New old cameras

My acquisition of cameras has slowed considerably over the past year, but I did get a couple recently which had

prices I couldn't resist. They are a <a href="http://mconnealy.com/vintagecameras/fed3/index.html"

target="new">FED 3</a> and a <a href="http://mconnealy.com/vintagecameras/autowide/index.html"

target="new">Minolta Autowide</a>. Clicking the links leads to pages about the cameras on my vintage cameras site

with some discussion and sample photos. <br>

    I have also gotten around finally to documenting a couple of my favorite old folders, an <a

href="http://mconnealy.com/vintagecameras/ikontab/index.html" target="new">Ikonta B (521/16)</a> and a <a

href="http://mconnealy.com/vintagecameras/brownie/index.html" target="new">Kodak No.2 Folding Autographic

Brownie</a>. I think some people may be surprised to learn which one of my old cameras I feel has contributed

the most to my development as a photographer.

Nice job of showing especially the Fed 3 to best advantage.

I concur. You have done a really nice job in your descriptions and in your sample photos.

 

You make me want to buy a Fed 3.

Very beautiful assortment of cameras. I too have recently acquired a Zorki 4 with the Jupiter-8 f2 50 mm lens.

I am currently waiting for my special order B&W 40.5 mm rubber lens hood.

Good work Mike. Very nice black and whites from that Autographic.<br>

I recently got a broken No 1 Autographic Special Model B (someone smashed the bakelite base trying to open it, the vandal) for £1 with a perfect working Bausch and Lomb lens in a Wollensack Optima No. 1 shutter, 1sec to 300th + T and B. I am inspired to find another cheap 6x9 folder to switch this lens onto, to try it out having seen your results. Yet another project; sigh.<br>

I am also, like yourself in the process of documenting my ever-changing collection in the form of a series of web pages. This is a long term commitment however. It is very time consuming as you will already know and when you only have weekends and evenings there are always other things to do. Realistically I reckon about 2 or 3 more years as long as I buy no more cameras!!. Some hope.<b> ; ) </b><br>

Still, better to be too busy than bored and like you I keep adding pages as time allows.

That's interesting about the No.1 Special. I just noticed one on ebay going for a song because of a crack in the bakelite. I was very tempted to get it just to see if some judicious use of superglue would make it usable again. Then, I got to thinking (luckily) that I already have a No.1 Autographic Special in fine shape, and if I got another, I'd just shoot it less rather than more. However, if you don't have one, do persevere in getting a working one as that Tessar is fantastic, and the camera is definitely one of the most interesting that Kodak ever put together. The bakelite is wonderfully patterned, and as I mentioned in <a href="http://mconnealy.com/vintagecameras/no1special/index.html" target="new">my page on it</a>, people probably saw the recently introduced plastic at the time in somewhat the same way we now look at exotic new materials used in space-age applications. I think it was John Shriver who pointed out that the leather covering on the camera is probably sealskin -- something you don't see every day. In spite of the rather extraordinary features of the camera, they often seem to go for very little.

<br>     In my experience, all the old Kodak folders are greatly undervalued; some European collectors are venomous in their comments about them, I can only assumed because they haven't tried the cameras. I finally got around eventually to shooting one model with the simplest meniscus lens and was very surprised to find that it was capable of making exceedingly nice images.

Exellent Mike!!!

Your photos ever has been the motive for to buy classic cameras and use them all the time. I recently bought an Ikonta

520/16 from 1937 and soon I'm going to share some B/W images. I would like to go now for a Nº2 Autographic. I'm going to

need your help.

Kind Regards,

Carlos

Thanks for that very nice note, Carlos. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with the Ikonta B.

Great photos, great cameras Mike, keep up the good work. I really love that little Minolta!

 

Tony

Mike,

 

Thanks for this interesting, well-written and nicely-photographed post. The Fed-3 images fascinate me, especially the 4th. The colors are outstanding in their saturation.

 

Your Kodak No.2 certainly produces seductive images. Lots of things have changed in photography in the last 90 years, but the old timers certainly had the means to produce quality images with simple equipment.

 

It's a year this weekend since the family and I dropped in on you. Hope to see you again before another year goes by.

 

Best regards,

Dennis

Hey, Dennis, drop by any time; were almost neighbors now, right?

Sold my 4wd and bought a bicycle. Hoping to spend less time on the computer and more on the street with the cameras. Still close to some good desert and wilderness areas, but no more rattlers at the door.