Disappointing Fruit of Misguided Labor

Kodak Brownie Bull's Eye FujiFilm Neopan Across 100 Arista 76 1:1 - Sometimes things just do not work out. I acquired a Kodak Brownie Bull's Eye Camera sometime ago and have been dying to try it out. Two weeks ago I respooled roll of FujiFilm Acros 100 120 film onto a 620 spool and loaded the camera. That seemed to go smoothly enough, but life got in the way and it was not until this weekend that I actually got out to shoot the roll.

The Bull's Eye has a "guestimation" focusing system. Basically you guess the focus and set the distance. The camera also has a "fixed" focus setting, where the lens locks at 10 ft and everything from 6 ft. to Infinity should be in focus. Being my first time out with this camera I decided to use the "fixed" focus setting, so I set the lens and threw the camera into my bag and headed out. I happily roamed downtown Lynchburg VA. snapping the 8 6x9cm frames.

On returning home and removing the camera from my bag I discovered mistake number one. Sometime while sliding the camera in and out of my bag ,I knocked the lens off of the 10 ft. "fixes" focus point. Worse yet, I moved it to the close side, so the lens was focused at somewhere between 4 to 10 feet,,, CRAP! Oh well, at least some of the shots should come out. When I went to unload the camera I ran across mistake number two. The film hand wound very loosely. The film was not fully shielded by the sides of the 620 take up spool. This was probably caused during the respooling process by my failure to keep enough tension on the film. Making matters worse the take up spool fits snuggly inside the Bull's Eye and the loose wind meant I had to pry the roll of of the camera with a screw drive,,,, crap, Crap, CRAP!

Pushing forward I developed the film. Luckily the loose wind caused nothing more than some minor edge fogging. That is where my luck ran out. Apparently, the focus on the camera was knocked out of position prior to the first shot. All the shots would suffer from a severe case of near sightedness. I proceeded to scan the film and confirmed my worst fears. The image above shows the results. Though image has a great retro look, and the poor focus would not be uncommon for the cameras of the time, I cannot help but imagine it would have been great if correctly focused.

Herco Imperial 620 Snap Shot Camera

Herco Imperial 620 Snap Shot Camera FujiFilm Neopan Acros 100 Caffenol-C-M -  A failed experiment of sorts, but with some interesting results. The Herco Imperial is designed to use 620 film. Those of you who have ever done it, know the re-spooling a 120 roll onto a 620 spool can be tricky and time consuming. I always seem to have issues getting the anchor tape to reattach, or worse, tear the paper backing when peeling the tape in the 1st place. The Kodak Brownie Hawkeye will use 120 film without issue as long as you use a 620 take up spool. I was hoping the same would be true for this little box camera.

The 120 feed spool, did fit, it was a little tight but seemed to be ok. I was able to mount the back and advance the film to the 1st frame. The advance knob seemed tight and there were some concerning "crinkling" noise coming from inside the camera, but what the hell, at this point, I am committed. I managed to get 4 shots off and give myself a blister on my thumb trying to turn the tight advance knob, before the film would go no further. I had to unload the film in the dark and roll it the rests of the way onto the take up spool by hand. More cause for concern came while loading the film onto the reel for developing, the edges of the portion of the film that was exposed, felt very similar to the edges of a lasagna noodle. I was able to get the roll loaded, but not without a little more force that I normally like to exert on a roll of film.

I developed the roll and proceeded to scan the negatives. Two samples of which you can see above. The stress on the film causes it to ripple on the film plane causing some interesting distortion. If you look closely you can see the fountain rim around the Dough Boy Monument looks like it caves in on the right side and the stairs on the second image seem to have a wave in them. Not a complete disaster, but next time I will make the effort to re-spool.

Another Caffeinated Box Camera

Ansco Shur Shot FujiFilm Neopan Acros 100 Caffenol-C-M - Caffenol and Box cameras are a match made in heaven. This is the view from Monument Terrace looking down towards the the James River in Lynchburg Virginia. Remove the modern cars and your could almost believe this was 1950 not 2012...

The Ansco Shur Shot

A simple, straight forward 6x9 Box Camera... The Ansco Shur Shot is the definition of "Point and Shot." One shutter Speed, no flash no accessories, the only real frill here is the dual waist level view finders. One for vertical and one for horizontal viewing. Not the feature rich Ansco Shur Shot B2, by any means.

From the Web - Afghan Wooden Box Camera

Caffeinated Box Camera exposure no. 6

Agfa Ansco B2 Shur-Shot Regular FujFilm Neopan Acros 100 Caffenol-C-M - Something about caffenol and vintage cameras just works. Shot with the Shur-Shot discussed in my previous post and developed with caffenol-c-m, this a a repeat of a previous subject with a different feel.

The Agfa Ansco B-2 Shur-Shot Regular

The Agfa Ansco Shur-Shot Regular

Front on view showing the Art Deco design accents and dual viewfinders for Horizontal and Vertical shooting.

Camera controls. Time for selecting either standard shuttle speed or Bulb. Film advance. Diaphragm to select the 2 available f-stops or the built in yellow filter for black and White and the shuttle release. Also of note the black frame lines in the view finder to denote the 6x4.5 framing. 

The Shur-Shot with the guts removed for film loading. In this shot the camera is configured for the 6x9 frame format.

This shot shows the camera reconfigured for 6x4.5 format.

The Shur-Shot's instructions and printed on the inside from. I love the retro graphics.

A Box Camera Classic in the same category as the Kodak Brownies. The Shur-Shot uses 120 film, making it easy to use even today. Sporting 2 shutter speeds, something close to a 60th of a second and Bulb this is not a action stopper by any means. The standard 6x9 frame format does make it a great landscape camera, as long as you do not mind blurry corners. The Shur-Shot has 2 fairly unique features for a simple box camera. One, a built in yellow filter that can be selected by the sliding diaphragm tab on the side of the camera. And two, dual frame formats, 6x9 and 6x4.5, selected by moving metal frame blades in and out of position. Images from this camera to follow. More on the Shur-Shot at Camera-Wiki.