Kodak Duaflex IV Rides Again!

In my last blog I spoke at length about 620 film and cameras in general and the Kodak Duaflex IV in particular, as a tribute to “620 Day” (June 20th) and noted that this was the day every year when some folks (including me) dedicated themselves to shooting with the now (nearly) obsolete film format.

I also talked about how these 620 box cameras provide huge negatives and resulted in photographs that have a unique look and are absolutely beautiful. As you can see the image above shot on re-spooled Kodak Tri-X 120 black and white film supports that claim pretty well.

This photograph is uncropped and pretty much right out of the camera. I straightened it slightly because it was “cocked” a little but otherwise what you see here is the rich black & white image provided by the Kodak Tri-X film.

Tri-X has been my favorite black & white film stock for over 40 years. Known for its “white whites” and “black blacks” it still manages to rival other black & white film emulsions in producing a full range of gray tones to result in of the most striking monochromatic images.  

No doubt, a super high resolution scan of the image above would produce a sharper image but that would kind of defeat the whole point of this exercise. Kodak produced “tons” of relatively inexpensive 620 cameras like the Duaflex for amateur photographers and family snap shots. They were never intended to be used for so called “serious photography” but the amazing thing is they routinely produce some truly beautiful images.

This Kodak Duaflex model, the “IV” was discontinued in 1960 so it is at least 55 years old and performed beautifully with this first roll (for me) except for a few minor light leaks that showed up on a couple frames. Some folks think this just adds to the “unique character” of the photograph. Personally I would be happier without them but can’t complain if the seals leak a little after 55 years of use and now that I know about it, I can easily fix it.

Happy 620 Day !

June 20^th, otherwise known among certain circles as “620 Day,” is the one day each when some of us (who can remember) have an excellent excuse (as if we needed one) to dedicate ourselves to enjoying the pleasures of shooting 620 film on any one of literally millions of excellent classic cameras designed for this specific film format.

The one I chose to shoot this year is the Kodak Duaflex IV pictured above. I picked up this very nice little camera for only a few bucks at Goodwill. It has a single shutter speed estimated to be about 1/30^th of a second but offers three apertures, f8, f11, & f16 and has a zone focus dial. Considerably more complex than a simple box camera it looks and works like a twin lens reflex camera (TLR) although not nearly as sophisticated as a true TLR.

The 620 film format was introduced by Kodak in 1931 as an alternative to the 120 film format and probably intended to help them capture more market share by using this “proprietary” film format in all their subsequent medium format “roll film cameras.” Kodak stopped making cameras for the very popular 120 film format and started making only 620 film cameras. Although used mainly by Kodak cameras, it became very popular and remained in production until 1995 when it was discontinued. The 620 format is essentially the same film as the 120 format film but on a thinner and narrower all-metal spool. 120 film was rolled onto a wooden spool at the time.

In the battle of the medium format films, 120 eventually won out and remains “The” medium format film today but only after 620 had a very successful 60+ year run at it. Dedicated mainly to simple box cameras and a few noteworthy exceptions that were designed for the professional or serious amateur photographer, this film is now only available from the Film Photography Project, Blue Moon Camera and perhaps a few others as re-spooled or otherwise modified 120 film. That is, 120 film that has been re-spooled onto 620 film spools or had the 120 spool modified to fit 620 film cameras.

The Film Photography Project (FPP) actually has brand new 620 film spools manufactured and uses them to re-spool their 120 film onto them for resale as 620 film. They currently offer nearly two dozen film stocks available for sale in the online FPP store. They also sell the 620 film spools for those who want to re-spool their own film. All profit from FPP sales goes to support the FPP’s mission to promote traditional film photography. You can check them out at http://filmphotographyproject.com/

While images from 620 film cameras are frequently not quite up to par with images from 120 film cameras it is not because of the film. Most 620 film cameras are simple box cameras and do not have high quality optics but a similar camera using 120 film will yield exactly the same kind of results. Still, like the 127 and 828 cameras used for millions of family snapshots over several generations these 620 box cameras provide photographs that have a unique look and are absolutely beautiful.

Next week I will have the film back from this little 620 gem and will be able to let you know how the pictures came out. If experience is any guide I’m betting they will be excellent indeed.

Holga HPL-P (Pinhole) for Pentax DSLR?

