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The 1940's Kandor Jr. 127 roll film camera preceded the Lark I believe...love the neat designs on these cameras that inspired the La Sardina series. This one wasn't working either and I had to spend a bunch of time cleaning it up and relubing the shutter components. It rewarded me with a fine roll of hot rod shots just a week or two ago.
This is the inspiration behind La Sardina, the Lark 127 camera made by Irwin Corp in New York, late 1940's. These all metal half frame cameras are so cool looking, I'm very glad LSI decided to do an homage to them. They are very hard to find and even harder to find in working order as the metal tended to rust badly. This Lark isn't working yet and I will have to perform some surgery on it but cosmetically it's in decent condition and so well worth the restoration effort.
Cinex Mini 127 camera...another neat little 127 cam with a solid aluminum back instead of bakelite. Sometimes the old bakelite cams will warp so they got around that with this one. It takes nice pics, I posted a roll in April. Another tiny little 127 pocket camera.
In the early 1930's Kodak bought the struggling Nagel Camera Werks company in Stuttgart and took over their operation. For a while they continued to make the same designs that Dr. Nagel had invented but they also made other cameras there such as the famous Kodak Retina series. This is the Kodak Vollenda model and there is also a Nagel Vollenda model from a year or two earlier that is the exact same camera. Lovely little thing, takes 127 roll film and has a great folding design. The shutter has to be cocked with one lever then fired with a seperate lever. All manual so you need a meter with it, nice folding viewfinder, folding key winder knob, lovely nickel plating on the hardware. A solid build and delightful pocketable design.
American made Falcon Senior 127 camera from the 1940's or early 50's. This is a diecast aluminum camera with a nice build, better than the earlier Falcons. Still working on the first test roll...I like that it has real strap lugs on it so you can put a neck or wrist strap on it. All cameras need them in my opinion...LSI, are you listening? :D
Comet 127 bakelite cam from the 1940's. This is one super funky unit...has a vertical orientation, you pull out the lens for zone focus and the barrel of the lens is marked for distances. The knob on the right is turned to cock the shutter then you press one of the button on the left according to whether you want instant or time exposure. I posted a roll recently from this one. Fun camera. I found this one on Ebay in mint condition still in the box.
1950's Vista Colour British made box camera. Love the solid build and super snappy shutter on this one. I posted a couple of rolls from it in the past month or two. Big bright viewfinder too, a pleasure to use. :)
Falcon Minicam Junior, just like the Waldorf Minicam 127 camera but with a different face plate and slightly different body mold. Love love love love these tiny 127 half frame cameras. LSI, please please pleeeeeease build us a 35mm Mini Sprocket Rocket half frame or square frame camera! :D
Kodak Bullseye 620, 1950's bakelite box camera. Not as pretty as the similar Ilford Envoy but nevertheless a nice design. This one has a vintage roll of film still in it so I need to finish the roll and send it in to see what might be on it.
Another Nagel/Kodak camera from the mid 1930's, made in Germany. The Duo-620 is an amazingly well built camera, solid and gorgeous with a beautiful lens on it. I'm very happy with the recent b&w roll I shot with it and it's loaded up with Velvia 100 for the next one. A pleasure to shoot with. These come up on Ebay quite a bit and are well worth the $100 or so I think. 620 film is just 120 film on a smaller spool so you can respool it yourself or buy fresh rolls from B&H and other sources.
Rear view of the Kodak/Nagel Vollenda. On these 127 half frame cameras you will see two red windows on the back. You advance the film until you see the 1 in the first window. Take your shot and then advance the 1 to the second window, that is your second shot. Then repeat with #2 and so on until you reach 8. You get a total of 16 shots per roll, two per printed number. All the 127 half frame cams work the same way regardless of maker. There are also 127 full frame cams in existence and those will have just one red window on the back and so only yield 8 shots per roll but the negatives are large, almost as big as 120.
Petri Color 35 from early 1970's. This fabulous little 35mm camera is built like a tank and is quite tiny. The lens is very high quality, it has a wonderful needle match system visibile in the viewfinder and highly intuitive controls. Zone focus. Fantastic camera and worth picking one up. Not the same as the Color 35E which was not bad but a simpler model.
