Not too horribly long ago, I got two new old cameras. The first was a 1936 Ikoflex, a sophisticated little camera that should take some great shots. The next was a 1940 Kodak Popular Brownie, a simple box camera.
After shooting a roll on each of them, I’m sort of disappointed with myself.
The Ikoflex had all that fancy photography stuff like aperture settings and different shutter speeds. It’s very capable of capturing some fine photos. Most of the roll, however, was washed out, except for the first photo.
See?
So what happened? It’s rather embarrassing. I forgot that the aperture settings are measured “backwards.” Meaning, when you open the iris, the numbers decrease rather than increase. I had it backwards. It’s been awhile since I really thought about f/stops. I had the camera set for f5ish for most of the time in the sunny desert. That’s bound to end badly when shooting on 100 speed film.
The Popular Brownie, however, might have to be my dark winter camera. This one has no aperture settings and has no adjustable shutter speed. It’s a very simple point and shoot. When it was made, seventy or so years ago, I’m sure it worked just fine. But since then, the spring has probably gotten a little weak and the shutter speed has slowed a bit.
This gives you some washed out photos, which is a real shame. The two that you see here were the only things that came out. Everything else was almost completely white.
Thankfully, Seattle is typically cloudy, so from October through May, this camera will work just fine. It’ll take some experimenting, but I bet I can find the right conditions for it.
