Kodak Brownie

A Kodak Brownie from 1900. Of course not the original “Kodak” camera from 1888. It’s not even the first version of the Brownie. This came out in February 1900 and was something like a shoe box in that the entire back of the camera pulled off. This is the second version where the “pull off” back has been replaced in March 1900 with a more rigid “hinged” back with a sliding metal latch. This one also has the optional viewfinder, which came out in August 1900. Unfortunately I won’t be posting any pictures from it. It used the now defunct 117 film. The later (October 1901) Brownie 2 used 120 film, which is still available. Maybe I’ll get one to see what shooting with a Brownie is like.

The Kodak Brownie Camera webpage says:

The camera that started it all was a leatherette covered card box with a wooden film carrier. The original had no finder but did have V sighting lines on top. A clip-on accessory reflecting finder became available from August 1900. It had a detachable film winding key that I would imagine got lost often.
…
This camera is considered by many experts to be the most important camera ever manufactured. The reason is that it was produced so cheaply that anyone, not just professionals or people of means, could own it. Because it was so simple to use, anyone could operate it right out of the box.

I browsed the internet in search of a picture taken with a 1900 Brownie. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find anything that I could, with certainty, attribute to this specific model i.e. as distinct from something taken by one of the many other Brownie models. I’ll keep looking.

Finally found something at the thrift store

There are three Goodwill stores in the vicinity. From time to time I visit them. I’ve only once bought a camera: a Yashica FX2 with, as it turns out, a lens stuck wide open and non functioning 1/1000 speed. I’ve described the story behind this in an earlier post. Usually they have a selection of cheap, plasticky point and shoot cameras often with obvious damage. The selection never seems to change. This time, however, it was different. The usual suspects had all disappeared and the shelf was empty apart from one camera. I walked over to take a look and lo and behold there was a black Olympus Stylus Epic in pretty good condition price less than $10.00. I couldn’t resist even though I already have the silver version (quartz date), I had always wanted the black. Cosmetically it’s in better condition than the silver one, but would it work? I took it home and put in a battery. Everything seemed to be working fine, but of course I wouldn’t really know until I put a roll through.

It’s a bit disturbing to have a camera that gives you no feedback other than a green light to tell you that it’s found focus. No sense of shutter speed. No idea what aperture has been selected and, of course, no digital image to show you how you did. You just get the film processed and wait to see the results.

The conditions were not ideal. It was late in the afternoon and getting dark very quickly. Most of the pictures had snow in them making exposure difficult and a number of them were backlit. Some of the pictures came out blurred. I noticed that these were all towards the end of the roll and taken when it was getting dark. I imagine the camera selected a long shutter speed. My hands are not too steady at the best of times so it wouldn’t take a very long speed before camera shake set in. Some of the backlit pictures didn’t come out too well. I would probably had done better if I’d use the spot mode.

All things considered I’m very pleased with my new acquisition. Can’t wait to try it when the light is better.

One of Putnam Valley’s mysterious stone chambers

View from the house (with deer footprints – they walk across the frozen lake) – early evening

Kent and Fishkills Baptist Church (I think)

Graveyard – Kent and Fishkills Baptist Church

Interior – late afternoon

Pine cones

RX100 in Cold Spring

January 13, 2014 by Howard Dale Posted in Camera Collection, Places, Sony RX100 Tagged gallery Leave a comment

As I get older I’ve been gradually ‘downsizing’ my equipment. I switched from a DSLR to a Sony Nex 5N (via a Panasonic LX3, which I love but which in terms of quality is not as good as the Nex and it’s also just a little too big to use as a ‘carry everywhere’ camera). For a ‘carry everywhere’ camera I had been using a Panasonic ZS7. There was much to like about this camera. It was very small, had a long zoom range, great macro capabilities etc. Because I always had it with me I got a lot of nice pictures that I would otherwise have missed. Admittedly the low light performance was poor, as was the dynamic range and some of the pictures looked a bit like watercolor paintings. It served me well though.

