Favorite camera that takes discontinued (or limited availibility film)

Anyone have a particular favorite or favorites. Working or non-working. Post an image if you have one..

My favorite is my Yashica 44A which takes 127 (officially discontinued, but available in respooled form)

Works great. Currently shooting a roll of Ilford HP5+ (it has Kodacolor II backing paper). Have a roll of Rollei 80S for it as well.

Back in the early 60's or maybe late 50's a photo magazine writer touted 127 as the format of the future.

 

Looking forward to seeing what everyone posts.

Don't have a photo handy, but I have to go with my miniature Speed Graphic.

 

Mine has a spring back, not a Graflok back, which means that I'm pretty well stuck with 2x3 sheets for it. AFAIK, only Foma makes it now although I have some Efke in the freezer.

 

Ilford would PROBABLY make some if I bought enough, but then I don't want to buy that much.

Although it still works with 120 film, my Rapid-Omega 100 would be so much more useful with 220 film.

I recently bought a Kodak Bantam Special, using 828 film. I'd have to say this one is my favorite.

 

 

Kent in SD

The big, brutish Kodak Medalist turns in a superb job, but it requires the rewinding of 120 film onto 620 spools, a task I don't find too onerous.

 

Medalist

 

A quarter-plate Thornton-Pickard "Junior Special" SLR with 6" f/4.5 TT-H Cooke anastigmat lens.

 

The image quality from this near 100 year old beast beats the pants off any modern camera of lesser format dimensions.

 

However I haven't shot with it for years, since the box of quarter plate Royal-X pan sheet film I had went stale.

Edited July 25, 2017 by rodeo_joe|1

Coincidentally, I am just spooling some 828 film for a Bantam and some 127 for a Yashica 44. I have some outdated Konica SR-G160 unperforated 35mm film. Thats already in the camera ready. The biggest decision I have to make is whether to shoot colour or B&W. I have a little slitter that slits 120 down to 127. Also a 100' roll of Portra 100. The colour has to be sent away to a Lab for processing.

Will ordinary 35mm labs do 828? I believe some will do 126.

 

But finding a lab to do 127 might be harder.

 

I have some rolls of C116 that supposedly have been kept cold to try, and a C41 kit to use with them.

 

My favorite is the Autographic 1A Junior, I got from my grandfather when I was 10 years old,

in 1968. Seems to work pretty well still with VP116, I haven't tried the color film.

 

I also have some 70mm Portra 160 to respool and try in it.

Has to be my Kodak Graphic No.0 that I restored last year.

 

http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg143/albums/userpics/10001/Graphic0-09.jpg

 

Takes 121 format film.

 

Luckily the film is the same dimension as 127 format and the spools are similiar to 120 format but shortened.

So I made some myself:

http://www.flibweb.nl/flibweb/cpg143/albums/userpics/10001/Graphic0-08spools.jpg

 

 

I need to take the camera apart again one of these days. Got to fix a broken curtain stay and adjust them a bit. I added a lump on one of the rollers to fix the curtain slit timings, but it gives a weird wobble effect on the exposures. o_O

Glen: I don't know about labs processing 828,126 and 127. If the lab uses roller transport it could be a bit tricky to find one that does the now obsolete film sizes. The Lab that I use has a dip and dunk processor. The film is hung on a gantry and that is lowered so that the film is immersed into the solution. The gantry is raised and moved on tho the next bath. That type of processor can develop almost any film. It doesn't do 70mm on a 116 spool. The film is too long and will hit the bottom of the tanks. Long films need a film hanger so the film can be used in an up/down loop. I made a hanger for 70mm for them.

Good luck with the C41 kit. Do you have reels that will extend out to 70mm?

Last night I failed with respooling 45mm film onto a 127 spool. I had it all neatly spooled and as I was fitting it into the camera the roll slipped and unwound itself.

 

Rick: Nice looking camera. I have seen them before. Its good that you can fudge up some film for it. I look forward to seeing the results from it.

+1 for quarter plate, though I have several cameras for 127. This is my Ensign Special Reflex. Here, it has n 11-inch Ross Telecentric fitted - a short tele. The standard lens is a 6-inch Aldis-Butcher Anastigmat.

 

I have an actual Nikor 116 tank and reel, and even with the loading guide.

I lost the one for my 35mm tank.

