Today I got distracted by a second-hand camera shop and it was glorious.
This morning I had one, thought-out plan for the weekend. Then this afternoon I had another plan just for today. By 3:30pm, I’d completely scrapped them both.
Here was my plan for the entire weekend:
- Friday morning/afternoon: house hunt.
- Friday afternoon/evening: read, learn, clean, chill.
- Saturday morning: exercise.
- Saturday afternoon: head to the city centre and buy everything I need for graduation.
- Saturday evening: read, learn, clean, chill.
- Sunday: chill.
Not a bad itinerary, right? I was happy with that.
That was until 2pm, when I got a bit bored of sitting inside after a terribly unsuccessful house viewing. So I moved everything forward a bit and decided to go to the city centre today for my graduation gear.
I got in to the city at about 3pm, all ready to get cracking on formal-attire-buying. I’d popped in to Try Thai (where Jen works) to say hi, and then I set off on my merry way to the Arndale.
And here’s where I changed my schedule again.
As most of you will know, my filming itch is back and it’s as enjoyable as ever. I want to make way more films, I want to learn more about cameras, I want to learn more about lenses and I want to find my own style rather than relying too heavily on my influences. I pretty much want to be an expert at everything there is to know about filmmaking because it’s all super freaking interesting to me.
So, with a personal confidence that shopping for a pair of pants, a shirt, a tie and some brogues wouldn’t take long, I switched direction.
There’s this camera shop in the Northern Quarter I’d walked past loads of times since I arrived in Manchester three years ago, and my intention was to go in, have a look at their stock, ask a load of questions and leave them in peace. I told myself not to buy anything, as tempted as I knew I’d be, because cameras are expensive and I need to do more research before I spend any cash.
Let me just state, for the record, I tried really, really hard not to buy anything. But I caved.
I bought three cameras.
I bought three cameras for £3.
Yeah, seriously. £3.
And these cameras are just mind-blowingly cool to me. Let me give you all a brief overview. More detail will follow on each camera in future Chapters if I deem it interesting enough.
Minolta Hi-Matic (circa 1962)
Nineteen. Sixty. Two. This bit of kit is older than my parents.
Why it cost £1
I’m not 100% sure if I’m honest, this thing is basically an antique. Only issue is that the aperture won’t open properly. Which is a pretty big issue for a camera, although I’m hoping I can fix it with a bit of research and tinkering.
BUT JUST LOOK AT THIS THING. It’s an absolute beauty. Even if it couldn’t be fixed, I’d happily put that on a shelf to be admired forever.
Halina Super Eight (circa 1976)
This one isn’t older than my parents, but it’s been around about double the amount of time I have.
Why it cost £1
I can’t be sure if the Super Eight actually works, partly because I don’t have any batteries and also because Super 8 cartridges are not the easiest to come by, nor the cheapest. That’s probably why I picked it up at such a bargain price, because no one knows if it actually works and it’s not too simple to find out.
It’ll be a while until I can give this a proper whirl, but man, I can’t wait.
Olympus Centurion (circa 1996)
The Centurion is quite a bit younger than the Hi-Matic and the Super Eight, and it looks so 90s it hurts. But it’s a sturdy little thing, and I’m looking forward to fooling around with it.
Why it cost £1
Like with the Super Eight, I’m not entirely sure if the Centurion is in working order. I’ll get some batteries in it, and try find a cartridge to actually be able to take some photos. The zoom toggle seems a bit dodgy, but I’m not sure if power to the camera, or simply a bit of cleaning, will sort that out.
We’ll see.
Great purchases, right?
But look, I’ll level with you all here, I know very little about any of those cameras. Literally less than 5% of what there is to know about them. They might not even work, and they might not ever work, but for £1, it’s worth the gamble.
Three pounds for three cameras, can you believe it? Bargains.
Safe to say I’ll be heading back to that camera shop in the very near future.
Everything Else…
I did purchase all of my graduation attire, yes. It’s 10/10 and I can’t wait for Tuesday. Film incoming of graduation next week by the way, I’ll post it on here when it’s complete.
Thanks for reading Chapter 61!
If you’re enjoying my stuff, follow the instructions in the gif below and I’ll crack a smile when I get the notification.
Follow me on social media over here: Twitter + Instagram.
Here’s the gif of the day:
