Cameraoldies from Bellows to Twin Lens

Three Weeks of Work

2011-02-27T17:38:00.000-05:00

I have been on the roade for a few weeks and have one more then will finally be home. Usually I have some time to take some pictures but this has bee a rough first 2 weeks. Finally have a little long weekend and some place I am not freezing. I am at Nags Head, North Carolina and pretty nice weather. Arival day was Saturday and little windy and cool but still much nice than the previous week. Have a nice room on the beach on the 5th floor with balcony and over looking the Atlantic. Finally got out Sunday for a little while and shot some film and digital. I brought along this trip may Canon 30D, a Nikon F with various lens and my Ikonta III which I try to never leave home with out. I am in hopes that I will be able to provide some pics and some info from using the Nikon F and the various lens that I have for it. This is the first time out for this camera and so far seems to be pretty nice and guess when I get home will see if it takes nice pictures. Well I will try to venture out a little more on my day off Monday (tomorrow) and shoot some more film and then 3 days of rough work and then head for home. Will post when I get home and get some film developed!

Rolleicord III TRL fun camera to use

2011-01-12T18:28:00.000-05:00

Rolleicord III TLR is a great picture taker and fun to use. I know I have said Minolta Autocords are great cameras and Rolleicords are very capable of quality pictures. Between a III and an Autocord I have probably taken more pictures using these than any other camera. I enjoy the Rolleicord III and if it were the only camera I used I probably would not forget that there is there is not anything from stopping you creating all the double exposures that you want. The problem I have I forget this and create doubles far too often. When I am using one ofter I remember this and keep with sigle exposures.

If you are looking for a TLR there are many to choose from and some of them take quality pictures. I think that the Rolleicord is probably one of the best buys out there for the money. I would have to guess they are pretty much in the middle as far as price but you can expect pictures closer to the higher price end. One of the complaints is that is has a dark focus screen and yes this is true but it has never hurt me from getting some great quality pictures. I think it is another thing you get used to like remember to advance the picture after every shot so you don't get double exposures. Certainly don't let it hold you back from using one of the finest TRLs of its time.

Seems Everyone is doing it thought I would give it a try!

2011-01-12T10:08:00.000-05:00

Well the New Year is always good for new years resolutions and though this is not a resolution was a good time to start. You can start today if you want to give it a try and what it is I am talking about is taking a picture a day for a year. I know there are people that are now on there second and third year and maybe some even more. I am not using digital as my choose of camera is film and have no particular make or model to use. What I will use is cameras I like that I have at the time that day or week comes up. I started with the Mamiya that I wrote about in the last post as I really like using this camera. I have used it for a couple weeks and I am thinking about switching cameras for the upcoming week. Now I just have to hope that the pictures I do take turn out well on film that I have all the days in tack. I think that is where the real challenge may be as not knowing till the film is developed and can't look at a display and make sure if a retake is in order.
I would like to know if you have ever done this and how it went if you did. Sounds like fun and hope I remember to shoot every day as if you are busy seems easy to forget. I know now I get a lot of inside shots of my wife doing things and the cat doing what she does best..sleep

Old Mamiya MSX 1000 Great Camera Still Today!

2011-01-06T09:43:00.000-05:00

I have been doing some film work with a Mamiya MSX 1000 and this had to be a very nice camera in its day. Still today this camera performs very nicely and with wonderful pictures. I shot a short roll as I do with most as I usually shooting a couple cameras so don't with to take the time to shoot 24 each camera. Nice thing about bulk loading your own film can make what you want. I have been using Legacy Pro 100 from Freestyle and so far like this film for what I do. I developed using a Jobo tank on a Bressler roller usually 4 or 5 films at a time on outside of reel. Kodak D 76 developer has been my choice of developer here of late for the roller and I use a water stop bath the only thing that may be little different.

The camera has been used but not really abused the lens is still nice even though missing the lens cap. Just a couple shots when I was out messing around. I had so much fun with this camera I have it loaded now and using it. I have a couple more cameras to write a little about with hopes to get them posted soon.

