I think it was my Granny who told me once that “Patience is a virtue..” and Gary Barlow and Take That were kind enough to remind us to “have a little Patience”, though they were all about waiting for a loved one to get over their last love. Who pesters a potential suitor to get over their previous girl/boyfriend?? So 2006.
But I’m all about waiting for this Pentax 645N to arrive on my doorstep.
Thankfully, it is finally being delivered tomorrow! The letter came through from Parcel Force today and I duly got straight online (once the kids’ tea was done and cleared away – ooh, get me, 2020 man) to pay my Customs Tax.
But I tell you something for free. Importing expensive stuff from outside the EU is not for the faint-hearted and far from free. Importing this twenty-odd year old camera has added nearly 20% to the bill! All told, it has cost me nearly a grand! It had better be as Mint as “goodchoice_jp” says it is or I’m going round there and giving him a piece of my mind. You’ll see.
When I am next in Japan.
I sent three 35mm film rolls to Exposure Film Lab ( https://www.exposurefilmlab.com/ ) in Hereford, UK, last week. 5-7 business days for the return of the scans. How long?? To be fair, I have every confidence that they will do a proper job on the film. I just hope I made it worth their while. But it is another reminder (just like my painful wait for the Pentax) that Film Photography needs patience and I am not surprised that people just cannot be bothered. Not only is it a faff to buy and import. You have to wait more than a week for the results.
But it is my 40th year, so I had been saving this money up. I decided a grand would be about right to inject into my photography, having bought a Canon 7D six years ago. For a few hundred more than a grand, I could have bought a Fujifilm XT-3 and I’d have probably plumped for a prime lens, adding a bit more. If you’re buying a Mirrorless, that’s where the smart money is at the moment, IMHO. But is it really what I want? Unless I am interested in filming some people doing stuff or some sizzling bacon for a cookery website I’ll never look at, I am not sure that it would take my photography any further. It won’t make much of a difference. Photos might look a bit sharper when I download them to Lightroom but not to the extent that people will really notice the difference once they’re uploaded to Instagram or printed through an online website for the family holiday album.
This Pentax will make me reconsider my craft. I will reconnect with everything that is so easily lost when pressing the shutter release for 14 frames to have just been added to the Lightroom Catalog, silently. I get that Digital has a huge place in the lives of people and that it drives all manner of artistic industries. But Film has its place too. It just needs more people to recognise it again. (And drive the costs of developing down again.)
Patience is certainly a virtue.
dan on film 