Analog Therapy… High Dose: Pentax ME Super – Pentax 50mm f/2 – And Some Thoughts.
I needed an extra dose of analog therapy. So the camera this day is a special one.
As background in this post…
…I stated the following:
From a picture of my dearly departed Father’s hands holding the SLR he used to teach me as a child in the first pic, to the flow of capturing, to the Zen of development, to being patient while waiting for the negatives to dry so I can scan them, until I see the images on my screens. He gave me so much, even the means with which to cope with his loss. All good memories and smiles throughout.
As a result, if I am asked what my favorite film camera is… if allowed to thnk about it… this would be it.
While the sentimental motivation behind it is strong, it is an extremely proficient image capturing device also.
The film.
I stumbled upon a roll of Kodak Ektar 100. A worthy film for a camera that I hold in such high esteem. Developed it with Cinestill CS41.
Scanned it with my trusty Epson V600.
The setting.
A few while running errands and the rest at a familiar local haunt. A small “downtown” area near me.
Here are all 37 exposures.
Then in what seems like a symbolic move by mother nature just as I finished the roll it started to rain. Nice. Almost poetic. As I said earlier.
All good memories and smiles throughout.
Thoughts.
What a lens.
Perhaps due to being wrapped up in sentiment every time I pick up a Pentax ME Super but this is the first time I am noticing how fantastic this lens is.
An old friend.
This is a camera that I learned to use as a child. As a result I operate it almost out of pure muscle memory. As a result I am not surprised that I managed to come away with 37 exposures from a 36 exposure roll of film.
More thoughts.
This experience got me to thinking more broadly about the trend of digital cameras chasing the film experience. But that is a no go for me. Brought me back to a line of thining I have mentioned before. Cut and paste ahead.
Once, queen of nice Ellen had a stand up joke years ago that made me laugh. Not a hardy laugh. More of a chuckle because I thought it was clever. To paraphrase it went like this.
“I was in my hotel room and there was no shampoo. So I called down to the front desk. They knock on my door and hand me many bottles of conditioner while apologizing for running out of shampoo. The punchline:
You do understand that no matter how many bottles of conditioner you bring me, it does not make it shampoo?”
That is how I feel about digital cameras trying to recapture the film experince.
You can take away the ability to take color photos.
You can add film canister replicas.
You can remove the back screen.
But none of these things make it shampoo… I mean a film camera.
The mechanical experience of the shooting experience. Especially if you commit top development and scanning. The loading of the dalylight tank in the dark bag. The heating of the chenistry. The time keeping. The drying. The scanning. And finally seeing them come up on the screen. Wonderful
Now mind you I added the film development to the equation myself. Dad and I used one hour photo labs to get our film developed. But that was also exciting in its own way. I remember the excitement of opening those little folders and thumbing through the photos.
So, for me, it is far more than a back screen delete, artificial wind lever, or removed features.
For me, film cannot be faked.
If I use digital, I want all of the tricks.
That is all for now.
Another great analog therapy session.
Happy capturing.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 
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