Analog Therapy: Expired Kodak Gold 200 & Dad’s Film Camera Addendum.
This is a long delayed addendum to a 2019 post. Will leave that post in full below. Short version.
When my Dad passed away in February of 2019 I was shattered. One thing I clung to was his Nikon point-and-shoot film camera that I came across. It had one exposure left. So I carried it with me until I felt the moment to take that exposure arrived. More below.
Since that post I carefully stored it. Then this last week I popped in a new battery and loaded my first roll of film since that post. A freebie t-shirt given to me by a Nikon rep at my local camera shop is what got me to bring his camera back out again.
This camera.
A Nikon point and shoot.
I will be honest with you. I have not spent much time studying it. Its significance springs from its association with my Father. Other than that it is pretty standard point and shoot fare. Zoom lens. Flash. Slide cover power on/off. Auto everything. An I just want the pic kind of deal. I just studied it enough to get my head around it. One workaround for me.
On power off/on the camera defaults to auto flash. Not a fan so I try an remember to turn it off with two button presses on start up. As seen in the first pic I forgot this with the first frame. As expected the camera sorted things out.
Let’s see… It zooms but you probably should not. That is about it. Other than that it is fully automatic. You know. A point and shoot.
The film.
Expired Kodak Gold 200 that was recently acquired from my local camera shop. Developed with Cinestill CS41.
The pics.
Taken out and about and while taking some digital gear on walk through my usual test bed. And here they are.
For the blur pictures I just let her rip trusting that… well… that what happened would happen.
Thoughts.
I do not have much to say about the camera. It captures images. I did find it therapeutic to get through the roll. Given the provenance more so than usual. As a bonus actual images were created. On to the…
Original post.
Looking over my father’s cameras I came across his Nikon Lite Touch Zoom 140ED AF film camera. It was on exposure 24 of 24. My Mom shared that Dad may have not used the camera in a while, there were older shots he took of his grandchildren (a very Dad thing to do), ones he took at one of many parades attended supporting his granddaughters. Film was drug store grade Fuji 400 film. In these pictures, I see clearly how much my framing was informed by my father’s teaching so many years ago. Took a moment to determine how to use the last exposure, but the family decided to complete his last roll of film with a photo of his viewing. Here are all 24 exposures.
My Dad was a great man and I miss him dearly. At the same time, I am eternally happy that he was a part of my life.
Happy capturing.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 