Happy New Year– Yes, it’s February. No, I will not be answering any further questions about my statements.
I have been looking for a suitable replacement for my Gameboy Camera for far too long. I’ve gone as far as researching OLED screen mods for official hardware, trying to find a way to run the ROM on my phone (If I was an Android user I probably could make it work), and countless different apps (both paid and free).
Nothing came close enough to scratching the itch though. That is until everyone started talking about the Kodak Charmera.
After some patience and supporting a “local” camera store (even if its not all that local to me) I finally have one in hand, and I cannot say enough how much wind this little shitty digital keychain camera has put into my sails.
I have no idea if this will become a regular thing - Or maybe I should just make a gallery that I dump things into regularly - But for now, enjoy some selects from my first weekend with my newest toy.
Camera Test
Babby's First Leica - A Camera Test:
"...So I have something for you."
I like it when stories start this way. I'll give you the cliff notes because many of the details aren't important. A co-worker of mine came into possession of a lot of camera equipment. I dug through it a few times to help him sort away anything that was too fungus ridden or broken. As payment, I walked away with a couple of neat lenses and that was that. Or so I thought.
A few weeks later I went back to his house to help him with some computer problems. And he told me a few words that would make many photographers drool.
"For helping me out I'm going to give you this Leica"
As much as I appreciated it, this isn't exactly a Leica worth bragging about.
He followed it up by handing me a roll of film that has been expired since the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and told me to shoot it to see if it was any good. Below are those test shots.
They aren't much to look at, mostly because I was trying to shoot through the roll as quickly as I could. But, that being said, for a cheap plastic camera, I'm pretty impressed. I had to do some smoothing out of the grain in lightroom (I'll show a raw scan below). But all in all, I'd consider the test mostly successful.
Uncorrected: Note the more pronounced grain.
