My new camera

[kvbarkley]

Well new to me anyway, and not a canon:

I got it in a thrift store for $60. It is a Kodak 1A Pocket made from 1928 to 1932. It is supposed to take 116 film, but I can't get that anymore so I will probably have to make some modifications to use 120 roll film. The bellows looks in pretty good shape and the shutter works.

Note that stylus on the left? That is an early version of EXIF. You pull down a little door on the back of the camera:

And write a note about the image. If you expose it to light, it will show up on the negative!

Anyway, I am not exactly sure what to do with it, but it is sure cool!

[ebiggs1]

They make good paper weights and they look cool in my display cabinet downstairs. I have around a dozen old film cameras.

[shawnphoto]

Many of those old cameras and lenses are shockingly good. Having no control over what the film was doing forced the manufacturers to produce far more precisely made gear than would be necessary on a digital camera (due to the ability to correct the image instantly). Which is why you can take an old Schneider Kruznach 50mm for the Kodak Retina system and it's still razor sharp with minimal vignette and sharpness loss wide open. And forget about the Canon 35mm lenses, many of the primes are razor sharp wide open even on an R5. And they did it all with no computers... Some of those lenses lay waste to modern glass especially in low light where the magic starts to happen. Back then they had more of a philosophy of solving problems with materials, like high end glass. Nowadays it's all about design. Anyway, I think you get the point.

[kvbarkley]

It will be a long time before they have a 2" x 4" sensor!

[Waddizzle]

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@kvbarkley wrote:

It will be a long time before they have a 2" x 4" sensor!

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Congratulations, on the new toy.  I have always wanted to play with a bellows but bought a 24mm tilt-shift, instead.

[FloridaDrafter]

Nice! My wife has a large collection but the only bellows types she has are the Polaroid Land camera models 95 and 95a.

I play around taking shots through the viewfinders of some of her old cameras (See TtV). Makes for a surreal image.

[Tintype_18]

I'm amazed at the photos by Ansel Adams in B&W of the olden days. I read about an African-American youth who was given a camera. I forgot his name but he became a noted photographer in his day. Anyone recall his name? Would like to research his life and work.

[Wandalynn]

Terrific find! Congratulations!

[ebiggs1]

My favorite old bellows 35mm camera is my Kodak Retina IIIC. The Retina are good models to start a collection from. They are certainly still useabe, too. They are  not terribly expensive.