First garage sale film find of the year

The last few years I have had good luck finding slightly expired, but usable film at garage sales.  However so far this year I had found no film.  Then a couple weeks ago the bag above caught my eye beneath the table of a garage sale.

When I looked inside I saw that it was packed to the top with old film.  Most had expired in 1993.  Since most of it was B&W I figured it was likely that some of it would be fine to use.  Also since there were several boxes of sheet film I figured that the source of the film was probably sophisticated enough to have done a good job storing the film.  Anyway for $5 I didn't have much to lose.

For my $5 I got several 5 pack boxes of T-MAX 100 and Tri-X 120 film.  There also were several boxes of Vericolor and Ektachrome 400 120.  In the 4x5 size there was a hundred sheet box each of Ektapan and Plus-X.  There also were a couple of 25 sheet boxes of Ektapan and Plus-X.  And lastly there is a 100 sheet box of HP5 and LP4.  None of the boxes had been opened.

So far I have only done a couple rolls of the T-MAX.  It seems to be in good shape.

If all this film has held up as well as the T-MAX this will have to be by far and away my best film deal ever.

Found Film and Three Strollers

I imagine that this stroller would face all sorts of safety recalls if it were made today. Although I doubt that it could compete price-wise with the plastic models. I think this photo was made in the 1940s. Notice the brace on the child's leg. I am guessing this may have been the result of polio.

I found this image in some negatives that I bought a while back in St. Joseph, Illinois. So far I haven't found out much about them other then they seem to have been taken mostly in the 1940s. I think they may have been taken around St. Joseph, Illinois. I posted some of these photos back when I first started this blog.
Found Film Negatives from the 1940's & 1950's 
More Found Film and some World War II History
Fixing 1940's Found Photos
Family Reunion at Crystal Lake Park
Found Film Negatives from the 1940's & 1950's

I think this stroller may be one of the Taylor Tots. Taylor Tots were a popular stroller that was made from the 1920s up to the 1970s. I believe that the metal plate beneath the child's feet can be removed to make the stroller into a walker.

Looks like this kid might be heading off the edge of the porch on his stroller/walker. At least it looks like the woman in the photo is moving toward him to stop his progress in that direction.

Hope someone finds the photos of old strollers interesting. I can't say that I remember much about strollers from my youth. I can remember pedal cars and tractors.  Also tricycles and bicycles. However I don't remember ever using a stroller. Still some people must have memories of them since they are a fairly popular item for collecting and restoring.

Ica Icarette, Marksman 120, and Lost Portrait.

I saw this camera at Crossroads Consignment in Champaign IL a couple weeks ago. The price tag said "Rare Ica Icarette $110".  I am used to seeing claims of rarity made by dealers for common items, however in this case the claim may be valid. The Icarrette was made by Ica starting in 1920.  In 1926 there was a big merger of German camera makers after which Zeiss Ikon made several models of Icarettes. In my admittedly non-exhaustive search for info on the Icarrette I was not able to find anything on the pre-1926 Icarrette. So it is likely that if this is a pre-1926 Ica made Icarrette, then it may actually be somewhat rare.

From what I can find it appears that Icarrettes were good cameras. Later models were made that used several different roll film sizes.  The early ones also had the ability to use plates. Most had a Tessor lens and a Compur leaf shutter with, a good for the time, top speed of 1/250.  Anyway the Ica Icarette seems like a much more interesting camera than I would have thought at first.  I will definitely give it another look if it is still there the next time I go to Crossroads.

The Marksman 120 is a typical box camera from the late 1940's.  The most interesting thing to me is that it was made by Zenith Camera Corp. in Chicago.  Postwar Chicago seems to have been a preferred site for making cheap cameras. Zenith, Metropolitan Industries, and Spartus are three Chicago based makers of cheap cameras that come to mind. I think the Marksman 120 was priced at $25. 

I believe this is a Crayon Enlargement.  Crayon Enlargements were popular up until WWI.  What they did was make a photo enlargement which was used as a guide for the finished portrait. Here the portrait is a colorized photo of a soldier from WWI.  From the number of these portraits that I have seen over the years, they must have been very popular with WWI soldiers. I didn't catch the price on this item, however I would guess that it is a hard item to sell, since demand probably isn't high and supply is.

Kodak Cameras using 120 film

Kodak introduced 120 film in 1901.  At the time 120 was considered a small format roll-film.  That is not surprising since in those day you could get roll-film that was 5 inches wide. Up until 1932 Kodak made at least 19 cameras that used 120 film. There may be a few more, however these are the ones I found.  The 1933 No. 2 Special Brownie appears to be the last camera that Kodak made for 120.

In 1932 Kodak introduced the 620 format.  620 film is the same width as 120, however it uses a slimmer spool.  From the 1930's until the 1950's, 620 was the most popular film format.  Still 120 survives until this day and 620 was last made in 1995.  Unfortunately, with few exceptions, some Brownie Flash Hawkeyes for example, Kodak 620 cameras will not work with 120 film.

