TGIF: A Week of Bits and Pieces

Quiet week here at the World Headquarters as the health recovery continues.

Been able to daily wander and walk some two miles over in Preble County.  With few vehicles on the roads the early mornings are peaceful and silent.  

Liah's highlight of the week was the sighting of three deer crossing the road ahead of us. For the rest of the walk, she was on high alert scanning the roadsides for others.

Earlier in the week, sent off a couple of Pentax 35mm cameras for repair.  They date from the 1970's and over time the rubber and foam seals have decayed into small pieces rendering them unworkable. Found a retired worker from the Pentax company that has set up a Pentax repair business  They should be repaired and returned by the end of the month. 

With recent interest in panoramic images, sent off a German film panoramic camera for repair.  This one dates from the late 60's.  It too is nonoperational due to decayed rubber and foam seals.  Since the manufacturer has since gone out of business, getting it serviced was a challenge.  Finally, after several days of computer searching, discovered a repairman in Canada.  Seems on the closing of the manufacturer, he went to Germany, purchased all the remaining parts, brought them to Canada and setup shop repairing this panoramic camera.  

Assuming all goes on schedule, the film cameras should be returned and ready to go. 

After coffee and window watching decided that since there are no digital and only film panoramic cameras, for color results, will need to use color film.

With the coming of digital, color film choices are few.  Now color film comes in two varieties.  Negative for prints and positive for slides. Scanning negative color film is a bit of pain and not - for me - fun.  

After choosing the positive materials, the next step was to pick a film. Not a lot of choices as Kodak, Agfa and others have stopped manufacturing.  Finally selected a Fuji product and ordered several rolls.  

Next difficulty is where to get the exposed film processed. As the suppliers of color films have diminished, so have the processing labs. There are none anywhere nearby. 

Back to the computer search for a means to process color film. Found one company that offers one processing kit. With no other choice, ordered a kit and should be here next week. 

With repaired cameras, color film and a way to develop the exposed film, appears that it's a go. 

Finally as the Summer draws to a close, the last Day Lilly.