Going through this years photos.

I decided that I am going to go through the film images I have taken in the last year or so and pick one from each camera that I hadn't posted before.  With most of these cameras I have already been through the pictures and picked out ones I liked to make a gallery or to post here. So I am working mostly with left-overs.  Hopefully I will find some images that I over-looked the first time.

Taken with Agfa Clack on Arista.edu developed with Rodinal

One thing that surprised me is that I have not made a post or gallery for the Agfa Clack. I have posted several images from the Clack on Flickr.  So maybe the Clack will be the subject of a future post.

Taken with Afga Isomat Rapid on Legacy Pro 100 developed with Rodinal

I wrote about the Afga Isomat Rapid last year. The Isomat is one of the few 35mm cameras that makes square format images.  I haven't used the Isomat in over a year.  I do however have a roll of Kodak Gold 100 that I have been planning on loading into a Rapid Cassette.  Hopefully I will get around to that once the weather warms up.

Taken with Agfa PB20 Plenax on T-Max developed in Xtol

I have also written about he Agfa Plenax earlier. My main activity lately with this camera has been attempting to convert it to use 120 film.  I have been doing this because I like this camera fairly well and would like to be able to use it without re-spooling 120.

A Famous Camera and a Obscure Camera

Introduced in 1985 the Minolta Maxxum 7000 was the first camera to use an in-body auto focus system.












Probably the Minolta Maxxum is one of the most well-known cameras.  It's success established the demand for auto focus in SLR cameras.  I found this one at a church sale for $10.  It shows some wear, however it seems to function well.  Its not a camera that I was seeking, but now that I have it I think I will enjoy it.  There was a roll of Kodak Max 800 with eight exposures already in the camera.  I have not idea how old the film is.  I will finish up the roll and see what I get. 

Zoom Range: 35mm Wide angle to 55 mm
Electronic Flash: 4 feet to 12 feet range
Power: 2 AA alkaline batteries
Motorized film advance and rewind








The most interesting thing about the Kalimar Autowind Zoom is that it has a manual zoom.  So far I haven't seen that in the cheap plastic point & shoots.  I also kinda liked the way it looks. I think I am safe in saying that The Kalimar Autowind Zoom never was or ever will be a famous camera.  Still it is marginally more interesting than many of the cameras that I see of this type.  And it was only 50 cents.

I also picked up an another Agfa Isoflash Rapid this weekend for $3.  I got it mostly because it had a rapid cassette and was in almost new condition with a nice case. I have to admit that these various Agfa Iso rapid cameras have grown on me.  I need to get around to putting some color film in a rapid cassette and see what kind of result I get.

Have been running behind today.  Hopefully no one was relying on my usual Monday morning posts. Looks like cameras are still scare in the garage sales around here.

Agfa Ansco PB20 Plenax

Made: 1934 to 1938
Film: PB20 which equals 620
Lens: Hypar Anastigmat 75mm f6.3
Shutter: Wollensak Plenax 
Shutter speeds: T, B, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100
















Another camera that I got in a box with some other stuff.  It sat around for months before I took a good look at it.  When I did I was most surprised to find that the bellows seemed to still be good.  I couldn't find even a little pinhole.  Considering that this is a cloth bellows and nearly 80 years old that was amazing to me.  The lens was also clear and the shutter sounded okay.  So I realized that there wasn't any reason I could not take some pictures with it. 

The Agfa Ansco PB20 Plenax is one of those cameras that uses the discontinued 620 film.  So I had to wind some 120 film onto a 620 spool. I am actually getting pretty comfortable doing that now that I have some practice.  For this experiment I used Tmax 400.  Because of the slow shutter speeds of the Plenax I would have liked to use a 100 IS0 film, however the Tmax is what I had on hand.  Fortunately the day became cloudy and the light became acceptable for this camera and film combination.

The Plenax may look more imposing in the image at the top than it is in reality. For a medium format camera it is almost pocket size.  The Plenax was an inexpensive camera in its day, however it appears to have been well-made. I suppose some evidence of that is in the fact that it is still functional after almost 80 years.  I have no sales figures, however I would guess that a lot of these were sold.  I have three of them that have been thrown in with other stuff, so I would guess they must be plentiful.  The other two are made for 616 film and are larger than the 620 version.

