Welcome to week two of me documenting my week with one picture every day taken on an old camera that i have previously repaired.
So for week two, we are going to use a Canon Powershot S5 IS Digital Bridge Camera that I repaired back in July 2025 – Canon Powershot S5 IS
Canon Powershot S5 IS
Sunday: it’s the 23rd August. It’s been a nice warm day, we’ve had numerous members of the family visit. It’s been a lovely day. It’s one of those days where I’ve taken a handful of good photos, but for the purpose of this post I have to be brutal and pic just one. So here it is, meet Barney, my nieces dog, we brought him a new toy today that was demolished within about twenty minutes. If it has a squeaker in it, it’s his dog bound duty to remove it, and the balls of stuffing surrounding him shows that this mission has been a success. He never eats the squeaker though, he always leaves that to one side. Mad, but a lovely dog.
Monday: it’s the 24th August. A bit of shopping today. But before we can go out and do any, we have to wait for the Amazon lady to arrive with more shopping. Did I mention my wife loves shopping?
Tuesday: it’s the 25th August. Working today, and whilst I was carrying out some checks in the Oakham area I couldn’t help but notice the amounts of elderberries on the bushes. I remember as a child collecting lots of these, so my father could make his elderberry wine.
Wednesday: it’s the 26th August. Another working day, and today i was carrying out barrier checks on a number of crossings in our area. This one was at Brooksby crossing just outside of Melton Mowbray.
Thursday: It’s the 27th August. The yard at work, and since I’ve never been to Blackpool tower I may as well show this lovely old, still working traction unit class 37 (37407) named “Blackpool Tower”
Friday: it’s the 28th August. No work today “Hooray” it’s one of those days of just catching up with things. I’ve had to fix an extractor fan in one bathroom and adjust the timings on two other fans, I’ve also put a new raised flower bed under the front window in preparation for the spring bulbs that will be planted in the next few weeks, just letting the soil settle for a while prior to the planting.
Saturday: it’s the 29th August. New shoes. Well for attending football at least, hence they have the club badge embossed on the rear. Heading south today to meet up with family so these will get their first outing today. The weathers still very wet, however wet is wonderful as far as I’m concerned.
Which fictional world would be the most fun to vacation in?
It’s taken me a few days to ponder this one, then whilst sitting looking out the window on a wet and miserable, East Midlands day, it suddenly came to me, a quick roll back to my childhood where every book finished with the line:
And they lived happily ever after
That’s the place I’d like to have a vacation in…in fact, sod it, that’s the place I’d love to live full stop. 🛑
Wherever you can experience happily ever after, is the place for me. Who knows I could right now actually be living in that very place. I must admit life is relatively comfortable for me, but considering news reports of late that in themselves are very upsetting, it’s probably not where I am as this news input obviously makes me very unhappy.
Perhaps the happily ever after part is the suffix to your life? When we have no mortal ties, no worries, no control, no commitments it’s maybe the time we reach that happily ever after place?
Maybe the kids books should have ended, “They all struggled through life suffering aches and pains, minor disagreements and argumentative periods, before succumbing to a number of minor ailments before pegging it”.
Doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as happily ever after, but hey, I did say I was looking out the window on a grey and miserable day didn’t I?
I have so many cameras hanging around the place that I have fixed over these last few years. I have therefore decided to select a few of them to do a little series entitled seven days in seven pictures. One camera for each week. I will choose a random camera, and choose one picture on each day that has a little story behind it. For me, just as my working week does, the seven days will run Sunday-Saturday.
It could be from any era of camera I have fixed, and for those who take the time to read my posts you’d realise that it could be anytime from about 1920 to the present day. With all the cameras I currently have (about 125 in storage, and growing) this series could go on longer than the soap opera Coronation street has appeared on the telly box ( That comment will be lost on anyone outside the UK).
So for week one I’m going small, with this lovely little portable camera.
