Nova Scotia on Film, eh?

On our last vacation, we headed to the great white north, Nova Scotia, Canada.   A place of…fisherman.  (deadpan pause) That’s it.  Fisherman.   Or, at least that is what I thought.  Well, I am happy to say

I was wrong.   Well, kinda wrong. I mean there are fisherman there.  But it turns out, there was a whole lot more.

I will be breaking this trip up into several smaller posts as I get to them.  I want to start this one off with the film photos that I took on this trip.  Yes, FILM!

In 2022 while basically holed up in my house, hiding from COVID-19, I did a LOT of estate sale shopping.  During that time I was lucky to pick up a camera lot with a couple of super nice surprises in it.  At the time the auction just specified a box or grab bag if you will of film cameras and lenses.  The price was cheap so I placed a bid of $65 on the lot and promptly forgot about it. 

A couple of weeks later I received an email notifying me I was a winner.   Normally I would be excited about this but honestly, I had no idea what I bought.   When the box arrived and I opened it, I found the typical mish-mash of  kit lenses and such.  But much to my surprise, at the bottom of the box was 3 more boxes.  And two of them, were what looked to be unopened.  We’ll talk about the 3rd box a little later.

In the two boxes were a Minolta 3000i and Minolta 7000i pair of 35mm cameras.  Unopened, unused.  Both still with the protective plastic on them.  I seriously could not believe it.  But to be honest, the excitement was a bit short lived as I ended up looking up the value of the cameras and it turns out you can grab these on ebay fairly cheaply.  So, the $65 I spent on the auction was about what I would have paid for the two cameras anyway.  Albeit these were basically brand new in the box and the only ones I can find on ebay are clearly used.

In the 3rd box though was a vintage Kodak Reflex 2 1/2″ x 2 1/4″ 620 Film TLR Camera w/ Anastar 80mm F3.5 lens!

I collect a few of these 120/620 cameras and this by far is the newest condition one I have found yet.  Worth about $65-$100 on the open market I’d say it was a steal for what I paid for it.  This estate was located in western NY which aligns with the Kodak Camera Club logo on the case and the KCC S-51.  Sure, it’s not a Rolleiflex or a Yashica but it still is a piece of photography history that still fully functions.   And while I didn’t take this camera on the Nova Scotia trip with me, I did take both Minoltas.

I found that these film cameras both punch way above their weight class.  And I legitimately had more fun with them than my digital gear.

I loaded up the 3000i with some FUJIFILM 200 Color Negative Film and the 7000i with my go to lford HP5 Plus, Black and White Print Film, 35 mm, ISO 400.  The 3000i is a basic consumer level camera and the 7000i was aimed at the prosumer market.  The color film was for fun and the black and white the more serious so I felt this was the way to go.

Let start off with some color shots from the Minolta 3000i at Cape Jourimain National Wildlife Area on our way to Prince Edward Island and the first leg of our trip.

Honestly, this camera is basically a point and shoot.  And as cool as manual mode is, I thought why not try it.  And I could not be happier with the moody results.  This was a chilly and windy morning at the preserve and I think that photo gives that impression quite well.

After walking the grounds a bit we hit the Nature Center where Dani picked up a nice watercolor of a gold finch for her office.  Upon leaving the giftshop a gentleman approached us who painted the watercolor and personally signed it for Dani.  A pretty cool experience all in itself.  With the morning haziness and clouds clearing we decide to walk the east end of the boardwalk through the wetlands.  I stopped long enough to snap a full sun image of this house on the preserve.

To conclude the color film shots, this was right at our table for dinner that night.

While the color film shooting with the 3000i was fun, my passion is really shooting monochrome with the Ilford and the 7000i and let me tell you, it was a joy!

The 7000i with auto focus is so easy to shoot with it is ridiculous. I love using manual but why would you when images come out this good with just a shutter press? I did run through a few shots in manual mod but simply decided to focus (pun intended) on the shot composition and subject rather than a bunch of settings. It was so liberating!

We took our 2022 Ford Ranger Tremor on this trip and I am so glad we did. This old abandoned farmhouse was located along a 1.5mile red dirt trail out to the cliffs edge from the previous shot. Without the truck, I doubt we would have attempted it. Plus as we will later talk about in another post, the roads in Nova Scotia are….exciting. 🤣

And finally a small gallery with the remaining shot on the 7000i.

All-in-all this trip was a lot more fun with these two cameras around than I expected. And, I highly recommend that if you see a good one available for sale, grab it just for the fun of it. I really think it will be your go to film camera. The change from digital is a good boost for your creative bones.

Until we meet again,

~AD