The Plastic Lens ~ Words » Demekin

Demekin Results

Cameron — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:10:45 +0000

The film was over 20 years expired, 100 ASA and the shooting conditions were pretty overcast most of the time, but I am happy to say that I picked up the developed first roll from my demekin fisheye camera (made by Powershovel/Superheadz in Japan but available (along with other great products) in Australia from Via Alley
I am even happier to report that about 50% of my shots resulted in some sort of recognizable image! Let me clarify that statement in that it is not unusual to have a few ‘misses’ with the first trial of any new toy camera, given unfamiliarity with the way the camera works and responds in certain lighting conditions etc. Throw in the fact that the film was decades out of date and I’m surprised I got as many shots out of the roll as I did.

Chimney & Clouds - taken with the demekin fisheye camera

In true noob style, forgetting I was using a fisheye camera with a 146 degree field of view, I even managed to get my finger in one of the shots! (see example image called ‘olympicfinger’ you can see more examples by navigating forward or backward through the images once you’ve brought up the lightbox viewer). It’s hard to really judge the camera from this one roll given the variables I have mentioned, but I can at least comment on my personal experience using the camera for the first time and my initial impressions. Please take the example images provided in the context previously stated (over 20 years 100 ASA expired film, overcast conditions and first use of an unfamiliar camera) – so, my impressions? Well, I found the camera great fun to use (or should I say ‘play with’) and it is certainly a conversation starter. Even though the camera controls are very simple, I did mange to get the winding/shutter operation a bit wrong to start with, I wound on to the number 1, but when i went to take my first shot, the shutter did not seem to ‘click’ and I wasn’t sure if I had taken a photo or not – it turns out you have to wind until the film will not advance anymore and you here an audible sound (faint, but detectable) as the shutter cocks – then you can use the shutter release to take your shot, it should ‘click’ then (just like a real camera – heh).

olympic finger - taken with the demekin fisheye camera

I guess I am just too used to using my medium format toy cameras where you just wind on until the exposure number is in the window and which don’t need the shutter cocked by the film advance. Apart from this one small user interface problem (which was totally down to my inexperience with the camera) it worked fine. As mentioned you have to be careful not to get your fingers in frame, as the camera pulls in a wide field of view, because tha camera is small, the way you hold it could well have some stray fingers waggling in the front peripheral areas of the camera.
When I get some fresh 110 film (also available from Via Alley in Australia), I will be able to review this camera (and the Ikimono – stay tuned for my review of that) more thoroughly – as it deserves.

Demekin Fun

Cameron — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:51:35 +0000

The Demekin Fisheye Camera from Superheadz next to some 35mm film (for scale)

After reading the review of the demekin camera on Nic’s blog (see previous post) I was inspired to unwrap the expired 110 film and load it onto my demekin and take it out on the weekend. Unfortunately the weather was pretty overcast most of the time and the film speed of 100 wasn’t great for low light captures. In the brief breaks in the lowering clouds I did manage to snap off a few shots, once I worked out the advance mechanism and how it cocked the shutter. I think I wasted a couple of frames because of my unfamiliarity with the advance/cocking thing (well, I might have wasted them all, as I haven’t had the film developed yet). Not to worry, that’s all part of shooting with an unfamiliar (and slightly quirky) camera.
I was pretty lucky to have film on hand for the demekin really. My father obviously must have had a 110 format camera at some stage (I think it may have been a Kodak point & shoot, I vaguely remember a tiny Kodak) as I found the two packs of expired 110 in a box of his old slides, but I can’t find any photos from any such camera in the family photo archives…
Researching the 110 film online (well on wikipedia) I was brought up to speed on just how small the exposures on this film are, which is kind of obvious when you see the film window on the 110 cartridge, but is really brought home with examples of scale like those illustrated below (also from wikipedia)

110-film-negative with pencil shown for scale.

It seems quite funny to me that my first foray into toy camera photography was using a camera that took medium format film, with the lovely large negatives that format offers and following the plastic path has led me to this camera! It is great fun to shoot with and certainly makes for a good conversation starter, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what comes of it, as well as the results from the other 110 camera I have, the ikimono. I will share the results (hoping that I get some usable images) as soon as I get them.

Instant Film News, 110 Camera Reviews etc

Cameron — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:01:12 +0000

Paddling - taken with an Polaroid SX-70 camera

My thanks to Nic Nichols and his excellent blog Four Corners Dark from where I gleaned much of this information. I’ve been a bit crook with the flu so having an informative resource like Four Corners Dark to read whilst locked away (to prevent me inflicting my bugs on anyone else) feeling muzzy headed is a boon. Of course there are a lot of great toy camera related sites out there (just check the links on the sidebar or the sites of interest page) but I have been getting a lot of enjoyment reading Nic’s latest reviews and news, not the least of which the latest reviews with accompanying results of a couple of cool little (and I mean little) Cameras from Superheadz Ina Babylon, the demekin 110 format fisheye camera (that’s right!) and the ikimono, another 110 format camera that takes more conventional shots. You can read Nic’s reviews here:
The Demekin
The Ikimono

Again through reading Nic’s blog, I found out more good news about the future of instant film, in particular Polaroid, you may remember my post on The Impossible Project a while back, well it seems things have progressed read more about it at Dave Bias (one of the co-founders of Save Polaroid)