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  #11  
Old 21st November 2013, 07:56 AM
JOReynolds JOReynolds is offline
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What a delightful thread! But you need sunshine to use non-adjustable box cameras effectively. As a schoolboy I had a Saturday job in a camera shop. Much of the day was spent discussing failures with customers who came in to collect their D&P. I learned a lot about photography then.
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  #12  
Old 21st November 2013, 03:47 PM
howfilm howfilm is offline
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Your post was a breath of fresh air. I am a retired professional news photographer and have had my photos published in just about every kind of publication worldwide. I worked for an international wire service during the Mexico City Olympics, and in New York City and Hollywood.
But my first camera was a hand-off Brownie Reflex. One shutter speed, one f stop. But I took one of the best photos I have ever taken with it. It is a photo of an old fashioned steam engine puffing out black smoke like crazy. Since it was just pulling of of the train yards with 50 or 100 cars to pull, it was barely moving so I managed to get a sharp photo despite some movement.
I recently bought a Brownie Reelex and intend to take some "art" photos with it. I also have an Argus 75 and three Bilora Bella cameras, which are glorified box cameras. My Bella 66 (120 film) has two shutter speeds plus B plus two f stops. The other two Biloras are 35mm.
I want to find just the right 120 or 620 or 127-size cameras and try using 35mm film in them, due to the problem with finding some film sizes. I love these cameras.

Last edited by howfilm; 21st November 2013 at 03:51 PM. Reason: ooops
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  #13  
Old 23rd November 2013, 06:54 AM
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Ravindra Ravindra is offline
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To all friends who have been kind enough to post a comment, I say a BIG thank you! And thanks also to JOReynolds and Howfilm for your interesting follow up. I would love to see Howfilm’s picture of the steam engine taken with a Brownie Reflex!

Following our subject on box cameras, it is surprising to see what lengths photographic dealers will go to effect a sale that brings in a larger profit. I recollect the time in 1985 when I was hunting a box camera for myself. I had studied the subject from a textbook, but otherwise I was new to the world of cameras. I found a bewildering variety of cameras offered on sale; which one would be best for me?

The only way to overcome an obstacle is to face it head on with your shoulders squared. Following this dictum I embarked on some serious research, all on my own. I began to visit various photo dealers in town, and asked everything I could to gain familiarity with the cameras on sale. I am glad I set myself this task for in the process I made friends with a good natured man named Mr Panna Paul. Paul was nearly 50 years old at the time, a round faced, cheerful man, who along with his brother Abhoy, ran Studio Monalisa in the heart of the city. The Paul brothers had a roaring business---they even owned a colour processing lab for C-41 manual chemistry. Colour photography was quite new here in India at the time, and people thronged Paul’s studio in Shillong in large numbers. Studio Monalisa was known for honest, top quality and customer-friendly service.

Over the next few years, Panna Paul became something like a mentor to me, partly because I showed an eagerness to learn. “Once you develop your film, you have to study your negative closely,” he would tell me. Paul was what you would call an expert in photography; he had trained in Calcutta, and he knew his subject as well as the back of his hand. “For a good B & W picture, your negative must be thin…” he emphasized, and my mind flew back to Michael Langford who had once said that photographers often differ in what they regard as a correctly exposed negative.

In the meantime, I kept busy with my camera hunt. Agfa had three roll film cameras in its range, Click III, Click IV, both fixed focus, and Isoly II. It also marketed a few simple 35mm models, Agfa 200, Niki 1000 and others.

At about the same time, Photophone India Limited made its debut in the camera business. Photophone was long known here in India as manufacturers of 16mm and 35mm motion picture projectors, and this company, having its manufacturing facility in Goa, had introduced a new breed of point-and-shoot cameras. Known under the brand name of ‘Hotshot’, there were a total of six models to choose from: three 35mm, the rest 110 film cameras. There was nothing really remarkable about these cameras; they were all box-type simple instruments, streamlined and modern in appearance. Each came with a fixed focus lens advertised by Photophone as the ‘exclusive universal focus system’.

