micah_henry

Justin,

If you're a Brownie-phile, then get thee a Six-20 Portrait Brownie:

http://members.home.nl/brownies/six_20_portrait_brownie.htm

But you will need to re-roll 120 film onto 620 spools, of course.

If that's too much work, get a No. 2 Portrait Brownie, which is said to take 120 film directly...

http://www.nwmangum.com/Kodak/No2PB-2.html

My disclaimer: I have no experience with either of these cameras.

--Micah in NC

Ginnie,

This isn't a Brownie question, but here's an answer anyhow...

Your camera (I assume it is a "Polaroid" 440, right?) is not worth a whole lot, unfortunately. See the very informative Land List website:

http://www.rwhirled.com/landlist/landfaq.htm#1.3

Good news is, you can still buy, brand-new, the batteries and film for the camera, if not flashcubes. Polaroid instant pack film is what you need and there are several emulsions, both black-and-white or color types, from ASA 75 up to 3000 (yes, three thousand!).

You can use some of these pack films to do neat alternative photo stuff, like emulsion transfers.

Read all about the films here:

http://www.polaroid.com/products/product_list.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302028649&bmLocale=en_US&sc=Packfilm

and emulsion lifts/transfers:

http://www.polaroid.com/prophoto/sorter.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302023766

I hope that helps you!

--Micah in NC

Folks,

I'm guilty of collecting other things besides the 50+ mostly-working old cameras I've amassed. I collected coins in my childhood (not rare ones, just U.S. cents, nickels, dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and Susan B. Anthony dollars with the odd Morgan dollar thrown in). My bookshelves have 20 or so Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason mysteries, hardcover, early editions. I have a couple collections of Sherlock Holmes stories. I have an old Elgin pocketwatch c. 1901, a 1940's Waltham wristwatch, and a 1960s Gruen wristwatch all in need of some repair (the Waltham only needs a band and a crystal). Classic cars have I none, but I do have my great-grandfather's 1973 Honda Trail 90 motorcycle (2-speed transfer case) which can climb a tree and is a classic in my book! You can't buy an off-road motorcycle with metal fenders anymore...

--Micah in NC

Daniel,

I recently developed an OLD roll of Agfa Isopan ISS (DIN 21) film. It was a Minox (8x11mm) cartridge, but that's not the point of my post.

The results were very acceptable (to me) though grain was inevitable due to my choice of developer, D-76, and the small format of the film. I put a link to my results in my post about this roll over on the Classic Cameras forum: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00F9RR&tag=

How did I guess at a developing time? I didn't. I used a technique found in Aaron Sussman's book, The Amateur Photographer's Handbook.

In the book, he says to determine developing time for old film or old

developer, snip off a small strip of film which has been exposed to

white light (such as interior room lighting, not sunlight and I'll say why not in a second). Start a stopwatch and suspend the film strip halfway in the developer, leaving the other part sticking up out of the developer. Make sure developer solution is at the temperature at which you intend to develop the film. When the first visible darkening occurs, stop the clock. That time should be multiplied by 20 (e.g. -- if the time is 30 seconds, 30 sec. x 20 = 600 sec. or 10 minutes).

That's how I determined my developing time of 20 minutes (test showed

about 60 seconds to first visible darkening of film strip). I actually had to test two strips because the first strip I ruined the test--pulling the strip up every few seconds to see if there was darkening.

It is easy to get a piece of test strip from the area of the film near the taped-on portion (whether 35mm or 120 roll film).

I hope that helps!

--Micah in NC

Craig,

Hey, I'm impressed, too. I have a little XA and, for some odd reason, I have only shot color film in it. Print film at that! I need to feed it some Plus-X and Tri-X and "see what develops" (groan). ;-)

Thanks for sharing these wonderful airplane images.

--Micah in NC

Patrick,

The speed rating on the film wrapping paper was ASA 80, but the cartridges were stamped 21ﾰ DIN, which is ISO 100 in modern day, so you're in the right neighborhood. I tried to shoot most frames at ASA 80 with the still-working Minox light meter (not shown) which came with my III-S camera.