(Lost since I haven't used it for about 50 years.)

 

I also have a plastic tank and reel that goes to 116.

I have a Thornton Pickard 1/2 plate camera. I've hunted down some sheet film inserts for the plate holders. The shutter is nearly ready and I got some film for it from a German firm Banse and Grohmann. The size is 4.75 x 6.5" That's a perfect fit for No. 3 Eastman Film Sheath. I have a Pack of 100 ASA and 25 ASA. There is another two packs but I'm not sure what they are for.. I really to get moving and use this stuff before it disintegrates to a soggy mess inside the film fridge.

 

Just finished a roll of 828 respooled with C41 film of doubtful origin.

The good old Yankee Clipper has a notch in it for 127. Yes, it's a crummy tank all around, but I find it useful for oddball sizes.

 

Its construction is also such that it can handle pretty much anything out to 120(it may even have one notch wider-I honestly don't remember). It can go all the way down to 110(16mm). If you need a format that the reel doesn't officially support, just work the spool into the right position and you can file a notch in the center spindle so that it "clicks" there.

 

Granted, for some oddball "larger than 120" rollfilm sizes, I just drop in a 2x3 sheet. Yes, you only get one shot and have to load/unload in the dark, but at least you can play with the camera.

I've done that before, Ben. I recall shoot a couple of pieces of slightly trimmed 4x5 in an old Polaroid 150.

I've been sending my 4x5 & 5x7 sheets to Citizens Photo in Portland, OR. They said they can also do my oddball film sizes as well since they use dip & dunk. They are easy to deal with.

 

 

Kent in SD

I just do my 4x5 film in trays in total darkness since I don't use that much. Thinking about mixing up my last bag of DK-50 for the next time I have more than just a few.

The Tourist 620 is also one that doesn't take 120 spools (imo). Of course you can grind the heck out of the camera - to make it fit, but I don't care to go that route; rewinding 120 onto 620 spools only takes about 5 minutes; (I've got 5 minutes).

There is a Yankee Clipper and Yankee Clipper II. Only the II goes down to 16mm (with a notch).

 

The II was my first tank, 50 years ago. I did have a roll or two of 110 film in it.

 

The original (not II) goes from 35mm to 116.

 

It looks like the II is still available new. The original, I suspect, went out of production decades ago.

Talking about Yankee reminds me of Yankee trays, which I still have my first 5x7, and not much later 8x10 trays.

(That is, 50 years, and maybe 49 years old.)

 

I don't have my original Yankee Clipper II, though, but another bought on eBay.

We never had any Yankee Clipper tanks, but before my dad and I started using stainless steel reels and tanks we used the GAF plastic tanks with adjustable reels. Still have a couple. The reels are notched at 35mm, 127, and 120. The rod had a built in thermometer.

Here's a little camera I should use more, the Minolta 24 Rapid. Loading the Rapid cassettes is really no big deal,and the camera with it's 32mm Rokkor f/2.8 lens takes very nice pictures, indeed.

 

Minolta 24 Rapid

 

We never had any Yankee Clipper tanks, but before my dad and I started using stainless steel reels and tanks we used the GAF plastic tanks with adjustable reels. Still have a couple. The reels are notched at 35mm, 127, and 120. The rod had a built in thermometer.

 

GAF DEVELOPING TANK & REEL W/THERMOMETER & BOX | eBay

 

looks amazingly close to the Yankee tank, even the clear plastic for reversal exposure.

 

The same stir thermometer, too. Other than not doing 16mm, it has three pour out spouts instead of two.

 

Yankee Clipper II Daylight Film Developing Tank

 

The other plastic tank that I have, and that does 116, has a metal hook in the center, for either inside out (like metal reels) or outside in (like most plastic tanks) loading.

I stand corrected on the plastic tanks. I did find in a box a Yankee Clipper tank with adjustable reel, but the stirring rod is missing. I have no idea when it was purchased. I wonder if Ansco/GAF copied the design?

Oh, it would have to be one of my cameras that takes 122 film. Either the 3A Panoram, or a 3A Special with rangefinder and Tessar lens. Still struggling to get the rangefinders accurately calibrated. But I love the large format film on a roll, and it's easy to process on the appropriate Nikor reel. I'd sure like to have Portra 400 in 122 size!