Vintage Camera #032 Posted on 27th December 202327th December 2023 by Laurence Kodak No. 2 Folding Autographic Brownie I’ve had this model of Folding Brownie camera for many years; I’ve posted about it previously and I’ve used it previously, it didn’t go well. Recently though, I bought one on eBay that seemed to be in much better condition in the hope that I might get some better results. Continue reading “Vintage Camera #032” →
Vintage Camera #026 Posted on 25th May 202227th December 2023 by Laurence Zorki 1 Type C Next out to play from my camera cabinet is one of several Soviet era cameras I bought. This is a 1953 Zorki 1 Type C. If you’ve seen my Pearl River post, you’ll be both pleased and unsurprised to learn that this camera is not as bad as that. Continue reading “Vintage Camera #026” →
Vintage Camera #017 Posted on 31st March 20221st April 2022 by Laurence Pearl River 6×6 TLR Kicking off my efforts with the latest batch of purchases (New year, new…resolution?), which incidentally didn’t stop at 22, I went out with a Pearl River 6×6 twin lens reflex. Loaded with trusty HP5+ film I duly went ahead and took a few shots, all onto the same frame, before I remembered that I need to wind the film on each time. Continue reading “Vintage Camera #017” →
New year, new…resolution? Posted on 14th February 202222nd February 2022 by Laurence New year’s resolutions are not really my thing. I don’t really see the need to wait for a new year to decide to achieve something. January in the UK is often seen as a difficult time for many people; recovering from the excesses of alcohol and spending of Christmas, coupled with it being a long month in the depths of an often grey British winter. The only real resolution I had made in the last ten years or so was at the beginning of 2020 when I vowed to go and visit some new countries that I hadn’t visited before. And then Covid-19. Fast forward to February 2022. I still haven’t been to a new country yet (I can’t really count a few days in Scotland). During January, I managed to get ill with Covid myself, so I had plenty of time to think. As a result, I’ve decided to revive this site somewhat. I also went on eBay and ended up with quite a selection of old cameras. Continue reading “New year, new…resolution?” →
Photo Project – Kodak Retina II S, 1959 Posted on 3rd August 201510th February 2022 by Laurence After a somewhat unsuccessful attempt with the Kodak Brownie as described in my previous post, I’ve decided to park that one for the moment. I have now moved on to the 1959 Kodak Continue reading “Photo Project – Kodak Retina II S, 1959” →
Photo Project – Kodak No 2 Folding Brownie Posted on 20th July 201522nd February 2022 by Laurence I’ve been intending to get back into film photography for a long time. After completing an A Level in photography eight years ago, I rewarded myself with a second hand Digital SLR, and never picked up a film camera again. That has all changed now though. I couldn’t warrant the cost of paying £10-odd a time to get films processed without even getting prints or a CD of them, and especially not knowing whether I would even get any negatives that were anything other than plain black or plain white rectangles, so I duly went and bought all the equipment and chemicals to process them myself. Continue reading “Photo Project – Kodak No 2 Folding Brownie” →
Vintage Camera #3 Posted on 26th May 2012 by Laurence Canon AE-1 Program I’m taking a bit of a liberty calling this camera vintage, it’s not even as old as me…well the one I have isn’t anyway. The AE-1 Program was introduced in 1981 as the successor to the AE-1, its key difference being the ability to set both the shutter speed and aperture automatically. Mine was purchased by my parents in 1983 (no doubt to take embarrassing baby pictures of me), but I first got to know this camera when I began private photography lessons and eventually went on to complete an A Level in photography. I used this camera through most of my A Level studies, developing the films (mainly Ilford HP5, sometimes FP4) and making prints myself. I enjoy using this camera and have achieved some great results with it. I still consider this camera to be a suitable backup camera if I do any commercial work. Below is the camera and a few samples of images taken with it, the first films I developed and printed myself.
Vintage Camera #2 Posted on 30th April 201212th April 2020 by Laurence Kodak Retina IIs The second in my series of posts about vintage cameras is a Kodak Retina IIs. It was produced between 1959 and 1960, and has a Xenar 45mm f2.8 lens with a Synchro-Compur shutter. Around 20,000 of these cameras were made in its short production life. This camera is known as a Coupled Rangefinder camera, which essentially means that when you look through the viewfinder you see two images from different lenses, by adjusting the focus, it brings the two images into line to create a single sharp view in the camera. Being coupled, it means you can read the distance from a wheel around the lens. Kodak Retina II S The camera uses 135 film, the standard 35mm film. It was somewhat easier to get this camera working, and I’ve now got an Ilford HP5 film in it and have started carrying it around with me, so the results of this should be published very soon.
Vintage Camera #1 Posted on 19th March 201212th April 2020 by Laurence Kodak No. 2 Folding Autographic Brownie I have gained a number of old cameras from various sources, so I thought I’d write a short series of posts, each highlighting them, and maybe I will be able to inspire others to do the same. Continue reading “Vintage Camera #1” →
