photograph – Foxes Den

It’s a Puzzle..

Ever had a jigsaw puzzle take five years to complete? I have.

For anyone who knows me, they will know only too well my fixation and fanboy devotion to the 90s music of R.E.M

I’ve been a fan from the early days, I’ve seen them live on many occasions, god I even have a tattoo of one of their album covers that I’m actually having touched up next week as it happens.

Around Christmas 2020 they released a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle in conjunction with the ALA (American library association) of an original poster that was released in 1990 to promote reading. This poster was quite collectible at the time and still sits in many fan’s collections around the globe. For those that did not possess the original poster, this jigsaw became the next best thing.

The original advert from the Very Good Puzzle company

The puzzle sold through the groups own website and was produced by the Very Good Puzzle Company. In the UK the puzzle retailed for about £25:00GBP. I think it was purchased for me as a Christmas present from a relative.

I started the jigsaw in January 2021.

The intention from this day forward was to take a picture daily, as I set myself a target to dedicate an hour at a time towards its completion.

Beyond day four, which in itself had spanned a couple of months, time being spent on the puzzle when other commitments would allow. The puzzle became ever more difficult and confusing, as there are a number of areas within this puzzle where the areas are dark, or of just one colour and it just became a pain in the ass. So this was 2021 now, and very soon after this last picture, the jigsaw, on its base board just got put on the top of a cupboard in the spare bedroom, and there it stayed until early 2026.

For those who occasionally delve into my ramblings, you will be aware that in January 2026, after protracted selling shenanigans, we eventually moved to our new home. At this point we had packed and shifted almost everything, and the jigsaw was reluctantly broken up and put back into its original box. I guess I’d admitted defeat at this stage.

Step forward my Sister in law – Liz.

Now Liz loves Jigsaws, it’s her hobby and she heard of the ongoing issues with the R.E.M jigsaw. She has absolutely no interest in the group as such, and would probably, in her own way be quite opinionated in her views of their music, that’s her right and I respect that. She asked if she could take on the challenge to build it, and who was I to say no. So in March of 2026 I handed the box over to her.

Good luck with that Liz!

Just a few days ago Liz and her husband Terry came to visit as we were all heading out for a day. And as they came in they had a large object in a black plastic cover.

“Sit down Dave and open this” I was told, you might like it. I did what I was told and to my immense surprise, not only had Liz completed the puzzle, but her husband Terry had also framed it for me. I now have the completed puzzle, and the way it is presented looks absolutely fantastic.

Liz had spent a lot of time on the puzzle, and also shared her frustrations on the dark areas that were problematic. But the thing with Liz is once she gets her teeth into something she will never give up. And for that I am forever grateful, for she has done a fantastic job, and this will be a welcome addition to my work room, as the wife won’t let me hang it anywhere else.

So after 5 years, the puzzle is complete. And I think it looks superb. I now have my own personal copy of that poster that was so popular back in 1990.

Thanks Liz. You are a star 🌟

A peaceful day to you all.

A bit of Black and white

Just a few black and white pictures, taken whilst testing various cameras I’ve been working on recently. Just snaps, don’t get too excited.

Just a few pictures taken recently on various cameras I’m testing out. Nothing special, just mooching around and taking snaps.

All around the Leicester / Melton Mowbray area.

Have a great day.

Canon Eos 10 test shots

Learnings from testing an old camera with expired film stock

Earlier in November 2025 i repaired a Canon Eos 10 camera from the 1990s and then took it out to test it with a roll of Kodak 400 asa film. You can find the repair here: Canon EOS 10

The caveat is that the film expired in 2005, 20 years ago. As a result I have overexposed it at 200 asa to compensate for the deterioration in sensitivity from such a long storage period. It may work, it may not, previous tests on a 200 asa film showed that a one stop over exposure was quite sufficient. Fingers crossed 🤞 on this one.

