Japan - Prologue
Temples. Praktica LTL, 50mm Meyer-Optik Domiplan Lens, Kodak Portra 400,
“Does it work"?” I asked, pulling the metal brick out of a dusty cupboard. “Find a battery for it and find out!” My Dad replied. And like that, sometime in early 2017, my curiosity for film/photography was reborn. A personal challenge formed in my mind as I inspected the chunky form of my Dad’s Pentacon Pracktica LTL; could I commit to taking this camera on my upcoming trip to Japan, and shoot the entire experience using film alone, in this day and age?
“The Brick”, Dad’s Praktica LTL. Huawei P10 PLus.
Gear
The Praktica is typical of accessible East German consumer workhorse cameras: it feels solid, weighs a ton and skips frills for simplicity and functionality. In a way it was the perfect camera for my sojourn back into photography. Everything is manual, tactile, visceral, simple. A small lever next to the shutter release activates the TTL meter (easy to forget in a pinch until you’re used to it) and a black needle hovers near a tiny circle on the right within the viewfinder indicating exposure. Shutter speeds as fast as 1/1000th are available and the ASA/DIN dial allows you to select as high as 1600.
I had figured a 50mm lens would do the trick (my desire to bring a bag of lens options came later in my photographic renaissance, though I’ve since toned that back down). I found a clean and clear Meyer-Optik Domiplan 50mm f2.8 and -sold on the sellers description of super-cool bokeh- chose that to screw onto the front of this chunky little camera for the duration of the trip.
The question of what film to bring was not so simple. I knew I wanted color rather than black & white and decent versatility to shoot in various light conditions. Online advice proved a mishmash of mixed opinions (is it ever anything else?), so I visited my two favorite camera stores in Vancouver (Beauphoto and Leo’s) to get the opinions of the folks behind the counter. With their advice, I settled on Kodak Portra 400, and bought a box of 5 rolls, 180 shots to cover my two week trip. I’d heard that film was still quite easy to find for sale in Japan, so didn’t stress that I wasn’t bringing enough and besides, I didn’t intend to blast away as I once did with my digital. With 400 -I figured- I could capture anything in daylight, and with a steady hand take a chance at Japan’s spectacular night scenery as well.
Kodak Portra 400, Huawei P10 Plus
““Could I end up shooting a whole trip only to find irreparably damaged negatives when I got home?””
Doomed from the Start?
With bags packed and the promise of sake and sakura ahead, we headed to YVR airport in Vancouver to fly to Tokyo by way of Shanghai. Film canisters softly clattering together in my backpack, I’m eager to experience Japan and capture it in a way that feels novel (what’s old is new again) and somehow more deliberate compared to the “I’d better snap this” feel of cellphone photography. I figured I’d load the camera in the darkness of the airplane, ready to step out and capture a new world. My friends seemed a little puzzled at my choice, but they’re used to me by now and reflect my optimism back at me with their own excitement at our groups’ first trip abroad together.
“Sir pass the bag through the X-Ray please,” the stern-faced security person gestures towards the Ziploc bag full of film, grasped tightly in my hand as the rest of my carry-on makes it’s way though the machine. The 5 minute interaction that followed involved a fair bit of eye-rolling and threats until a level headed and more senior supervisor came to the rescue and gave the bag a quick hand-check. Sure, lower ISO film should be fine passing through once…but how many scans through a machine can it take before it’s impacted*? I’d be passing by at least 4 scanners on this trip and was hoping to minimize potential damage. Could I end up shooting a whole trip only to find irreparably damaged negatives when I got home? For that matter will this 40 year old piece of hardware stand up to so much sudden use? As I buckled in for the flight, excitement and anticipation overshadowed that brief flood of doubts. Headphones-in, I close my eyes and daydream what’s to come.
Continue to: First Frames, Tokyo - Japan →
China Eastern to Tokyo. Praktica LTL, 50mm Meyer-Optik Domiplan Lens, Kodak Portra 400.
*Later on I’d read about “burner rolls”, a high ISO film roll that you include in your bag that serves as a valid excuse to avoid passing the whole film-bag through a machine. This has proved an effective tactic!