Shoot With Personality

{Perfect Combo?}

March 24, 2020 9:29 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ Amanda Raney

This post is deviating from my usual format. It’s not my “Two Rolls In” or “Getting to Know You” film equipment reviews. Really, this is about testing an idea I had about a nice little camera/lens combo.

I picked up a Canon Rebel Ti a few years ago (I can’t believe it’s been that long!) I didn’t have a lens for it for months, until I was given a Canon Rebel 2000 with a kit lens attached. I didn’t really need to test the camera for much more than whether or not it was functioning correctly, since it’s very similar to the Rebel 2000 (an earlier model in the Rebel series.) I had briefly owned a Rebel Ti in 2008, but I wasn’t able to use it more than perhaps once because the back latch was broken. That’s actually how I ended up with my original Rebel 2000. I bought it from my friend, who said it didn’t work, because it had a lens. The Rebel 2000 just needed a battery replaced, and the Ti I had bought had a broken film door latch. The rest is history.

But back to the current subject. I bought this Rebel Ti for a small sum, hoping to get a nice lens for it somewhere down the road. It took me probably about a year and a half to get the lens I wanted (it cost about five times the amount I paid for the camera itself!) The lens? A 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens. It’s TINY. The Rebel Ti is smallish and fits nicely in the hand thanks to its grip.

Tiny lens

Ergonomic grip

I thought it might make an ideal combo for a smallish 35mm autofocus SLR kit.

I was right 🙂

Roll #1 was Fuji Superia X-tra 400

I am so used to using manual focus SLRs that I forgot how quickly I can burn through a roll of film in an auto focus camera! I shot roll one basically in one weekend. This was around the end of September 2018.

Vegan snickerdoodle blondies

My niece obliged me with a quick photo shoot right before we went to Memphis so she could get braces.

Her last pre-braces meal was sushi (also sort of a pre-birthday treat, since this was right before her birthday.)

Quick shot in the parking lot of the orthodontist that same day

We also attended the Memphis Japan Festival at the Memphis Botanic Gardens that weekend, and it was a great chance to try out my new camera/lens combo!

There was an origami sculpture exhibit at the Botanic Gardens too, and it was amazing!

❤️

One of her purchases from the Japan Festival

Roll #2 was expired Kodak 64T slide film (expired in 2001,) which I had cross processed. Due to life circumstances (mom recuperating from a broken hip) and the fact that this film was not suited to gloomy weather, it actually took me about six months to finish this roll. These were taken from late 2018 to summer 2019.

Christmas season 2018

Shot a few frames in Como, Mississippi

School bus shop we saw somewhere in the Mississippi Delta

S. Main Street, Memphis, Tennessee

This was the day AM got the big chop! She cut off all her hair! Then we went to get coffee at her favorite place in Memphis!

Playing with some double exposures

Conclusion?

I am LOVING this as a camera body/lens combo! It’s fast, easy, and the lens is sharp to my eyes! I have to admit that I am a bit of a snob because I usually shoot film cameras that LOOK like film cameras, you know? But this is such a great little set up that I don’t mind if someone sees it and thinks I am shooting digital (doesn’t help that the control panel is a big lcd on the back, that might be mistaken for a viewing screen on a digital camera!)

(I actually have a couple of more rolls I was tempted to add on to this post, but I was afraid it would be TOO many images for one post!)

Posted in: camera equipment, camera review, film photography, Uncategorized

{Getting to Know You} Canon Sure Shot Z90W

March 18, 2020 9:02 am ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅ Amanda Raney

Apparently I’m collecting Canon Sure Shots now? I’ll have to show you a family portrait of all of them soon!

Today’s is the Canon Sure Shot Z90w:

I had gone through a dry spell, re: finding thrift shop cameras in 2018. I finally just decided to buy one off eBay*, like a normal person. I don’t LOVE cameras with zoom lenses because they’re usually not great, but I had been wanting a Canon Sure Shot Z90W for awhile because a) Its widest focal length is 28mm, which is UNUSUAL in a point and shoot camera b) it is one of the Sure Shots with exposure compensation (you can choose to give the photo more or less exposure as needed. You can do ±1.5 stops.) c) it has a memory feature that remembers the settings you’d chosen the last time you’d used the camera, so you can (in my case) leave the flash off and not have to scroll through the flash settings every time you power the camera on (this is a major complaint a lot of point and shoot users have – the flash menu!)

A few specs on the Canon Sure Shot Z90W:

Focal length: 28mm-90mm (maximum aperture range of f/4.5 on the wide end and f/9.9 on the long end.)
Shutter speed range: 4 seconds to 1/640 second, depending on the mode/focal length you’re shooting
Focus range: 1.5ft or 2ft-infinity, depending on the mode/focal length you’re shooting
Film speeds: ISO 25-3200, set automatically with DX codes

Roll #1 was Fuji Superia 400. Not overly impressed with the camera as of yet (but maybe I should have taken more interesting photos!)

How my niece looks in most of the photos I take of her (annoyed)

This was taken as a memento of one of our “Well THAT was weird” experiences

I made an ugly cake

*heart eyes*

(My niece glaring at my camera: a saga)

More garish cakes

Roll #2 was also Fuji Superia 400. I usually wouldn’t share any of these because they had previously been featured on my post of vacation photos from 2018, but I thought I could choose a few from that roll that i liked

(All these were taken at Dollywood)

Roll #3 was Kodak Max 400

I do NOT remember taking the above photos! They were taken while my mother was in hospital for broken hip/surgery at the end of 2018.

Christmas season 2018. I’m surprised I managed to take these, because our mom being in the hospital/physical rehab for three weeks leading up to Christmas really took the wind out of our sails!

I feel like my niece and I lived at Zaxby’s during that time period. My sister was in the hospital for a couple of days while our mom was recovering from hip surgery!

Went to the movies with a group from church

This IS a throwback! My niece’s first time attending a Coffee 101/pour over class! Early 2019! (I think I sat the camera on a table and used the self timer on these so they wouldn’t be blurry from slower shutter speeds)

It took me six months to finish this roll of film, so there were a couple of changes of seasons during its life

Conclusion?

I will say, even though the wide angle lens is a plus, the fact that the max aperture is little slower than I would like is NOT so great. But in decent light, it’s perfectly serviceable! I was happy with a lot of shots from my third roll!

*but then I found a different Canon Sure Shot in a thrift shop for $3 right after I got this one. GO FIGURE!

Posted in: Uncategorized