Box Brownie

I absolutely love shooting with antique cameras. There is a certain fun factor to shooting with cameras that were built many years ago.

The best part about most old cameras, is that these little buggers were built to last. Most digital cameras built these days are obsolete in two years, and non functioning in 10 years. What a shame.

I have had this little box camera in my collection for a while. It is a Kodak No. 2 Brownie Camera, Model D.

Cute little Box Brownie. Used but in nice condition.

The Box Brownie put the picture taking process into the hands of the masses. This particular Brownie uses the still readily available 120 size film, and creates eight 2 1/4" x 3 1/4" inch exposures per roll. It is a simple camera, but has almost everything you need to make some nice images. The shutter speed is about 60th of a second. There are three apertures, f11, 16 and 22 and a bulb setting to take extended exposures. The camera is a fixed focus camera, and takes images from about 6 feet to infinity. There is a close up adaptor for taking portraits, which I do not have, and it would allow the camera to make closer head and shoulder portraits.

The model D was produced from 1915 to 1917. The last patent date on the back of my camera is 1916, so that puts this camera right in the middle of the production run.

Here is more info on the camera:
http://www.browniecamera.nl/no_2_brownie_model_d_1915_1917.htm

The back of the camera opens, to reveal the model information and patent date.

The camera is very simple to use. You load the camera with film, key wind the film to the chosen exposure, and then push the shutter lever on the side to make the exposure. There are two waist level finders on the camera (for verticals and horizontal images) to allow you to sorta see what you will be taking a photo of. The little mirrors inside the finders are not as crisp as they once were, so the image isn't as easy to see as it could be. It does work pretty well though in lining up your subject.

A close up of the view you get from the horizontal finder on the camera..

I shot with an old expired roll of Tri-X I had in a drawer to test out the camera. Tri-X is a 400 asa film, which was unheard of back in 1916 when people were using this camera. Most "fast" film was still in the 25-50 asa range.

With the 60th of a second and 400 asa film, my light meter said that I should be good with f11 to f16 in open shade. And that is what I did.

After the eight test exposures I developed the film and was amazed to see that they were all pretty much properly exposed. Not bad for flip flop spring set shutter in a 95 year old cardboard camera!

Nice smooth skin tones. Amazing for a simple meniscus lens glued into a cardboard box. A little soft from center, but nice.

Soft all around, and a little soft off from the center sweet spot on the lens. But still a nice portrait.

My daughter Kalli is always eager to help out her dad, so she sat for a few portraits so that I could run the camera through the paces. I found the lens to be sharp in the center, and fall off to the edge.  I also found the pictures to be a little soft over all, which I guess is from the film not being perfectly flat inside the camera, and again the little glass lens that is glued in the front of the camera.

It was so much fun to use! I know I will definitely be making more portraits with this camera.