Bilora's Stahl-Box

Bilora was a German manufacturer of low-end 127, 126, 35mm and 120 cameras.  Some of their cameras had Bakelite bodies, such as the Bilora Boy, a 6x6 camera with an interesting design.  However, most of their cameras were metal-bodied, such as this example of the Stahl-Box, a 1953 model with flash sync sockets at the top. The Stahl-Box cameras have a 6x9 cm neg for 8 exposures per roll of 120 film.  The f/11 meniscus lens with about a 1/30 sec shutter + time exposue and fixed focus isn't anything special.  The reflex viewfinders work, but are hard to see through in bright sunlight.  While the cameras are low-end compared to most of the other German manufacturers, they are sturdily built with simple mechanisms, aimed for the snapshot market.

This camera came to me last year, and I finally got around to testing it out. What better film to try it with than an expired roll of Kodak Vericolor III!  

I shot the roll on an outing back in August, and while not the most exciting subject matter, I feel the results are actually quite good for a box camera of this type.  

There are an amazing number of 120 box cameras that are still available in decent working order. Most of them are not made by Kodak, but by Agfa, Ansco, and Bilora. Kodak made some 120 box cameras until 620 became the favored Kodak film for their line of medium format box cameras.  A 6x9 negative is certainly capable of producing a decent-sized contact print, and back in the day, that's often how the drugstore-processed films were returned to the customer - as b&w contact prints.  Today, of course, we can scan these and easily make prints of any size.  

The following shots from the Stahl-Box were processed by The Darkroom Lab, and I am quite pleased with the results.  Once again, Kodak's Vericolor III shows itself to be an extraordinary film.

Kodak’s Duaflex III and FPP Color 620 film

Duaflex III duo - Kodet lens model L, and Kodar lens model, R

I’ve long been a proponent of using some of Kodak’s 620 pseudo-TLR cameras, such as the Duaflex series and the Brownie Reflex 20.  Of course, while these cameras are all over 60 years old, they still have better optics than a new Holga 120N.  Their Bakelite and metal bodies are sturdy, and if you want a fun experience, I highly recommend the the Duaflex III.  Note that not every Duaflex III is the same, which can be said for the original Duaflex as well as the  Duaflex II, III, and IV models.  There are two versions of each. The most basic models have a Kodet Lens, with no focus or aperture adjustment.  The Kodet lens models have an aperture of about f/15 and fixed focus. The better models have a Kodar f/8 lens, with adjustable zone focus and apertures of f/8, f/11, and f/16.  The shutter speed is generally about 1/30 sec, and may be as fast as 1/60 sec, depending on the camera. My shutter tester indicated that my Duaflex III Kodar has a shutter speed of 1/48 sec. 

The Brownie Reflex 20, 10 years newer than the Duaflex III

All Duaflex cameras are pseudo-TLRs, meaning that the brilliant viewfinder is not connected to the focus mechanism.  These are in reality, just box cameras with a nice, bright viewfinder above the lens.  While the basic cameras with the Kodet lenses are simple (and do have double-exposure prevention), you are limited by the non-adjustable aperture and focus.  The Kodar-lensed models have a 72mm lens and can focus from 3.5 feet to infinity.  So, my suggestion is to make the best of the 620 film that you use by shooting with the better versions of any Duaflex model - i.e., Kodar lensed versions with an f/8 lens.  

Ready to go out and do some shootin! Note the expensive strap.

I have a bunch of Duaflexes that I have obtained over the years, and though I rarely use them, every once in a while I get an urge to take one out.  Typically, I respool the film from a roll of 120 to a 620 spool, but I had a couple of rolls of the FPP Color 620, with factory-fresh film.  I loaded up the Duaflex III back in August, and shot the roll over a couple of weeks.    The exposed film sat around for a while, and I sent it out to The Darkroom Lab for processing.  I was really pleased with the results from this 70 year old camera.  In fact, in might now be my favorite 620 camera.

Pseudo-TLR cameras are pretty numerous for 620 film - The Argus 75, The Argus Super 75,  and Argus 40 are fairly common.  There are also others - the Bolseyflex, the Anscoflex I and II, the Duaflex series, the Brownie Reflex 20 as well as the Brownie Reflex for 127 film.  The Herbert George Instaflash might be the crappiest of them all.  The Imperial Reflex and the USC Reflex III, and the little Ansco Panda are all 620 pseudo-TLRs.  Of all of these, the very adjustable Argus 40 might be the best, as you can control shutter speeds, aperture, and focus!  

