Spartus Box Camera

Strangely, I don't remember where I bought this camera.  I know I got it last summer and I would guess it was at a garage sale.  Until the last few days it sat on a shelf mostly ignored.  When I did take a good look at this Spartus Camera I was surprised that I found it to be a fairly attractive camera. It could use a little cleaning, however its simple clean lines look good to me. 

The features of this Spartus box camera are the standard ones for a box camera of the 40's and 50's. There are two shutter speeds, instant and time. The instant speed is probably 1/30.  Two good things about this camera are that the viewfinder is actually usable and it uses 120 film. With most of the cameras of this type I have found the viewfinder, even when clean, to be difficult to use.  The one on this Spartus, while small, is bright and clear. 

I couldn't find anything on what year this Spartus camera was made. I would guess the late 1940's to the mid-1950's. Spartus was a company in Chicago that made a great variety of inexpensive cameras during this era. My guess is that these cameras were kinda like the inexpensive point & shoot cameras made by companies like Vivitar in the 1980's and 1990's.

So far I haven't taken any photos with the Spartus. Although since it uses 120 film I will do so when the weather here is more compatible with the leisurely pace of shooting that seems called for with this camera from what many think of as a slower time.

Pho-Tak Traveler 120

Another simple box camera, the Traveler uses 120 film and has one shutter speed, 1/50.  It was first made in 1948 and was continued for a few years into the 1950's.  Made by the Pho-Tak Corporation in Chicago. To me it is interesting that Chicago seems to have once been a hotbed for the making of cameras of this sort.









For reasons that I can't currently explain the Pho-Tak Traveler is one of my favorite box cameras. When I decided that I would thin out my box cameras in favor of more classic SLRs, the Traveler was quickly included in the keep list. For me I think a lot of the Traveler's appeal is its heavy metal construction.  I believe that in a pinch I could probably drive a nail or crack nuts with this camera.  The Traveler weighs 504 grams which tops the 320 grams that the similarly sized Agfa Clack weighs.

The Pho-Tak Traveler takes 6x9 images on 120 film. Here it shows the classic sharp center with soft edges. I like the 6x9 format. It is more impressive when viewed at sizes larger than what is usually convenient for using on the internet.







For me the Traveler has more shelf appeal than it has appeal as a picture taker.  So far I have only ran one or two rolls of film through it in a couple of years.  Probably it is good for the Traveler that I have come to appreciate having a camera around just for its looks.

Below are a couple of links for some photos taken with the Pho-Tak Traveler.
http://westfordcomp.com/classics/traveler/index.htm
http://junkstorecameras.com/Traveler120Review.htm

Official Girl Scout Camera

The Herbert George Company made the Official Girl Scout Camera in the 1950's.  I don't know if anyone made an unofficial version. The OGSC is pretty much the same as the Herco Imperial with the exception of the faceplate.  The camera is a simple box type which uses 620 film to make 12 2 1/4 X 2 1/4 images.  There is one shutter speed probably somewhere between 1/30 and 1/60.  The aperture appears to be around f/11.  There are a couple of holes on top of the camera to hold a flash attachment. 

I used some Arista.Edu 100 with the Official Girl Scout Camera to make the gallery below.  I think most of the scratches are from where I used an Bower X camera to wind 120 film onto a 620 spool.  I remember when I was doing the rewinding thinking this is so easy I wonder why I hadn't used this method before.  When I saw the scratches I remembered that I had used that method before.  Hopefully next time I will remember to use a camera that doesn't enjoy scratching film so much.
Official Girl Scout Camera Gallery

March of the Toy Cameras

Toy may be the kindest categorization that these cameras get. Here I am talking about the simple amateur-oriented cameras of the age before digital. Still when looked at in the long arc of human history these cameras are a marvel. If in the middle-ages you had a Polaroid Color Pack and a supply of film you might have been seen as a great wizard or as somebody to be burned at the stake.

Throughout most of the time in which there have been people it has been very hard to make images or save descriptions of the things that mattered to us. I used to wonder why in the Bible there are few if any descriptions of what the people looked like. I thought maybe appearance didn't matter as much to the ancients as much as it seems to matter to us today.  Then I realized that in those times the materials to write on were often expensive and making copies was a pain. So it is likely that only what was essential was recorded. I have not researched this, however I would not be surprised if descriptions of people in literature did not become common until the printing press and cheap paper became available.

And while making and transmitting verbal descriptions used to be hard, making illustrations was even harder.  Even though literacy was rare in the olden days someone with the skill to make a reasonable representative of what he saw was probably even rarer. Today ancient forms of illustration like the reliefs in the Parthenon or the statutory in a Gothic Cathedral are still admired. However I think it is hard for us to appreciate that at one time such illustrations were about the only show in town.