So if you want to use a non-135 Kodak camera with a film that is still easy to get, you have to go back to the days before FDR. With the exception of one of the No. 2 Brownies I have never used any of these cameras. Still the idea of using one of these vintage cameras with an easy to get film has some appeal to me.  So I made this list to help me when the time comes to seek one out, and am sharing it here.  The info about the box cameras may have some short-comings.  What I have found about identifying these cameras is confusing to me at least.  And I didn't want to spend much time sorting it out since it is the folding cameras that I am most interested in. The now value is the original price in today's dollars.

Hope the table doesn't cause any problems. Blogger seems to lack a tool to make tables.  I normally don't care to use inline styles as I have done here, however it seemed easier than figuring out how to add a style sheet to a blogger page. 

CAMERA NAME	FROM	TO	Then	Now
No. 1 AUTOGRAPHIC KODAK Junior Camera	1914	1927	$23.00	543.47
No. 1 AUTOGRAPHIC KODAK Special Camera (Bakelite side panels)	1915	1920	$56.00	$1,310.14
No. 1 AUTOGRAPHIC KODAK Special Camera (Model B) (Back overlaps sides) Focus by thumb-turned gear. (Only produced for a few months)	1921	1921	$79.00	$1,042.86
No. 1 AUTOGRAPHIC KODAK Special Camera (Model B) (knurled screw focusing)	1922	1926	$74.00	$1,040.81
No. 2 Beau BROWNIE Camera (5 colors)	1930	1933	$4.25	$60.13
Boy Scout BROWNIE Camera	1932	1932	$2.00	$34.50
No. 2 BROWNIE Camera	1901	1904	$2.00	$47.74
No. 2 BROWNIE Camera (Aluminum, Model F)	1924	1933	$2.75	$38.00
No. 2 BROWNIE Camera (5 colors)	1929	1933	$2.50	$34.55
BROWNIE Special No. 2 Camera	1933	1934	$2.25	$40.90
No. 2 Folding AUTOGRAPHIC BROWNIE Camera (Changed from square to round ends in 1917)	1915	1926	$12.00	$280.74
No. 2 Folding Pocket BROWNIE Camera (Model B)	1907	1915	$5.00	$119.34
Century of Progress World’s Fair Souvenir 1833–1933 Camera	1933	1933	$4.00	$72.71
No. 1 KODAK Junior Camera	1914	1914	$11.00	$259.92
No. 1 KODAK Series III Camera	1926	1932	$26.00	$347.10
No. 1 Pocket KODAK Camera	1926	1932	$17.00	$226.95
No. 1 Pocket KODAK Camera (In 4 colors: blue, brown, gray, green)	1929	1931	$18.00	$248.73
No. 1 Pocket KODAK Junior Camera (Black and 3 colors)	1929	1932	$9.00	$124.36
No. 1 Pocket KODAK Series II Camera	1922	1932	$22.50	$310.91

KODAK BROWNIE JUNIOR SIX-16

I saw this group of cameras in an antique shop last week.  They are the 1930's equivalent of the more recent point and shoot cameras that are a staple of many garage sales.  I believe the guy was asking $25 for the SIX-16 cameras and $15 for the plain boxes.  Considering their very rough shape I imagine they will sit there for a very long time. 

The KODAK BROWNIE JUNIOR SIX-16 was made from 1934 to 1942.  It is a typical box camera of the time with one set shutter speed and an option for a timed exposure. The ones that I have seen more often have an Art Deco metal plate on the front.  I am not sure why the ones here differ.  The KODAK BROWNIE JUNIOR SIX-16 made six 2 1/2 x 4 1/4 images using 616 film. Kodak introduced 616 film in 1932. 616 is the same as the older 116 film, however it comes on a slimmer spool.  By making the spool slimmer Kodak hoped to be able to make smaller cameras. 

The large negative produced by cameras like the KODAK BROWNIE JUNIOR SIX-16 was popular up until the 1950's because it seems that it was more economical to make contact prints than enlargements. At one time there were some amazingly large versions of roll-film out there.  For example I was surprised to find that the original 110 film, discontinued in 1929, was 5" x 4", and the original 126 film, discontinued in 1949, was 4 1/4" x 6 1/2".  Unfortunately today 120 is the largest roll-film format you can get.

616 film was discontinued in 1985. It takes some doing, however you can use 120 film with a camera like the BROWNIE JUNIOR SIX-16.  I did it a while back with the Kodak Senior Six-16. My guess is that it wouldn't be worth the trouble with a camera like the BROWNIE JUNIOR SIX-16.  Especially since there are a lot of cameras of the same vintage that use 120 film and likely would produce similar results.

