Kodak Brownie Flash II
I promised you the results of shooting with the Kodak Brownie...so, being good to my word, here goes!
Background
I bought this camera in a shop in Helmsley, North Yorkshire a few years ago...more as a curio than something I was going to use...and it has sat in my camera display cabinet since then.
Every so often, I would get it out and try and work out how I could use it; ranging from buying 620 film to putting a digital camera inside (maybe using one of the Raspberry Pi computers I have hanging around).
Eventually, I decided to get some 3d printed adapters for 35mm film and try that out.
How Do I?
So having got the 35mm to 620 adapters, it was a question of how do I shoot with the camera.
Instead of putting a few long paragraphs of description, I'll summarise for your sanity: -
I worked out that it took six half turns of the film advance knob to get onto the next frame.
I needed to tape the film leader to the 620 film take-on spool, otherwise it wouldn't wind the film on successfully (most of the time the film leader slipped off the spool).
I needed 100 ISO film to match the sort of film speed this camera was initially intended to shoot with.
The shutter speed is around 1/50th second with a fixed F11-ish aperture.
Recommended shooting time is between an hour after sun-up and an hour before sun-down.
Bright scenes are best.
Issues
Summarising: -
Framing is almost impossible...it is a guessing game!
Winding the 35mm film on is a disconcerting experience. The feedback from the camera is, quite frankly, rubbish.
Knowing when the film is finished is tough...a few times, I thought I had exposed the film to the end of roll but could sort of wind it on more.
I was worried about snapping the film out of the canister when I got near the end of the 36 exposure roll.
You need to open the camera to release the film winding mechanism and rewind the film into the canister. The winder doesn't go 'backwards'.
Sitting on a hot summer's day in the shade on a wall, with your hands under a coat and inside a bag...quite frankly draws attention! It looks weird and gets you looks (I had someone approach me and ask if I was alright!).
You will get fingermarks and light leaks onto the film as you rewind if you don't use a light-proof film bag.
Results
This image is straight out of the camera...apart from scanning and inverting the scan.
So...points to note:
Framing is an issue!
You get around eight panoramic frames to a 36 exposure 35mm film.
The winding of the film introduces movement and the film can become skewed a little, so it is almost impossible to keep the horizon straight!
The light leak on this frame is not from the camera, but from my improvised under-the-coat unloading process.
With this effectively being a fixed exposure 'point and shoot', the image is slightly overexposed - it was a very bright day.
Sharpness for this approximately 65 year-old, fixed focus camera is surprisingly good.
The scan for this frame is around 20,000x6000 pixels. That's a 120 megapixel image.
Colour rendition from the lens is...well...interesting.
Conclusions
Would I shoot with this camera again? The short answer is yes...but taking into account the issues above, I would ensure I tried to mitigate the errors I made.
The downside is framing and I am unsure how that could be improved rather than be just a best guess.
If you have any questions, please get in touch!
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