Search for free cameras and experiment! (Episode 1: Canon Demi EE28)

One thing we love is finding unloved/unwanted film cameras and putting them to good use! If you've never heard about it, check out the free websites like freecycle, search for the groups in your area and post the occasional wanted ad kindly asking for any old cameras, you'll be surprised what you find out there that people have gathering dust in their wardrobes or up in the attic! We've been given incredible things from a huge plastic bag FULL of old slide photographs, a basically brand new Canon A1 with three lenses, camera bag and extras, and a few years ago we were given a Canon Demi EE28 and that's what we want to share with you today.

(image courtesy of google search)

For those unfamiliar with the Demi EE28, it is a half frame 35mm camera with built in light meter and a small selection of settings including Aperture 2.8 - 22 and focus settings Portrait and Landscape (near or far). Being a half frame camera you're treated to twice as many images per roll of film, so a little while ago we loaded a roll of Ilford HP5 black and white film (24 exp) and took it for a spin.

Being a free item from the freecycle website, the camera was a little worn and the glass on the front next to the viewfinder was cracked, so we were prepared for the film to either have light leaks or not have worked at all, but after wandering the streets of Preston in Lancashire, shooting 48 half frame images and getting into the darkroom, we developed the film and were thrilled to find that everything seemed ok!

With just half a standard 35mm frame and using 400ISO film the scanned images are grainy and require a little contrast perhaps adding in post production but just the process of finding these little gems, shooting something different and being able to process the film in the darkroom was great. Now the camera sits on the shelf with a few other cameras, but writing this post makes me think, maybe it's time to pass it on again and let someone else have a go.

Images: Karl Child