Eric Gibson
master brummie
I acquired a couple of Russian cameras and sold them at a profit when film was still in fashion. 'Zenit' if I remember correctly
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Film cameras
- Thread starter john knight
- Start date
oldbrit
OldBrit in Exile
Kodak Brownie was all we used in the 1950s I still. have a Canon tele lens etc. One big problem I do have is that we took in the 60s 70s etc a lot of SLIDES loved to spend hours playing them on the round cartridges on the wall at home at night. Now we have to have them converted to PC discs a real pain
devonjim
master brummie
This story has a tenuous Birmingham connection!
Being somewhat ham fisted I enjoy watching the TV programme "The Repair Shop". I greatly admire the skills of the craftsmen and women. I have owned cameras for nigh on seventy years but until today I had never heard of a Telephot Button Camera. This evening's programme featured such a camera made at the beginning of the C20 which had been used by a street photographer on the Lickey Hills (the Birmingham connection). The camera had been made in Blackpool by The British Ferrotypie Co.
Not even sure if this qualifies as a film camera as it produces the image as a positive and so reversed.
Being somewhat ham fisted I enjoy watching the TV programme "The Repair Shop". I greatly admire the skills of the craftsmen and women. I have owned cameras for nigh on seventy years but until today I had never heard of a Telephot Button Camera. This evening's programme featured such a camera made at the beginning of the C20 which had been used by a street photographer on the Lickey Hills (the Birmingham connection). The camera had been made in Blackpool by The British Ferrotypie Co.
Not even sure if this qualifies as a film camera as it produces the image as a positive and so reversed.
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Never heard of them before, but they sound fascinating, though, as they apparently were made in Holland, they have even less to do with birmingham
devonjim
master brummie
Thanks for the link. The camera on TV prog was brass not nickel. Note no timer for the shutter, stays open as long as bulb is compressed.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
One useful thing with smartphone cameras is ... if you are in an airliner about to crash you can video it.
A large flock of seagulls hit the aircraft and caused both engines to fail shortly after take off from Moscow.
Source
Showing more videos ...
A large flock of seagulls hit the aircraft and caused both engines to fail shortly after take off from Moscow.
Source
Radiorails
master brummie
mbenne
master brummie
This was the Golden Hind on Sunday (Replica No.2 below). The first replica I remember seeing was in the 60s while on holiday with my Mom and Dad. This was originally made for TV and featured in the 1960s TV series Sir Francis Drake. (A very memorable series for me - Mom always bought my school shirts a couple of sizes too big (to grow into) so I had very baggy sleeves which I thought looked rather like Captain Drakes!). Happy days!
In the 60s a larger than life character paraded Brixham town as Captain Drake (in summer at least), he lived the part as he spent most of his time on board and would roam the streets at at all hours dressed in sea boots, sword strapped to his waist wearing a jacket made of the brightest red and green leather. He was addressed by everyone as Cap'n, even my Dad, which made me cringe. I went went aboard with my Dad on one occasion and the 'Captain' was sitting on deck tapping oakum into the decking with a hammer and chisel, which he described as caulking. After the demonstration he took us down below and showed us around and brought our attention to an unusual feature in the hold - a prop shaft! This he told us was originally attached to an engine which conveniently manoeuvred the ship around during filming, being easier than using sail to position the ship. Years later, around 1988, we took our eldest son to Brixham but the ship was no longer there. By now it was partially submerged and attached to a buoy in Dartmouth Harbour, having sunk when being taken for a refit in 1987. It was after this that replica 2 was built as Radiorails mentioned. In the harbour it still looks the part but for me it has lost a lot of the original detail, particularly below the water line and......spot the Hind on the bow!
It was put up for sale in 2018 and there were rumours about it being moved to Plymouth - there was also an offer from San Francisco. Having now been bought by a local resident it is to remain in Brixham as a condition of sale.
First episode of Sir Francis Drake -
Pictures, Golden Hind 1968, Dartmouth 1987, and March 2020
mw0njm.
A Brummie Dude
my dad had a old brownie. for years. great tool
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mw0njm.
A Brummie Dude
loverly pic
RobT
Acemeccanoman
If you set up our modern day camera on a sliding locking mechanism, have a white background, shoot on a bright but cloudy day, you can shoot a hundred or more in a short time, load memory card straight into photo program or view on PC straight away. Lens not shown extended, due to having to have 2 cameras to take shot, one battery was flat.
Just seen message #20 of this thread, oldMowhawk said the same thing, but used a wooden jig.
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Williamstreeter
master brummie
devonjim I totally agree with you about The Repair Shop
sospiri
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Pete,
You can still get 35mm film, but with a bit of difficulty and it is quite expensive. You can still send it away to pro labs to be developed, but many of the keen types still using film tend to develop there own. But similarly the chemicals are now quite expensive and not easy to come by. Quite a few of the guys on here https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/ still use film and will be happy to point you in the right direction.
Maurice
You can still get 35mm film, but with a bit of difficulty and it is quite expensive. You can still send it away to pro labs to be developed, but many of the keen types still using film tend to develop there own. But similarly the chemicals are now quite expensive and not easy to come by. Quite a few of the guys on here https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/ still use film and will be happy to point you in the right direction.
Maurice
mw0njm.
A Brummie Dude
thanks our mauricePete,
You can still get 35mm film, but with a bit of difficulty and it is quite expensive. You can still send it away to pro labs to be developed, but many of the keen types still using film tend to develop there own. But similarly the chemicals are now quite expensive and not easy to come by. Quite a few of the guys on here https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/ still use film and will be happy to point you in the right direction.