I explained what this gadget is in my last blog post (essentially a pinhole mounted in a plastic Pentax K-Mount lens barrel instead of an actual lens which can be used on Pentax SLR’s & DSLR’s) and noted that it was actually designed to be used with a Pentax crop frame (APS-C) DSLR sensor rather than a full frame or 35mm DSLR or film camera.

In the image above I used a Pentax istDL DSLR and we see that the image fills the frame completely. There is some slight vignetting but what we have here is pretty typical of pinholes in general unlike the severe effect seen in my last post in the picture shot with a 35mm SLR.

This image was shot at ISO 800 using a ½ second shutter speed and the same estimated f133 aperture. In post processing I brightened it up and tweaked the color balance a little. I also had to go in and remove the black spots that resulted from dust on the sensor.

Apparently this is a common problem when using pinholes on digital cameras.  Since the pinhole has an infinite depth of field and renders everything in focus from the sensor itself to infinity even the dust on the sensor shows up in the image. This isn’t a problem with a lens because the depth of field of the lens does not include the sensor.

The results here using a crop frame DSLR are a little better than with the 35mm camera noted in my last blog post but I am still a bit disappointed in the overall performance of this little gadget.  Nothing I have done with it so far comes close to the image quality of any of my other pinholes. Even the little Home-made 35mm cardboard pinhole camera creates better images.

Well, I am still on the quest for a better (than my little cardboard) 35mm pinhole camera so my next experiment may just have to be to make my own pinhole, mount it in a body cap and see how that works on one of my SLR’s. Stay tuned!

Holga HPL-P (Pinhole) for Pentax SLR?

The Holga HPL-P is simply a pinhole mounted in a Pentax K-Mount lens barrel instead of an actual lens. The whole thing is plastic (like all things Holga) and looks very much like the Holga HL-P which is simply a plastic Holga lens mounted in a plastic K-Mount lens barrel.

As you can see from the image above there is a pronounced vignette effect in all four corners. This is the result of being designed for an APS-C crop frame digital sensor rather than the full frame negative of a 35mm SLR which is what I used to shoot this picture. Still, the image is not too shabby and does display the usual “look.” All I did in the way of post processing was brighten the colors of the scan up a little in Picasa.  

The greatest challenge to using this gadget (I really can’t call it a lens now can I?) was trying to see anything in the viewfinder of the SLR. It was mostly dark as a result of the tiny aperture. In spite of extensive research (even reading the instructions that came with the HPL-P) I was unable to find any definitive information on the thing except that it has a .25mm diameter pinhole. Based on that and some empirical data from the exposure values of the pictures taken I have estimated the aperture to be about f133.

The image above was taken using my Pentax ZX-L loaded with a roll of CVS 400 color film at a ½ second shutter speed.

Frankly, I am a little disappointed with this “pinhole lens.” I had hoped it could be used with a 35mm camera and that the image would be as good at least as my Home-made cardboard pinhole camera but I believe the pictures from the latter are much better than the former.

Next I will try it on a DSLR with a crop frame sensor and see what happens.

Beacon 225

I love this picture! It reminds me of why I love Tri-X film. It reminds me of why I love photography and most of all it reminds me of why I love my wife.

I wanted a Beacon 225 camera for a long time. I really don’t know why. God (and everyone else) knows I have enough cameras already but there is just something special about this little gem.

Here’s a picture of the camera (below).

Manufactured by Whitehouse Products back in the 1950’s when I was a “wee lad,” this simple medium format camera is built like a tank and has that vintage aura that demands attention. It’s actually a pretty simple camera with only one aperture and one shutter speed so any exposure latitude you may need must come from changing the kind of film used or the lighting conditions of the subject. There is a really cool looking flash available for this camera but I don’t have one – yet!

It shoots 620 film which was obsolete until enterprising analog photography folks like Mike Razo at the Film Photography Project (FPP) started re-rolling 120 film onto 620 spools. That’s all 620 film is after all, 120 film on smaller spools.  The FPP store now carries nearly two dozen different film stocks in 620 and they even sell the 620 spools in case you want to roll your own!

Light Meter App Works for Pinhole Cameras Too!

I generally use the meters in my cameras for determining the proper exposure settings. When shooting cameras without working on-board light meters I simply use one of my other cameras (with a working meter) to determine the correct exposure.

