I have now tried the Yashica from the mystery bag, though it meant going out on a dull and cloudy day. It has rained and rained and rained and rained and rained, and very briefly sunned, and then rained and rained... All in all, it's been quite crap weather-wise so far this year. I had every confidence that the camera worked, so I recovered it straight away with a Japanese print-style fabric.

I don't even know what to call this camera, as the brand name on the box says, "Generic". Well, that will make searching for this camera easy...not. I saw it after all the fuss with the Chuzhao. That was a quirky digital camera, and this one seemed to be along the same lines. Just like the Chuzhao, it can be found on various online selling platforms.

The Barnsley Libraries, Book Festival and Fotocollective have announced their latest Zine Fair. It is taking place on Saturday, 28th February at the Barnsley Civic. There will be 60+ zinemakers, artists, illustrators, designers, writers, poets, and photographers from around the UK, under one roof. There are also free drop-in workshops and 3 photography exhibitions. It sounds amazing, and given my love for all things photographic, I thought I would trundle along.

The beginning of this year seems to be about boxes and bags. This camera came to me from a gifted box of stuff. Unlike the bag, this box really was a pile of junk cameras. The giver knew it and even said it, so I don't feel bad repeating it. The giver said he didn't have much hope for anything, but I was welcome to try.

Join this photography event in Barnsley, United Kingdom on Saturday 28 February 2026 at 11:00 AM. Photowalk photo walk for photography enthusiasts.

Here we are, the final reveal. Let's get straight to the video, as it is a little longer than the last few. I recorded it on Instagram Live. Hence the logo. As you can see from the video, the bag contained another very nice camera, A Nikon F90x with an MB-10 power grip. I said motor winder in the video as I hadn't researched it then.

We are now onto the main compartment, the biggest part of the bag. I received a message from the giver last night that said the main compartment had sections, but they had covered the top of them. If I were careful, I could reveal the sections in stages. Nice, I have tried one already, and when I looked at the camera post list, I saw I still had it.

Here we are again, this time it's the top pocket of the bag. It is long, wide and flat. So, what can it be? Well, that wasn't what I expected. To be honest, I had no expectations really, but I am very happy with this. I haven't got a Gorilla Pod at all, so this is very welcome. The phone holder makes it especially handy.

Gosh, this bag is hard work, the fifth day, the fifth post. Well, let's get to it. Here is the reveal video from this morning... An Olympus Mju 105, with a battery and a spare. I have tried the deluxe version of this camera, but to be honest, I only tried one film in it. I never really gave it a fair trial.

Welcome back for day four of the surprise bag reveal. Actually, each day the waiting is getting easier. I am still excited to see what is inside the pockets, but I no longer have the urge to cheat. I am happy to wait and am enjoying the tension. Here is the reveal for today. The first item you see is an off-camera flash bracket.

Third day, third pocket and something a little less surprising for me. This is one I will have to wait to try, though. There is no way I will be using it this season. It has a short roll of 400asa film inside with enough for 10 shots. As I said, I will wait for the summer to try it. Then I will update this post with the results.

Second day and a new pocket to open. I have decided to go around the bag clockwise, then the top cover and finally the main compartment. If the main compartment ends up having other sections, well, I will have to decide what to do when I see it. Today it is the turn for the back pocket, which was very thin.

In my last post, I opened the first pocket of the 'surprise bag' and found a stereo viewer. The giver of the bag decided to loan me this viewer as he had read about my increased interest in stereo photography. He even printed some of my photos from the Loreo post for me to view. He really only had that choice, as I haven't posted anything from the more recent acquisitions.

Well, today was interesting. I received an email from a reader asking to meet up. I had met him before, when he very kindly lent me a Contax RTS III. I hadn't seen this person in some time, since before the COVID-19 pandemic, and honestly, I thought the worst had happened. So the email was a lovely surprise. He said he had a gift for me and a blog idea, intriguing.

It seems every time I try and do a 127 day in Nottingham, the weather is awful. The 7th of December 2025 was no different, dull skies and occasional rain. I decided to go anyway as I was meeting a friend to return a camera I had been playing with. For a change, I took the train. It was a wise choice, cheap, direct, and it gave me time to load my cameras along the way.

A lovely friend of mine recently gave me a couple of cameras, both Minoltas. The first was an X-300, which I already had, so I passed that along to a worthy friend. The other was the SRT-101, which I have a soft spot for. I had one previously and managed to fix it right at the beginning of my second film journey.

During this month, I went on a fantastic trip to Taiwan. The trip features heavily in my reviews. Another take-away...I regret selling two of the cameras featured below, disliked two others, and two were broken-ish. Can you guess which ones are which before reading them?

Happy New Year!!! I feel like 2026 is going to be a great year. Not sure why, but I just feel it in my bones! Just before the New Year, I visited a friend in Norfolk, and we went for a wander around the Broads, Hickling Broads to be precise. Before we set off, she asked if I would like to play with any of her cameras, well, durh.

I have been a little lazy this month, in terms of posting to this site. I have been busy with work, and the weather has sucked. We have gone from a dry summer to a very wet winter. But the main reason, I was in a bit of shock at the 2025 stats. I was preparing a 'Spotify wrap' type post with all the films and cameras I have used this year, so I started to count.

I had just sold a camera, which meant I had money in the 'pot'...and then I saw this. I had never heard of it and definitely not seen a camera of this hue before. Look at it... Luckily for me, it wasn't very expensive. Although I am fairly certain that if I had seen the red version, I would have been tempted to pay more.

This post is exactly what the title states. I had the two 126-format cameras I had in my junk box. The Kodak came from my neighbour, who knew I liked to play with cameras, the Minolta came from eBa…

I have a friend who delights in giving me cameras to try. Unfortunately, they don't always work. Then, if they do work, there are often other issues at play. This camera experience was no different. Just when I thought things were going to go smoothly, I had film issues. Once I had sorted that, another gremlin reared its head.

The low down...as per usual, I have too many projects on the go. First, I have a solo exhibition running from 20th November to 19th December. You can see it at HIVE Coffee and Bakehouse, Blackpool. It is run in conjunction with HiveArts, the gallery upstairs. Unfortunately, as it is a 3-hour round trip on a good day, I won't be there until I am free during the school holidays, which is the final day.

The title of this post was named by Theo from Photo Thinking. I asked a group I am in if it is possible to tell a 100 or 400 film from just looking at it. The reason is that, for the last two weeks, I have used either bulk-loaded Exeter 100 or 400, and the results have been weird. They were either overexposed and overdeveloped or underexposed and underdeveloped.