On being a lurker and the Frugal Film Project 2025

On being a lurker and the Frugal Film Project 2025.

I've been a part of the Frugal Film Project for a couple of years now. The idea behind the FFP, or #FrugalFilmProject as it is known on social media, is to use one camera and one film stock for a whole year and then to post images each month on the Group's Facebook page. What makes it 'frugal' is that the camera  you use should cost less than $75 (about 72€) including shipping, and you should use the cheapest film stock available. 

The first year I chose my wonderful little Agfa Clack, which I used with Fomapan Retro film, and last year was a generic 9x12 folding camera from the 1920s and Instax Wide film. Both years I started well, but in July we go on holidays and by the end of the vacation, which are often a month or more now that we are retired, the momentum to continue was lost. I did well to get through the year with the Clack, but with the folder after our holiday I never managed to get out with it as often as I would have liked. Or at all, really.

I became a bit of a 'lurker' on the Frugal Film Project's Facebook group, liking images that people were posting, making the occasional comment, but not really participating. With a new year of the Project coming up, and with people showing their new camera/film combinations, there have been a few comments made about lurking. Some people have said that dropping out for a while doesn't really matter and that anyone not contributing should stay on the group and they will return in good time, while others have indicated that if they can't participate they'll leave the group altogether, which would be sad.

For my part I enjoy being a part of the FFP. It's a way to really get to know a camera/film combination, and it's a lot of fun, not just to take part each month but also to see what others are doing. So this year I will try to complete the Project with a camera that I can use all year round, including taking with me on holiday during the summer. My Frugal Film camera for 2025 will be the 'Golden Wonder', a new (to me) Welta Penti II, a 35mm half-frame camera from the 1960s. 

The film I'm going to use for the year will be Harman Phoenix 35mm film. 'Wait a moment,' one might ask, 'at 13€ or so a roll that's not really very Frugal is it?' Aha! Here's the thing. The Welta Penti II uses 35mm film, but not in a regular 36-exposure cassette, in Agfa Rapid cassettes, which are 12-exposure spool-less cassettes. So the idea is that I'll be able to fill three Agfa Rapid cassettes from each 36-exposure roll of Harman Phoenix. That makes it cheaper already, I only need to buy four rolls of Harman Phoenix to last me the year. Not only that, but the Welta Penti II is a half-frame camera, so I'll be getting 24 exposures from each roll. Now it seems a much more Frugal option. 

The Welta Penti II was a successor to the Welta Penti launched in the 1950s. It's a 35mm half-frame camera that uses the Agfa Rapid film system,  which is a sealed cassette slightly smaller than a normal 35mm film cassette. Released in the early 1960s, until about 1967, the Penti II featured a selenium cell metering system and was equipped with a Meyer-Optik 30mm f3.5 Domiplan lens. With apertures between f3.5 and f22, and shutter speeds of 1/30s, 1/60s, and 1/125s, the user would dial in the combination of aperture and shutter speed that would move a mark visible in the viewfinder to match another mark set by the selenium cell. When the two marks matched your exposure was correct. Of course, the selenium cell in my Penti II doesn't work, but fortunately I can use the camera with an exposure meter app to get the correct exposure for my films.

Using short lengths of hand rolled film is also a good way of trying some experimentation during the year. I've already tried redscaling Harman Phoenix and got some great results, and I quite fancy trying multiple exposures by reloading an exposed film into a Rapid cassette, and even EBS photography, exposing both sides of the film. Hopefully this will rekindle my enjoyment of the Frugal Film Project, I'm getting excited by the prospect already, and since the Welta Penti II is a pocket-sized camera there's no excuse not to take it with me during the summer.

If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the 'Snapshot' WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com@keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.

#Agfa, #Rapid, #AgfaRapid, #Cassette, #Welta, #Penti2, #RapidFilm, #HalfFrame, #HarmanPhoenix, #Experimental, #Vintage, #FrugalFilmProject,