A Nikon Coolpix L22, I repaired this way back in 2023, I was going to pass it on to a family member, kind of pleased I kept hold of it though. Here’s the link to the original post: Nikon Coolpix L22
Nikon Coolpix L22
Sunday: it’s the 16th August. I’ve just finished a run of night shifts and for the first time in what seems like months, the temperature has dropped to a nice cool temperature and it’s lovely. To be honest there is only one subject i can choose for today, it’s exactly two years to the day when we lost our beloved little dog Alfie. This is a little display we have on a unit in our living room, often spoken to, touched and stroked, his ashes and pictures dominate this shelf. He was a beautiful and much loved companion and confidant, who we will always miss, he was such a big part of our family. Beautiful boy ❤️
Monday: It’s the 17th August. I’ve been asked by work to do a buckshee night tonight, so the wife and I are going to go out for some lunch today. And today’s photo is from the Grange farm centre where we ate. I go to buy plants, the wife goes to fill the garden with pottery figurines. In this case a couple of sheep, a hedgehog and an Owl. No plants for me though.
Tuesday: it’s the 18th August. On the grand scale of things, this is a quite boring picture, but quite relevant. In the Uk, and especially in my location we haven’t had rain in over 50 days now due to a quite spectacular heatwave. That dry spell ended about 1 am in the morning when we had the first rains. Beautiful, the smell was gorgeous and for the first time in a long period the air was fresh and clean.
Wednesday: it’s the 19th August. Today’s been a funny kind of day where time has run away with us. However Wednesday is a day where we meet up with a couple of friends and spend an evening indoor bowling at our local bowls centre. We’re pretty new to it and are still learning the finer details of it all, however we are improving weekly and enjoying it thoroughly. It’s great company.
Thursday: it’s the 20th August. It’s a wet start, it’s been wet all day, in fact it’s been wonderful. It’s always good to see some rain especially after the bone dry heatwave period we’ve just gone through. My garden water butt went from bone dry to full in just one small rainstorm, and that butt holds just over 100 litres. I need more water butts. I had to therefore complete indoor tasks today, so I decided to get my garage sorted, stuff put up on the walls and a new set of shelves built. And that’s today’s boring picture, an uninspiring photograph of the interior of my garage using the cameras black and white setting. Still a bit to do, but it’s looking a lot tidier now.
Friday: it’s the 21st August. We’ve been busy most of the day, I had to drop my wife off to have her nails done whilst I had an appointment at the hospital about an issue I’ve had dragging on from last year. The good news is that I’m now discharged with no further treatment or appointments required, I’ve been given the all clear and now been told to just get back out there and enjoy myself. Picture wise it’s not anything exciting, once home I continued work on a camera I’ve been playing about with for a few months, with the 3d printer in the background that has been used to create replacement parts for this very camera.
Saturday: it’s the 22nd August. Back to work today for a day, as I’m covering a colleague who is unwell. It’s been a pleasant day, not too hot and I’ve been all over Leicestershire and Lincolnshire today. Ive taken a lot of pictures and to be honest it’s been hard to make a choice from them all. In the end I’ve settled on this nice picture of the signal box on the Leicester- Peterborough line at Uffington. The colours are lovely, the weather was just fine and the light was good. This little camera really does come up trumps at times.
Kodak, have overtaken Fujifilm in traditional camera film sales. Not surprising seeing Fuji have ceased production….sort of
Once again leading the way
Being an ex employer of Kodak, seeing headlines like this pleases me. Shame they are about 30 years late and Fujifilm have pretty much ceased production of their mainstream analogue films anyway.
Better late than never, things could have been so much different if they’d only moved with the times.
Kodak, directors had never really been that good at making a good high level decision. Just ask any of the thousands of good people laid off within the UK due to their poor mismanagement.
Another “K” mount camera, this time it’s a Pentax P30. A “Plastic fantastic” from 1985. Can I fixit? Should i fix it?
What the listing stated:
Pentax P30 35mm SLR Film Camera Body – Spares/ Repairs
The camera appears to be unresponsive upon testing.
