OT - I am depressed

[randyrives]

The camera I modeled was given to me by my wife's grandmother. I was trying to find out when the camera was manufactured, to get a gauge on how old it was. I knew it had to be at least 35+ years old, because my wife's grandfather died when she was a baby.

I found the Argus website with a link to antique Argus cameras. Well they had a production chart showing when their older camera's were made. I was excited, all I needed was the serial number, so I open back of the camera...That is when I got depressed, there was FILM STILL IN THE CAMERA!!! I just ruined it by exposing it to light. What memories might have been on that 35+ year old film, now we may never know [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif[/img]

I am still going to take it to a photograhper friend to see if she can salvage some of the film.

I always try to find a bright spot in any situation, so I said to my self, at least I now know what the film cartidge looks like for this time period. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

Sorry to bore ya'll but I am feeling down right now, and thought writing about would help.

Later,

Randy

[randyrives]

The camera I modeled was given to me by my wife's grandmother. I was trying to find out when the camera was manufactured, to get a gauge on how old it was. I knew it had to be at least 35+ years old, because my wife's grandfather died when she was a baby.

I found the Argus website with a link to antique Argus cameras. Well they had a production chart showing when their older camera's were made. I was excited, all I needed was the serial number, so I open back of the camera...That is when I got depressed, there was FILM STILL IN THE CAMERA!!! I just ruined it by exposing it to light. What memories might have been on that 35+ year old film, now we may never know [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif[/img]

I am still going to take it to a photograhper friend to see if she can salvage some of the film.

I always try to find a bright spot in any situation, so I said to my self, at least I now know what the film cartidge looks like for this time period. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

Sorry to bore ya'll but I am feeling down right now, and thought writing about would help.

Later,

Randy

[Soquili]

Hi Randy,

Sorry to hear about opening the camera with film inside. I've accidentally done that myself, and fortunately only two or three frames of the film were ruined the others were saved.

Your photographer friend may be able to get those memories for you. If the film is black and white they can be easily processed. If it is colour film a lot of colour correction may be required for film that old.

Soquili

[jens g.r. benthien]

Randy,

don't be disappointed. Tell your friend to develop the film with Ultrafin or something similar. Have him develop the film like one with a large overexposure. I'd say that only 3 or 4 pics will be lost if you didn't open the camera in bright sunlight.

The films of that era didn't have such high speeds as those we use today, and their reaction to light was considerably slower, so I'd say there are great chances for you to recover at least the pics that have been rolled up on the right spool.

Then try to find someone with a film scanner and scan the negs in. Use Photosoup or Photopaint to invert the pics and adjust gamma, exposure, contrast, brightness, intensity - with black and white this works great. You'll be amazed how much you can recover with a computer!

And no, rest assured, you don't bore or bother us with your problems - what are we here for? Just to post pics? No, I think this community is something special, like a small family.

I know how you feel - I have had 3 exposed glass plates from 1926 and broke them in my car on the way back home. But thanks to computers I could manage to edit the pictures and remove the cracks after developing the broken pieces.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

jens

jens g.r. benthien
designer
http://jens.highspeedweb.net
----------//--
If you don't know how to dream you'll never be a designer.
----------//--

[randyrives]

The film was black and white, I has hoping that would make it easier. I will pass on your tips thanks.

--Randy

[Erik Heyninck]

Me too I keep my fingers crossed for you. A few years back I inadvertedly opened my camera with a transparancy slides film in of 200ISO. I only lost three pics completely and two with light patterns.
Just like Jens wrote: these films werent that sensitive (probably 25ASA/15DIN or something like that) so the damage may be minimal. And nowadys computertechniques go incredibly far.
A nearly invisible (to the naked eye) photograph of my mother's grandmother (way back around 1860) turned out a beautiful sepia pc and, enlarged to A4 now is one of my mum's great treasures as she loved her grandma.
The photo itself seemed completely lost.

So: keep your spirits high, and, thanks to this, you now will have memories that you didn't know they were there.

If you don't work against time, time often works for you.

[s.winders]

I have also done the camera opening thing,and I also only lost 3 - 4 photos.

Good luck bud [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

jens...Photosoup...you crack me up [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

On the Photosoup trail here is some shots of what Photosoup 7 is supposedly meant too look like from a French site........there is a new morph tool of some description [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

http://www.macgeneration.com/enpassa...view_ps7.shtml

[Ross Macintosh]

That Grampa took "nice" pics. Be prepared in case they're something you'd rather not see. No offence intended - This just leads to a story from my family. I may get some details wrong but you'll get the idea. My great-great-grandfather was owed some money by a portrait artist. When the broke artist was never able to make his payments a compromise to clear off the debt was reached. The artist would paint some family portraits. He painted my great-great-grandfather, great-great-grandmother - and here's the kicker: he painted the old man's mistress too! Now of course, his wife didn't know about any mistress portrait and he hid away the painting. Years after his death my great-grandmother found the painting and apparently recognized who it was. In a rage she broke the painting in two - it had been painted on wood.

My parents have the great-great-grandfolks' portraits hanging over the mantel. They are wonderfully painted portraits. The mistress one still exists - an uncle has it - it is lovely too. It too is very nicely painted but has never been repaired. Interestingly, the husband/wife portraits show them as roughly 60 years old. The mistress appears to be about 20! There's are very formal pair complete with family crests while hers is very romantic showing her with a straw hat and looking very angelic.

Our family in subsequent generations can laugh about the whole story and are glad the portraits exist.

Regards, Ross

PS- Please share with us the nature of the pics when they are developed.

[jens g.r. benthien]

Stu,

I know I'm a bit biased when it comes to Adobe products ;-}, because they are totally overpriced, need too much space on the hard drive and are RAM hungry as hell. I prefer to go with the small footprint apps like C4D, Rhino, Xara X and ol' PhotoPaint v.7 from Corel as well as with Photoline 32 from Computerinsel (http://www.pl32.com). PL 32 is shareware, a real good Photosoup clone, offers the same features, runs on Mac and Win and costs only a fraction of the original soupware: US$ 99. Lightning fast, not RAM hungy, small footprint on the hard drive, no steep learning curve - all attributes that you should take into consideration if you need a good photoediting tool only from time to time. Another great app is Opera, the ultimate browser - small footprint, lightning fast, stable, and it's the only browser that sticks to the W3C standards. Oh, and it's the safest browser on the market.

Don't get mad on me, let's soup it up! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

jens

jens g.r. benthien
designer
http://jens.highspeedweb.net
----------//--
If you don't know how to dream you'll never be a designer.
----------//--

[Erik Heyninck]

Pity that you live so far away, Ross: I restore paintings, and I once did a cracked Spanish 19th century portrait on panel that was quite a bit warped. It took me some months (drying times included) but it is impossible to see where it was "schizophrenic". Ahhh, time heals all wounds, but it is also time that wounds...

If you have a spare PC, you can install Mandrake Linux and try out the Gimp. I've heard a lot of incredible things about it. But often, new possibilitries include new problems. For whatever you can imagine there is software. Take Xfrog to create plants or patterns for example. Tempting, but hey, just see that you know what you have before adding yet another learning curve, time and money.
The same goes for upgrades. I am learning now not to spend money, but to enjoy it more by investing it. And this is real "fun". The correct word in English I do not know. In Flemish it is "zaligheid", in German "Seligkeit". (makes me feel relaxed, good and well balanced)
There is also some great freeware, but it all sucks up your time, especially when in your mind your are lightyears ahead of your practical knowledge. And this is frustrating.

If ever I upgrade now, it will be to Cinema7... or 8...(sigh)