Tag: Pentax ES II

Isolation Photo Project, Day 80: Pentax ES II and a damaged roll of Kodak Color Plus 200

NOTE: I'll begin this experience report with a brief disclaimer. It's been less than two years since I've returned to shooting 35mm film after switching to digital photography over 20 years ago. I've inundated myself in as much film education as I could find between web articles and advice from experienced film shooters. But, with my former experience way in the past and limited recent experience, this review is coming from a relative novice point of view.

I shot a 36 exposure roll of Kodak Color Plus 200 at the end of May which was developed and scanned by The Darkroom on 2 June 2020. The scanned images have defects which are my fault. Why?

After shooting the film roll, I stuffed it into my pants pocket and forgot about it. That was until my wife came upstairs. She had heard something banging around in the dryer. It was the film canister from my pants pocket.

With the exception of the damage due to “washing”, I like the look of these scanned images. I deleted most of the images. The ones shown here are the "keepers". I am abusing the meaning of that word.

Once my Asahi Optical Co. Pentax ES II returns from being cleaned, lubricated and adjusted by Eric Hendrickson, I will try another roll of Kodak Color Plus 200. But next time, I'll skip the washing machine and dryer.

This roll was exposed during a hike on the Aunt Molly trail in Hopewell Township.

Kodak Color Plus 200 | Tuesday 2 June, 2020 | Day 72 | Asahi Pentax ES II | Asahi Optical Co. Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 28mm f/3.5
Kodak Color Plus 200 | Tuesday 2 June, 2020 | Day 72 | Asahi Pentax ES II | Asahi Optical Co. Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 28mm f/3.5
Kodak Color Plus 200 | Tuesday 2 June, 2020 | Day 72 | Asahi Pentax ES II | Asahi Optical Co. Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 28mm f/3.5
Kodak Color Plus 200 | Tuesday 2 June, 2020 | Day 72 | Asahi Pentax ES II | Asahi Optical Co. Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 28mm f/3.5
Kodak Color Plus 200 | Tuesday 2 June, 2020 | Day 72 | Asahi Pentax ES II | Asahi Optical Co. Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 28mm f/3.5
Kodak Color Plus 200 | Tuesday 2 June, 2020 | Day 72 | Asahi Pentax ES II | Asahi Optical Co. Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 28mm f/3.5
Kodak Color Plus 200 | Tuesday 2 June, 2020 | Day 72 | Asahi Pentax ES II | Asahi Optical Co. Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 28mm f/3.5
Kodak Color Plus 200 | Tuesday 2 June, 2020 | Day 72 | Asahi Pentax ES II | Asahi Optical Co. Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 28mm f/3.5
Submitted as part of the 100DaysToOffload project.

Isolation Photo Project, Day 57

Today was another uneventful day. First breakfast, then lunch, then dinner, then Netflix and now I am off to bed. For dinner, I grilled the red snapper filets that I ordered from Whole Foods last Friday. Bhavna quickly made mango salsa, and I made a petit punch. I did a terrible job with the composition of the dish. I deleted all the images.

Sometime in the early months of 2019, I acquired a Pentax Spotmatic II for purely emotional reasons. My father had recently passed away, and I had his non-functional Pentax Spotmatic II, which he had given to me many years prior. Having my dad's camera brought back a lot of fond memories of afternoons at the beach or road trips to the countryside. My dad documented the adventures on his Spotmatic II.

On 5 May 2020, I purchased an Asahi Optical Co. Pentax ES II on eBay due only to the frustration of using the metering system on the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II. With my digital interchangeable lens camera (ILC) I shoot mostly in aperture priority mode and/or shutter priority mode, trusting the camera to choose an optimal ISO. Finding a working “not-for-parts” ES II was challenging. I wanted it in silver, but after a few frustrating weeks of looking, I settled on this black covered tank. The ES II came with a Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 MC Telephoto lens which I immediately swapped out for my Asahi Optical Co. SMC Takumar 55mm f/2

But before I succumbed and bought the Pentax ES II, I had already acquired a few legacy M42 lenses.

The highlight of the day was that I loaded a roll of Kodak ColorPlus 200 film into my newly acquired Asahi Optical Co. Pentax ES II 35mm film camera. This 35mm film camera has through-the-lens aperture-priority auto exposure, a considerable improvement over the metering system in my Asahi Optical Co. Pentax Spotmatic II.

Submitted as part of the 100DaysToOffload project.