The birth of photography in the 1830's started a progression to where almost anyone could capture an image of what mattered to him.  By the 1950's in the US almost every family had at least one of the simple box cameras that we now call toys.  Most of the time you could take a decent photo with these cameras without a lot of expense or trouble.  You could even make copies of your images to send out to family and friends.  An amazing advance that seems to have been quickly taken for granted and probably is under-appreciated.

Maybe some day in the distant future someone will come across a cache of ancient photos from the 50's and 60's and wonder why all the children were gathered around a circular object with burning candles on it. I imagine even then there will be little appreciation for the cameras that made this puzzle possible.

  


Taken with Kodak Duaflex II

Taken with Kodak Duaflex II




















More Information about the Kodak Duaflex II at Matt's Classic Cameras.

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. 

My Photography Year in Review - Part One

Around this time last year I was looking at a box of old cameras that my father had purchased at an auction at least twenty years ago. One was a battered box camera that was different from the others in that it used a film that is still made.  The camera was a Kodak No.2 Kodak Rainbow Hawk-Eye Model C.

The Kodak No.2 Kodak Rainbow Hawk-Eye Model C is from the late 1920's and uses 120 film. 120 film is still easy to get.  As you may be able to see from the picture this camera was not in mint condition.  Still the inside was clean and the shutter sounded strong.  Because the lens is behind the shutter in this type of camera it also was in good shape.  So out of curiosity I ordered some film and the chemicals to develop it.  And on one grey Sunday I went out to try a roll of film.  The viewfinder was worthless on this camera so I just held it at waist level and pointed it toward my subject.  The cold outside motivated me to finish the eight pictures pretty quick.  Then for the first time in twenty years I developed some black & white film.  

Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros

The image above is the scan of the first negative that I saw when I hung the roll to dry.  I actually was amazed to see any sort of image from this camera. So I was very happy to see one that was pleasing to me.

Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros

My experience with the Rainbow Hawkeye renewed my interest in film. And that renewed interest in film is my personal biggest photographic development in 2011.  I have been using mostly digital the last several years and actually thought it likely that I would never do film again.  I had forgotten the variety and surprises that film can offer.  And while I still use digital for some things my most satisfying photography this year has been in film.  I plan to do some other posts talking about some of my experience last year in film.  I believe it will be useful to me at least to review what I learned.  So I am glad that I followed my curiosity and found out if that old box camera could still take pictures. 

ANSCO READYFLASH

Roll film size 620; 8 exposures, 2'/4x
3'/4; flash synchronization; fixed focus;
eye-level viewfinder. Price, $5.95; with
gadget bag, flashing unit, flashbulbs,
and three rolls of film, $13.95; Ansco
flash unit, $2.75.

The Ansco Readyflash was the camera that my parents used when I was young. I suppose it says something about my affinity for cameras that I should remember that.  I have not been able to find the camera that they actually used, however I did find that the flash attachment had survived. I bought another Readyflash off Ebay to go with the attachment.  It is likely that the original Readyflash took the photos below:

My brother and sister, who are twins, being baptized in 1959.

Myself with my cousins, Debbie, Rosemary, Sharon, and Pam.

The 1953 Ford that my parents had when they were first married.








Sometime early in the 1960's my Father started recording family events with a movie camera.  The old black & white still images stop around that time.

I made one attempt to take photos with the Ebay ReadyFlash with poor results.  I do believe that the camera has some light leaks.  And so far I haven't had the ambition to do anything about the leaks.  Still I will likely give the ReadyFlash another chance and hopefully I will share the results here.

Camera ads from 1949 and 1955

I was using ABBYY FineReader yesterday to see how well it would copy items from some old photo magazines.  I think it works reasonably well.  So I decided to share a few things that I copied.  I also wanted to test putting the resulting pdfs on Google Docs. 

In 1955 Geiss-America offered a modification to the Argus C4 which allowed it to use interchangeable lenses.  Geiss-America Ad

Also in the same 1955 Photography Directory were some short descriptions and prices for most of the cameras made at the time.  Here is one page for box cameras.
Box Cameras

Also there was a nice early ad for Canon cameras.
Canon

The ad above is from the September 1949 issue of US Camera.  You can get a larger view with the pdf.  Ciro-Flex Model F

Lastly from the same issue is an ad for Bloom's Camera Center in Springfield MA.  Like most independent camera stores Bloom's is long defunct. The ad does list a nice variety of new and used still and movie cameras.
Bloom's

Hopefully, the links to Google Docs work okay.  If there are any problems let me know.