Old Cameras and Sprockets...

When a film format is discontinued, the cameras are usually relegated to attics, shelves, basements, or the trash. I have acquired numerous old cameras, and enjoy exploring the technology and image quality. There are some spectacular artistic possibilities, due to characteristics of the old lenses. Imperfections become opportunities for striking portraits or landscapes, through vignetting, soft focus, or an ethereal glow in the highlights of a lens with a worn coating.

This image was simply a proof of concept experiment. I noticed that a 35mm cannister fit easily inside a Kodak box camera, which normally used some obsolete variation of medium format film. Since the 35mm film is much narrower, the film is exposed to the edges, past the sprocket holes. For amusement, I made several exposures of the Wrigley Building in Chicago, combining parts of two exposures.

Kodak Box Camera

I'll go into more detail about this process in a future post.