The Plenax makes 8 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 negatives.  That was a common format for snapshot cameras back then.  The reason was that images would be printed directly from the negatives without enlargement.  If you have come across snapshots from that era you might have noticed 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 is a common size. 

I found myself pleasantly surprised by the Agfa Ansco PB20 Plenax.  Especially for a medium format camera it is easy to carry around.  And the images it gives are while not outstanding, are still much better than I expected.  One thing I would like is a faster shutter speed than 1/100.  A funny thing to me at least, is that I have gotten to where the range focusing for this camera isn't much of an issue for me.  I have used enough cameras of this sort that I am now used to it.  At least for general shooting I have found that getting familiar with distant/aperture/depth of field combinations for the camera frees me from having to figure out exactly how far away things are most of the time.  So my conclusion is that I can see why the Agfa Ansco PB20 Plenax was a popular camera back in the day.  And it's not a bad camera to use today.  I honestly don't know if I would ever actually seek one out, however I am glad that this one did turn up.

Anhydrous ammonia tanks are a frequent site in rural Illinois this time of year.

Is this the Best Time for Photographers?

: the art or process of producing images by the action of radiant energy and especially light on a sensitive surface (as film or a CCD chip) 

~ Definition of Photography from Merriam-Webster 

I suppose it is not the best style to start with a definition, however I think it points to why this is a good time to be into photography.  If our craft is one of capturing images using mostly visible light on a sensitive surface, our options today are greater than they likely ever have been.   Especially if you are cost conscious with your photography these seem like good times.  Film cameras are still cheap and digital has been out long enough that there are some good deals to be had on good cameras that have been passed up for the latest and greatest. And as far as good times go I am talking mostly about being able to use a lot of different cameras and formats while not spending a lot of money.  If you can only live with the best equipment as defined by being the most expensive, than these times are pretty much the same as they always have been. 

One thing that has been amazing to me is how cheaply good film cameras and equipment can be had for these days. Like a lot of people I got away from film for a few years and when I returned it was almost like people were giving film cameras away.  Today it is possible to get a wide variety of film camera's in different formats for the price of a single entry level DSLR.  In fact I believe one could put together a nice film camera collection for that price and have some money left over.  

I do wonder why with so many affordable ways to capture light that most people seem to be stuck in the digital mode.  For me it is exciting to try out a camera that is new to me or a new film to see if there will be a look that I haven't seen before.  I would think that the curiosity that creative people are supposed to have would eventually inspire more photographers to explore other options.  Although if someone has never been exposed to film with the way digital is so heavily promoted it may be difficult to realize that there are other options.  Well, enough with ruminating about why others are doing what they do.  While I do like both film and digital I find myself getting a little defensive about film.  I believe that is because digital is likely to stick around while film could go away if not enough people continue to appreciate it.  And I think it would be a shame to lose that creative option. Still if that happens it won't be today. And today with the warm weather in most places, at least in the US, it is a great day for taking pictures.

I couldn't make a post without at least one picture.  The one below was taken with an Agfa Plenax PB20.  The Plenax was an inexpensive folding camera from the 1930's.  I think this one came in a box with some other stuff.  I had never looked at it much until this weekend when I discovered that it is a pretty nice camera.  I plan to write more about it soon. 

My Photography Year in Review - Part Two

As far as a review of last year I think this will be the second and last part.  At least it serves as the title for one more post.  My history in photography goes back to the 1960's.  My first camera was a 127 camera that the Boy Scouts sold.

After my experience with the old box camera  I decided to see what other film equipment I still had.  One of the first things I found was the Boy Scout camera.  I also found a roll of Verichrome Pan film that had expired in December of 1967.  The film has been at room temperature and from what I have read it is possible that images still could be made with it.  My plan has been to try the old roll of film in the Cub Scout camera.  However while I learned about the possibilities with this old film and camera I haven't felt the inspiration yet to test that knowledge.

My mother, aunt, brother and sister from around 1965. Taken with Cub Scout Camera.












Now, while I am aware of the shortcomings of some of the simple cameras, like my Cub Scout one, I actually always kinda liked some of those less than perfect results.  So when I decided to do film again one of the first things I sought to learn about was the other simple cameras.  One thing I found is that there are many people who have the same interest.

