Okay. I’ve already short-tested my new-to-me Rollei SL26 film camera – it’s an advanced camera that uses 126 “Instamatic” film. You know, the film that hasn’t been manufactured in over 25 years.
So I wanted to try something with this film and with this camera. And for testing purposes, I’m going back to the Sacandaga River and photographing the Saratoga, Corinth & Hudson Railroad as it crosses the bridge from Corinth to Hadley.
Yesterday, the SC&H made a rare excursion to Hadley as part of the “Operation Toy Train” promotion. Passengers donated toys and games that would be transported from the SC&H’s Corinth depot up the line to the old Hadley train depot (which is now used by a rail-biking company). Think of it as an elaborate “Toys for Tots” project. Yeah, that works for me.
And of course I made a donation to the “Operation Toy Train” project – there’s a couple of model kits in the donation bin, thanks to me. Then, as the train’s holiday festivities began, I took out the Rollei SL26, gave it a cartridge of film, and took a photo.
The shutter opened – and wouldn’t close.
Unexpected long exposure. Hmm. And the shutter wouldn’t close until I actually adjusted the shutter speed ring. That’s not good.
A few more shots … some of them exposed well, and again some others were just the camera opening the shutter and not closing it. Ugh.
Okay, maybe it’s just a bad batch of film. I popped the cartridge out and slapped another one in the chassis.
No dice. More long exposures, and this time the film just wouldn’t advance past the second frame.
Fantastic. Just freakin’ fantastic. Well, whatever hopes I had with this camera just went on the shelf. I can’t trust it.
Which meant I traveled all the way to the North Country to photograph an event … and the camera I used turned out to be a dud.
Thankfully, I did have a backup camera in the car – it was my Nikon F2S (“Nikon Athena”), as well as a roll of AGFA Scala black and white film. I took some shots, but we won’t see those on the blog until they’re developed.
But … yeah. Whatever happened to this Rollei SL26 – I can’t trust it any more. Whatever shelf I found it on a few weeks ago … back it goes. Ugh.
I guess you can’t win them all.
Or in this case … you can’t win it AT all.
Chuck The Writer 
So the old saying “the best camera is the one you have with you”, has a flaw! Lucky you had a back up.
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Yep. I’ve learned in the past that if you don’t keep at least one backup in the car / camera bag / suitcase … with at least three rolls of extra film if necessary …
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