Jiffy Kodak V. P. - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks

Week 21 - Jiffy Kodak V. P. (Vest Pocket) camera purchased at the Westminster Antique Mall. I used my last roll of Rera Pan 100, getting poor images. This roll and the previous roll of Rera Pan did not produce the quality of negatives that I have gotten in the past. It could be the limitations of the two Vest Pocket style cameras, or maybe I need to get back to using Kodak D-76 developer instead of Caffenol. 

The Jiffy Kodak V. P. was made from the mid 1930's to the early 1940's. I fell in love with this camera when I saw it in the antique mall, with it's art deco design and the pop out bellows with the push of a button. It's quite compact when folded, being able to easily fit in a pocket, just as the name implies. It has very few settings - a fixed focus lens with instant and time, with a large and small aperture slider. The viewfinder is simply a fold out metal one, which worked fine in framing up my photos.

I shot the entire roll of film on my lunch hour in Baltimore one day last week. I wish the photos had turned out better, I went on different route than usual and would have liked to have better quality photos. Nonetheless, I like the grungy, antique look - I might be able to use them in a collage or mixed-media project.

I developed the roll in caffenol and scanned with Epson V500 photo using a nifty 127 film adapter that I purchased from ebay. I've been using it for a while now and it's so much easier to scan 127 negatives.

Argus Minca 28 - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks

Week 20 - Argus Minca 28, purchased at the Black Rose Antique Mall in Hanover, PA for $8.00. The Argus Minca 28 uses 828 film which is essentially roll film the same size as 35 mm film but with fewer frames on the roll and without sprockets. The roll I purchased online was pricey - $18, and was respooled Tri-X 400 with previously used backing paper and spool. I decided to purchase the roll with the intention of reusing the backing paper and spool in future experiments with 828 film. The Argus Minca 28 was produced 1947-48ish and was made under several other badges - the Delco 828 and Camro 28.

I brought the camera along on our vacation to Rehoboth Beach, DE and also took it on a trip to Berlin, MD. I missed the first photo on the roll, sometimes those number 1's are hard to distinguish from the arrow markings at the beginning of a roll of film. The film was very difficult to wind through the camera, I'm not sure if it was the design of the camera or something with the roll of film itself. I thought I might break the film but I finally got through the roll and finished taking it off the spool in a changing bag.

I developed the film in Caffenol, but perhaps I should mix up a new batch of D-76 for future black and white developing. Negatives were scanned with Epson V500 Photo.

Olympus Stylus Epic Zoom 80 - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks

Week 19 - Olympus Stylus Epic Zoom 80 purchased at the local Goodwill store for $4.99. I chose Kodak BW400CN from my dwindling stash, developed in Unicolor C-41 home kit. These photos were shot at Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore, Mount Vernon, and Maytown, PA. 

I really liked the size of the camera and I thought the photos came out really nice, since it's a compact point and shoot camera. There are options for shooting in different modes including an option for turning off the flash. I got nicely exposed no-flash photos from inside the MICA main building on a recent campus tour with my son. The camera is also weather resistant, making it nice to shoot in rainy conditions, like we had on our campus tour. I think it would make a great camera for walking around town or stashing in your backpack for a day hike.

Benz & Gant Helioflex 3000T - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks

Week 18 Camera - Benz & Gant Helioflex 3000T purchased at the Community Aid thrift store in Hanover, PA. Came in bag with an "official" Benz & Gant tripod, flash and strap for under $10, though I'm not sure it was worth even that much. The camera is all plastic with a shiny large looking lens, only the aperture is adjustable (very cloudy, cloudy, partial sun, and full sun). It feels substantial because of the heavy weight inside the bottom of the camera, and has a fake pentaprism to fool you into thinking it's a real SLR camera. Composing photographs is done through a simple viewfinder, just point and shoot, much like a Holga. 

I knew what I was getting when I bought the Benz & Gant camera, I wanted to see what kind of photos I could get out of it. I liked the feel of the hand grip and the weight was nice. I even liked the look of the big goofy lens, but I had difficulty getting the film to stay on the camera spool to start the roll. I wound up having to tape the leader to the spool to get it started. I also had great difficulty getting the film to rewind, having to put the whole camera in a changing bag to retrieve the film.

Shooting with the Helioflex 3000T was pretty straightforward, just turn the lens to the correct icon for the lighting, compose, and snap the photo. The framing on the photos was not accurate, as the viewfinder was offset from the lens. I found close up photos with the flash turned out pretty sharp, while outdoor distance shots were a bit blurry (the days were overcast and I chose the cloudy aperture setting with a lower depth of field).

I tried out FPP EDU 400 film from the black and white EDU sampler I purchased from the Film Photography Project store. The film stock is rebadged Kentmere 400, which I've used before. This time though, I decided to process the film in caffenol instead of the usual Kodak D-76. The outdoor photos came out dark, because of the cloudy days, but I like the indoor shots with the flash. I'm not sure if I'll use this camera again, but maybe I'll try it on a sunnier day with color film and more close up photos.

