Tag Archives: vintage camera

The No. 2A Folding Pocket Brownie: still going strong after 105 years

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Tom (Admin)

I have most of my collection of 100-plus cameras on a couple of shelves made from old Indian doors whose multiple layers of paint was peeling.  By collector standards it’s not many, but it’s enough so that they grab your attention … Continue reading →

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Petri 7S Test

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Tom (Admin)

Half a year ago, my mother-in-law asked me if I could use an old Petri 7S and a Minolta SRT101 they had laying around and after some quick research online I responded “most definitely!”  The Minolta will be the subject … Continue reading →

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Camera Test: Agfa Ansco No. 1A Ready-Set Special

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Tom (Admin)

This is a camera I bought, not knowing anything at all about it, simply because I thought it looked cool. It turns out that this particular model is not all that well-known, but the overall Ready-set series is. The Ready-Set … Continue reading →

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Camera Test: Ansco Readyflash

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Tom (Admin)

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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Andy Shepherd’s Camera

Posted on October 14, 2014 by Tom (Admin)

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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Vintage: Testing the Houghton Folding Ensign 3 1/4A

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Tom (Admin)

If you’re at all interested in my occasional posts about trying to make old cameras work, read on – this one is the oldest one yet.  The Houghton Folding Ensign 3 1/4A was manufactured in London around 1912, and is … Continue reading →

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The Argus Seventy-Five: Great Photos for a So-Called “Toy” Camera

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Tom (Admin)

The Argus 75, also marketed as the Argus Seventy-Five and the Argoflex Seventy-Five*, is a bakelite pseudo TLR made by the Argus company between 1949 and 1964.  It’s a simple, inexpensive, yet reliable little box camera that you would hang … Continue reading →

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Shooting with the Ansco Anscoflex

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Tom (Admin)

A couple of days ago, I posted about some “found film” that had come from a 1950s Ansco Anscoflex.  I had originally bid on an unidentified roll of film on eBay, and when I found out that the seller was … Continue reading →

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Testing the Vest Pocket Kodak Model B

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Tom (Admin)

I love these little Vest Pocket Kodaks.  They are about the size of a Blackberry (twice as thick) folded up.  Kodak made these starting in 1912, and continued until 1926.  They were revolutionary at the time.  As the first camera … Continue reading →

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Testing the Kodak Retina 1a

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Tom (Admin)

In today’s world of camera that are fully automatic, and only the hard-core photographer bothers to worry about and understand concepts such as aperture and ISO, managing to get decent photos from a camera where you must set everything manually … Continue reading →

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Vintage Camera: Kodak Duaflex II

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Tom (Admin)

One of the key aspects of the vintage cameras I collect is that they should function.  This was the case with the Kodak Duaflex II, a plastic (bakelite) camera manufactured from 1950 to 1954.  It is normally held at waist … Continue reading →

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Vintage Photos with the Agfa Billy Record I

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Tom (Admin)

Here’s another post about vintage cameras from this blog that doesn’t know what it wants to be. Agfa’s Billy Record I was produced from 1950 to 1952 in the U.S. Zone of post-World War II Germany.  The export model (to … Continue reading →

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Vintage Cameras in Cape Town

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Tom (Admin)

There’s a guy in Windhoek who teaches black-and-white photography who mentioned that there is a big vintage camera shop in Cape Town.  He didn’t remember the name of the place, but as we were headed down there we thought we’d … Continue reading →

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Found memories…and a lost roll of film

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Tom (Admin)

Here’s a fun mystery to try and solve. For my (recent) birthday, my kids went down to Otto’s, the local “junk and curiosities” dealer and picked out for me the newest additions to my growing vintage camera collection.  In addition, … Continue reading →

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B&W Photos from an Old Agfa

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Tom (Admin)

My latest hobby is drawing some ire from the “head of household” but it seems harmless enough – scouring eBay for deals on vintage cameras, and, for those for which film is still available, experimenting with photographs to see if … Continue reading →

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Vintage Camera: Agfa Billy Compur

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Tom (Admin)

The latest addition to my small but growing vintage camera collection arrived recently.  It’s an Agfa Billy Compur judging from the name imprinted on the leather surrounding the case, and it was manufactured sometime between 1934 and 1942.  It’s a … Continue reading →

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First Results, Agfa Billy I Vintage Camera

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Tom (Admin)

It took weeks, but we finally got back our first eight photos from the Agfa Billy 1 (mfr: 1952) we were testing for functionality (see previous blog post). The good news is that the camera works!  Mostly.  We know that … Continue reading →

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Joining the Lomography Bandwagon: Agfa Billy

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Tom (Admin)

A few years ago, I picked up a vintage camera in really good shape at a flea market in Europe. I think it cost like 30 bucks and I picked it from a tale with at least a dozen other … Continue reading →

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