I don’t expect anything much, I expect quite a bit of grain and a definite colour hue over the entire roll. Who knows there may be nothing on it at all 🤷‍♂️

I’ve sent the roll off to our local photo guys in Leicester : Classic Photo Supplies and hopefully something will be on the medium res scans that i have requested. If there are pictures below, then there was some success, if not, enjoy the blackness.

Well, the scans are back and to be quite honest this one is a bit of a disaster. As stated the film is over 20 years out of date and there appears to be two problems here. Underexposure is one issue, I over exposed this by one stop but I don’t even think that is enough. If I’d overexposed at 2 stops though I might have improved the brightness, the already heavy grain would have been even more exaggerated. I think it’s fair to say this 400 asa old film stock I have is passed its time and not really fit for use.

Look at the grain at plus one stop overexposure

So. Though the results were not good and I have now realised that this old stock film is probably best for me to use as test film only. There is heavy grain, a distinct cast over the film and a quite obvious shutter curtains sync issue. These frames above a shutter speed of 500 seem to be the issue, and that is where the shutter speed has not synced the curtain, it’s definitely running slow. The film has been beneficial in identifying an issue in this part of the camera. I will now do a CLA on this camera shutter assembly to try to remedy this issue. I wasn’t using flash here, it was a dull cold English Sunday afternoon.

This is an old camera that has been sitting idle for many years, it may sort itself out after a few more rolls of film, however I can do something about it now. And this is really a lesson to be learned for anyone buying old film cameras, they do need that little bit of tender loving care to get them back into a good working condition.

I’m pleased I’ve highlighted this issue, I will get the work done to improve the shutter sync and then run another roll of film through it.

Maybe now is the time to buy a shutter speed optical tester. That may save me a bit of expense on processing costs and will also allow me to make these checks before committing to film.

Winter eeriness

Just walking around the east coast of Norfolk Uk. Seaside places are usually a hive of activity during the summer months and then winter hits and everything then shuts down.

There is an eeriness of silence everywhere and I think black and white photos highlight that feeling just perfectly.

Have fun guys. Stay warm.

Great Yarmouth

Ventured off to the East coast for a few days.. just arrived in Great Yarmouth

We’ve taken a drive up the A47 today and are currently residing in Great Yarmouth for the night. Tomorrow we move next door for a few days to Hopton on sea for a little rest and recuperation.

We arrived here just as the sun was setting, so just the one picture to be cracking on with.

Hoping for a little stress free time away from it all as everything has been just a bit too full on lately.

Take care. Stay safe. Be happy 😆

It’s foggy out

Just got in from work, followed this bank of fog home. Grabbed a quick picture.

Just got in from work. Chased this fog all the way home and just had to get a photo.

Have a safe and happy day.

Canon EOS 10

An old EOS 10 was in need of attention. And I was able to lend a helping hand

Here I have a Canon EOS 10, a quite superb little camera. The date code within the film barrel is HE1213, indicating that this camera was manufactured in December 1990. At the time of manufacture this camera sat firmly at the top of Canons camera tree only surpassed by the EOS1 professional camera that had been released the year earlier in 1989.

This camera was amongst a selection of cameras and equipment passed on to me by a good friend and professional photographer as can be seen here: Cameras…i need more!

Here is a little history regarding the EOS 10

The Canon EOS 10 is an autofocus 35mm SLR introduced in 1990. The model name was EOS 10S in the Americas, and EOS 10QD in Japan. There was a commemorative metallic-silver version introduced in 1991 to mark Canon’s 60 millionth 35mm camera sold.

The improvements over the original EOS cameras are a newly improved autofocus sensor. Focus modes include One-Shot AF for non moving subjects and AI Servo AF for moving subjects. It is able to detect and switch automatically between the autofocus modes. Shutter ranges from 30 sec. to 1/4000 sec., with B. X-sync at 1/125 sec. Similar to the EOS 750, is has a built-in flash with a guide number 12 (at ISO 100). It uses one 2CR5 lithium battery and weighs approx 625g for the body without battery.