EBay
Pentax P30
Here’s a little bit about this camera:
The Pentax P3 (US), P30 elsewhere, is a 35mm film SLR released by Pentax in 1985. The plastic body was a departure of the lineage that produced the ME and Super A; with a more amateurish camera. The P3 was a departure of the P5/50 as it returned to a speed dial instead of buttons.
It uses the KA-mount bayonet to convey aperture information and have P mode (Av when M or K series lenses are used) and can use any manual focus lens up to the FA series.
Viewfinder covers 92% of image with 0.82x magnification. Split-image matte focusing screen (horizontal)
The P3/30 uses a classic manual film advance lever with 130° throw.
It has program, manual, X and B exposure modes on a dial with speeds of 1 to 1/1000 sec. However on P mode exposures up to 8s have been observed. The X mode provides automation with some Pentax flashes. No exposure compensation is available, but the camera has an Exposure Lock button.
The meter is a center-weighted type with a range of 1 to 18 EV. A scale of speeds is shown in the viewfinder and LEDs show the selected and recommended (blinking) speeds.
Film speeds can’t be set manually, the P3/30 uses DX Encoding film with a ISOrange of 25 to 1600. There is a plastic window in the film door.
Self timer is in the main power switch for ~12s.
DOF Preview lever is located above the bayonet lock.
It uses two 1.5v SR44 or LR44 button batteries.
The US version is all black, while in the rest of the world it was dark gray
There are two revisions of the body, early versions can’t use a cable remote release, while late versions can.
A similar improved Pentax P30n/P3n/P30t became available three years later. This camera incorporated Aperture Priority exposure, and a diagonal focusing screen (P30t)
Camera-wiki.org
Another camera from the 80s – this one was 1985 when the manufacturers went plastic and the styling of the earlier cameras was starting to decline. Cameras were starting to look decidedly cheap and nasty, and this is probably the one that single-handedly punished Pentax, with a totally amateur looking camera, horrendous feedback at the time, and previously happy photographers were deserting Pentax for other manufacturers, who were offering better packages and capabilities at the time.
However this camera did have its fan base, and a lot of amateurs learnt their trade on these units due to their cost, and relatively low price for associated add ons such as lenses and flashes.
I never had one until now. I suspect the guy I usually buy from threw this in my direction, due to knowing he’d probably have issues selling it on. I’ve paid a total of £3:75GBP for this one. I think it’s worth it.
It’s the second “K” mount camera I’ve brought in two days. And guess what? I don’t have one of those lenses. Looks like I’m going to have to purchase one for my collection and for testing purposes.
Anyway, let’s await its arrival so we can assess its issues.
Assessment:
First things first, I’ve printed out a body cap on the 3D printer for when i complete the clean, allowing me to protect the mirror, shutter and lens chamber area.
A new body cap printed to protect the lens chamber
Overall the camera looks used, it’s in one piece meaning that everything is there that needs to be there but it does show signs of being a little bruised, battered and dirty.
Damaged around eye piecePaint chipsBumper is okDirty around lens ringEverything is thereDirt
All seals appear ok, the mirror bumper felt is in a good condition as well, and the film chamber is clean. Shutter appears to be operating just as it should.
The only real issue I can see is a build up of dust and dirt behind the viewing lens, though this won’t affect any pictures being taken, a clean would help the photographer get a clearer view of what they are focusing on.
Repair:
The description has stated that the camera is unresponsive. Well I’ve put batteries in place, switched the camera on and it is dead. But I can see an issue. The battery cap appears tarnished. A quick attack of the tarnishing with the grinding pen and a good wipe over with a cotton bud soaked in IPA soon sees to the tarnished battery cap. Hey presto, life is restored when batteries are put back into place. The meter inside is fine, and showing lights and indicating as it should, the light that flashes when the self timer operates is also ok. To me everything is indicating just fine. That’s all that was causing the unresponsiveness, the dirty contacts.
The next step didn’t really need to be done, however me being me I just couldn’t let it go. There is quite a bit of build up of dirt behind the viewing glass and I will have to get into the camera to access this. There is no other way.
