So it turns out that it’s possible that the almost twenty-year-old forum advice was correct: noodling with the exposure compensation dial on the Pentax ES II might have done the trick. I didn’t make many photos on Saturday when Kathleen and I paid visit to a suburban shopping area (bulk loaded ~12 frames), the camera performed admirably and without issue.

Of course, we’ve been down this road before, with the ES II, so it remains to be seen. Still, it’s promising.

Saturday was also the first time I did any bulk loading of film. After hesitating for months (“what if I ruin the whole 100-foot roll???”), I sat down, opened by dark bag, placed the roll of FP4+ in my Watson Model No. 100 bulk film loader, checked everything I was doing, and let fate guide me.

…and it turns out that it’s pretty easy to do if you’re paying attention to what you’re doing. And that, I did. Except for one thing: I didn’t check the felt along the opening of the cartridge that I was reusing and left a scratch all along one side of the film, which is quite apparent.

As for our visit? We found ourselves a few summer dresses and learned just how delicious the food at Chickpeas is. We will be back!

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