The best I can tell the GE console radio above was first made in 1933.  So maybe a BROWNIE JUNIOR SIX-16 once sat upon it. More than likely it played some of the second season of the Jack Benny show. Jack Benny had one of the most popular radio shows starting in 1932 up until TV become dominate in the 1950's.  The peak of popularity for radio shows like Benny's parallels the popularity of film formats like 616 or 620.  Although that parallel seems to be a coincidence more than the result of any relationship between radio and film formats that I can figure out. In today's antique shop the radio and the cameras are in the same booth. Unlike the cameras the radio seems in good shape and it is claimed that it works.  Also unlike with the cameras it is never a good idea to try to see if an old radio works by plugging it in. I suppose the big difference is that no old camera that I know of needs to be plugged into electricity, and therefore it isn't like to be damaged, catch on fire, or shock you.

More on a vintage theme than a photography one are these Christmas lights which I think are from the late 1930's.  Who knows, they could have been on a Christmas tree in the 1930's in the same room with the GE radio and a BROWNIE JUNIOR SIX-16 camera.  I got the lights for a couple dollars at a garage sale last weekend.  Ignoring the caution that I usually have with old electrical things I plugged these in and they did light.  And from the heat they generated I would guess that given time they might have set this box on fire.  I imagine that you would be asking for trouble if you put these lights on a less than fresh Christmas tree.  I suppose the lack of fire threat may be one advantage of collecting vintage cameras.

Meikai 4351

Meikai cameras were actually made by a real camera company in Japan called Tougodo.  The first Meikai was the Meikai EL made in 1963. The Meikai EL has about the same capabilities as the Meikai 4351, however being part metal the Meikai EL looks better. It looks like Tougodo continued making cameras at least up until the late 1980's. They also made flashes and other camera accessories.

Comparing the Meikai 4351 with a camera that I wrote about earlier the, Meikai 4353 SSN , showed me that Tougodo was constantly working on improving their line of Meikai cameras.  That is if by improve you mean to make your camera be a better fake looking SLR. Judging by the numbers I would guess that the Meikai 4353 SSN is a later version than the Meikai 4351.  And the later version Meikai 4353 SSN does look to me more like an SLR.  I do wonder if anyone was ever really fooled by these cameras.  Although when I think of the kind of people we elect to public office, and the kinds of advertising campaigns that people fall for, I wouldn't be surprised if there were at least a few people who thought these were real SLRs.

Still even if they were fooled they would be, unless seriously deluded, unfooled when they got their first images processed.

And if they wondered why it took so long to finish their roll of film they would be enlightened when they saw images like the one above.  Now some cameras like the Meikai 4353 SSN have the tendency at times not to advance the film a full frame on occassion.  This often seems to happen near the end of a roll of film. The Meikai 4351 is the only camera that did this through an entire roll of film. Fortunately I only bulk loaded ten frames to test this camera. I am not sure if this is something that the Meikai 4351 does all the time, or if I may have had the film inserted too loosely.  Still I would guess that if images like the one above are what you have been seeking from a camera, then the Meikai 4351 might be the answer for you.

I wonder if Tougodo was the company that made a lot of the other fake SLRs that now fill up space in thrift stores and garage sales, or did they just stick to their Meikai brand?  If quality is a word that can be used with such cameras I have found some fake SLRs that were better than the Meikai.  The Time Camera that I used last summer probably could even be used for real photography under the right conditions. Anyway you have probably now read more on the Meikai 4351 than has been or ever will be written again.

Lavec LT-002

I didn't want to let another week go by without a post, however some may wish when they see the Lavec LT-002 that I had.  I had a case of the Lomo Bug and put some film in this camera that had been sitting around for a while.  I think it came from a garage sale last summer.  It was still in its box wrapped in plastic.  So likely it had never been used.  That seems pretty common for these cameras. A lot of them were give-aways that people didn't want to waste film on.

The Lavec LT-002 has apertures of 5.6,8,11, and 16.  Instead of a round opening for the aperture the Lavec LT-002 uses a rectangular slit.  I think that is what accounts for the vignetting at the smallest apertures.

I suppose that the standard that I use in judging these 35mm cameras for their Lomo qualities is the Holga. By that standard I think the Lavec LT-002 has some potential.  It even has some light leaks and occasional flaring. Although it is not usually as extreme as in the image below.

I have wondered why from time to time I chose to run good film through these cameras that are disdained by most photographers and humanity in general. My best guess is that after so many years of doing photography I know enough to have very good control over the results that I get when using my better cameras.  With a camera like the Lavec LT-002 there is a lot of uncertainty about what results I will get. I can chose my subject and make some attempt at composition(which isn't easy since the viewfinders usually show much less than the camera sees), however much of the result is beyond my control.  And there is something about that which I enjoy.  Although I imagine that the same experience would cause much discomfort to some. 

Anyway the Lavec LT-002 looks like it has some potential.  Although it probably won't be the first camera that I pick up the next time that the Lomo Bug bites.