I remember spending quite a bit of time looking at the Junk Store Camera site. I also found that there is a Toy Camera group on Flickr. There also is a whole movement called Lomography based on using often simple cameras and almost seeking out less than technically perfect results.

So my first phase in a return to film was getting and trying out several box-type cameras from mostly the 50's and early sixties.  I also got one of the famous Holgas.

Taken with Agfa Clack.  The Clack was a popular family camera in Europe during the 1950's. 

Taken with Imperial Reflex 620 Duo Lens. Another camera from the 1950's.

And here is one from a Holga. 










These are just a few of the cameras I tried.  I learned that each camera has its own character.  And that character can show even more variety as it interacts with different films.  There can be a lot of surprises with these cameras.  They are probably not the best camera to use when you want a reliable predictable result, however if you enjoy image-making they can be a lot of fun. And at least I find that I am much more emotionally engaged by the images these cameras make than I am by my digital images. I suppose part of it is from my love of history and feeling that I am connecting to the photographic past with these cameras.  I wonder who might have used the camera before me and what images they made.  

So this is as much reviewing as I'm going to do.  Hopefully, I can come up with better and more creative titles as this blog grows. 

Agfa Isomat Rapid

Agfa introduced Rapid film in 1964. It was supposed to be easier to load than regular 35mm film. Unfortunately for Agfa, Kodak 126 film propelled by the poplar Instamatic Cameras eclipsed the Rapid Film System. By the end of the 60′s even Agfa was selling 126 cameras. With the Rapid System you need two cassettes. One with film and one to take up the film. You place both cassettes in the camera and slide the film leader into the empty cassette and close the camera. When you are finished you remove the take-up cassette for processing. There is no rewinding. With this system the film also is protected if you should open the back of the camera before the roll is finished. The Cassettes also have a metal plate that sets the film speed for cameras that are capable of reading it. The Rapid cassettes use standard 35mm film and it is easy to reload an empty cassette. For me Rapid film is far and away the easiest of the obsolete film systems to work with.

I bought the Agfa Isomat Rapid for a few dollars on Ebay because it had a couple of Rapid Film Cassettes that I needed for Yashica half frame. It is a funny thing that on Ebay often a camera with a Rapid cassette will sell for less than people are selling the casssettes for by themselves. When I got it it appeared that the shutter would not fire which didn’t bother me since I hadn’t bought the camera to use. Lately I have been interested in using the square format. When looking to see if there were any 35mm cameras that did the square format I saw the Isomat Rapid mentioned. I thought it was too bad that the one I had appeared not to work. However in reading further I found that this camera has to be loaded with film and have the back closed for the shutter to work. And when I loaded the film and closed the back the Agfa Isomat Rapid did work.

The Agfa Isomat Rapid came out in 1965. It has a 38 mm 3-element Color-Agnar f:4.5 lens. The lens is zone focus either by symbols at the top of the lens or by a length scale at the bottom. It has two exposure modes, automatic and flash. The mode is set by a lever upper-right of the lens. For automatic exposure set the lever to “A” and the camera will automatically select an aperture setting. At automatic the shutter is fixed at 1/70. In automatic mode when you press the shutter halfway you will see a green light in the viewfinder if the exposure is okay. If not okay there will be a red light. The exposure system is powered by a selenium cell so no batteries are needed. Surprisingly the cell in my camera still works. For the flash mode you use the lever to set an aperature that will work with your flash. The shutter speed in the flash mode is 1/30.

So far I have just ran a couple of rolls of Legacy Pro 100 b&w film throught the Isomat. I took two feet of bulk film and pushed it into the Rapid cassette. This yields 16 square images. I have only used the automatic mode and found it gave good results. I haven’t been too particular about the focusing going mostly by the symbols. I do think that with some care this lens could give reasonably sharp results. So far I have been pleased with the ease of use of the Isomat and the images it gives. I imagine it will be a camera that will get regular use. If you would like some square images in 35 mm along with a kinda interesting camera then the Agfa Isomat Rapid can often be found for less than $10 on Ebay. You will probably need to ask the dealer about the cassettes since they usually don’t mention them.

Agfa Rapid Cassettes








Agfa Isomat Rapid Gallery