Tuesday 29 July 2014

Week 239 - Kodak Instamatic 400

Kodak Instamatic 400
Kodak made a large number of 126 Instamatic cameras with varying levels of sophistication. This one boasts a clockwork motor-drive and Selenium cell driven automatic exposure. As 126 film is now defunct, I've loaded it with a very old 20 exposure cartridge of colour negative film. I don't expect particularly good results!

Monday 28 July 2014

photo from week 238 - Keystone Zoom 66

away from the flock
One of the numerous yellow bicycles left around town in the aftermath of the Grande Depart of the Tour de France a few weeks ago.

photo from week 238 - Keystone Zoom 66

reflected self-portrait with Keystone Zoom 66 camera and white hat
The camera has three apertures, and can be focused, so I set it to the closest distance of 0.8m and the widest aperture to try to catch enough light in this indoor setting.

photo from week 238 - Keystone Zoom 66

white spots
This was taken with the film that I started last week in the toy Plane-Cam, so the results, as expected are pretty poor, with the film showing its age!

Monday 21 July 2014

Week 238 - Keystone Zoom 66

Keystone Zoom 66
This model was sold under various names, it has a zoom lens and three aperture settings, the shutter speed is set at 1/125th or 1/250th depending on the film speed, set by a tag on the cassette.
I transferred the film from last week's Plane Cam after using 12 frames.

photo from week 237 - Plane Cam

inflatable plane
What better subject for a toy camera shaped like a plane than an inflatable toy plane?

photo from week 237 - Plane Cam

reflected self-portrait with Plane Cam and pilot's hat
It's always a challenge using a simple camera indoors, but the bright early morning sun was just about enough to get an acceptable image here.

photo from week 237 - Plane Cam

melons
The film that came with the camera is at least 20 years old, and is unlikely to have been stored in a fridge or freezer. When I took it out of the developing tank, at first I thought it was blank, but when it dried out there were images on it, nevertheless, it needed a fair amount of post-processing to get even these rather poor results.

Sunday 13 July 2014

Week 237 - Plane Cam

plane cam
This is a novelty camera in the form of a British Airways plane. It takes 110 film and is a very basic model. The receipt in the box shows that it was purchased aboard flight BA224 to (or from) Gatwick, on 16/9/93. The price was £17:50. I've loaded it with the unbranded 110 cartridge that was also in the box and presumably dates from the same era.

Saturday 12 July 2014

photo from week 236 - Hanimex Disc 120

London Wheel
This is a scan of the whole disc, it looks a bit like an old ViewMaster disc, but of course only has mono photos on it.

photo from week 236 - Hanimex Disc 120

reflected self-portrai with Hanimex Disc 120 camera and compound hat
Taking a self-portrait indoors with a simple camera is always a problem, but the sun was so bright that I thought I could get away with this one.

photo from week 236 - Hanimex Disc 120

St. Joan of Arc
I took the Hanimex with me on a trip to London and decided to shoot domes, towers, spires etc. Considering the film expired in 1990, and was presumably made a couple of years before that, the results really aren't bad!

Wednesday 9 July 2014

Week 236 - Hanimex Disc 120

Hanimex Disc 120
It's been a while since I used a disc camera, and with the only film available being considerably expired, and therefore light-hungry, I thought this time of year would give it the best chance of success.
The Fuji film I've loaded it with is nearly a quarter of a century old, so the results may not be too good!

photo from week 235 - Fujifilm Nexia Q1

Helter-Skelter
A traditional summer sight, this time without rain!

photo from week 235 - Fujifilm Nexia Q1

reflected self-portrait with Fujifilm Nexia Q1 camera and cloth hat
It's usually a challenge to find an outdoor mirror for my self-portraits taken with simple cameras, luckily I found this giant mirrored sculpture in the Olympic Park in East London.

photo from week 235 - Fujifilm Nexia Q1

Gherkin
Although it's a very basic camera, and the film is around 10 years old, the picture quality isn't too bad.

Tuesday 1 July 2014

Week 235 - Fujifilm Nexia Q1

Fujifilm Nexia Q1
This is a very basic, but also very compact little camera, it uses the now obsolete APS (advanced photo system) cassettes. I've loaded it with an expired roll of 25 exposures, ISO200 colour negative film.