Camera wiki.org

Assessment:

One of the nuances introduced on this camera was the barcode option. Introduced at a time where barcodes were starting to creep into our life, in a knock at Minolta and their use of specific expansion cards for specific scene settings, Canon thought it would be good to utilise barcodes that you could scan, to automatically set your camera with these options without expansion cards. Needless to say it didn’t take off and was soon dropped from later camera production. It was a sign that the development teams were looking for advancement opportunities.

These cameras are available at fairly reasonable prices now partly due to the dreaded sticky rubber grip issue that tends to send buyers running for the hills, god knows why, it’s an easily remedied issue that just takes a little time and patience. I did a previous post about cleaning these cameras here: Sticky, Rubber camera grips it’s all down to the polymers in the Vulcanised rubber breaking down and reacting with hand sweat and other stuff. Have a read, and never throw away a camera just because it’s sticky.

This camera has some stickiness but it is not an advanced case. It will still be cleaned in the same manner, to prevent it developing any further.

The camera is just a bit dusty and in need of a good clean. The mirror is dusty and needs cleaning, a blow out of the interior should suffice as the shutter blades are opening and closing with no issue.

The battery is a lithium 2CR5 cell. The battery chamber is clean with no signs of battery contamination, this is a very good sign. When placed into the camera the screen comes on, is clear with no damage. A lens put on the front confirms that auto focus can be achieved and the camera fires and winds as expected.

To be quite honest, there doesn’t seem to be a lot wrong with the camera. It really seems to be just a clean and maintenance issue. I’m going to give the camera a thorough look over, dust and clean, a thorough clean of the external rubber and finish it all of with a good exterior body treatment. I will then run a roll of used film through to check the DX reader is working, as well as the transport system. Fingers crossed nothing major raises its head during the repair process.

Repair:

Straight in and at the cleaning, and to be honest the rubber wasn’t too bad. I only used two applications and not a lot of dirt came off on either. After it has dried, it does feel a great deal better.

The mirror has cleaned up nicely, so has the prism above it, however whilst in there I noticed that the mirror damper felt was failing, so this I have now removed and will have to replace prior to using as I don’t want to cause any further damage.

The missing damper felt area, highlighted in red

I’ve had to order some new material that will hopefully be here shortly, as my supply, as is always the problem lately, is in storage with all my other gear pending this house move that will probably never occur. it’s a real pain in the butt not being able to access your most required kit. Hey ho.

The light seal has arrived, and so I start by getting the damper felt put in place. First I cut it to size, remove the sticky back paper and just wipe the sticky bit with some water, this allows me a little more time to reposition it before the adhesive does its work.

Below is a very small video with me putting the camera into manual mode on a single exposure setting to test the actual worth of the damper foam.

All working fine

I’m happy with what has been done so far.

I’ve even given the neck strap a good buff up, the rubber on it was almost white rather than black, a bit of a clean and a polish and it’s now been restored to it’s original glory.

With the new damper in place it’s now time to run a film through it, I have an old test film I use for this purpose, I’m going to set the camera to its highest shutter setting and just run the whole roll through in quick succession to check the transport and rewind.

And here is that test, it went super fine and the full roll rewound at the end.

Transport works just fine

I’ve tested all settings, shutter speeds and functions including the flash and all is as it should be. I’m happy to say that this camera appears to be in full working order.

Now for the final clean and presentation.

Result:

Well, a little bit of car cockpit cleaner has done wonders. It looks beautiful and has a nice aromatic smell as well. I know I’m biased when it comes to cameras but I think this is an absolute beauty.

Covered from all angles looking resplendently clean and tidy

I’m really pleased with this camera, I’m heading out later today to watch a relative play football and I’m going to take this along to grab some snaps with an expired film from 20 years ago. It will be a good final test of the capabilities of this camera, and should finalise its renovation. It’s been a great camera to work on and is yet another worthy addition to my collection. I will post the photos here when they are finalised. Canon Eos 10 test shots

Thank you all for passing by, it’s always most appreciated.

20yr old Kodak Gold

How did the old film trial go? Come in and take a peek.