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2016

I had been looking forward to this year's Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day on April 24 for several months and had made plans with a friend to go to Patapsco State Park in Maryland. But as the day approached, I came down with a cold and was not feeling up to a daylong excursion carrying my pinhole gear.  So, I made the best of it, and made it out to the front yard to photograph our blooming Dogwood tree. The featured blog photo here is my entry in the WPPD online gallery this year.

Camera - Holga WPC Wide Pinhole Camera. Film - expired Kodak Portra 160NC. Developed with Unicolor C-41 home kit. Scanned with Epson V500 Photo.

Kodak Brownie Flash 20 - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks

Week 17 Camera - Kodak Brownie Flash 20 purchased at one of the local antique malls in Hanover. This week's post is a little late as I didn't finish shooting with this camera until yesterday. I was not feeling well last weekend, then it rained for a few days, but I managed to get this week's roll finished.

The film I used was from my batch of expired Kodak Portra 160NC given to me by a friend who found it in an old unused darkroom. The first photo on this roll was of course, one of our house, a frequent subject when trying out a newly acquired camera. I was not up to going out last Sunday though it was gorgeous out (and also Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day!). When Saturday of this week came I was excited to get back out there and decided to hop in my car and drive to a few spots that I had been wanting to photograph. First stop was our lovely Mt. Olivet Cemetery but seeing that there was a funeral about to take place, I quickly drove away. I then remembered that I hadn't seen my son's Eagle Scout project in a while and thought that would make a nice photo. For his project six years ago, he coordinated the efforts to replace the roof and repair an old historic spring house at the retirement village. It looked really nice with fresh landscaping and blooming shrubs, it made nice photos.

I then drove south of Hanover and darted into the parking lot of a pit beef joint and shot a photo of an enormous painted metal chicken that I've driven past many times, hoping the owner wouldn't come chase me away. Whew! I made it. Further south I turned on a country road to see a church and barn. While taking those photos, I noticed a small prayer garden, lush with greenery and dogwood blooms in the background.

I headed back home for a lunch break, then the sun came out! I drove back to Mt. Olivet cemetery and made a few photos and the roll was finished. Now I can concentrate on this week's camera!

Film was developed with Unicolor C-41 kit and scanned with Epson V500 photo.

Polaroid Super Shooter - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks

Week 16 camera - Polaroid Super Shooter with Fuji FP-100c pack film. I purchased this camera from Craigslist for $5 with most of the accessories including a case. I checked the battery compartment near the lens in the front of the camera for corrosion and it was clean. After testing the shutter with new batteries I determined that the camera was good to go.

Using one of my last two packs of FP-100c pack film, I loaded the camera for a day trip to Cunningham Falls State Park near Thurmont, MD. We started out on the short historic Catoctin Furnace trail and the first two shots from the camera turned out a little dark, but the camera seemed to be working well. As we progressed on the trail and I tried to take a photo of the historic arch bridge, the camera failed producing a black photo. I tried again and there was an image this time. But further along where I wanted to photograph a tree with massive roots by the stream, the camera failed twice, so I put the camera away not wanting to waste the remaining shots until determining the problem.

So there are only three photos to see this week, but better than no photos. Photos were scanned with Epson V500 Photo.

Polaroid 3400AF - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks

Week 15 camera - Polaroid 3400AF with 28mm f4.5 lens, purchased at the Community Aid thrift store for $2.50. Film used was expired Easy Clix 200, developed in Unicolor C-41 home kit and scanned with Epson V500 photo. Photos were shot around Hanover and McSherrystown PA.

Mixed Media Doodling

The latest entries in my sketch journal - doodles made starting with watercolor wash, swatches of Derwent Aquatone pencils activated with a waterbrush, then Uniball Signo White Gel pen and Pentel Pocket Brush ink pen in a Strathmore Watercolor Visual Journal.

Kodak Vest Pocket Camera - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks

Week 14 - Kodak Vest Pocket Camera, also known as the "soldier's camera", carried in the pockets of World War I soldiers because of its small size. According to my internet search, this version of the Vest Pocket camera was made in Rochester, New York in 1912. The camera makes 8 photos on a roll of 127 size film and has a meniscus lens. It has a ball bearing shutter with speeds of 25, 50, Bulb, and Time. Aperture settings are Near View Portrait, Average View, Distant View, and Clouds Marine. The body is painted black with leather bellows, it looks like a mini version of a Kodak Junior 116 Camera in my collection.

I thought I would shoot street photography in Downtown Baltimore on my lunch break, and I managed to shoot more than half the roll on a walk to the Inner Harbor. As you can see, the photos are quite blurry, I think I didn't have the bellows fully expanded, or perhaps the lens is not in as good a condition as the camera looks. The camera looks really neat though, and will look nice in my collection, even if it doesn't work that well.

Film used was from my dwindling stash of Rera Pan 100 film - for future camera testings, I may try cutting down some rolls of 120 film using a method I saw on YouTube utilizing a cigar cutter. I developed this roll for 8 minutes in my usual Caffenol recipe, and scanned the negatives on Epson V500 Photo.