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.

The Agfa Clack - a 6x9 gem

 I guess it is time for a little box camera love.  It's been a while since I have used a camera like the Agfa Clack, which is a 1950s camera that takes 8 6x9 cm negatives on a roll of 120 film.   The Clack is by no means a cheap plastic camera, as it has a stamped metal body with metal and plastic parts, and a glass meniscus lens. 

The Agfa Clack was manufactured in Germany from the mid-1950s  to mid-1960s, and apparently the later iterations featured a plastic body.  On first look, the camera has a vaguely oval shape, due to the curved back to reduce aberration in the images.  The features are pretty simple:

Meniscus lens with two apertures - ca. f/13 and f/10
Shutter about 1/30 plus B
Built-in yellow filter  on some models
Close-up lens for 1-3m distance
otherwise, focus is at  3m -infinity
tripod socket centered on bottom
simple viewfinder
red window with movable cover for frame number
cable-release socket

Back in the days of big box cameras, it was routine to get contact prints back from your local drugstore when you dropped off your film, as 2.25 x 3.25" (6x9 cm) prints are decent-sized, and the best shots could be sent out for reprints at a larger size.  If you understood the limitations of your camera and exposed properly, the Clack and many other box camera were adequate snap shot cameras. Today, such cameras are put into the "Toy Camera" category, but they really aren't toy cameras.  They were designed and produced at a higher price point than what would later become cheap plastic cameras with light leaks and lens aberrations. 

My goal with this particular Agfa Clack is to see how well it would work as a camera to take on local photo trips to see how it renders a scene.  The large negative is an obvious plus, as is the ergonomics of the camera. It handles much better than say, a Kodak Brownie 120 box camera.  For my use, I knew that the tripod socket, B mode, and cable release connector were just the things I needed to use the camera for landscapes in the NC mountains. 

My first roll was expired Kodak TMax 400, which I shot walking around Marshall, NC on May 1.  Hand holding the camera works pretty well, and the negatives (developed in D-96) looked pretty good.  The vertical shots were a bit blurred due to camera shake, but the landscape orientation was just fine. 

That encouraged me to take the Clack to Rocky Fork State Park in Tennessee 2 weeks later.  To photograph the creek, I rated the expired Tmax 400 at ISO 100, and the f/13 setting in the shady conditions gave me an exposure time of 1/2 sec or so.  That meant using the tripod and a cable release to shoot in Bulb mode. I estimated the exposure time and hoped for the best.  I developed the film in D-96, and am thrilled with the results.  From this, I know I can also put even slower films in it, such as Ilford Pan-F and Rollei Retro 80s.  The trick is to figure out the exposure with a light meter, and try and approximate it in B mode.  If it is sunny, I could tape a piece of ND gel over the lens for the longer exposure time.

Marshall, NC

Marshall, NC, Madison County seat

Rocky Fork State Park, TN.

Rocky Fork State Park, TN.

Rocky Fork State Park, TN.

If anything, this exercise shows very well that one can overcome a camera's limitations with a little bit of care and planning.  I love the larger negative and look forward to shooting more riparian scenes with the Agfa Clack.  I have an Agfa Isola which makes 6x6 negatives and has features similar to the Clack.  I'll take it along, and see how it does in the same situations.  

Maybe you have a 120 box camera in your collection. Don't be afraid to shoot with it!  Use ISO 100 film, as the cameras were made when Verichrome Pan (ISO 125) was THE film for box cameras.  Or, if you use a ISO 400 film, shoot on overcast conditions.  

Agfa Isola I Review

Last fall I picked up an Agfa Isola I at a thrift shop for a few bucks.  I suspect the price was low because the staff didn't know that to make the shutter fire, you have to telescope the lens away from the body.  It was in a brown leatherette case, and while I had hopes for a more advanced 120 camera, the Isola I was a new one for me, so I picked it up. 

Agfa manufactured these cameras from the 1956 into the early-60s, and produced three Isola models - Isola, Isola I, and Isola II.  If you are  looking for any particular one, get the Isola II, which I'll explain a bit later on.  The original Isola and Isola II have the same features, that is, B, 1/30, and 1/100 shutter speeds. 

All Agfa Isola models feature a telescoping lens tube, which when fully extended from the body, click in place to allow the shutter to function. That's important, and otherwise the camera will seem inoperable.  Also, the shutter has double-exposure prevention, as the film takeup knob needs to wind on a bit for the shutter to re-engage. There is a tiny red window by the shutter button to show that it has been fired.

The Isola I has two shutter settings - I and B - instant is ca. 1/35 sec, and B is obviously however long you want to hold it open.  The 1/35 speed is the Achilles heel of this camera.  Knowing this, I loaded a roll of Ilford Pan-F (nominal ISO 50) to try it out.  The sunny and cloudy aperture settings are ca. f/11 for sunny, and f/6.5 for cloudy, and a third setting provides a yellow filter which would be fine for b&w film on a sunny day using ISO 100 film.   If you wish to use any faster films, you will need to tape a neutral-density gel over the lens. 

I took the camera to Chelsea, MI to try it out, and shot a roll in an hour or so, testing out the distance scale and the aperture settings.  I finally got around to developing the film this week, and I have to say that overall, I am pleased with the results.

Using the camera is fairly simple, and like most roll-film cameras, there is a red window on the back to see what frame you are on. It takes 120 film, so no 620 fuggery is necessary.  There is a PC cord socket to enable the use of a flash, should you want to.  I did not try using one.

For me, the most limiting factor of the Isola I is the 1/35 sec shutter speed.  Even the most basic box cameras have a shutter speed closer to 1/60 sec.  Other than that, it's a pretty straightforward budget box-type camera that will provide results that would be expected from a camera in its class. 

You can get a manual for the Isola over at Butkus, of course. There is also a nice online presentation of using the Isola II over at UK Camera.  I recommend using low-ISO film for outdoor shooting, so Ilford Pan-F would be my first choice.  For indoors, you could use ISO 400 with a flash. Since the camera has a thread for using a cable release and a tripod socket, it certainly could be used for long-exposures, which I will have to try sometime.  Right now, I have a roll of 1992-expired color Ektar 25 loaded to see what I get from it.