When Happy and Sad crashes

- Never Stop Dreaming -

It seems that the rainy weather is here to stay with weather reports raging about some typhoon closing in. Do I care you might ask, well I DON'T since I live very far from the coast and all I get is rain of course is a damn good thing. The temepratures coming to a close resembling the Cold November Rain. I liked it and everyday I am more than happy to wake up to such splendid weather that many of you might scream foul.

Good and bad in a way since such weather would be a clear hinderance to outdoor photography. Speaking of photography...many years ago, when Digital Photography became affordable, I jumped onto the bandwagon like many others and had came some good way. But now it seems to be more than a mere passion when I seek deeper and yearn for more. Instead I moved back into the past...into the era of 35mm film format which might be a dying breed in Singapore. Here in Japan, there is still a very huge market...so might as well take the chance to discover it.

Under the kind and patient tutorage of Master B, I did observed his gear and everything else he did. So when the recent opportunity arose, I snapped up one near Mint condition Canon EOS 3 film SLR. Barely a scratch on the exterior and 2 tiny speck of dirt in the viewfinder just off the center left bottom. Not much of a concern since peeking thru Master B's gear. With so many people moving into Digital, the market is pretty concentrated and to understand the basic aspects of photography might be lost with time. I couldn't deny that when I picked up my first DSLR, the reason was to avoid the intricate, messy and tedious process of understanding, mastering and knowing the entire process of film to negatives to prints. I would shrudder at the thought of the proccess and the cost to get involved.

And so that explains the avoidance of film for the ease of digital. Along the way, I might have inevitably improved my PS skills and not my photographic skills. Either way, now that God had served me this fabulous chance, I took the plunge and picked up film altogether. It's gonna be a tedious and expensive proccess but these days, I would really love to preserve this dying art for myself. Been spending lots of time reading and digesting film but I am sure it will be all worth it.

The EOS 3 is a rather inspiring camera since most high end DSLRs are modeled after it. Feels rather sturdy in my hands and would probably withstand more knocks than my 5Dmk2. Of course the 400D is with my brother now so I will exclude that in my comparisions. Camera wise, there are less complicated buttons and more clean solid lines. No histograms, highlight priority or any of those fanciful bells and whistles, just a simple 45 focus point, old skool film SLR similiar to Master B's. The shutter sound sounded rather orgasmic as compared to the 5Dmk2. Initially I was happy with the sound of shutter flapping with my first 400D, then I envied the sound of higher end DLSRs. When I got my 5Dmk2, I was blown away at that time but now after fishing out ￥29,800 for a second hand, almost prestine condition EOS 3 with ONLY a camera body and camera cap wrapped in bubble wrap, the shere sound of the shutter curtains moving each time I delicately depressed the "FIRE" button, there was no simply no more comparisions. This would be the distinctive sound of a camera that I would love for a long long time.

No where near the price of the 5D, with functions simpler than the 1000D, this is a camera that is meant to be enjoyed and appreciated. Because every shot counts since I can load a max of 36 frames. I will use this primarily for ONLY monochrome shots because the process to view the pictures will be a long one. After shooting, I will have to do my own in house proccessing since I want to learn and understand this indept sacred lost art of developing my own film into negatives. The developers, the fixers, the time, the temperature, etc...every thing counts. The last step would be the scanning of the negatives into the computer which will be a hassle.

Getting the camera was only the beginning since a lot of hidden or I would put it, factored in cost associated with film will slowly bare it's fangs at me. No hurry...I am enjoying it as we go along but at least I had taken yet another first and fatal plunge into the unknown. Will love to play with my new toy a bit more but right now I had other more important things at hand to complete.

My VISA renewal didn't went as smoothly as planned...the tax which my company told me to exempt now comes back to haunt me since I need it to get my new VISA. Been told to do this, to do that, to go here, to go there and none seems to work. I felt like a soccer ball being passed around but 22 people and trust me THAT IS SHITTY! Of course I would like to walk up and scream foul language or even punch these ****wits in their faces but "Why bother?", I thought.

Taking it easy this week since I only work 3 outta 5 work days...the rest in case you are wondering are paid holidays. Besides, thanks to this VISA thing, I could wiggle my way outta of my work with relatively no effort.

Oh in case I forget, the wedding was great and I met more interesting SINGLE Japanese people.

I shall leave you with my wish list for now...

1. Canon EOS 3 (Acquired)
2. Sigma HSM DG EX 50mm f1.4
3. Developing materials (tanks, chemicals, etc)
4. Film scanner

Go easy on this one...