I recently shot a roll of expired Kodak Ultra 400 (it expired in March 2006) through the Pentax MZ-50 I bought for a pound at a car-boot sale in the summer. Sadly, the results have been pretty disappointing – the 28-80 lens I have on the camera seems to produce pretty soft results, which I’m unsure is because of the optical quality, or because it has an infuriating need to hunt for focus, quite often switching just as you fire the shutter; I also took a bunch of mostly uninspired pictures too if I’m honest, most of them of pretty mundane subjects; but the main disappointment is the sheer amount of curve on the negatives. They’re pretty much arched! It was a real fiddle to scan them, and the results are not my best.

All things considered, the shot here is probably the best of the roll. The colours are nice and the composition is pleasing in a minimal sort of way (I would’ve put the aerial on the thirds line, but the damn auto-focus kept trying to focus on the sky if I moved the viewfinder – even with the shutter half-depressed).

I’ve decided to sell on the rest of the expired Ultra 400 I have though (and probably the camera and lens too).

Pentax MZ-50, SMC Pentax-F Zoom 28-80 f/3.5-4.5 & Kodak Ultra 400 (expired 2005).

Taken on 2 October 2017