Removal of the top of the camera requires the removal of six screws, the winder handle and a couple of securing bolts, you can then carefully lift the top clear being careful not to damage the two hot-shoe cables in the prism area.
Top offLook at the dirt build up
With the top off, a couple of more screws holding the viewer in place require removing to detach the viewer from the prism area. This then reveals a very dirty filtered triangular prism that has collected over forty years of airborne detritus. A simple clean with a swab is sufficient, followed by a good air blast to finish off. The small viewing lens has a similar clean and then the camera can be reassembled.
All electrics good and working
I’ve printed an eye cup to cover up that damages around the eyepiece, again it’s not really needed but just tidies the area up a bit.
New eyepiece printed
Just print a hotshoe cover for the top and that’s it all done.
Hot shoe cover
Finally it’s time for a good cleanup.
Result:
For an outlay of £3:75GBP this is a period and usable camera. Will I use it though? Probably not, I’ll probably pass this on to the hospice to get some money from, as to be quite honest I doubt I’ll be able to sell it on.
Looking tidy, and working
It’s a nice little learning camera, looks smart after a clean up, and has now had its life expectancy extended due to the easiest of repairs. I’ve said it before, how many similar units have just been disposed of due to only requiring a quick clean? Scandalous really.
Anyway, this one lives on. Someone will have a nice little camera what with the resurgence of film stock currently enjoying a second coming.
One more saved from landfill, small goals, small results.
Thanks for passing by, as always it is always very much appreciated.
A fellow blogger has taken the words from my mouth. So why should I waste my time writing, when she speaks so eloquently.
If you could erase one event from history, what would it be?
I’m firmly with a fellow blogger: Audhdapparently on what she has posted earlier today regarding this subject. There is no point in me posting my feelings when they mirror exactly what she has quite eloquently posted on her own site, so here is a link to that very post:
I was a snob back in my teenage years and wouldn’t buy anything without a Canon or Nikon name tag. How wrong was I? I now have one needing some TLC, so let’s get it working again.
What the listing stated:
Chinon CE-4 35mm SLR Film Camera Body – Faulty – See Details
I tried testing the camera with batteries and initially it seemed to function and the camera fired at accurate speeds but after a couple of times firing it, it stopped responding and now I can’t get it to function at all.
Please note batteries aren’t included.
EBay
Chinon CE-4
Here’s a little bit about this camera:
The Chinon CE-4 was the model which transitioned away from the 42mm screw mount used in the Chinon CE-3 to the Pentax K-mount. It’s an automatic 35mm SLR compact camera with aperture priority exposure system (AE).
Maker: Chinon
Dates: circa. 1980
Variants: black, CE-4s
Camera Type: 35mm SLR
Focusing: manual
Lens mount: Chinon Universal Bayonet Mount (Pentax K-mount)
Shutter: Seiko MFC electromagnetic focal plane, vertical, metal from 8s to 1/1000
Exposure meter: TTL, open aperture, center weighted by two silicon blue photo cells. EV -2-19
Exposure modes: aperture priority, manual, Bulb
ASA/ISO range: 25 to 3200 ISO
Finder screen: fixed split-screen
Flash shoe: fixed hot shoe, contact for dedicated flash
A previous seller approached me offering this camera and we settled for a price of £5:00GBP. A fair price for a camera born around 1980 and readily available at nationwide electronic stores around the time. I always avoided them, because as a teenager I had been infected by the snobbery of people around me, if it wasn’t Canon or Nikon it was crap.
I was a snob back then. Now I’ll buy anything, and I like the look of this so I brought it.
My reasoning in a nutshell. If it takes photographs, it’s good. Buy it. Sold!
Let’s await its arrival, and get it assessed.
Assessment:
Cosmetically this camera looks fine, apart from the name plate being detached from the fascia. This is easily remedied with some superglue to hold it in place.