Maurice
Film is becoming quite popular again really, especially with a younger crowd. I am 25, born around the last few years of film photography. I have a (when new) £3000 digital camera kit, which takes 'perfect' pictures, but I am much more a fan of film photography and the imperfections it brings. Sure, it costs a fair bit of money to buy the film and then develop them, but that's just part of the attraction.
I own currently:
Canon A-1 (1978)
Canon Demi EE17 half frame camera (1966)
Rolleiflex Automat 3.5b (1954)
Olympus OM-1n (1979)
Kodak Vollenda 48 (1932)
All are great fun to use in their respective rights, and I much prefer them over my expensive digital camera, and especially my phone camera.
I own currently:
Canon A-1 (1978)
Canon Demi EE17 half frame camera (1966)
Rolleiflex Automat 3.5b (1954)
Olympus OM-1n (1979)
Kodak Vollenda 48 (1932)
All are great fun to use in their respective rights, and I much prefer them over my expensive digital camera, and especially my phone camera.
If that is the Olympus XA original (with the f2.8 lens), they are excellent cameras and have quite the cult following, even today. I believe for a time they were the world's smallest 35mm rangefinder camera, and quite the masterpiece of design. They can sell well into the hundreds of pounds today.
mbenne
master brummie
I don't think he was an acquaintance of my Dad's - he had a habit of buying things at random from jumble sales! The roll film has been partly used. But no idea if anyone has ever opened the back.very interesting maybe looks like mr duncan could have taken his camera with him while serving in ww2...maybe he was a friend of your dads who gave him the camera...nice mystery waiting to be solved
lyn
right i see...also not sure the case is the original one possibly it would have been black but cant be certain about that..interesting though
RobT
Acemeccanoman
The Autographic Kodak Model B (1925-1934)
The camera back had an area through which notes could be written onto the paper
backing of the 127 film.
Perhaps smaller than it looks in the photograph (Well it did fit in your pocket!)
W = 6.2 cms (2.44")
H = 12.5 cms (4.92")
D = 2.3 cms (0.9")
Some interesting facts - found on the web
While it’s very simple to shoot with, it’s also quite limited– for an instantaneous exposure you need bright sunlight or maybe very bright light cloud, not within two hours of sunrise or sunset. Otherwise you have to time the exposure– the manual (which I was lucky enough to find a copy of online) has an extensive table of exposure times for everything from taking a picture of someone in a shadow to taking a picture of someone in a low-light room with dark walls (the former is about 1 or 2 seconds; the latter about 40). Nothing closer than I think 6 feet will be in focus. You have to really think about if you can take a snapshot of what you want. Having grown up with totally modern cameras, it’s interesting to experience that kind of thought process– it gives a different, valuable perspective on snapshots of the period.
The camera back had an area through which notes could be written onto the paper
backing of the 127 film.
Perhaps smaller than it looks in the photograph (Well it did fit in your pocket!)
W = 6.2 cms (2.44")
H = 12.5 cms (4.92")
D = 2.3 cms (0.9")
Some interesting facts - found on the web
While it’s very simple to shoot with, it’s also quite limited– for an instantaneous exposure you need bright sunlight or maybe very bright light cloud, not within two hours of sunrise or sunset. Otherwise you have to time the exposure– the manual (which I was lucky enough to find a copy of online) has an extensive table of exposure times for everything from taking a picture of someone in a shadow to taking a picture of someone in a low-light room with dark walls (the former is about 1 or 2 seconds; the latter about 40). Nothing closer than I think 6 feet will be in focus. You have to really think about if you can take a snapshot of what you want. Having grown up with totally modern cameras, it’s interesting to experience that kind of thought process– it gives a different, valuable perspective on snapshots of the period.
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Eric Gibson
master brummie
It's probably worth more than you think, it's surprising what some camera collectors will pay for what many consider to be 'old tat'
Oh yes, 35mm is available in many shops, Boots often has a couple of different types in stock, but these often sell out. There are some independent film developers who sell film too. One of the best and most varied film stockists (online) is called analoguewonderland, you can discover a huge range of just about every film on there.
I don't yet develop my own film, although I am looking into getting a home kit for black and white film (which is easier than colour negative).
There are budget development options, such as in Max Spielmann stores, and I think Snappy Snaps which can process and print/scan your photos. These can be perfectly useable although some will spend a bit more to go to an independent lab. It's worth noting that black and white uses a different process to colour negative, so it is actually more expensive to develop. Also colour can often be done in the same day, even within an hour, whereas b&w sometimes needs to be sent off taking a few weeks at times to be returned.
rosie
brummie
Charles, I hope you do try to develop your own photos, it's magical when those black and white images slowly appear on the blank paper!!
Dad had a shed (before he became too disabled) and there were blackout blinds on the windows. He made his own enlarger. He used to let me "rock" the special dishes with the chemicals in, extremely carefully of course, and we would watch as the faces appeared. It was my job to dry them and keep them flat or trim where necessary.
Happy days.
rosie.
Dad had a shed (before he became too disabled) and there were blackout blinds on the windows. He made his own enlarger. He used to let me "rock" the special dishes with the chemicals in, extremely carefully of course, and we would watch as the faces appeared. It was my job to dry them and keep them flat or trim where necessary.
Happy days.
rosie.