What if no one's watching?

For I am nothing but a person of weak soul, ha ha. Yesterday morning I had to go to the other end of the city to pick up two purchases courtesy of e(vil)Bay — an Olympus Trip 35 and an Olympus XA1 Rangefinder (funny I just realized they’re from the same company).

I didn’t really know anything about the Trip, until I saw Kuya Jerome‘s gallery and when he mentioned the unit to me once. The XA1, just heard of it, and I find the camera cute and compact. Read the rest of this entry »

Weeks ago, when I was still having my vacation in Manila, my tita offered me her old Pentax ME-F unit together with its AF 35-70mm zoom lens and Sunpak hotshoe flash. The camera is as old as I am, and at that moment, I thought that this is what I was waiting for! Getting hand-me-down camera units rocks. Unfortunately for me, we weren’t able to find the wide angle lens that my tita used with the camera. Nevertheless, I was one lucky camper as I got the camera and its accessories.

I had to bring the unit to Mang Dong’s (in Quiapo) though, as my tita told me that the camera needed to be cleaned and checked. However, Mang Dong told me that since the camera hasn’t been use for a long time, there’s no way that I can use the Auto Zoom of the camera because of corrosion, plus there were discolorations on the lens barrel. He told me I have to go fully manual with the camera, and I thought that was okay, since I need to learn more about manual photography, apertures and f/stops anyway. Read the rest of this entry »

I accompanied my nanay a couple of nights ago when we stopped by at Dollarama to buy stuff. At the front entrance I was surprised to see a small shelf filled with cheap film called “Likon Super 200.” This got my attention mainly because; a.) it’s cheap film, and who doesn’t love cheap film?; b.) Its name is LIKON. It kind of reminds me of the camera Nikon and the Chinese film Lucky, ha ha. Nanay asked me if I wanted anything so I decided to grab 5 rolls. Tatay‘s reluctant though. He told me not to buy it because, well, it’s cheap film (I guess that answers my first question, he he), and what can you expect from a cheap film?

As soon as I got the rolls I told some photographer friends back in the Philippines about it, and Kuya Jerome mentioned that it’s probably from the same manufacturer as Lucky. I took his word, but because I am a very inquisitive person, I decided to, well, compare both films. Read the rest of this entry »