Category Archives: Vintage cameras

Pongal in Chennai / Camera Test

Often I blog about old cameras I’m testing out, often I blog about things we see and experience in India.  This post has a little of both! The Ansco Agfa Karomat 36 (known by variants of that name) is an … Continue reading

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Found Film: Trips to the Zoo and to Montreal

This is another post in the series on the photos taken by Raymond Albert in and around Rumford, Maine in the late 1940s and early 1950s (see “Introducing the Alberts”).  In this post, I share two rolls of film, in … Continue reading

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Found Film: The Alberts – Two Weddings

For the last couple of months, I have been sharing photos believed to have been taken by Raymond Albert, circa 1950.  This latest post shares the photos he took of two different weddings, a few years apart. All of the … Continue reading

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Camera Test: Ansco Shur-Shot Jr

The 1948 Ansco Shur-Shot Jr. box camera, a simple little contraption of mostly sheet metal and cardboard, uses a basic design that has not really changed much over 50 years. The only real “upgrades” from box cameras you might see … Continue reading

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Found Film: Albert Family Outings

A couple of additional rolls this week from the series of photos taken by Raymond Albert in and around Rumford, Maine in the late 1940s and early 1950s (see “Introducing the Alberts”).  This looks like spring and summer, 1952, in which … Continue reading

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Found Film: The Alberts at Christmas

This is another post in the series on the photos taken by Raymond Albert in and around Rumford, Maine in the late 1940s and early 1950s (see “Introducing the Alberts”).  I’m guessing this roll is from Christmas, 1951. It’s always … Continue reading

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Camera Test: No. 1A Folding Pocket Kodak, R.R. Lens Type

Remember the No. 1A Folding Pocket Kodak, R.R. Lens Type?  With such a distinctive name, who could forget it? Not like the cameras nowadays – all DSC-something-cybersomething-shot-pix – they all blur together.  Naming conventions were different in the early 1900s. … Continue reading

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Red Shutter Leica: To Repair or Not to Repair?

Hundreds of dollars spent on a collectible vintage Leica, and it doesn’t work.  What to do?  Naturally, take it apart! This is the camera I picked up on eBay.  it’s a Leica IIIc, made in 1941.  I thought I’d gotten … Continue reading

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Found Film: The Alberts, Summer and Fall 1951

The story of Raymond Albert’s family, as told through his lost and found photos, continues as we enjoy a late summer in Rumford, Maine around 1951-ish.  There is no real theme to tie these photos together – they come from … Continue reading

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Found Film: The Alberts Go Fishing

It’s time to share another batch of Raymond Albert’s photos. In this batch, Raymond (shown above) goes on a fishing trip with some friends and family. I’m not sure where this lake is – probably in Maine, but there are … Continue reading

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Camera Test: Ansco Readyflash

The Ansco Readyflash – so named because it’s “ready for flash” (but I don’t have one) via two connectors on the camera – is about as simple a box camera as you could probably come up with.  It’s made of … Continue reading

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Found Film: The Alberts and the Korean War

We met the Alberts a few weeks ago, when I introduced Raymond and his family, whom we know from a box of about 20 developed rolls of film Raymond left behind recently.  This installment appears to have been taken around … Continue reading

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Andy Shepherd’s Camera

The Shaw-Harrison company manufactured these simple, bakelite cameras from 1959 to 1972 in a variety of colors – along with an identical model called the Valiant 620. I picked this one up on eBay for a few bucks because it … Continue reading

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Found Film: Introducing the Alberts

Raymond Albert was born on March 20, 1926 to Willa/Vila/Ovila (depending on the source) and Annie (Chenard) Albert, who were born in 1892 and 1895, respectively, in Canada and came separately to Maine as teens.  According to the 1940 census, … Continue reading

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Found Film Friday: Only Briefly Misplaced

Every week I post a roll of “found” film that has been forgotten in someone’s attic or inside a camera, often for half a century.  You never know what you’re going to end up with though.  With the old spools, … Continue reading

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Found Film Friday: Cowboys and RVs

It’s been a slow week for photography and blogging.  Last weekend we went to photograph and film the annual Ganesha Chathurti immersion of Ganesh idols in the sea.  I got some great video, but unfortunately can’t locate the video card … Continue reading

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Found Film Friday: Country Outing

This week’s roll of “found film” came to me from near Binghamton, New York, where the Ansco company was located from the mid-1800s to around 1980. The spool was covered in rust, and the backing paper was stuck to the … Continue reading

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Found Film Friday: Portraits with Grandma

This week’s found film was inside a camera – a Kodak Brownie Target Six-20, as seen below. This camera was manufactured between 1946 and 1952 and sold for three and a half bucks. It gets its name from the film … Continue reading

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Found Film Friday: Trip to Grandpa’s!

This is the final installment in a series of film rolls recovered from Colorado, and originally shot in the 1960s.  We have met the “Smiths” and seen them at Christmas, Easter, birthdays and a trip to Florida and camping with … Continue reading

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Found Film: The Smith Family Goes to Florida

For the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at a batch of Kodacolor-X film from the 1960s, generally featuring a family’s special occasions, but for some reason never developed.  This week we accompany them as they go to Florida (and … Continue reading

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Found Film Friday: Good Times for the “Smith” Family

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve gotten to know a family (dubbed “Smith” by me) via a pile of undeveloped film from the 1960s which ended up with me. The Smith family was primarily into photographing the kids, but … Continue reading

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Found Film: The Smith Family Celebrates Easter

Last week we met the “Smith” family (as I’ve decided to name them), celebrating Christmas in a series of moments captured on Kodacolor-X film – manufactured between 1963 and 1972 – on an unknown camera.  This week it appears they’ve … Continue reading

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Found Film: The Smith Family Celebrates Christmas

I have no idea who this family is, but now that I have developed a bunch of their pictures,  I’ve gotten to know them a bit and it only seems appropriate to give them a name.  I’m calling them the … Continue reading

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Found Film Friday: Brownie Hawkeye

This week’s found film comes from the inside of a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. The Brownie Hawkeye is a camera made in the 1950s.  It takes 620 rollfilm, and this camera contained a roll like the one below, which uses a … Continue reading

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Vintage Camera Test: Franka Werke Bonafix

A few months ago I picked up this Franka Werke camera for “next to nothing” (20 bucks or so) that appeared from the photos to be in near-mint condition.  When it arrived, it looked like it had been stored in … Continue reading

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