The Gevabox of Wonders

Sometimes you see a camera and you just have to have it. I felt that way about this lovely little box camera. Looks don’t mean a thing, I know, but in this case, the looks didn’t deceive me.

The Gevabox is a lovely, sculptural box camera. It’s pretty advanced, for a box: it has three apertures – f8, f11 and f16; a shutter speed of 1/30 sec and a B setting; and an actual focusing lens! You can turn it from 5ft to infinity.

I saw this camera at a camera fair and immediately fell in love with it. Even though mine is a tiny bit rusty, it still looks great with its chrome details and sculptural protruding lens. It looks a bit Art Deco-ish even though it’s from a much later date (around 1950). It was made in about 1951 by German camera manufacturer Herman Wolf GmbH from Wuppertal for the Belgian Gevaert, a photographic paper manufacturer that wanted some cameras of its own to sell.

After seeing the first roll of redscale I shot with the Gevabox, I was a bit disappointed. The pictures were all a bit blurry and underexposed. I guess I just didn’t estimate the exposure correctly because the second color negative roll turned out perfect! Lovely sharp pictures with nice, natural colors. The only reason I messed up a few pictures was because I forgot that I had it loaded and opened the camera halfway into the roll. That black backing paper with crummy white ink Lomography uses is just not contrasty enough for me.

Still, the Gevabox is a nice addition to my collection, and I’ll definitely be using this one more often.

escrito por stratski el 2014-11-18 #equipo #medium-format #review #camera #box-camera #gevaert #gevabox