BooDooPerson

No more 12 exposure rolls to test with, so using a 24 exposure ISO 200 roll of store brand film expired in 2005. The brand is Top Crest, which was most likely sold in grocery stores, and according to The Big Film Database the emulsion is Ferrania's Solaris FG200 which was also re-badged under Little Tikes, Snap Sight, Samsung, and Family Dollar brands, likely among many others. The emulsion was made in Italy, but by the '90s it's was being finished in the US by 3M after they acquired Ferrania.

I just spent way too much time talking about this film when the point of this post, moreso than the photos (yeah there are clearly light leaks, I will simply Handle It) is to talk about this camera. This camera is nuts. I don't just mean that in a positive sense, but I don't not mean it that way, either.

1971's Mamiya/Sekor Auto XTL. Here's an idea of what you'll see through the viewfinder:

This is a shutter-priority auto-exposure system with selectable Average/Spot metering mode (though "spot" is 6%, the big central circle) and in-viewfinder indications of the selected shutter speed as well as a metering needle indicating the suggested aperture, which is handled automatically if using one of Mamiya's ES-series lenses for this system.

The metering is done at the film plane, similar to Olympus' OTF system that would come 8 years later, but the cost of this earlier implementation is a ton of light (30%) being robbed from the viewfinder. Combined with no internal lighting of any kind, this means you better be shooting in bright indoor lighting or higher, and with an Auto aperture lens instead of one that requires stop-down viewing.

I don't like shutter priority as an auto-exposure mode! I don't care for its big chunky body! That viewfinder is dark as my soul! Look at these light leaks! and I'm pretty sure this one has a misalignment between focus in the viewfinder and the film plane! BUT for some reason I love this thing. It tried so hard, and my understanding is it was a complete and abject failure. If no one else will love it, I will. For a while, anyway.