Converting to film

In the same shop I photographed that silly bird thing a few days ago, I came upon an old Canon FBt for a whooping $24. The light meter needle seemed to be working, and the shutter sounded accurate, with a gleaming bright f-1.8 lens and not a scratch on her. I carried her around the store for an hour, and almost forgot I didn't already own it when it was time to pay (I was carrying a camera bag also, after all).

I didn't examine the battery until later. I don't know why I waited. A leaky, icky battery fell out. Ew! I wrapped it in a napkin, after reading what the model number was. A quick internet trip revealed, yay, it's a mercury battery!, and it is so toxic, it isn't made any more. Top that with the fact that these batteries were lower voltage and more stable voltage than alkaline, and because the meters were designed with that in mind, modern alkalines just don't work. But, I found this site, which suggested the 675 hearing aid battery as a replacement. He used a volt-meter and stuff, so you know it's gotta be good. The only modification I made was cutting out a little soda-can circle (I only use Cherry Coke Zero for cameras, FYI) to help make a clean connection with the spring on the door. It fought me for a while, but after S took the battery out and put it back (the exact same way I had it!) it started working.

I will post photos once I finish some rolls, have it developed, then put it on a disk, then upload them to the internet. Whew, I forgot how hard film is!

What's funnier, is I took a bunch of photos yesterday around town, then thought, "These are amazing!"when actually, I have no idea if they are amazing. I also thought I took lots, but came home with the counter on 7. I guess 6 is a lot!