Busy Time Developing and More

2011-01-02T10:07:00.001-05:00

I have been pretty busy developing some film decided the other day I needed to catch up on some medium format. I had been in Washington DC for a few weeks working and took some pictures with my Ikonta III and Minolta Autocord and hadn't found or taken time to develop them. Finally one day I loaded 3 in the Jobo2553 tank and completed those on the bressler rotary with some D 76 that I use for most rotary. I also had a roll of Shanghai film that I use a lot when doing some test shooting of cameras that I might have redone. I like to test all of them as you never know till pictures come out if something might still be off or just not up to the job. For the Shanghai I usually do stand development using 5ml Rodinal and sit for 60 to 75 minutes. I find that this process works well for me and Shanghai film and one other change I make I use plain water stop bath. I don't know just seems to have been working for this film so pretty much stuck with it.
Well this is my medium developing and did do some 35mm as I ran 3 rolls (short rolls) through the Jobo with some D 76 from some 35mm cameras I was testing. I really like the results from these cameras and if I can get some pictures done of the cameras will write more later. I had a Mamiya, Yashica and a Canon AE 1 that was using so again more on those later.

The End of Kodachrome

2010-12-30T20:52:00.000-05:00

In case you missed this article thought I would post it.

For Kodachrome Fans, Road Ends at Photo Lab in Kansas By A. G. SULZBERGER NY Times

PARSONS, Kan. — An unlikely pilgrimage is under way to Dwayne's Photo, a small family business that has through luck and persistence become the last processor in the world of Kodachrome, the first successful color film and still the most beloved.

That celebrated 75-year run from mainstream to niche photography is scheduled to come to an end on Thursday when the last processing machine is shut down here to be sold for scrap.

In the last weeks, dozens of visitors and thousands of overnight packages have raced here, transforming this small prairie-bound city not far from the Oklahoma border for a brief time into a center of nostalgia for the days when photographs appeared not in the sterile frame of a computer screen or in a pack of flimsy prints from the local drugstore but in the warm glow of a projector pulling an image from a carousel of vivid slides.

In the span of minutes this week, two such visitors arrived. The first was a railroad worker who had driven from Arkansas to pick up 1,580 rolls of film that he had just paid $15,798 to develop. The second was an artist who had driven directly here after flying from London to Wichita, Kan., on her first trip to the United States to turn in three rolls of film and shoot five more before the processing deadline.

The artist, Aliceson Carter, 42, was incredulous as she watched the railroad worker, Jim DeNike, 53, loading a dozen boxes that contained nearly 50,000 slides into his old maroon Pontiac. He explained that every picture inside was of railroad trains and that he had borrowed money from his father's retirement account to pay for developing them.

"That's crazy to me," Ms. Carter said. Then she snapped a picture of Mr. DeNike on one of her last rolls.

Demanding both to shoot and process, Kodachrome rewarded generations of skilled users with a richness of color and a unique treatment of light that many photographers described as incomparable even as they shifted to digital cameras. "Makes you think all the world's a sunny day," Paul Simon sang in his 1973 hit "Kodachrome," which carried the plea "Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away."

As news media around the world have heralded Thursday's end of an era, rolls of the discontinued film that had been hoarded in freezers and tucked away in closets, sometimes for decades, have flooded Dwayne's Photo, arriving from six continents.

"It's more than a film, it's a pop culture icon," said Todd Gustavson, a curator from the George Eastman House, a photography museum in Rochester in the former residence of the Kodak founder. "If you were in the postwar baby boom, it was the color film, no doubt about it."

Among the recent visitors was Steve McCurry, a photographer whose work has appeared for decades in National Geographic including his well-known cover portrait, shot in Kodachrome, of a Afghan girl that highlights what he describes as the "sublime quality" of the film. When Kodak stopped producing the film last year, the company gave him the last roll, which he hand-delivered to Parsons. "I wasn't going to take any chances," he explained.

At the peak, there were about 25 labs worldwide that processed Kodachrome, but the last Kodak-run facility in the United States closed several years ago, then the one in Japan and then the one in Switzerland. Since then, all that was left has been Dwayne's Photo. Last year, Kodak stopped producing the chemicals needed to develop the film, providing the business with enough to continue processing through the end of 2010. And last week, right on schedule, the lab opened up the last canister of blue dye.

Kodak declined to comment for this article.

The status of lone survivor is a point of pride for Dwayne Steinle, who remembers being warned more than once by a Kodak representative after he opened the business more than a half-century ago that the area was too sparsely populated for the studio to succeed. It has survived in part because Mr. Steinle and his son Grant focused on lower-volume specialties — like black-and-white and print-to-print developing, and, in the early '90s, the processing of Kodachrome.

