Minolta-16 (Captain Kodak CC)
Have you ever shot a roll of film only to forget about it? Then you find the roll, forgot what is on it and debate if you want to get it developed or not? One man’s trash may very well be another man’s treasure. Would you pay to develop a roll of your own film that you’ve forgotten about? How about a roll abandoned in a camera?
Two weeks ago I purchased a Minolta-16 Sub Miniature camera on a popular auction site. I was looking for a different style camera altogether and ran into this gem. It had one bid at a few bucks so I upped it by a dollar or two. A day later I receive an e-mail stating that I won it. I researched a few specifications of the camera, found out that finding a camera with a film canister inside was rare, looked at a few replacement options, hand-loading and since I was leaving for my ABQ trip in a day I promptly forgot about it.
I was back home on Wednesday and finally opened the camera. Low and behold, there was a film canister inside. With a quick peek I realized there was also film inside of the canister. This really fueled my curiosity, what could be on the roll? Long story short, I load the film on the reel, put it in the new tank and develop in Rodinal 1:50 for 13 minutes.
After development was done I rinsed the film, ran my squeegee over it and hung it up to dry.. At this point I had no idea if anything even turned out, while it hung to dry the frames looked quite dark. Once it dried I set up my light box and shot every frame to digital.
Below is the gallery of images. Underneath the images I will post my own conclusions on this film. If you have any information on the location in this shot or approximate years please comment below. The Camera itself was introduced in 1957 though the high serial number (#213xxx) of the unit may indicate a year or two later.
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- Minolta-16
It appears that the mystery images are scenic landscapes covered by snow. Later in the roll you start realizing that the photographer is shooting most (if not all) of these scenes sitting in the cabin of a train. In some shots the frame of the window is visible and so is track and in two image the rest of the train (it’s a long train!). The film itself is Kodak TRI-X 400ASA/ISO 16mm film. On the film itself the words ‘Kodak N. 15 Safety Film’ are visible as well as machine stamped numbers, both 61409 and 61410 which appears to be foot counters.