The Rollei point and shoot can do a lot of things well, but consistent sharpness and focal accuracy aren’t included among those strengths. So I decided the trusty Canon A1 SLR would be my go-to setup for the trip. With that, the Rollei, and my digital rig, I felt equipped to capture whatever sights we may encounter.
But from the start, the A1 was a little finicky. I’d press the shutter and… nothing. It took some fidgeting with the advance lever to get the shutter appropriately primed. I was missing shots. Meanwhile, the Rollei met every spontaneous moment with its satisfying robotic pachink.
In the steadier moments of the journey, I could take the time to get the A1 working. Sometimes, though, this just wasn’t possible. Like on the bumpy boat journey through Norangsfjorden on the third day of our visit. We’d round another bend in the fjord to a viewpoint of some cloud shrouded mountain peaks, or speed past a charming homestead on the shore, and I’d inevitably reach for the Rollei after wrestling with the increasingly faulty A1.
I can only tolerate so much when it comes to missing once in a lifetime moments, so on frame 17 of roll four, I decided to rewind the film and pack the A1 away for good. Having brought a limited amount of film for the trip, it was a no brainer I’d pop that half-shot roll of Portra 800 into the point and shoot. I figured I’d rather have a few double exposures than waste half a roll.
Our boat captain that day was a fun loving fella (read: he was hauling ass and I was getting rag dolled around the boat with my gear) so when it came to switching out the film, I crouched down in the cabin with the two cameras between my legs, braced myself in a corner, and fished the leader out of the rewound roll with the end of another roll. Somehow it worked and neither I nor my gear went overboard.