Still, the toll of the widespread switch to digital photography has been painful for Dwayne's, much as it has for Kodak. In the last decade, the number of employees has been cut to about 60 from 200 and digital sales now account for nearly half of revenue. Most of the staff and even the owners acknowledge that they primarily use digital cameras. "That's what we see as the future of the business," said Grant Steinle, who runs the business now.

The passing of Kodachrome has been much noted, from the CBS News program "Sunday Morning" to The Irish Times, but it is noteworthy in no small part for how long it survived. Created in 1935, Kodachrome was an instant hit as the first film to effectively render color.

Even when it stopped being the default film for chronicling everyday life — thanks in part to the move to prints from slides — it continued to be the film of choice for many hobbyists and medical professionals. Dr. Bharat Nathwani, 65, a Los Angeles pathologist, lamented that he still had 400 unused rolls. "I might hold it, God willing that Kodak sees its lack of wisdom."

This week, the employees at Dwayne's worked at a frenetic pace, keeping a processing machine that has typically operated just a few hours a day working around the clock (one of the many notes on the lab wall reads: "I took this to a drugstore and they didn't even know what it was").

"We really didn't expect it to be this crazy," said Lanie George, who manages the Kodachrome processing department.

One of the toughest decisions was how to deal with the dozens of requests from amateurs and professionals alike to provide the last roll to be processed.

In the end, it was determined that a roll belonging to Dwayne Steinle, the owner, would be last. It took three tries to find a camera that worked. And over the course of the week he fired off shots of his house, his family and downtown Parsons. The last frame is already planned for Thursday, a picture of all the employees standing in front of Dwayne's wearing shirts with the epitaph: "The best slide and movie film in history is now officially retired. Kodachrome: 1935-2010."

Holidays are Great Time of the Year

2010-12-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

This is always a great time of the year to have fun and share with family. For Elena and I we have a small Christmas and just a time for us to slow down a bit. We are able to share Christmas with my Mother and Elena's son and this is nice. The rest of the kida and grandkids are up north in Ohio so makes if difficult to have Christmas with them but will look forward to seeing them in the summer.
Elena and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Special New Year. This is a great time of the year to get out the vintage camera gear and shoot some film. So I hope everyone enjoys the holidays and be safe and if you are in a region that has snow, enjoy and have fun and of coarse take pictures for us that are not ion a snowy place.

Don't forget to stop by the Forum and sign in and I started a topic to share any vintage gear you might have gotten for Christmas so stop and share.

Have a Happy and Safe Holiday
Dennis & Elena

Excited to Have Now Added a FORUM to Cameraoldies web site

2010-12-24T17:55:00.000-05:00

I have been pretty busy trying to catch up on things from being out of town for 6 weeks. Visit my Cameraoldies Etsy site (can get there through Cameras for Sale) for 15% off on all cameras till Jan 2nd!
As the title says I am pretty excited to have added a Forum to Cameraoldies Web Site and this has been added for you. Yes I know there a lot of very good forums on the web already and yes I am member of most. The problem I have sometimes they are so big that hard to find what I want to know.
I am in hopes that even though this forum will be small I hope that it will be easy for us to learn what we are trying to find out. I hope that like my web site leans towards folders that the forum will become the place to find information on folders.
When you go and sign up which I hope that you will, you will see that it is not being limited to folders but we are new as a forum and it is yours so you decide the direction that it will take. If you want it just on folders that is what we will do and create catagories toward folders to make it easy to navigate and find info.
The main thing is only you can make the forum a success and so please take time to sign in, bookmark and get started sharing information!

Rolleicord III made in Germany 1950-1953 almost equal to the Minolta Autocord

2010-09-27T10:17:00.000-04:00

Rolleicord III made in Germany 1950-1953 to me is almost equal to the Minolta Autocord. I enjoy using both the Rollei and the Minolta. The one I am writing on here today I have used but not all that much but is all ready to go for a new owner. Rolleicord III has produced the majority of 6x6 negatives that I have and will certainly use a III from time to time. I just don't need 2 of them so one has to go as have far to many and I can't use them all so it is unfair to the camera! I won't write a lot of techie stuff about the camera as you can find it already on the web so check it out if you want the whats on the Rollei III.

With everyone into digital today the film photographers are getting into a very small minority. The thing is film is still very viable today and the best thing it is FUN. It is so easy and cheap to get into taking and developing your own film right at home. Probably get started for as little as $50 and be ready to get your film ready to be scanned. The best thing you can do for your child, or young person or old is to get them a film camera and get them involved in FILM.

