Tender
A house-boat tender in Victoria’s Gorge waterway, viewed from a trestle walkway.
This is another camera test, this time with film that was in the camera bag. The film was Kodak Gold 400 and was pretty much shot, but this image works very well in black and white, so the film condition turned out to be a benefit.
The film is not a good test for the camera though. It is a Canon Elan IIe, the close cousin to my Elan 7N which is in many ways my favourite 35mm film camera. I could not resist the camera with kit lens, roll of film and camera bag for $29. The camera appears in new condition, and seems to be exposing well though with this film that is very hard to say with confidence. The autofocus is working, as are other features that I played with. There seem to be light leaks along the door, hardly surprising as the door latch broke when I was loading the film (or fell apart, it might have been broken already) – this is a woefully common problem with the Elan series cameras, and Canon has stopped supplying the part. I taped up the latch edge of the door for these tests, but not the long edges. My next test will have the long edges taped, and new film.
I have ordered two door latch assemblies from a UK supplier that still have some stock. Researching this camera leads me to expect the 7N door catch to break at some point as well. If this camera tests out the rest of the way, I will replace its latch and door seals. The second latch will be handy as a backup. Perhaps someday someone will 3D print a metal or other durable catch of some kind – the plastic originals are clearly not up to the job and these cameras are certainly worth keeping in service. Besides which, taping a film door is a pain and lousy substitute for a latch.
Canon Elan IIe, Canon EF 50/1.4 USM, expired Kodak Gold 400, commercially processed, scanned at home (with much difficulty)
burnt embers 
This reminds me of my favourite childhood book, “Teddy Edward at the Seaside “. Teddy takes his friend Jasmine (a rabbit) boating in a vessel just like this one.
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A super B&W shot Ehpem from this camera.
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Thank you Andy. It ranks very highly on my favourites list.
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The water is full of plankton, possibly copepods and barnacle nauplii, hard to tell at this distance
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Hi Mario – nauplius/nauplii is my new word for coarse grain on expired film – it seems perfect.
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