u/Regular_Chicken

Maybe I’m just inexperienced or lucky but I’m pretty impressed by the soft tones and sweet grain for such a cheap film with a reputation for stark contrast and questionablenreliability. Never hesitate to overexpose Fomapan is the lesson here.

I told the lab to develop it normally, at box speed and paid for their most basic scan. They did a pretty good job I think! (Pro Image Services in Paris 19th)

This first pic is one of my absolute favorites in my recent street photo walks and was shot at 1/20th - f1.8 handheld (obviously) ! I was 100% expecting a blurry mess.

The Nikon F80 has to be one of the best deals out there.

EDIT : I think pic number 2 and 4 were actually shot with the 35mm f2 D

Hello!

I am based in France and I have this project for the upcoming weeks to work on a Canonet QL19 (1st gen!) that needs a good clean up but otherwise looks in good shape.

To push things a little further I was thinking about changing the leatherette for a colorful one (because they look awesome) but after scouring eBay, Etsy, and lesser-known sites, I am struggling to find an affordable option.

I can put my hands on small patches of leather for next to nothing but I hear it is very diffcult to perfectly cut the right shape(?).

And the best kit I found is on the Canadian eBay but the delivery fees to France are 2x the cost of the kit so... Any ideas?

Or maybe I should still try to DIY it?

Many thanks!

UPDATE : I found these from UK! Might be my best option so far https://www.ebay.fr/recs?component=lex6aspects-5-items&placement_title=i18n.Tag_SIs&sourceModuleId=101875&item_id=388747718026&algos=HOMESPLICE.SIM.SimplAMLv11WebTrimmedV3MskuWithLambda85KnnRecallV1V2V4ItemNrtInQueryAndCassiniVisualRankerAndBertRecallWithVMEV3CPCAutoWithCassiniEmbRecall&placement_subTitle=i18n.ModuleSubTitle_Sponsored&homespliceOverrideConfig=%7Bsplice.cpc-config-dweb.cpc-with-low-relevance-filter-params.pls-embedding-distance-percentile%3D75%2Csplice.cpc-config-dweb.cpc-with-low-relevance-filter-params.cii-embedding-distance-multiplier%3D1.5%7D

…and sadly I have to return it to the friend who let me play with it. The size is perfect and the hybrid viewfinder is magic. Lovely raw files, didn’t dabble too much with the film recipes.
All shot in Paris, 21st of June 2026.

I accidentally overexposed my shots and... kinda loved it ? That can't work for any situation nor for every kind of photography of course but I was really pleasantly surprised when I started editing the photos, there was a lot more to recover than I thought. The unusually bright exposure gave me such a different baseline, it made me feel like a new direction was opening to me. For example the skin and "shadows" on the woman in the first pic.

I also think that the X30 react strangely well to that overexposure, with a natural softness in the raw files that helps a smooth HL roll-off.

For context, I shot RAW then adjusted the exposure and contrast a bit and used HaldCLut to apply a filmic look in Darktable (since DT doesn't give me access to the built-in Fuji Film Sims).

EDIT : I’m replying here to the comments to say I agree with you all :) The distinction between higher exposure and overexposure is crucial here. I probably should have mentioned that this post was meant as a reaction to the « sacred rule » in the book of digital photography that you should ALWAYS expose to preserve the highlights. Like many others I was afraid of pushing towards the highlights for years. Not that much anymore :) (I also tried with my Nikon D700 with wonderful results)

Even if we all know this is digital emulation, I always found it weird that given the Grain Module is meant to replicate the behavior of film, DT would not give us a more true-to-life ISO scale, starting at 25 and going 50, 64, 100, 160, 200, 400, 800 and so on. Based on actual film ISO ratings. It would make using this tool a lot easier don’t you think ? I’d love to hear an explanation from a DT expert :)

…is this ok ? 😅
Seems to take most of the tension away!

A lovely combo if you ask me! I knew my beloved 35mm DA f2.4 was going to be sharp, what I didn't expect was the nice lightly swirling bokeh at full aperture (more visible on the last slides)!

And look, barely any vignetting!

Adapted using the K&F PK(DA) to Sony E mount ; all pics edited in Darktable

If you allow me the weird layout, with these I wanted to focus on sharpness (pun unintended).

The details in the fabric of the chair really baffle me.

TBH I was always amazed by the crispiness of the Camedia cam of this era, especially the 5mpx models, they feel like a strange sweet spot.

Great little companion !
Nice colors sooc, especially with those settings inspired by a redditor of this sub who truly made me fall in love with the Camedia line.

Next up for part 2 : a post centered on the amazing sharpness of the lens.

And part 3 : after/before edit comparisons

…and almost all of the Camedia cameras.

I previously owned and sold a C7070 and regretted it.

And, yeah, I had promised myself to never post only photos of a camera without actual photos FROM the camera but hey look at that marvelous design 🤩
Real pics coming soon !

My first tests have confirmed the insane sharpness and great colors SOOC I had first witnessed on this sub 🫶

(photos from iPhone and NoFusion)

K1 or HS filter around 80%
+ 1 bloom, halation, grain