I find I get some grain--not unacceptable amounts--when using ASA 100 or 125 films in the Minox cameras. There's more grain visible with film like Kodak Plus-X than with Delta 100 due to T-grain technology and all that, but some shots benefit from the Plus-X look (think Tri-X look if thought of in 35mm terms). But with busy subjects such as the Snowy Woods picture, the Isopan ISS grain is hardly visible unless you hunt for it.

--Micah in NC

To everyone who posted:

I am amazed by the feedback here. Thanks for all the wonderful comments. These cameras are not only nice to look at, they're easy to use, weigh nearly nothing, and are great conversation starters, to boot!

Like someone said of another pastime: it takes a day to learn and a lifetime to master. (And I'm NOT a Minox master by any means.) It's challenging to extract 5x7" or larger prints from a negative the size of one's pinky fingernail!!!

Rob: you're right. I think the pooch was dazzled by all the strobe-firing that night, poor guy.

Jeff: I'm sad to hear that you have decided to let go of your Minox equipment. I know what you mean about really wanting to make Minox photos. I have about 8 cartridges of exposed, undeveloped Minox film lying about the house, most of them exposed BEFORE this roll! I was more curious about how this old film would fare than I was about the new film I had shot (Ilford Delta 100 and Kodak Plus-X, mainly), so my other rolls didn't get processed in the order they were exposed.

--Micah in NC

Folks,

I have been inspired by Gene, Dean, and all the folks here on this

forum and decided to try my hand at using and developing old B&W

film. I put a little twist on the idea by using my oldest Minox,

circa 1956 Minox III-S, and some long-expired Agfa Isopan ISS film.

Here's the results: http://www.wilkes.net/~saabman84/Argus/Minox1.htm

Let me know what you think!

Thanks,

Micah in NC

John A.,

I haven't used their facilities, but Film For Classics up in New York State http://www.filmforclassics.com/ will process some hard-to-find films and even supplies some new films in the older formats.

Click on the link above and when their site appears, choose "Order Form" in the left-hand navigation panel. Scrolling down, it says under a heading "Processing Custom Spooled Film" that 101, 103, 116, 122, 124, and 616 film, 6 exposures, are developed and contact-printed for $20 a roll.

Another (new) film source is Central Camera in Chicago, Ill. http://www.central-camera.com/films4classics.asp but they list 122 film at a whopping $30.95 a roll!

--Micah in NC

Harold,

The PX28A 6.0 volt alkaline cells are fine if you have a spacer, like the others have mentioned and like it appears the previous owner devised. (I use PX28A and spacers, too.)

But if you'd like a neater solution to the PX32 5.6 Volt Mercury Cell Problem for these Yashicas, try http://www.photobattery.com/PX32.html because they stock an alkaline replacement. I have not tried it, however. But these Yashicas will work on 4-6 volts, I've read, so the voltage difference should not matter to exposure metering, etc. (But the PX28A and spacers are cheaper!)

--Micah in NC

Gene,

As always, very nice work. It's amazing what you can squeeze out of these boxes!

I've got a Sears Tower box camera that I inherited from my great-grandmother, still in original box. That specimen is metal--built like a tank--and gives 2 1/4 by 3 1/4 inch images (none of them there metric measurements for mah American camera, pleeze!) on 120 film. ;-)

I need to drag out that box and run a roll of film through it!

That sheep shot just goes to show you that rules are made to be broken, at least every once in a while.

--Micah in NC

Gene,

Nice work! Love that old drive-in.

I have seen these Baby Brownies in antique stores and have passed them up because I don't ever use 127 film. Seems like I made a bad move! Next one I see, I'm gonna "adopt" (if the price is right).

--Micah in NC

Barry,

If this picture was taken on a sunny day or even an overcast day, then 3 seconds was WAAAAY too long for the exposure with ISO 400 film.

Most box cameras have an aperture of f/11 or so and shutter speed of 1/25 to 1/50 second. Those cameras with three stops are probably f/11, f/16, and f/22 (that's a guess). So, on a sunny day, I would use the middle or smallest aperture and ISO 100 film. Use middle stop for partly cloudy day and largest stop for overcast days, still with 100 speed film.

