No, Butterfly hasn't thrown me out for my collection of old junk cameras. Don't worry.
See, it's me & Fuji.
I have had a long and fruitful relationship with Fuji. It started with Fujicolor film, then I discovered Fujichrome and its fabulous world of colour. So much better than that American rubbish.
I bought a Fuji GS645S medium format rangefinder - a beautiful machine, and possibly my favourite camera ever. I remember putting a 220 Fuji film into it, and feeling the Fujilove.
I've got back into film photography, and used some Fuji 120 slide film in my vintage folder that fair makes my heart leap.
And I bought Butterfly a Fuji X10 like the one she had so loved on the Photoday, in order that she has a good quality camera for when the bairn appears.
But today, Fuji let me down.
I had a struggle buying a rangefinder, including two ebay disputes, a verrrry long wait, and headscratching over batteries. And I'm still not totally confident that the camera I'm using is working perfectly.
I'd put a film in it, and taken 36 exposures (I got home earlier than expected this afternoon, so dashed outside to take advantage of the fading light for the last three photos). I pushed the button and turned the rewind crank. It seemed a little light, but I didn't know the camera, so it was possible. I worried that the film hadn't been advancing properly, but kept winding.
When I'd turned enough, I pulled up to open the back, and had that horrible feeling as I glimpsed the film stretched across the film plane and onto the take up spool. I shut the back and went for my dark bag, hoping to salvage what was in the canister.
But there wasn't any film at all in the cassette. None at all, it transpired. The film hadn't been connected to the spool, so just ran off the end. 36 photos lost. A longer wait to find out if the Yashica is OK. Gah!
Fuji, we need to talk...
