This was a difficult series to work through.

It started with a beautiful black example of an STL 1000 with lens, sent to me from the collection of a good friend. The mirror had come loose but otherwise was intact. I reattached the mirror and also replaced all the foam seals.

It was ready for action again, and I loaded it up with a roll of Fuji Superia 200 color film.
All seemed to be going well.
Then, midway through the roll, the camera body locked up solid, and would not respond to any controls.
So I carefully rewound the film and transferred it over to another body from the same exact model, advanced past the point where I was, and moved over the lens, before finishing off the roll.

Unpacking the bag and rewinding the film again, I happened to notice that the hand held meter I had used was set for ASA 400.

So, camera body failure, and the film under exposed by a full stop (half the light). And I film I used was of unknown condition and age, having come to me loose without a container mixed in with a larger lot. Recipe for disaster?

I went ahead and mixed my usual Caffenol "chemicals" and did the normal procedure, hoping for the best. But when the film came out of the tank it was almost blank, with just a few traces of faint images.
Was all lost? Perseverance, running it all through my scanner and software, and I was able to tease out what you see below. Not what I was originally hoping for, but somewhat unique?

A footnote: I just added two images below, using a light box, digital camera body, and macro lens to pull a couple of images off the filmstrip in an alternative method. I think I like the effect with the grain, an artifact of the digital process.

Please click on thumbnails to see enlarged.
All images are ©2020 E.J.Kowalski.
Thanks! Ed