The camera that arrived
As an addition i’ve printed out a body cap on the 3D printer for when i complete the clean, allowing me to protect the mirror, shutter and lens chamber area.
Body cap printed to protect lens chamber
This camera takes three LR44 batteries and with these installed the camera is dead. There is no life, and no indication from the exposure meter in the viewfinder.
The battery holder with its three batteries
The bumper felt in the camera barrel is in excellent condition and does not need replacing. It’s a similar situation with the light proofing around the film chamber, they don’t need replacing just yet.
Mirror bumper feltLight proofing
All buttons, dials and levers appear to be working just fine. There is no meter reading in the viewfinder due to the electrical issue. Let’s get onto that now, as it looks as if there is not really much else wrong with this camera.
Repair:
So generally with electrical issues it’s always best to start with the simple things first before diving in and opening up the camera for dissection.
First things first, are the batteries any good, yep they have all tested as working fine, let’s move on. Is the power getting through to the camera via the battery holder. No it’s not. Let’s check the battery holder.
Severely tarnished Tarnished here also
The battery holder showed no continuity when I used the multimeter probes on it, the whole inside of the holder had bad tarnish, preventing power getting through to where it was needed. A quick clean of the area with a grinding pen and some IPA to clean up, and you can now see your face in it. A quick check with the multimeter and continuity is restored. Whilst I’m in the mood for this kind of cleaning I also clean the contacts in the camera base. These weren’t so bad, however a quick blast with the grinding pen and a clean up does not go amiss.
The three batteries are reinstalled and hey presto, the light meter and all functions now appear. All this camera required was a five minute clean to resurrect it.
Lights workingShutter and light working Light meter operating ok
To test the camera fully I now need a K mount lens to check its functions. I’m looking for a basic one just to use for testing, just as well really as I also have some other K mount cameras coming up shortly. However, I am supremely confident this camera is working fine, so a lens is not the probity at this stage. I will probably move this on to the local hospice that I have dealings with.
A good clean is all that is now needed. I have cleaned the internals and sealed them by putting the body cap in place. Now I need to give attention to the exterior.
Result:
Sorry It’s a boring one, but hey it’s a win. Following a plan of attack starting with the most basic of checks, can be boring and repetitive, but also extremely beneficial as it’s not always the big issues inside the camera, nine times out of ten the issues are a lot more basic.
It just goes to prove that a lot of the items out there deemed as broken, are just in need of a little maintenance. If only people would just take a little time to look after their stuff, there would be less equipment thrown in to landfill.
Here is the camera after a good clean.
Looking beautiful
A little £5:00GBP camera has been given a reprieve and can live on for a few more years yet. As long as there is film being produced, this camera has a purpose. It’s a basic, but superbly capable camera that will keep its new owner happy for a good few years yet.
Let’s hope they have many happy moments capturing wonderful memories for many years to come.
Thanks for passing by. Always very much appreciated.
One sentence, one special person. You’re already a winner.
If your future self could send you one sentence, what do you hope it would say?
It’s funny that I’m answering this prompt in a present tense, imagining what I’d expect to read as a result of a lifetime of experience and broken expectations.
Taking what I know now into context, the sentence I’d expect to hear is:
“Don’t worry, everything will be alright”
And to be honest, previous experience does lead me to agree somewhat. Going all the way back to my school years (And that was a lifetime ago) we’d worry about exams, back then it was the end of the world, we worried constantly and I even see kids doing the same today, but with the benefit of hindsight I can clearly say, it really doesn’t matter, everything’s ok, it worked out just fine.
If you can step aside from peer pressure, or even better still if your peers can stop applying that pressure in the first place, the world would be a happier place.
Put it like this, the fact you are even here on this planet is a miracle in its self, the chances of your parents even conceiving you are a massive 1 in 400 Trillion.
That makes you a very special person right from the very start.
So don’t fret, you have a right to be here, you have a right of free expression, you have a right to be whatever you wish to be.
You are a winner. “Don’t worry, everything will be alright”
Foxes Den 
You must be logged in to post a comment.