{"id":3826,"date":"2023-09-27T23:11:22","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T22:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/?p=3826"},"modified":"2025-10-22T21:45:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T20:45:00","slug":"a-brief-appearance-of-the-nikon-fg-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/27\/a-brief-appearance-of-the-nikon-fg-20\/","title":{"rendered":"A brief appearance of the Nikon FG-20"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Previously I wrote that the Nikon FG-20 is not a suitable camera for practising photography<\/a>. I argued that its flawed ergonomics got in the way of a pleasant shooting experience and could even cause exposure mistakes. And yet I found myself retrieving it from storage, loading two fresh LR44 batteries and a roll of expired Ferrania Solaris 100<\/a> into it, and using it to shoot more pictures of flowers in the garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have to say that using the camera this time was not as bad as expected, perhaps because with the camera fixed on a tripod, I didn’t have to manipulate its controls, thus avoiding bad exposures from mishandling. But the experience remained underwhelming, mostly due to its small viewfinder making the exposure meter difficult to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In retrospect, I think that I needed to be convinced of the FG-20’s shortcomings one last time before putting it away for good, given my particular fondness for its looks and its size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pictures from the roll are not great. I was impatient during development and did not allow the temperature of the chemicals to stabilise enough. I’m also conscious of excessively agitating the film tank and potentially causing the negative to be over developed by doing so. The final images are grainier than they should be for ISO 100 film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some people say that the grain gives these photos the “film look”. But a well-exposed negative actually produces very clean images, such as the one below, shot on ISO 400 film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Several factors must be considered in judging the quality of final pictures: age of the film, age of the development chemicals, accuracy of the exposure, development process, scanning process, and editing. Given my inconsistent results from consistent use of expired film, I think it’s right to blame my amateurish development process<\/a> for any quality shortfall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Previously I wrote that the Nikon FG-20 is not a suitable camera for practising photography. I argued that its flawed ergonomics got in the way of a pleasant shooting experience and could even cause exposure mistakes. And yet I found myself retrieving it from storage, loading two fresh LR44 batteries and a roll of expired […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1j9q5-ZI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3315,"url":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2022\/08\/31\/the-fg-20-must-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":3826,"position":0},"title":"The FG-20 must go","author":"Eddy Young","date":"31 August 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Another week, another series of tests with film. Regardless of their questionable compositions, these pictures are rather good for being shot on expired film. They result from following the development instructions to the letter. Three and a half minutes in the developer chemical at exactly 38\u00b0C, as confirmed by three\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-30-0010-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-30-0010-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-30-0010-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-08-30-0010-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3241,"url":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2022\/07\/15\/trying-film-photography-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":3826,"position":1},"title":"Trying film photography again","author":"Eddy Young","date":"15 July 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I finally visited the park that opened near my house in 2020 amidst COVID lockdown. It is a former golf course that has been rehabilitated as a green area. I carried a Nikon FG-20 camera with an unfinished roll of film on my walk and took pictures of the trees\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Peach blossom flowers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-07-15-0024-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-07-15-0024-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-07-15-0024-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-07-15-0024-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-07-15-0024-150x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2022-07-15-0024-150x150.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3569,"url":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/02\/happy-new-year-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":3826,"position":2},"title":"Happy New Year 2023","author":"Eddy Young","date":"2 January 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A friend on Facebook posted a meme depicting this year 2023 as an ominous fog enveloping a wooden rope suspension bridge, of which we can only see the first few uninviting joists. Even if that's an unfortunate reflection of my own mood, I wish good health and happiness to everyone.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/2022-12-28B-007-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/2022-12-28B-007-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/2022-12-28B-007-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/2022-12-28B-007-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/2022-12-28B-007-150x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4703,"url":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/28\/spring-colours\/","url_meta":{"origin":3826,"position":3},"title":"Spring colours","author":"Eddy Young","date":"28 April 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, P and I went on a long hike. In addition to my Nikon D850, I packed my Nikon FM2. It was loaded with Fomapan 200 film because I wanted to take black-and-white pictures. But in the end, I kept it in the bag. Foolishly, I had not considered that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2025-04-27A-016-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2025-04-27A-016-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2025-04-27A-016-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2025-04-27A-016-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2025-04-27A-016-150x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2025-04-27A-016-150x150.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4268,"url":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/24\/you-win-some-you-lose-some\/","url_meta":{"origin":3826,"position":4},"title":"You win some, you lose some","author":"Eddy Young","date":"24 September 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"These are the \"you lose some\" from a roll of Fomapan 200 exposed with a Nikon FM2. What happened here is that I opened the camera back with the window of the Shirley Wellard film cassette still open. The winding lever was sticking every few frames, and so I rewound\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Graffiti on old concrete structure","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2024-09-21A-001-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2024-09-21A-001-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2024-09-21A-001-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2024-09-21A-001-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2024-09-21A-001-150x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2024-09-21A-001-150x150.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3721,"url":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/02\/playing-with-expired-ferrania-solaris-100-film\/","url_meta":{"origin":3826,"position":5},"title":"Playing with expired Ferrania Solaris 100 film","author":"Eddy Young","date":"2 September 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This evening I developed a roll of expired Ferrania Solaris 100 film, which I bought on eBay. It was ideal for testing because it had only 12 frames, which I could shoot in a single day\u2014a 36-frame roll can take months. The flowers planted by my mother and me were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-02-0003-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-02-0003-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-02-0003-150x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-02-0003-150x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-02-0003-150x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-02-0003-150x150.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3826"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5082,"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826\/revisions\/5082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/priscimon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}