Kodak 127 Baby Brownie

[greg_nixon2]

<p>I was gifted this Camera a year or so, and now want to take some photos with it. The shutter speed and aperture are fixed, so can anyone suggest the film speed that was used back in the day.<br>

I have Efke 127 R100 and Efke 120 R25 which I could slit to 127 width.</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[dhbebb]

<p>This camera looks like 1930s. Its exposure is probably something like 1/30 at F11. The most popular snapshot films of the time were orthochromatic (non-red-sensitive), such as Kodak Verichrome or Ilford Selochrome. These would have been rated at something like ISO 40. After World War II, these films were replaced by panchromatic versions (Kodak Verichrome Pan or Ilford Selochrome Pan), which at the time would have been rated something like ISO 64 (same as modern ISO 125, since there was a built-in two times safety factor). R100 film would be a good choice, particularly as this is an old-technology film with more exposure latitude. <br>

It looks as if the lens of your camera could do with cleaning (!).</p>

[colin carron]

<p>You have the earlier Baby Brownie with the folding frame finder of 1934-41. A bit later, 1938-54, it became the Baby Brownie <em>Special</em> with a rigid optical viewfinder as in the picture below (apologies for poor quaiity!). The shutter speed of most of these simple box cameras can be taken as about 1/40th second and the aperture is f/11. It is set to focus 5ft to infinity.<br /> So applying the Sunny 16 rule then the aperture and shutter speed are right for sunny conditions at ISO 64 or 100 and for cloudy, duller conditions for ISO 400. Probably ISO 400 was not so readily available in the 1930's.<br /> I would go with David's recommendations of the non-red sensitive films if you can get them but if not then try to keep the red window away from the light as far as possible.<br /> I like the art deco design of these cameras which was by the industrial designer and architect Walter Dorwin Teague</p><div></div>

[john_shriver]

<p>The R100 is what you want to use. Unless you're shooting in bright sun at the beach, then maybe you could adequately expose the R25, but even that might be a bit underexposed.</p>

[Mike Gammill]

With the R100 you could also use a light yellow filter to bring out the clouds and to reduce light slightly if you get

overexposure in bright sunlight. Be sure and post results.

[User_502260]

<p>I recently bought bulk rolls of 46mm wide Ilford HP5+ through Ilford's ULF [ultra Large Format] program. I plan to spool it into 127 rolls with re-used spools and backing paper. </p>

[glen_h]

<p>Manual is: http://www.cameramanuals.org/kodak_pdf/kodak_baby_brownie.pdf</p>

<p>Suggests V127 or PX127 for daylight, XX127 (double X) for indoors with floodlights.<br>

They specifically don't recommend XX for outdoor sunny day photography.</p>

<p>In current ASA units, XX127 is 250, and PX127 is 125. If the scene isn't too contrasty, most films will have enough latitude, except for slide films, and I presume you weren't planning to try that.</p>

<p>V127 is orthochromatic, and I don't know how it comes out in ASA.</p>

[Mike Gammill]

<p>I think the old ortho Verichrome was ASA 50 in its day. With the reduction of safety factor in ASA ratings (later called ISO) in 1960 we would rate the film as ASA 100. I think Rollei still offers an orthochromatic film but its ISO is 25.</p>

 

[donald_miller5]

<p>I have been cutting 120 film (asa 100) to 127 size and respooling it. If you cut the right end the number for the frames match up in the window. I think that the brownies I used were set up for ASA 60 but Ektar has a lot of latitude and my photos came out fine. </p>

[greg_nixon2]

<p>Thanks everyone for your replies. I think I'll go for R100, I have one roll in the fridge wanting to come out. Sunny 16 is not hard to achieve here, except for the today, where its raining and overcast.<br>

I did have a look around for ortho film but its mainly asa 25. I'll venture out tomorrow and see what we can come up with.<br>

Cheers</p>

[dhbebb]

<p>I agree that ISO 100 film is a more practical proposition, just be sure not to let direct sunlight fall on the red window at any time. Make sure you hold the camera in body shadow to wind the film. One slightly less well-known fact is that simple lenses take sharper pictures with ortho film - this is because they suffer from chromatic aberration or the inability to focus light of different colours to the same point. The focus of box cameras was optimised for the middle of the blue/green range – if your film is sensitive only to this, lens performance will be better. On the other hand, ISO 25 is rather slow, and the emulsion is probably a thin one, optimised for sharpness at the expense of exposure latitude.</p>

[greg_nixon2]

<p>This has been an informative post for me. I wasn't aware of the film speed shift, but now that its been mentioned, I have spent some time looking at the exposure guide on the back on some Tourists that I have and wondered why the sunny 16 rule didn't apply.There is other Kodak documentation where the same thing happened.<br>

R100 is way overexposed, 50 would have bee about right, asa25 is quite usable down here, especially on sunny days. I had heard of chromatic aberration, but dismissed it for B&W film, but I have been corrected.<br>

The shots were over exposed, out of focus and with a bad light leak. I will fix these problems and venture out at a future date.<br>

Cheers</p>