So why do I buy and shoot old vintage film cameras? Part 2.

Kodak No1 Autographic Pocket Folder camera standing in portrait orientation.

So in the previous "Part 1" of this series I shared a few ideas about this amazing little camera.

In this "Part 2" article I wish to share a few more ideas and also what I got from the first film I shot with her.

Kodak No1 Autographic Pocket Folder camera with the camera bellows removed from the body shell.

OK, so since there is currently a film loaded I can't show any detail of the film loading process. Let's revisit the "Autographic" bit of this model.

The opening slot at the back of the Kodak No1 Autographic pocket camera.

This slot opens and closes so basic notes can be inscribed onto the suitable film that was available at the time. A metal stylus was sold with the camera for this purpose . Mine will not open any more. For fear of causing permanent damage I will accept that and move on. I also don't have the stylus.

Kodak No1 Autographic pocket camera with stylus. Copyright reserved to Theo Panagopoulos.

The above image is used with the kind permission of the creator, Theo Panagopoulos. Clicking on the image will take you to his home page. The stylus that came with the camera is in the stored position next to the front of the lens.

If you wish to read his great and very comprehensive review of this camera, click here.

Now you know why and how metadata has been around for about 100 years.

As for my first film, let's look at some results.

6x9cm frames showing light leaks on 120 roll film.

Now with a 100 year old camera there WILL be some issues to get to know. In sharing this I will probably bounce around a bit between different articles in this series of blog articles.

The sheer idea of shooting usable images with such an old camera was already enough. The fact that the negatives are roughly 6cm x 9cm fueled the flames a good bit.

35mm negatives with 6x9cm negatives on 120 roll film.

The sheer size of these frames speak for itself. Sorry but in film photography bigger is almost always better.

It is not a matter of sharpness. I have long since put that idea behind me. It is simply that bigger negatives enable bigger prints. It does not matter if they are digitised or printed in a conventional darkroom.

I caught myself out in trying to be clever. I did not pay attention to some very obvious issues. Shooting 6x9 frames on a roll of 120 film should give you 8 usable frames. In a future article I will share more about that when I show the film loading procedure. Not ALL youtube videos are absolutely correct in every aspect. Even so, if I thought a bit things could have been different. Oh well, so we learn.

When I shot this first film I ASSUMED that focus set to the extreme setting of 100 feet should have been sharp from reasonably near in the foreground to infinity. NO, not the case.

Test film number 2 will be shot later today and I like to believe that the light leaks are solved. The main goal of film number 2 is to learn the focus scale.

OK, I have a film to burn so I will say goodbye now. More to follow soon.

Happy shooting!

Anton