35mm in a brownie starlet

I am working on making a mod for a brownie starlet

http://personal.redestb.es/yonbeabezunar/camaras/fichas/starlet.htm

I have already figured out a way to use a modern flash with it and

also my wireless trigger to use with strobes. any thoughts on the best

way to make a spool that will take 35mm? it looks like I can dremel

off a small area to make the 35mm spool fit. what I am havin trouble

with is the take up reel. I am thinking I can take apart a 35mm roll

and mod it to fit. any help would be great and I will post a guide

when I finish it !

What film is it intended to take?

 

I've seen kits to use 35mm film in Holgas and other 120-film cameras, and never quite understood the motivation for doing so.

Its intended to take 127. As far as why... why not I mean when do we still use pinholes and film cameras why digital age is taking over. why do pro photographers still play with holgas and dianas now and then. I think it keeps photography fun. My work is primarly digital so to shoot a holga now and then is refreshing. I am also investing in a holga-roid back and the fisheye kit for my holga some would ask why invest over $300 in a camera that only costs $15... well I must say I do love the old style cameras and if it will keep film alive that much longer I am all for it!! But to give you a more technical answer to your question of why I enjoy modding things always have. besides you never know it could turn out to make a few really nice photos.

I haven't seen the starlet,but if it takes a 127 spool,you might be able to do something with an 828(35mm) spool

I guess for me, part of the attraction of using a Holga or some other odd camera is the different film that goes with it. I can see shooting 35mm film in it if the proper film just wasn't available (what is it, 116 that some of those oooold cameras take?) But it looks like you can still get 127 film.

 

My thinking too, is that if you make it so you get a non-standard image size on the 35mm film (IE, 4cm wide or whatever, and exposing the sprocket holes and all), you then lose one of the great advantages of 35mm film, namely, easy processing and printing.

 

Anyway, I sure agree with you that the point of doing all this is to have fun, not some rational assessment of equipment. I just bought a "ShurFlash", 6x9 box camera, and look forward to having some fun with it. Good luck with your project.

If you have a 127 spool with the camera, you could cut it in half and mount it into the ends of a 35 mm cassette spool, with centering to match whatever you can manage by shimming the 35 mm supply cassette in the other well (if in fact you can get a 35 mm casette into a 127 camera at all). Of course, you won't be able to rewind, so you'll need to unload in a darkroom, and you'll have to advance film by counting rotations of the advance knob.

 

You might also look at making the same modification to both supply and takeup wells and working from cassette to cassette; doing so would mean you'd only fog (at worst) the last image when unloading, and if you can bulk load without taping the film to the cassette spool (I've seen 35 mm cassettes with a slot in the spool), you might be able to wind the film completely into the takeup cassette, then turn things over and use the empty cassette to take up the next roll.

 

That would require making a removable adapter from the 127 spool, which isn't impossible at all; you need a fork that will engage the drive tabs inside the 35 mm cassette spool, which in turn will mount to the stub of the 127 spool, and the whole assembly (including shim on the other side) come out the correct length so the 127 spool's drive ratchet engages the camera's film advance.

 

This is actually of some practical value, given that there are some pretty good 127 cameras around, but 127 film is almost gone; the same modification on, say, a Sawyers Mark IV, would yield a very practical and high quality camera, quite different from the normal run of 35 mm.

Hi,

 

Im a newbie at this, a first year photography student and thought I might throw in a suggestion.

 

Im not sure about a starlet, but I have some Kodak Brownie 620s, a junior, as well as a Duaflex which I am about to experiment with

using 35mm film.

 

I found some ready made adapters to convert 620/120 to 35mm.

Basically they are just small pieces of plastic which artificially lengthen the height of the film so they sit correctly in the camera. They

are cylinders with a diameter of about 3-4mm and have a groove cut in one end to sit nicely in the film.

 

I bought them from an ebay store call Ivarton because i am too lazy to make them myself. From memory they are about US$21 a pair.

 

As far as the takeup spool goes; i am doing it the hard way. Since I cant afford one of those dark bags ($55!!) I have practiced unloading

and manually winding the film in a darkened room under a heavy blanket or leather jacket. If you are new to the starlet, I recommend

sacrificing a single roll of film to practice a few times. That way, when it's time to do it for real, you know what you are doing and don't

spoil your hard earned shots.

 

This method is time consuming and limits your sessions, but fortunately since I have a few cameras to work with, I can switch between

them to get a good quantity of shots before having to break.

 

Be interested to hear when you manage to figure out an alternative.

 

As far as why?: Well my attraction to brownies lies in personal, historical and stylistic reasons.

 

Personal; because the Brownie 620 was my grandmas first camera and as such I feel a strong link to it. For this reason, my first shots

will be portraits of her and my mother.

Historical; because as a lover of photography, how could you not be charmed by the camera that changed it all? The one to make

photography accessible and easy?

Stylistically; because I love the effect of the exposure covering the space between the sprocket holes. This of course does make

printing slightly more difficult, but my local prolab said they could do it. Also, I think I have figured out how to alter my uni's film scanner

so that it does not mask the edges. Otherwise, I will experiment with modifying my hi-res flatbed scanner with a secondary light source

to achieve desired results.

 

This is all for a portfolio due next tuesday - so wish me luck!

 

-Lauren

Sorry, they were US$10

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/35mm-to-620-film-adapter-Brownie-Lomo-Redscale-L-

K_W0QQitemZ150300683144QQcmdZViewItem?

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