You stated you used the smallest aperture (say f/22 approx.) and 3 second exposure, so IF this was a sunny day, the 400 speed film would have been overexposed by 9-10 f/stops. However, this is a wild guess on my part because you didn't state how the scene was lit (i.e. indoor or out, sunny, cloudy, nighttime, etc).

Also, make sure the shutter isn't hanging open. These cameras are old and might have been neglected but are fairly simple and easy to clean (but I'm not familiar with the No. 2, just the Brownie Hawkeye).

Another point to consider is the red window for reading film numbers. If it's missing, that's a problem. Tape a piece of red acetate or part of an old army flashlight's red lens on the inside of the film door as a quick replacement. If's the red window is intact, there could be considerable fading (i.e. window appears orange or pink, not deep red) and that could leak light onto the film. In this case, cover the red window with a piece of opaque tape as a "shutter" for the film number window when not winding film. Gaffer's tape or black electrical tape would work, but not duct tape as it's unlikely you'll remove it without damage to the camera's finish.

Is this your camera?

http://www.brownie-camera.com/manuals/no2andno2ab/index.shtml

That link provides an online owner's manual for the Model 2 and 2A Brownies.

You mentioned yours is a No. 2A, but those took 616 film, not 620. The No. 2 (no letter suffix) used 620 film.

I hope this helps!

--Micah in NC

Rob,

There's good and bad news.

Bad news: this model takes instant rollfilm, no longer made by Polaroid (last manufactured in the early 1990s, I think).

Good news: people have tried and been successful with using 120 roll films in some of the rollfilm Polaroids (though that isn't instant photography) or converting them to use Polaroid packfilm.

The Land List at http://www.rwhirled.com/landlist/landhome.htm has good info on all things Polaroid.

Here's info on converting the 800 and others to instant packfilm:

http://www.rwhirled.com/landlist/how2-packconv.htm

And another page, this time on other films: http://www.rwhirled.com/landlist/how2-rollalt.htm

--Micah in NC

Gene,

Genius. Simply genius. I never knew Mass. could be so beautiful until I saw your series of photos. Of this Scout set, the last one captured my heart. But all of them are wonderful.

I need to try to travel up the Eastern Seaboard sometime.

--Micah in NC

James,

The battery is a separate item. I think you can also get them directly from Polaroid at 1-800-343-5000.

Here is some info on the 210: http://www.rwhirled.com/landlist/landdcam-pack.htm#210

--Micah in NC

Chris,

That's an easy one:

Brownie Hawkeye = 620 roll film (same film size as 120 film; 120 works in some Brownie Hawkeye supply chambers if a 620 spool is used in take-up chamber). Reference site for Kodak cameras & film types used in them is: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/products/techInfo/aa13/aa13.shtml

The Starflash and the Starlet both use 127 roll film.

Both film types are available online from J&C Photo, www.jandcphotography.com and a few other retailers.

--Micah in NC

Daniel,

Hi. I found this info on the British F. & S. Marriott website, located at http://www.marriottworld.com/pieces/pieces33.htm

"The Iloca Automatic is another camera dating from about 1958. It was made with several different lenses including a Rodenstock Ysarex 50 mm. f/2.8 lens, Cassarit f/2.8 50 mm. lens and Heligon f/2 50 mm. lens. It was fitted with a Compur-Rapid or a Synchro-Compur shutter. The camera has coupled match-needle metering and a coupled rangefinder.It was also sold as the Photix Automatic (but not, as far as I can see, in the UK). Fitted with the Rodenstock Ysarex lens, it cost ?52 6s. 2d. in 1959. It does not appear to have been sold in the UK after 1959."

That's about all I could find on Google that was pertinent.

--Micah in NC

Don,

Hi. I only have one Yashica M42 SLR, the Yashica J-5. It has a CdS meter (external, not TTL) and no flash shoe. I posted some results from my camera on a webpage several months ago, if you're interested, along with a short list of camera features:

http://www.wilkes.net/~saabman84/Argus/YashicaJ5.htm

It was an impulse buy in a local pawn shop, cost $35. I put in a 625 battery and it was in business! However, the focusing screen on mine is kinda dark, and I think that model doesn't have a split-image focus aid in the middle of the screen, just a microprism center spot. The original chrome 50/1.8 had sticky aperture blades but I got a replacement 50/1.8 in black finish from eBay for $10 or so.

