I have been using this dryer for years and it is the ultimate tool for always getting dust-free and streak-free negatives. It is easy and inexpensive to make. Highly recommended! Materials: A 2x4 inch piece of wood cut to 24 inches in length A lightweight drain pipe measuring 4 inches wide and cut to a length of 18.5 inches A drill and a drill bit, the latter larger than the diameter of a pencil or dowel A thick piece of cardboard Duct tape or other strong tape Thick clear tape or anything similar A hair-drier Creation: Cut a circular piece of the cardboard so that it will fit the inner diameter of one end of the drain pipe. Then cut another smaller hole in the center of that same piece of cardboard that is large enough to fit approximately or at least half of the nose of your hair-drier. Tape this piece of cardboard to one end of the drain pipe. This will become the top of the device. (See the second photograph.) At the opposite end of the drain pipe, drill a hole 1.5 inches up from the open end straight through and all the way through from side to side that you can easily insert a pencil, pen, or dowel to hold your film reel(s). Place the drain pipe on the 2x4 board so that the bottom of the pipe is at the bottom edge of the board. Then wrap duct tape around both as shown in the first photo. Also drill a hole at the top of the board (above the hair-drier opening and about 1 inch below the top edge) so you can hang this device if you choose to do that. To use this: After you have developed your film and after you have used any wetting agent, in one hand move the film reel up and down repeatedly to shake off excess water and wetting agent bubbles although it is not necessary to remove all of either of these. With the device standing upright, place the reel or reels in the bottom of the drain pipe above the bilateral holes and hold it/them in place while inserting a pencil, pen, or dowel through both holes. Your reel(s) will then be prevented from falling through the bottom of the pipe. Insert your hair-drier nose into the hole in the cardboard at the top end of the pipe, plug it in, set the temperature to cool, turn it on to full blast, set a timer, and check your reel(s) occasionally to see if your film is dry. Do not use the warm and hot settings on your drier because you will fry your negatives. In my garage one reel usually takes approximately 16 minutes and two reels take approximately 20 minutes. My hair-drier specs state "12V-6Hz/1800W". The stronger your drier, the faster your negatives will dry. Once they are dry, immediately cut the film strips into sections and slide them into archival negative preservers. It is not necessary to hang this device on a wall. You can instead place it on any surface in any room and operate it as long as it is at an angle because the hair-drier air must, of course, exit the bottom of the pipe. Enjoy your dust-free negatives!

This plastic toy camera is pretty much the same as the infamous Time Magazine camera. it's a cheap fixed focus, single shutter speed plastic 35mm snapshot camera that originally had a fake UV filter on the front and was used in promo gimmics to get people to sign up for a magazine subscription or as a free gift for listening to a high pressure time share real estate pitch or whatever. They look nice and pricey, but it's basically equivalent to a Holga without the time exposure setting. It cost me under $1 at the thrift store. What it does have going for it is a working aperture ring. It works a pair of blades that slide to give a square aperture opening from a nominal f/6.3 to f/16, acording to the markings on the lens barrel. Adjusting the aperture also makes the front of the barrel move in and out as if you were using a zoom lens, lol. Cheese at its cheesiest! I noticed that, like the early Holga, the aperture was partly limited by a ring behind the aperture blades that was smaller than the largest aperture, so I figured I should see if i can drill it a bit bigger. Working from the back, I propped the shutter open and selected a drill bit, opened the aperture to its widest and drilled the ring. The drill bit caught as it went through and enlarged the aperture blade opening so the aperture now round at widest and is almond shaped when closed down. Oh, and I hit the back of the lens. Now it's ready for use. It went on a vacation trip to Halifax, came to Sackville, where it got dropped and the back flew off, then I jammed it back together and finished the roll in Dorchester on the way home.