Half empty, half full - a photo on Flickriver

A half-drunk plastic bag of God-knows what drink.

Camera: Yashica FX-3
Film: Expired Konica Centuria 200
Lens: Yashica 50mm 1:2 ML

Taken on a ::Film Junkies Unite:: outing to the abandoned Pekeliling Flats in Kuala Lumpur. 5/4/09.

A little bit more on this Yashica FX-3 of mine. It came into my possession due to the generosity of my father. He bought this camera when I wasn’t even born yet and as far as I know, it was my father’s first and only foray into photography. As best I can recall, this camera has seen me and taken pictures of me and my family ever since I was a wee baby. Granted, it's not a Nikon F3 or an Olympus OM, but still it has great sentimental value to me. Then, sometime about 20 or more years ago, my father tucked this camera away nicely in his study room. And there it has remained...until now.

I always knew my father had it stashed somewhere in his house but we never did find it until 3 days ago. When he gave it to me, I was pleasantly surprised to find that everything worked, the shutter fires correctly at all speeds (even at the oft-problematic 1 sec speed), the aperture opens up/closes smoothly, the viewfinder is clear and except for some slight hazing, there was nary a mark on the lens. The light seals were also intact. There’s some not-quite-slight corrosion and rust on the camera body, and part of the leatherette was peeling off, but apart from that, everything is fine. Sweet! Plus, when I opened up the film compartment, I found out that there’s still a roll of (very) expired Kodak slide film in it...hmmm, but that’s a story for another day.

Well, during the outing yesterday, I decided, spur of the moment like, to test the FX-3 out. I loaded a roll of expired film into it and I was ready to go...well, except for one thing...I didn’t have the batteries for it! Darn...and my light meter is not due to arrive till next week! Well, nothing could be done about that, so I decided to wing it. Haha.

Needless to say, when I got my roll of film back, I was yet again very, very pleasantly surprised with the way the pictures turned out. Of course, my eye metering being lousy and unreliable as it is, several frames were overexposed/underexposed..but overall I’m very pleased with the results. This shot was one of a few that turned out quite to my liking...so here it is.

I’m going to restore this camera cosmetically and send it for a CLA sometime soon. It’s too good a camera to just let it gather dust in some dark corner. Plus, I’ll consider it an achievement if I can bring this FX-3 back to it’s former glory, seeing as to how it has such great sentimental value to me and all. In addition, after the soft and smooth shutter sound of my Electro GT, it’s refreshing to hear the loud and almost violent ’CLACK!’ the FX-3’s shutter makes. After that..who knows? Maybe I’ll get myself some nice Contax or Carl Zeiss lenses for this baby, haha.

One thing for sure though, they sure don't make cameras now like they used to. 20+ years in storage, and it was ready to shoot pictures straight away when it came out...who'd imagine?

Okay, that was a bit too long...sorry friends, and thanks for indulging me. =)

P.S: Ba, if you're reading this...thank you! You've done so much for me that I can never hope to thank you or repay you enough. When my time comes, I can only aspire to be half the man you are, and hope and pray that I'm able to do only half of what you have done. I love you.

Taken on: April 6, 2009

Tags:

pekeliling flats

abandoned

yashica

oldhouse

malaysia

kualalumpur

filmjunkiesunite

film

expiredfilm

derelict

decrepit

autaut

abandonedhouse

35mmfilm

135film

konica centuria 200

expired konica centuria 200

yashica fx3

fx3

yashica 50mm f2 ML

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Sets appears in: • Abandon.nation • Yashica FX-3 more » • Colour film • 35mm « less

Groups appears in: • Analog Photography • Yashica SLR Cameras more » • Dilapidated Houses • Malaysian Photographers - Selamat Datang! • Yashica, The World according to... • Film is not Dead!! • Shabby old houses and buildings • YASHICA FX-3 • Aut - Aut • :: Film Junkies Unite :: « less

Camera: FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. SP-3000 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. SP-3000
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	ACD Systems Digital Imaging
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