You know, for a film that’s advertised as bubbly, fun, and cheerful, Dubblefilm Bubblegum invoked some seriously dark thoughts while I was trying – and failing repeatedly – to scan it properly. When the time for editing came (what seemed like a year later), I didn’t even really try. Ain’t nobody got time for that particular ordeal. Cleaning the cat hair and dust was all I could find the energy for. I’m not anything if not consistent(ly lazy).
At least the movie pun worked this time, so — god giveth, god taketh away.
Also, there’s a theme song.
This month’s combo was Pentax MV + smc Pentax-M 35mm f/2.8 or smc Pentax-M 50mm f/1.4 and Dubblefilm Bubblegum.
A little bit about the camera and the faulty lens
While researching camera wiki for information about the MV, I’ve stumbled upon this fun little tidbit — “Magazine comment at the time noted that the lightweight structure of this model in particular, meant that the Pentax mirror mechanism (identical to that of others in the M series) had sufficient energy actually to introduce some camera-shake, leading to the advice that the MV was best used on a tripod“ (emphasis mine). If you paid any attention to my previous blogposts, you’d be aware of my stubborn refusal to use tripods. Luckily, this time I didn’t even know about that advice, because if I did, I still wouldn’t use it. At least this time it was ignorance, not stubbornness, so — god giveth.
Overall, I didn’t have any problems with the MV, not even with “camera-shake”. It did its job cleanly and competently. I generally love cameras like the MV: clean, simple, small, with a manual focus, and a nice shutter sound. What I did have a problem with is the lens. The smc Pentax-M 35mm f/2.8, in particular. Only in two frames, thankfully, but still an annoyance I could’ve done without. There’s apparently a well-known and common problem with that lens — slow aperture due to rust appearing on the blades. My lens was serviced once already, but the problem obviously returned. God taketh away.
A little bit about the film
Dubblefilm Bubblegum “offers pastel and sweet colors that will stimulate your taste buds“, as stated on the official Dubblefilm website. It did stimulate my visual taste buds, truth be told. Especially during scanning. It was so stimulating it almost broke my brain.
But, my cynicism aside, this film truly is…different. In a good way. I’d compare it to KONO! Original Candy, if I could, but I can’t, as my roll of Candy came up empty after developing. And it wasn’t even my fault, if you can believe it. I’m sad it happened, but something not being my fault is a breath of fresh air, considering. We’ll put that under ‘god giveth’. But now, looking through the examples on Dubblefilm’s page, I may need to re-edit the scans. Mine are way too pink. To paraphrase the great Ron Swanson, I half-assed a thing, and now I have to whole-ass it. And here we have ‘god taketh away’.
The film itself is pretty straightforward — ISO 400, a little bit on a non-sharp side, but it handles both bright and darker conditions well. I’d very much like to shoot it again, especially now when I know how it works and looks.
Take care, and I’ll be seeing you soon.
