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Tag: camera

  • Nimslo3D: My favorite camera that I rarely use

    Nimslo3D: My favorite camera that I rarely use

    The Nimslo3D was ahead of it’s time, except it was also late on delivery, so it was always bound to fail.

    A four-lens camera that essentially shot two images per frame of 35mm film in portrait orientation, you would send the negatives away to be printed behind a lenticular sheet for a 3D effect. Honestly, the idea sounds awesome, but a manufacturing delay, strike, rising costs, and decline in interest sealed its fate.

    Also, that ad is terrible and frightening, so there’s that.

    Finding one in working condition online isn’t too tricky, but they can be a little on the expensive side, considering that it is a plastic novelty camera that is prone to failure. I lucked out and found one for around $80 with flash, untested. Luck would strike again, as it arrived fully functional!

    There is a small demand for these cameras these days thanks to the minor trend of creating “wigglegrams”. Essentially short animations of the four frames. There’s a Reddit community for them, numerous clones, and not one but two digital versions in development, plus several open-source alternatives. For a commercial failure, people sure do love this little oddity.

    And why not? It’s fun, easy to use, and the results look cool as hell. The problem is it’s a little on the fragile side, almost always needs a flash (people hate flash these days it seems), and requires some skill to scan and arrange the photos into a GIF or short video to share. The company that printed the photos has long since gone, and I’m not aware of any company that still does prints of lenticular photos with any consistency. You can try your hand at making them at home using some more third-party software, but it’s not a simple process by any means.

    This isn’t a camera you carry with you wherever you go, but if you are attending a party or wedding, or can find a local band that doesn’t mind flash photography, you’re in for a real treat.

  • Surf City 2025

    Surf City 2025

    Probably my first attempt at earnestly taking good photos with film, I brought the Minolta X-370 (and several other cameras) with me to Top Sail / Surf City, NC for vacation. Still very green, I made a lot of mistakes, but it was during this trip that I caught the bug and decided film photography something into which I wanted to dive deeper.

    Looking back at these photos now, I can start to see some potential. My issue then, as it is now, is that I’d grown so accustomed to quickly snapping a pic and moving on. Film honestly demands more from you, and it starts with slowing down and paying attention. Sure, you need to consider light and composition, but you cannot ignore that each shot comes at a literal cost. Is this image worth taking? Developing? Printing? Displaying?

    For the majority of these photographs, no. They are snapshots of my vacation. In that sense, they are special to me, but they are not portfolio-worthy. Not every photo needs to be.

  • Polaroid SX-70

    Polaroid SX-70

    I sort of regret selling my old SX-70. It was the “Sonar” version, with autofocus. It was in great shape, but the scarcity and cost of SX-70 film meant it sat on the shelf gathering dust. I experimented with some of the filter and flash options available at the time, but it was never as good as it should have been. I also stand on the fact that modern Polaroid film is only acceptable to those who never experienced the original.

  • Shaking out the cobwebs

    Shaking out the cobwebs

    With a week-long beach adventure fast approaching on the calendar, I decided to break out the Minolta X-370 again and put a roll through it. I planned on taking it and a number of other as-yet-untested cameras with me to decide which I was going to keep and which I was going to part with (Spoiler alert: I only parted with one, and I regret it).

    I took the camera with me to go hang out with some friends, and while I’d like to blame the soft focus on my poor vision, there may or may not have been some other factors involved.

    The thing is, though, I like these shots. They are as blurry and chaotic as the evening turned out to be. Not every photo was worth sharing, but they all represent the moment perfectly, and I think that’s more important than perfect lighting and tack-sharp focus.

  • First shots with the Minolta X-370

    First shots with the Minolta X-370

    Like a true child of the 80’s, I took a photography class in high school. I absolutely fell in love with the process of developing film and making prints, but once the class ended, I no longer had access to continue experimenting. A few of those old photos survive, but aren’t worth sharing, as I had no clue at all what I was doing.

    Some time around Christmas 2017, I obtained a Minolta X-370 and a pair of lenses. The camera had belonged to my wife’s uncle, who had passed away. Having just had a few rolls from the Mamiya C33 developed, I was interested in getting back to shooting 35mm and reliving that classic experience.

    The X-370 sports an aperture priority mode, so it was a much simpler experience than the C-33, but it was still a manual focus camera, and even in my 30’s I refused to wear corrective lenses, hence a lot of soft focus. I really didn’t understand how aperture affected the depth of field yet either, so combine that with shooting mostly indoors on Christmas and it makes sense that these images are less than stellar. Still, they invoke a sense of nostalgia, and I smile whenever I look at them – but a lot of that has to do with my son’s Christmas morning hair.