Cool effects with double exposure and a slow shutter speed.
This was more of a “catch it falling off the post because I don’t have a tripod” kind of deal.
And this was a “Did I wind? I’m pretty sure I wound.” I do love the pastels when Portra is overexposed.
Did I really use film that wasn’t expired? I could be on to something!
I was cleaning the office/workshop while the pigeons ferried buckets of bits to Youtube. Not able to find anything clean, but less dangerous. I discovered I had one unused frame in an Instax Mini. I loaded it by feel into the Milona inside the dark bag, shot it, and then put it back into the Instax for processing. I didn’t get it lined up quite right but not bad.
Using the Ansco Readyflash Part1: Spooling 620 Film
There are a lot of sites with instructions for paring down 120 spools instead of re-spooling. Give it a whirl if you don’t mind risking a roll. A couple of examples:
One warning if you decide to go this route: The 620 film slot and the corresponding piece in the camera that turns it are smaller. Make sure the adapted roll is smooth on the ends and rotates freely. Otherwise, the bit inside the camera may rotate inside the slot of the film spool and break it. Filing the end of the spool makes it even weaker. See my experience using a 120 spool in a Rover (Diana) camera.
Using the Ansco Readyflash Part2: Loading & Shooting
A clarification: The camera could be as late as 1934. The catalog years overlap — 1932-33, 1933-34, 1934-35. The 34-35 catalog is the first one to show the “Action Front” push button bed release. The 32-33 catalog is the only one that explicitly states the camera is available in black or brown but I don’t know if later model years had the color choice. If it is from 33-34, the doublet was the low-end lens with an f/6.3 or f/4.5 anastigmat as an upgrade and a Diodak shutter option which added 1/10 second to the speeds of the Kodon.
View of the Truchas Mountains.
The scalloping at the top of the next image is from re-spooling the film. I didn’t have it perfectly parallel to the 620 spool rim so the film & paper came off at an angle and wrinkled.
No idea — it looks like water.
Taken with the tape and poster board seals. Still leaked.
Trinity in the sun. Instax with the tape/cardboard seals.
Trinity on the sun porch. No leaks!
That’s it for posted images taken with this camera. About the kludges follows.
Dark room and an LED flashlight inside show just how leaky the bellows is.
Sketching out the “over bellows”.
Getting the cardboard between the bellows and the folding front was a challenge. Good view of the aperture setting: U.S. 8=f/11, 16=f/16, 32=f/22, 64=f/32.
Nothing like a closeup to show how dusty it is.
I thought I was done here.
The back is 6 X 9cm and the front is sized to let the Instax frame slide in.
Instax Mini adapter.
I still got light leaks between the top and body. I tried yet more tape before giving up and shrouding the whole thing with my dark bag.
Getting kind of silly with the tape.
I don’t have a proper darkroom so here’s the process. I taped up the Instax film box to use as a transfer station.
Put the film in the box.
The box and camera go into the dark bag. Remove the film, remove one frame from the cartridge, insert it in the holder in the camera, and put the cartridge back in the box.
Meter, carefully take the camera out of the bag, and shroud everything but the lens and shutter trigger.
Take the shot and put the camera back in the bag.
Take the frame out of the holder, slide it back in the Instax cartridge, and put the cartridge in the light-tight box.
Put the Instax camera in the bag, load the cartridge, take it out, cover the lens, and shoot it to run the print through the Instax rollers.
I got turned around a couple of times and loaded the Instax frame with the image side towards the lens. I burned through most of a box of 10 prints to get two OK images but it was still a lot cheaper and faster than using negative film (re-spool, reload, process) for each iteration.
Ansco also made a box camera ca. 1926 called the Craftsman No.2A.
Not a lot of images to show in addition to what’s in the video. Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros developed in Kodak HC-110.
Because the shutter is slow I used a Y2 filter (1 stop) for most of the shots on this roll. The yellow provides a nice contrast boost too.
I’m really impressed by the sharpness of the images. No post-processing other than resizing.
Zoe checking out the new-old rug for my office.
Lousy composition but I love the contrasts in aspen bark.
The neighbor’s goats.
I struck out trying to find a manual or information and had to find out for myself.
Checking the focal length
I taped the inside edge, where the film insert goes and marked the tape at the film plane.
Marking the film plane
Next I taped the lens inside so I wouldn’t scratch it with the calipers and put a thin piece of card stock along the film plane line.
Card stock to measure against the calipers
The calipers have a post that sticks out as the jaws open allowing depth measurements.
90mm-ish
Checking the aperture
You can see the aperture in front of the lens but behind the shutter.
Aperture
The Play-Doh was covered in plastic food wrap as I held the shutter open with the stem from a cotton swab and pressed it into the aperture. I could have used about five hands for this operation. Thankfully, there isn’t glass in front of the shutter.
7mm-ish
~90mm focal length / ~7mm diameter = ~f/13.
And then I found this ad. I need to re-find it on the web so I can give proper credit.
f/14
Checking the shutter speed
I set the Olympus to 240 frames per second and shot the shutter six times. In Quicktime, I counted frames from closed (pure black) to closed again. From my working notes:
The red window is bright and easy to read. Maybe too easy. The right edge of the aspen image and the top of the goats have some funky marks. It could be from processing. I’d need to shoot another roll doing frames with the window covered and uncovered to be sure.
Note to self: Cover the window on an old unknown camera unless that’s part of the test.
I forgot to include a couple of things in the video. The Rover has 3 focus settings, 4-6 feet, 6-12 feet, and 12 feet to infinity. It also has a bulb setting. Bulb is a bit of a challenge since it has no cable release and no tripod socket.
I only got six shots on the first roll before the film jammed. A couple of examples are in the video.
Expired Kodak Ektar 100 film. Processed by The Camera Shop of Santa Fe and scanned on a CanoScan 9000f at 2400DPI.
The view from our room at The Line in LA. We paid for a view of the Hollywood Hills and it was foggy the whole time.
Kodak Tri-X 400 developed in HC-110 and Ilford rapid fix. Scanned on a CanoScan 9000f at 2400DPI.
I bought another lot of expired film. One of the 120 rolls, some Kodak 200 of unknown provenance and vintage, was exposed. I gambled a few bucks and took it for processing with the color roll from an upcoming camera-of-the-week.
The images are 2 1/4 inches (~6cm) and they’re vertical, as in if the film is hanging, the images are right-side-up, so I think it’s from a TLR or a 120 SLR like a Hasselblad or Mamiya that doesn’t feed film sideways. There is vignetting on some of the shots and the film spacing was all over the place so it was probably a cheaper camera. Not a Hasselblad at any rate since there aren’t any edge markings on the frames.
I’m pretty sure the light leaks are from after the film was shot. It wasn’t very tight on the spool.
I think it’s a golf course.
I have to look at the frame numbers — I don’t know if the double exposure is before, after, or more probably, in between the other shots of the same scenes.
Christmas double-exposure.
It looks kind of like Los Alamos. Wouldn’t that be a bizarre journey for the film.
Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, you’re really green and stuff. Thanks Steve.
No idea. The carpet looks the same as the Xmas tree photo.