Home developed Fuji 100 Acros using some old Kodak D76 developer I picked up at a good price. Just another way to have fun is to try out dated film and there is many developers out there and ways to same even more money even being cheap to start out. Try coffee there is formula out there for this and works well. Certainly feel free to eMail me with question or whatever! Save an old camera and shoot film and have some great fun!

Minolta Autocord great TLR cameras

2010-09-20T22:33:00.000-04:00

I really like Minolta Autocords and I really think they are one of the top TLR's that you can use. I am not a Rolleiflex shooter and have a couple older ones but haven't really shot them. Have Yashica Mat 124 G's and they are supposed to be great and my wife uses one for here main TLR shooter. I am not a Yashica G fan and so actually mine is up for sale plus the backup so check those out. I do like Rolleicords but can't say they are better than the Autocord and actually will have to put the Autocord ahead of it the way I see them. I do have 3 or 4 Rolleicords that I have used from a III to a VB and do like shooting them. I still think for my main TLR shooter I will have to stick with my Minolta Autocords as I have one that I am using for IF shooting right now plus a black and white shooter.

The one I have pictured here is a very nice Autocord and it is For Sale as I can only use so many. This is ready to be used and is very nice looking camera also. The picture of a bird this Minolta was used for this shot and is really nice shot taken by my wife Elena. For more on this camera you can go to Cameras For Sale or drop me an email.

Color Film Developed with Black and White Process

2010-09-12T15:42:00.000-04:00

I have finally gotten around to developing some old film that was left ion cameras I had purchased. Sometimes I think I would buy a camera if I didn't even need it if I knew it had film left in it. It is fun developing color film with black and white process anytime but when you are doing it and you have no idea what is on the roll if anything that is really fun. Film there is just so much that you can do and really have some fun. I really think if you have never used film and have interest in photography you should really give it a try for yourself. Well that is a blog for another day as I am having fun with color film today.

I did a roll of Konica Color Professional 100 and so far it was the best results I have gotten form the roll I have done so far. There were only 7 pictures that came out or shot on the roll. Everyone seemed tom have a different tint to it. The only Photoshop was levels on one picture and all the others are as they came through the scanner. These pictures and some others from another roll can be seen here.

I don't know that I will make a habit of buying color film and shoot it but certainly is fun to take that unknown film and do. What I would like to be able to do is find some outdated film and that is not made anymore and maybe play with it but doubt this will happen. I have a couple of new little projects or things I an going to try so hope to write soon about them.

Till then get ya a film camera and have some fun!

Sometimes looking at Lens doesn't say it all

2010-08-19T11:27:00.001-04:00

I just finished working on a Isolette II and put new leather black bellows and the camera is looking good. When I had it apart I cleaned the lens, lubed the focus and shutter cla and working great. The only thing I didn't really like was even after cleaning the lens it had some spots on it that would not come off. I told my wife all this and I doubt this thing is worth shooting at all. I had it all back together and ready to go and so I figured would see just how bad the lens affects the pictures. I slapped some film in mounted the camera on my flash unit and wen about taking some pictures of my best model. Marta the cat she never complains even though looks disgusted when the flash goes off but never runs and hides. Shot the roll up and off to the darkroom and develop the film. Just looking at the film things looked well for this spotted lens but would wait till morning and scan into the computer and check it out.
Now it is next day and ready to scan and see what is going on with the pictures. Scanned and to my happiness this lens performed as well as any folder camera I have or at least looks like it. The pictures came out great sharp in focus and spots didn't effect the pictures one bit. I keep saying spots but they really are not as bad as I make them out to be. Very small and only a couple but still alot of people would have just not taken the time with this camera.
This is exactly the point I am trying to make these cameras are all worth trying and fixing or what ever you might have to do. They don't make these anymore and if we don't perserve them for future generations they will, like a lot of other things in this world and will disappear. Camera For Sale to many to keep all!

Just don't judge a camera by looks as they can deceive you so OK might not take the greatest pictures when you are done but you still have this fine vintage camera that should be enjoyed 50 years from now. Take a look at my Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/lost_too/ where I have some more pictures posted from this lens I am talking about plus the pic I have posted here.

Cameraoldies soon more info on Isolettes and more!

2010-08-19T00:03:00.000-04:00

I am in hopes to soon have some information on Isolettes and more soon as I can find some time. Till then you might check out my camera oldies at www.cameraoldies.com for some info.
You might also find this book of interest if you do not already have it.
Hope to be back soon!