My dad recently gave me a bag of cameras and film that someone he knows had given to him. Most of the cameras were unbranded digital cameras probably 15-20 years old with very low resolutions and built-in batteries that I had no way to charge, so they went in the bin. The only film camera in the bag was a Samsung Fino 60s. There were also three rolls of expired film dating from 2005.
The Samsung had a roll of film still in the camera, which I assumed to be of similar age as the rolls in the bag. After fitting a battery I used up the remaining shots on the roll and got them processed. Sadly, all the shots I took were unuseable due to the film’s deterioration, but the frames that had already been shot by the original owner had some recoverable photographs. They were still pretty poor quality, but featured images of a baby and (I assume) their grandmother and a picture of a dog, so I burned copies to a DVD and gave them to my dad to pass back to the person who’d given him the cameras.
While the specs of the camera are not great, I’m not one to waste things, so loaded it up with a fresh roll of Kodak Colorplus and took it out for a walk. The resulting images I got are a bit of a mixed bag – some are tack sharp and look great, but many more are somewhat soft. I’m unsure as to why this should be the case – the photos were all shot in similar lighting and, mostly, at the same focal length. A lot of the shots also had a distinctive defect on the images – a metallic looking arc in the same place on each shot – very noticeable on some shots, but feinter and smudgier on others. After asking around, I was informed that it was most likely the result of a light leak on the telephoto lens barrel assembly. Luckily, the placement of the defect was such that it could be cropped (or removed in Photoshop) in most of the photos.
As a result of this defect it’s unlikely I’ll use the camera again. It’s not worth putting on eBay, I don’t think, and I don’t want to donate it to a charity shop given the fault, but I dislike the idea of throwing away something that mostly still works. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll figure something out.
Todays photo is one of the sharp results, and I really like the vivid colours that the Colorplus has delivered. Give this cheap consumer-grade film the right conditions and it shines!

Samsung Fino 60S & Kodak Colorplus.
Taken on 1 March 2020