I thought that the Nex5n would meet all my needs and disposed of the ZS7 . Unfortunately the Nex is still a bit too big to carry around all the time. Although the body is small the lenses are, of necessity, large. It’s certainly not pocketable. I soon began to regret not having a camera small enough to put in my pocket.

When the Sony RX100 came out I was interested, but it was just too expensive. Then the RX100mii came out. Even more interesting, but even more expensive. But then the price of the RX100 started to come down. Eventually while browsing around at Best Buy I came across an open box RX100 at a very significant discount. It was around my Wedding Anniversary so it seemed a good time to suggest to my wife that this might make a good anniversary present.

I’ve only used it once, but I like the results. Clearly it’s not really a replacement of a DSLR (at least not in my opinion). But I’m not replacing a DSLR. I’m replacing a Panasonic ZS7 and the RX100 is a vast improvement.

When I go out specifically to take pictures I’ll take the NEX, but I’ll pretty much always have the RX100 with me.

Valentine’s day is coming

Antique store window

Eagle – or is it an owl?

Old House

Tunnel below the railroad tracks

Corvair

Christmas in a window

New Lens – Minolta 45mm f2

December 28, 2013 by Howard Dale Posted in Camera Collection Tagged gallery Leave a comment

Overgrown bleachers

I’d read some reviews of this lens saying it was well made; very sharp and quite inexpensive. So I decided to get one. My first attempt was to buy one with a body attached – in this case a Minolta SCII (essentially a slightly downgraded Minolta SRT-201). I didn’t mind having the body. My neighbor had given me a couple of SRTs, formerly belonging to her uncle, that had been lying around for ages. I quite liked them but unfortunately neither of them worked (although some of the lenses that came with them worked very well): on one the shutter was frozen and on the other the rewind know was missing. Regrettably I know nothing about repairing these old cameras (wish I did). So I bought the SRT SCII and the lens. After a while I got a message from the seller saying that they’d made a mistake. They listed two of these in there inventory and there should only have been one – and that had already been sold. They refunded my money. So then I looked for a good buy on the lens only (maybe I’ll get the SRT some other time) and found one for $25. It was mailed promptly by the seller but took an age to arrive – I guess the US post office is slow around Christmas. Finally it arrived. It’s in great shape. As usual while walking the dog around Briarcliff Manor I took some pictures (see below). I like the lens a lot. It’s small and feels solid and produces great results. Great Value!

Platform Tennis Court

Goal Netting

To wit, to woo!

A wave from Santa

Inside the Maya Riviera

Nikon N90s

November 29, 2013 by Howard Dale Posted in Camera Collection, Nikon N90s, Places Tagged gallery Leave a comment

I love this camera. Everything about it feels right: the weight, the way it fits into my hand, the controls are where I want them to be. Thom Hogan has a nice review of it on his site

The funny thing is that I didn’t even buy this camera. In some cases I see listings for a camera with a lens. Sometimes I’m just looking for the lens, but if the price is right I’ll buy the combination. The body is a plus. In this case the listing was just for the lens, but when the lens arrived there was a body with it: this Nikon N90s (or F90x as I believe it’s called outside of the US).

It’s a very solid camera, which I very much enjoyed using. I also tried a different film: Fuji Superia X-tra 400. It was on sale at Walmart for about $7 for a pack of four. It’s not bad but the results had a little too much contrast and were a bit too green for my taste.

My last attempt a having film developed and scanned at CVS was not a great success (although that could have been because the film had been in the camera for a very long time). So this time I decided to try something different. I sent it off to “The Darkroom“. I haven’t yet received the CD and the negatives, but the scanned images were made available on their site within a day or two of them receiving the film. All in all I’m pleased with the results.

There are more pictures (this time in black and white) of the Maple Ave. Cemetery (And Combined Church Cemeteries) in another post.