--Micah in NC

Gene,

I am stunned by the wonderful birch tree picture! I literally gasped when I saw it. Been awhile since that happened.

I have an old Argus 40 and after I try coaxing the shutter to working (round deux), I hope to try dreamy images with the 40.

As always, excellent work.

--Micah in NC

Trent,

I would advise against putting fluid in the air release hose. Sounds like an invitation to disaster.

I'm wondering if the shutter release linkage is bent and/or binding. Are you using the cable release on the shutter housing or the threaded hole in the body shutter release button? If there is a hole for the cable release on the shutter housing itself, you might want to try the cable release there and see if that makes any difference.

(I have a Mockba 5 camera, but it's at home and I'm at work right now, so I can't look to see if it even has a hole on the shutter housing for cable release. The body shutter release button might be the only threaded hole for using a cable release.)

--Micah in NC

Stephen,

Hi there. It's good to see another person interested in Minox cameras. The more, the merrier!

I'll try to answer what questions I can (I do not own a Minox Classic series camera, so I can't comment on their use).

1) It is my understanding the aperture is fixed at f/5.6.

2) All the Minopan B&W films are Agfa films, cut and repacked into Minox cartridges by Minox.

3) I do not know.

4) I routinely use a Minox B and C, the metal-bodied Minox cameras. I also have a IIIs and the plastic-bodied, fixed-focus EC and ECX. All are quality shooters. The metal Minox cameras focus from infinity down to 8" while the EC and ECX are sort of point-n-shoot, with auto exposure and focus set at about 2 meters (6.5 feet or so), with f/5.6 fixed aperure allowing depth-of-field to give reasonable sharpness from 3 feet to infinity.

5) The Minox cartridge is like a mini-110 cartridge, in a way, but without backing paper. there is no rewinding after you finish film in a Minox 8x11 camera. Yes, the cartridges are reusable if you develop your own film and save the cassette. Minox Labs does not return the cassette to you, but will sell you empty cartridges. I routinely reuse my Minox cartridges (reload them). Film info is available on the Minox Processing Labs site http://minoxusa.xxs3.de/minox2002usa/shop/ and click on "Films and Processing" link on left side. They sell B&W films (Minopan) and color (Minocolor). Also, J&C Photography sells Minox films that are being respooled by 8x11film.com at http://www.jandcphotography.com/ and other photo stores carry the Minopan and Minocolor films, too, like B&H Photo in New York. Joe McGloin of Goat Hill Photo at http://www.subclub.org/sponsors/goathil2.htm will sell Minox-size film loads for reloading your own cartridges from just about any type of film.

6) I'm not sure--probably more of these carriers on the market now as several people get away from darkroom use.

7) I think the Minox Lab's processing does a good job, but I prefer to develop my own films (unless I'm using color film, then I send it to MPL).

--Micah in NC

Jamie,

I forgot to mention that I used tape to wrap each stack of four quarters. If you don't do that, they tend to jingle about and can get dropped when you load/unload the camera.

--Micah in NC

Jamie,

I've tried this in my Kodak Monitor Six-16. You can use quarters as spacers, too. I stacked four of them together and placed them below the lower edge (side that NOT next to the film winding shaft) for each spool.

This is only one way--I've seen webpages for other things used as spacers. Here's one page: http://www.geocities.com/brandonshahan/120spacer.html

You might want to check out the bellows for light leaks (in a dark room, put flashlight inside bellows and look at outside of bellows for pinpoints of light), since you mentioned this is a folder. See if your friend will adjust the price accordingly if there are leaks. (Unless it's already dirt cheap anyhow, like less than $10.)

--Micah in NC

Wesley,

Sorry, I don't recall a Jonah Goldwag. I'm more of a photographer on the side--I'm a reporter for a small town newspaper and take pictures for it, too. (No staff photographers.)

This is a neat time to have a large format camera, with fall here and winter coming! I have a few sheets of Kodak E100G 4x5" transparency film to capture fall color...I hope!

--Micah in NC