A Gift from My Dad: My Film Camera

A Father’s Gift

About 50 years ago, when I was a junior high school student, I kept asking my dad to buy me a film SLR camera.

He saved up his allowance for six months and finally bought me a Pentax camera.

It cost 80,000 yen — about 540 USD at the time — which was a small fortune.

The camera was called the Pentax K2, a name taken from K2, the second-highest mountain in the world — at least, that’s what I remember reading in the catalog back then.

I took it with me on school excursions and every trip I went on, even throughout my high school years.

Trial and Restoration

I once lent the camera to my elder brother, and a few years later it came back to me in terrible condition.

The lens was covered in mold, and the view through the finder was full of dust.

I took it to a repair shop for a complete overhaul. The repair cost was 40,000 yen — about 270 USD.

It wasn’t cheap, but the view through the finder became astonishingly clear, and the mold on the lens was gone.

I felt the result was well worth the cost.

The End and Beginning of the Film Era

Back then, you could buy a roll of film for as little as 250 yen (about 1.6 USD), and developing it — even with a CD copy — wasn’t very expensive.

But now, with film prices exceeding 2,000 yen (about 13 USD), I find myself using the camera far less often.

The Magic of Analog

With a film camera, you can’t see the result immediately after pressing the shutter, and you have at most 36 shots.

That’s why every press of the shutter feels like a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Waiting for the film to be developed always feels long, and even the reversed images on the negative have a special analog charm — and that’s part of the fun.

From each roll, I might only find one or two photos I’m truly satisfied with, but that’s exactly what makes shooting with film so enjoyable for me.

A Lifelong Companion

Even now, I still take my Pentax K2 out about once a year to shoot.

It’s one of the few analog pleasures left to me.

For about 50 years, I’ve lived with this camera.

It holds not only countless memories, but also my father’s love.