However, the results that I get with my Duaflex III seem particular to that camera, so it is a keeper for me.  

Here are a few images from that roll of FPP Color 620 (basic scan from The Darkroom):

Where can you get 620 film?

First of all, if you don’t want to respool from 120 to 620 yourself, you can purchase film on 620 spools from the Film Photography Project Store.  (Note - the next time someone says 120mm film smack them aside the head with a Duaflex!).   The FPP 620 color and Basic B&W 620 films are perfect for these cameras.  Other retailers such as B&H and Unique Photo also carry the FPP films.  I also see Shanghai GP3 620 film available on eBay.  I’ve used that film in 127 format, and it isn’t the greatest.  I saw many emulsion defects.  

If you already have a supply of 120 film and some 620 spools, you can do the respooling yourself if you have a darkbag or darkroom available.  There are many tutorials online on how to do it. In any case, try one of these 620 cameras and see how much fun they are to use.

Twenty Years of Random Camera Blog

My Nikon Df and a 50 yr old Nikkor lens. Bridging two worlds.

In 2004, blogging was becoming popular, and it seems like a lot of people were starting blogs to share their interests. Mind you, this was before social media and smartphones took over. It was also the start of Flickr, the long-time photo sharing site that I still use, 20 years later. It’s as much of an archive of my work as anything, and I am still happy with it. When I started Random Camera Blog, I was four years into my deep dive into photography, and have not wavered from that at all. Initially, I saw RCB as a way to share a few images and share my use of different cameras and films. My first post was on October 14, 2004, and 883 posts later, here I am.

Twenty years on the Internet IS a long time. A lot of things have happened in the photography world since 2004, one being the domination of the digital camera, which also led to the disappearance of new film cameras, the loss of many film stocks, the takeover by DSLRs among photographers, the rise of new and unexpected technologies -- such as the Apple iPhone, which caused a huge paradigm shift in how we interact and use photography. The rise of the micro 4/3 and mirrorless system cameras, which were at one time considered just an offshoot, are now a mainstream part of photography. Despite all these technological advances, one thing has been a bit of a surprise -- the rebirth of film photography. Some might say it never went away, and of course, it didn’t, but now we are seeing a younger generation interested in using film cameras, and discovering the creative possibilities that film and other alternative processes can offer. I should also add that digital photography has allowed millions of people to explore photography without the burden of dealing with chemicals, labs, and gatekeepers.  Many of them have never used film cameras, and some are now discovering that they are a whole new world.

My 10 year association with Mike Raso and The FPP has been a hell of a lot of fun

 I am someone that has shot with film since I first had a camera in the early 1970s. I lived in a rural part of upstate New York and did not know anything about the history of photography, nor much about the photographic world. In 1973,  I took my only class in photography, which was an after-school activity sponsored by my high school science teacher. I vividly remember the magic of cracking open the b&w Verichrome Pan 126 cartridge that I had used in my Kodak Instamatic, transferring to a developing reel and tank, and seeing my very first self-developed roll of film. You know what?  I still feel the magic of doing that to this day.  I think that if I had a mentor at the time, it’s quite possible that I would have chosen photography as a vocation, but I didn’t even know that you could make money being a photographer. In 1974, I received an Exa Ia SLR for Christmas, with a Kodak pocket photography guide as my only resource.  As clunky and limited as that camera was, I did learn how to photograph on my own.  

My first SLR.

Fast forward to the year 1999, and with the influence of a promised new world of digital imaging, I realized that my Apple QuickTake 200 just wasn’t getting the job done taking photos of insects. At 640x480 pixels, it was only good for making images for the web, but not much more than that. I had attended a presentation later that year, and saw how wonderful the presenter’s slides were of insect macrophotography using slide film, of course. That sparked my interest in using my Pentax ME to do similar things, and in 2000, I really started to delve into macrophotography.  The books by John Shaw were really useful, and also steered me towards the Nikon system. I also had a mentor -- William Brudon, who was tickled to share his knowledge, books, cameras and film with me. Bill was a well-regarded medical illustrator, painter, and very much a photography expert. It was his influence that turned me into a well-rounded photographer, and the only way I can repay him is to try and do the same for others.  Bill passed away in 2009, and I still have a lot of the books that he provided to me, as well as some cameras such as my Nikon F3HP that I use regularly.