I posted earlier today Well, that was most enjoyable! Regarding popping out for a morning stroll and taking a 48 year old camera with me to shoot a roll of film that had expired 20 years since.

At 20 years old, the roll was an experiment where i exposed at normal settings, +1 stop overexposed and +2 stops overexposed. I obtained 39 exposures, always possible from a 36 exposure roll, I won’t bother you with them all, just 2 from each exposure range with a brief description. Don’t expect fine art here, it was a snap session to test a number of factors and to see how the film has deteriorated over time.

These pictures have not been retouched apart from having a frame put around them. They are as scanned, for authentic representation.

200ASA

The advertised, original roll ASA rating. Very low expectations and it didn’t disappoint.

At 200ASA the shots were certainly under exposed. The pictures have a cast over them and after development there is a lot of curl on the emulsion (Age) and the base of the film also has a darker tone, creating that yellow brown cast.

100ASA (+1 stop overexposed)

The best two exposures represent the first overexposure of one stop from 200ASA to 100ASA.

Again nice exposure and highlights very prominent

At 100ASA everything seems quite acceptable. There is that hue over the film still, and highlights seem quite prominent. Grain is present but not too distracting.

50ASA (+2 stops overexposed)

If you work by the suggested standard of one stop of exposure for every 10 years then this should be the standard. However I’m not so sure.

Nice colour, highlight prominent and quite a bit of a yellow hue, would need adjustment post processing

Could have been taken in the late 70s or early 80s

So with the exposure at 50ASA we have now introduced quite a bit of grain, a yellow hue and quite prominent highlights. I’m sure all of these pictures would post process fine if run through photo shop or light room. But to be quite honest I love that retro look that they have.

For me i’d probably aim at the 100ASA +1 stop of overexposure on the remaining rolls I have, I believe that would be quite enough, however even the 50ASA option is not too bad though you would require a lot of post working and you’d have quite a noticeable size grain.

Horses for courses as they say, but I’m going down the +1 stop overexposure route for the next film.

I found a little local photo store here in Leicestershire called Classic photo supplies, who specialise in all film processing, supply, printing and Sundry items. The owner Brett invited me in and we just chatted classic photography whilst my film was developing. He’s a super guy, and I’m all for supporting small businesses, so this is my new go to lab. The scans were done and over to me by email within an hour, super quick service. I’ll pick the negatives up in the week when I drop off another film to be developed and scanned.

Thanks for passing by. As always I am honoured by your presence.

Thanks. For your time.

Sony A7II test pics – Warning Cats!

Now I’m not a Cat person as such and you are not going to find copious amounts of Cat pictures on my pages. However, tonight is different as I required a suitable model to just test the new camera, so here I introduce “Tabs”.

There is a story around Tabs, we purchased our current house about 8 yrs ago and she featured in all the pictures that the estate agents took of the garden. We thought she was the sellers cat but this is not so, she is a Feral soul, and this is in fact her territory and we have moved into it. It’s her property and not ours.

She chases all foxes and other cats from the garden and is an excellent mouser, she had a lovely relationship with our little dog that passed away last year, she likes the hedgehogs and she loves company.

But she will never enter the house, we have all doors wide open and she remains outside, she is more than likely a domestic cat that chose to go feral.

She is fed numerous times a day by us, it’s our way of paying her rent to use her garden. My new camera was purchased as an early present from my lovely wife, and needed a quick test, and Tabs was there in the garden mooching around as she wanted feeding. I therefore just rattled off a few shots to do some basic testing of the camera. I’m really happy with it, but there is still a lot to learn about it.

Have a great day everyone.

Trains at Melton

Here are four photos taken whilst I was visiting the signal box at Melton Mowbray. This train line is between Leicester and Peterborough and has a number of Victorian era signal boxes still in use today. All pictures taken with my IPhone 14 Pro Max.

View towards Leicester from Melton Mowbray

Have a happy day. 👋

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Assessment:

Repair:

Result:

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200ASA

100ASA (+1 stop overexposed)

50ASA (+2 stops overexposed)

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