English: My next to last roll of 126-format film went into my Kodak Instamatic X-15 camera yesterday. Shot about half of it already, want to finish up with some retro-looking shots in the coming week.
For those who did not grow up with these, the film is loaded in a nearly idiot-proof drop-in cassette, the essence of 126 format.
The camera is fixed focus with a 43mm/f.11 lens. The mechanical shutter fires at one of two speeds: 1/90 sec for normal outdoor operation and 1/45 sec with a flash cube attached.
There is no light meter, nor electronics for the flash; this camera has no battery. Acceptable exposure of the 28 × 28 mm image was made possible by very wide latitude film.
The General Electric Magicubes are activated by a pin in the camera, which strikes primer tube at the base of the bulb, which in turn ignites shredded zirconium foil in the flash. When one advances the film, the flash cube rotates 45 degrees to position a fresh bulb.
All very elegant.
New film 126-format film is no longer made and I don't think anyone has any realistic plans to do so. Perhaps this is good. While the Instamatic democratized photography in the First World, it also is a symbol of waste of a consumer society. Every plastic cassette and flash cube ended up in landfill.
This roll of Kodacolor VR 200 expired 25 years ago, so I get what I get. After this, there's a roll in the freezer that expired in 2000. And then that will be the end of that. Need to find an apropos setting ... Ideas?