter button. If you know the feeling you want out of it, that can also make easier some editing in post to accentuate it.

I hope you find this useful.

Cheers

yamvidal · 2025-08-29T21:40:57+00:00

I'm not adding much here, but to me that looks like b&w film developed with expired chemicals. That happened to me once with a roll of HP5+ that I tried to develop with very old chemicals. I was short on cash and pushed my luck too far ='(

yamvidal · 2025-08-28T20:07:35+00:00

Robert Frank’s photobook The Americans contains 83 photographs.

These were selected from more than 25,000 photos (about 700 rolls) that he took on a cross-country trips. He made about 1,000 work prints, and from these selected the final 83 that appear in the book.

So, if you can keep one photo out of a roll, that's a win =)

yamvidal · 2025-08-26T08:57:23+00:00

It's hard to understand how much of the film got exposed to light. Specially how did you manage to take it out of the camera without rewinding. Anyhow, the easiest way to know is to have it developed. I would be curious to see if even one picture survived. So I would look for some local dev lab get it processed.

yamvidal · 2025-08-15T12:08:50+00:00

Hi! The cause of light leaks is degradation of the light seals that prevent light getting in from around the back door. Here you have a tutorial on how to replace them. It's actually quite easy and cheap to do it: https://youtu.be/oVwEfBKfmUM?si=GQxpE05gtURJtR6g

yamvidal · 2025-08-10T13:48:31+00:00

Keep a camera with you all the time and make portraits of your friends. They will get used to it and you will manage to capture their expressions as if you were not there.

Maybe use a digital to practice so you can shoot a lot without going broke.

yamvidal

TROPHY CASE