Fex Superfex, made in France in the late 1940's. This isn't a great picture but trust me, these Fex cameras are some of the coolest looking Art Deco design bakelite 127 roll film cameras that I've ever seen. I just LOVE the lines and design. Very hard to find. Still working on test rolls.
Fujica Mini, world's smallest half frame camera, perhaps the smallest 35mm camera ever made as well. This thing is solid and quite heavy, made in the late 60's or early 70's. It has a funky needle match system on the top with 4 jewels and you match them up. I have tested this one a while back and it does take nice pics. Designed to be a ladies' purse camera for quick snapshots. These are delightfully made and fun to shoot, usually have bad paint on them but this one was minty...
Olympus RC, 35mm rangefinder made in the 1970's. Look up Ken Rockwell's review of this little gem. Very small and very well made, usually can be found for under $100 on Ebay. They work great and have a terrific form factor, a pleasure to use and easy to carry.
Zeiss Ikon Baby Box camera from the early 1930's. This cute little thing is the size of a deck of playing cards if you stacked up 3 decks on top of each other. It's so tiny! It takes 127 roll film and the pictures are pretty good. I took a test roll with it early this spring and posted the roll but had it mistakenly labeled as a Falcon Miniature album. Hard to keep them all straight sometimes even with careful notes. :) Anyway, the Zeiss Baby Box is a cutey and easily pocketable. I'll be taking another roll with it very soon.
1960's Trip 35 with the less common black paint finish and hard to find original half case. I adore this camera and it takes great pictures. Very hard to find with the paint in mint condition and I paid somewhat dearly for it but it was worth it.
Trip 35 with new light seals and redone leatherette, GripTac, from Tripman in the UK. One of the great snapshot cameras, a must for lomographers who want to try a retro film cam. Get one!
Konica Hexar AF- This one is more recent, from the late 90's or so. Supposed to be one of the best street cameras ever made with a great 35mm f2 lens that supposedly rivals the Leica Summicron. I have a test roll here to scan in the next week or so and will see for myself... The camera is a bit chunky but it's fun to shoot and fully automatic.
Leica CL, made in the early 1970's. This is the smallest Leica M camera platform. They were made in Japan by Minolta for Leica and are fabulous user cameras. The controls are wonderful and easy to use, the needle match exposure system in visible in the viewfinder along with shutter speed. This is probably the cheapest route you could take if you wanted to own a Leica M camera and the most compact too.
Fujipet Thunderbird 120! I love these beautiful all metal cameras from the late 1950's. They are solid and produce nice images...cock the shutter with the left lever and then snap with the right lever. So cool. LSI, here is a nice retro candidate for you to look at. ;)
Early Leica Standard. This one has strap lugs on the side which is not very common. Collapsible Elmar 50 f3.5 lens was what most of these came through with. The early "Barnack" cameras as they are called, are very jewel like, small and heavy in the hand, quite wonderful. They often are still working fine which is a testament to the fine German workmanship. If not they can usually be sent out and repaired. This model was made in 1931, right before the Leica started making the first rangefinder cameras. I have several different early Leicas from 1929-1932 so not sure if I have shot a roll through this one yet or not but they typically yield very nice images. You just have to use them with care and make sure to load the film correctly which takes some study and practice. Using them today is to make such a cool connection to photographic history.
Kodak 35, all metal camera made in Rochester NY in the 1930's. Well made with a great folding view finder, all manual exposure so you need a meter for it if you want accurate exposures. I stuck mine in this modern half case from the Ebay seller Mr Zhou in China...he makes cases for many fine film cameras and this is one for a Leica that just happened to fit the Kodak. I believe I posted a test roll from this one in April. It's capable of doubles I believe...
Fujipet 35...oh man, these are really neat and well made. These are the 35mm version of the famous Fujipet Thunderbird. You cock the shutter but pressing down on the left hand lever then take the picture with the right hand lever. Totally manual camera so you need a light meter for accurate exposure but these are a lot of fun. They often come with the ever ready cases and straps and usually come up on Ebay from Japanese sellers. Capable of quite good images.
Ebner folding bakelite camera, German made in Stuttgart, early 1930's. This is a 620 roll film camera and is very nicely made. Neat folding viewfinder on top of the camera and streamlined shape when folded up makes it easy to slip in your pocket. Still working on the first test roll in this one.