By 2001, my kit was all-Nikon (Apple QT 200 photo)

Random Camera Blog arose from wanting to not just share my enthusiasm for photography, but also to educate others about cameras, the photographic process, and of course, the various film stocks. When I think about how cheap expired film was into the early 2000s compared to now, it’s a bit sobering. I could go into a local camera store (at one time, there were at least 4 camera stores in Ann Arbor, MI) and buy rolls of recently expired film for a buck a roll! Throughout the years, RCB has endured the demise of camera stores, the loss of cheap developing at a local lab, the sell-off of used film cameras for pennies on the dollar, and then the emergence of Lomography, the demise of Polaroid, the demise of much of Kodak, the sort of resurrection of Polaroid, the appearance of the Film Photography Project, and the gradual and significant rise of film photography. In this year, we have had two new 35mm film cameras arrive on the market.  The Pentax 17 has become quite a popular camera, and the new  Rollei  35AF will probably also be quite a good seller.  I wonder what next year will bring?

Camera swaps were something, back in 2004.

I never thought about how long RCB would run. It’s now just something that I do, and I average 30+ posts/year. I don’t do a Vlog, or have a YouTube channel. The printed word is what I do, and an outgrowth of that would be the Monochrome Mania zine and whatever offshoots come from that. I am a sometime guest and contributor to the Film Photography Project, and knowing what Mike Raso has to do to put out a podcast, has certainly convinced me that I don’t have those skills, nor do I want to learn them. Writing for RCB is something that comes easily for me, and I enjoy doing the research that it often requires. It’s definitely a labor of love, and I hope that RCB has been helpful to many people.  I was watching one of my favorite YouTuber channels last night, and I thought,  I’ve been blogging about photography since you were in grade school 

A few statistics for Random Camera Blog:

• All-time views - 2,131,000+
• 884 posts (including this one)
• 414 followers

Most popular RCB Posts:

All-time most views -- The Argus 75- A toy or a tool? January 30, 2009 with 39,500 views. I still can’t believe how much attention that post has received. It also generated the most responses of any of my posts. 

Second most views -- a much more recent post - The Nikon Nikkormat -Today’s Bargain? It was posted on March 26, 2022, and currently has almost 10,000 views. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I like Nikons! I expect that it will overtake the Argus 75, that is, if in 5 years, it is still available.

Here are the top 10 posts:

I like researching my topics as much as possible, and thankfully, I have an excellent library on photo history and technology. Of course, there are various web sites, such as camera-wiki that are very helpful, but I consider them secondary to a publication.  For a while. I incorporated Google AdSense in my blog, and received about $100/year for the advertisements. However, I kept getting emails telling me that some of my posts violated community standards.  None did, and I am not going to let some faceless bot tell me otherwise.  So, I dropped AdSense. If you want to support Random Camera Blog the best way is to visit my Etsy store and purchase a zine or two. 

on sale in a week or two.

I have often thought about compiling a subset of posts from RCB into a book, but I haven’t forged ahead with it. Publishing Monochrome Mania is it, for now. If you have a favorite post or two on here, let me know which ones you liked the most.  

In closing, two decades of photography is a lot of photographs, lots of cameras, and lots of film and digital files.  You'll get a better idea of my photography on my Flickr site (mfophotos).  Thanks for reading and thanks for following me.

It's been a Helena time

Finally, I am able to post something while I have wifi access at a Verizon Hotspot in downtown Asheville. You have no doubt seen some awful images of the destruction in Western NC. While I live about 5 miles N of Asheville, and not in a flood zone, we did get hammered with the winds last week. It's been 11 days without power and running water. Other than one pine hitting our roof, we sustained little damage to our home. I can't say that the rest of the county and surrounding region has been that lucky. The River Arts District of AVL has been largely obliterated, with only some buildings standing - all of which are brick, and not cinder blocks. The 1916 flood was the lasert one to compare to, and it reached 21 ft. This one reached 25 feet. Before Helene struck us, we'd already had 11" of rainfall from another weather system. People that have lived here a long time cannot remember a hurricane hitting the mountains. I have taken a lot of images, and none of them do justice to the vast amount of devastation suffered by some areas. I'll post some when I have a good upload capability. There is a lot going on with relief and supplies, and I am hopeful that we will soon have our power restored. Take care, Mark 

 UPDATE OCTOBER 9 

 Our power came on Monday night around 8:30, and what a surprise. It's amazing how having lights on makes a big psychological difference. Shortly thereafter, our internet was also available. One good thing is that we are incrementally getting more services, etc. The weather has also been sunny and glorious, which is good for the first responders, cleaning up, etc.  I'll be posting images of some of the devastation in another post.  For now, enjoy the beauty from yesterday morning.

Looking to the NE from our neighborhood.  You can't see anything amiss at this perspective.