When I started shooting pinhole cameras (which do not have light meters) I continued to simply use another camera for metering, generally my Pentax K-1 mirrorless digital. Once the correct exposure settings were determined for the K-1, I used one of the Pinhole Camera Exposure Guides from MrPinhole.Com’s web site calculated and printed out specifically for the pinhole camera I happened to be using at the time.

For the first couple of rolls of film I bracketed every exposure but quickly realized that my method combined with the exposure guide from MrPinhole.Com was right on the mark every time. I can honestly say now that I have shot several rolls of film in three different pinhole cameras that all of my exposures have been technically perfect. Sometimes the composition is not what I hoped for but the exposures have been “right on” and I simply don’t bracket anymore.

As good as that is, I am always looking for better, faster, cheaper – you know the drill! So when I realized that there was an App for my Android smart phone that included a range of apertures from f1 to f2000 that claimed to work for pinholes as well as traditional cameras of all types I immediately checked it out.

Light Meter Tools by WBPhoto is a handy little app that appears to be exactly what it claims to be. I tested it against my way of determining exposures for my pinhole cameras and it was right on target but one stop off, every time. There is a handy provision to adjust the EV value to compensate for this and I have so I guess from now on I can leave the other camera and the exposure guide behind.

Lets face it, as much as I really enjoy pinhole photography, compared to more traditional photography, especially digital photography it’s a lot of work. Anything I can do to make pinhole photography simpler and easier means I will be that much more willing to do it and do it more often. This app does just that.

It may not seem like a big deal but with the pinhole camera, tripod, clipboard, notebook, pencil or pen in hand; being able to leave the extra camera behind (my cell phone is always on my belt anyway) is a great help.

WPPD 2015

Well, Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2015 was April 26^th and all the pinhole photos taken that day all around the world are slowly gathering together on the WPPD website (www.pinholdday.org) once again. This is always an exciting time of year for me. I come home each evening and review the pinhole photos posted that day.

The first day of course is almost all digital photos taken with a variety of digital cameras modified to take pinhole photographs. The second and third day you start seeing more and more photos as the momentum builds.  Many of these are shot on film and processed at home by the photographer.

As the first week comes to an end the film photos processed by local labs start to show up with increasing regularity and the digital photos start tapering off. The trend will continue until the end of the month, May 31, when the submittal period officially ends with the closing of the exhibition.

This year I shot with my Holga WPC on Kodak Ektar 100 color film. Although I generally prefer 400 (ISO) film and have most often used Portra 400 for WPPD, I really like the color palette of this film and as you can see from the photograph above I was rewarded with rich bright colors.

The Holga WPC is an interesting pinhole camera looking very much like a stretched Holga. It offers two formats; 6x9 and 6x12. The latter is considered ultra-wide or panoramic which costs extra to process and scan (at the Darkroom). This time I chose the 6x9 format and decided (again) that I really like it. I have an old Kodak Vigilant 620 folder that shoots 6x9 format and although I don’t shoot it much I recall now how much I liked the format whenever I have used it.  

I also used a light meter App on my Android phone this year called “Light Meter Tools” and it seemed to work pretty well. This will be the subject of a later post.

The photo above is the one I submitted to the WPPD website and I am pretty pleased with the results.  It shows my wife Mary & son Noah, hanging out on a bench at the Baton Rouge Botanical Gardens with his guitar. We visited there for WPPD and to do a photo shoot for Krista, my pregnant daughter-in-law. I really love all the bright colored flowers and the rich greenery. It makes a beautiful background for whatever you’re shooting. I had asked everyone to wear bright colors since I planned to include people in my pinhole photos for a change. As you can see my son Noah, ever the contrarian, showed up in black & white attire!

I rarely shoot people with pinhole because the exposures are usually rather long and people seem to have problems being still these days. The results are quite special when you can make it work however.

This 4 second exposure was taken with the camera on a tripod and the shutter held open with a rubber band. The lens cover was simply removed and replaced 4 seconds later. I have a cable release but sometimes prefer to use the old fashioned simplicity of a lens cap. Processing and scanning as noted earlier were done by The Darkroom.

My photo submission is #1760. Check it and a couple thousand others out (last year they had over 3500 photo submissions) on the WPPD web site.