The KW Patent Etui 9x12 folding camera with 118 roll film holder, 15 April 2024

A rather unusual looking camera arrived in the post today. Actually, it’s two items that have been paired and sold together. The camera is a KW Patent Etui 9×12 folding camera, a beautifully well designed and very thin folding camera compared to the regular 9×12 folders I have seen. Attached to this, instead of a ground glass viewing hood, is a roll film back for 118 format film. I wasn’t…

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The #FrugalFilmProject, April 2024: Another day at the beach with the 1920s Generic Folding Camera

Earlier this month we went to Barra with the 1920s Generic folding camera. There I used my new film holders and made some images at 1/50s with an ND8 filter as I was convinced that the camera was not exposing at the set shutter speed but much slower. Unfortunately, somehow I went the wrong way and the images were still overexposed (though were certainly better and in fact came out a nice pastel…

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Another Folding Camera: A slightly better condition Kodak 1A Autographic Jr, 12 April 2024

Just lately I’ve become fascinated by really vintage folding cameras, by which I mean cameras from the 1920s, if not earlier. My first entry into the world of folding cameras was my Frankencamera, a broken Ihagee Viktor V that I combined with a 1980s Polaroid back to use with Instax Wide film. While this was successful, it was still frustrating that I could only load one Instax Wide film at a…

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The #FrugalFilmProject, April 2024: At the beach with the 1920s Generic Folding Camera

Last month we took the 1920s generic folding camera to Aveiro to photograph some street art. Although I have improved the framing by blocking out part of the ground glass screen with black electrical tape, I’m still having issues with overexposure. Using an aperture reading for 1/100s at ISO 800 and factoring in the change of aperture using the ND4 filter all of the exposures were overexposed and…

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First frames with the Voigtländer Brillant pseudo TLR camera, 31 March 2024

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the Voigtländer Brillant pseudo TLR camera. I had picked up this one from the Kamerastore website for 15€ under their ‘not passed’ category because the slow shutter speed of 1/25s was faulty and the viewfinder doors would not stay closed. From the Brillant’s serial number (E192998) I dated it as being from 1933, ninety-one years old. After a general clean of…

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The Lomo Smena 8M: A Russian 35mm camera from the 1980s, 30 March 2024

About a month ago I picked up a camera on a whim. It was a Lomo Smena 8M, the ninth camera in the Smena range from the Russian company Lomo. I have a few Lomo cameras already, the classic Lomo LC-A, the stereo Lomo Sputnik, and the Lomo Symbol, which I don’t think I’ve ever used. I picked this one because it has a really well-regarded lens, the classic Triplet T-43 4/40 lens which I have seen…

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A step too far? The Ensign Ensignette No. 1, 28 Mar 2024

A couple of weeks ago I posted on social media that now I have the Polaroid Big Shot there’s no other cameras that I really need. And then I came across what is undeniably the oldest camera in my collection, the Ensign Ensignette No. 1. Definitely falling under the Kamerastore’s ‘not passed’ category, the body is worn, the insides are full of rust, dirt and fungus and the bellows have large holes…

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Walking the dogs: Street Photography and ICM, 25 March 2024

I was in Aveiro the other day picking up my negatives from the Voigtländer Brillant and Smena 8M (which turned out to be fabulous, as it happens). I took the Canon Powershot A720 with me, which is my favourite digicam for intentional camera movement, and on the way back to the station caught up with this chap walking his dogs. Normally the camera would be switched to black and white mode for my…

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Using Fujifilm Instax Wide film with the Polaroid Big Shot, 23 March 2024

A week or so ago I came across a Polaroid Big Shot on eBay. This isn’t that unusual, but normally the Big Shots are from the US and after taking into account postage and customs charges can be prohibitve. This one was in Europe and, at the time, was a reasonable 50€ plus postage. I kept an eye on it for a few days and as the deadline approached the price started to go up. I added a couple of…

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Out with an (allegedly) 8MP digital camera: Digital Aerochromes and Street Art, 12 March 2024

The CEX website is usually an excellent resource for cheap digicams from the noughties and occasionally they have some real bargains so I’m always keeping an eye out. Just lately, though, instead of decent brands like older versions of Canon, Fuji, etc. they’ve been receiving more cheaper end, generic digicams like this Genius 8MP digital camera. I’m not really familiar with Genius as a camera…

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Out with a Circuit-bent Toy Digital Camera, 14 March 2024

This morning I took the circuit-bent toy camera from Freedom Enterprise out for some fun. I also tried some of the inbuilt optical distortion filters. Trippy.

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The #FrugalFilmProject, March 2024: In Aveiro with the 1920s Generic Folding Camera

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It's #flyday Friday, 15 March 2024

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A Sudden Attack of GAS:The Voigtländer Brillant pseudo TLR camera, 03 March 2024

I feel that I’m reaching GAS saturation point. I have most of the film cameras on my wish list now, and although I’m always on the lookout for some interesting noughties digicams I’m nearly there with digital cameras too. But sometimes … sometimes I come across a camera that calls out to me and I think, ‘I have to get that’. And so it was that I was on the Kamerastore website recently and came…

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The #FrugalFilmProject, February 2024 (Part Two): Using Neutral Density Filters with the 1920s Generic Folding Camera

Earlier this month I described how I was using the guides drawn on the ground glass by a previous owner of the 1920s generic folding camera to frame images on Instax Wide film. I also realised that on bright sunny days the camera would not stop down enough so that images were properly exposed, the film was just too sensitive, and I thought that it might be a good idea to use neutral density…

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Using 1970s Pentax Auto 110 lenses with a micro four-thirds mirrorless camera, 18 February 2024

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Pole-arity with a Circuit-bent Toy Digital Camera, 17 February 2024

This afternoon I took the circuit-bent toy camera out for some Pole-arity with the local telegraph poles. I also tried to use some of the inbuilt filters with the camera. Although the colour filters worked nicely, the optical distortion filters didn’t work so well. However, I do have a sneaky plan for later with some optical distortion filters and my homemade Deakinizer.  If you are on Mastodon,…

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