I had decided on an Agfa Isoly II a long time back, as this was the only model which came with a focusing lens, five f-stops, and a 3-speed shutter. Even so, on one of my photographic sojourns, I once dropped into a photographic dealer’s in the main market, to double check my findings. The owner was a business minded person, fair in complexion, with a beaked nose and balding head. After a brief chat during which I spelled out my preference for instruments with controls, the man gave me a shrewd look. “Why do you go after these box cameras?” he asked me. “I can see what you are looking for. If you are so keen on a good model, I can give you a focusing model. It has all controls and comes with bellows. You can’t really trust a box camera, you know—there is no certainty you will get your picture with it—it is a hit and miss affair!”

I could at once see through the man. He wants to sell me an old folding camera he’s got, I thought, and if the ancient bellows is cracked, I will spend a lifetime mending those holes…

I wished the man goodbye and walked out of the store. I am glad I did not get taken in by his sales talk. A box is a simple thing, true, but there is never any uncertainty as to the results as this man would have me believe. The secret, as my mentor Panna Paul had pointed out, was to know the limitations of your box, and work within them.

I am glad I trusted my judgement instead of listening to the advice of this cash-hungry dealer. And I bought myself an Agfa Isoly II. It has given me good service for many years; good, solid, dependable service; not once has it proved to be an unreliable tool.

Regards,
Ravindra
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  #14  
Old 26th November 2013, 01:44 AM
TommySeagrave TommySeagrave is offline
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Delightful post Ravindra, very enjoyable reading. I must admit although I'm a bit of a collector of old camera's, to use I should add,I'd never really considered a box camera.I'll do a little research and see what inspires. My most recent purchase, a Kodak junior autographic 1A,which I was informed took 120 and was probably working,turned out to take 116 and the shutter doesn't fire, as you can probably tell,my research fell short on that one. My consolation is that when I get it working and converted to 120 the pictures will be all the sweeter.
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  #15  
Old 27th November 2013, 08:52 AM
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Ravindra Ravindra is offline
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Thank you Tom for the kind comment. I am glad you enjoyed the thread. You are now the proud owner of a Kodak Autographic, but it is sad when you discover that an instrument which was made for 120, works with another kind of film in fact.

I am glad you commented for another reason too: it gives me a chance to fire again a few things about those clumsy old boxes here in India. For the record, I would like to say that there was yet another firm in India which had put out a terrific box camera back in the seventies. I am speaking of the SURE-FLEX. Fancy name, and and an equally fancy ad which said you only have to click for beautiful , sharp results with the SureFlex. What was so "sure" about this box camera ? I really cant say, for I never did get a chance to use it. You will see it in big photo stores here in India on display even today. It was a reflex type of camera, and it came with a swing-in yellow filter and closeup lens. Naturally, it was a cheapie, but then which box is an expensive instrument ?

The SureFlex was manufactured by Patel India Limited, a firm in Bombay which was known for the ViewMaster 3-D viewer it had put on the market. Sadly, I never bought the SureFlex. But I am lucky to own the company's ViewMaster with about a dozen reels.

Regards,
Ravindra
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  #16  
Old 1st December 2013, 05:07 PM
JulioF JulioF is offline
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VewMaster! now that's something I do know. I spend countless hours as a child watching those 3D disks with images of Europe. I had no idea it was an Indian device.
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  #17  
Old 8th December 2013, 06:24 AM
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Ravindra Ravindra is offline
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No, the Viewmaster was never originally an Indian device. I cant say where this 3-D viewer originated, but the design, no matter which make you buy, seems to be pretty standard. Patel India Limited merely manufactured a copy of one these designs for the Indian market. Some years later, I was in touch with an English missionary named Rev. Paul who gifted me with a Viewmaster of American make. The missionary's Viewmaster was far better than mine: its lenses were cleaner, the thing was black and shiny and new, and it had a lighting arrangement at the back so that you could view reels using light bulbs even after it grew dark. But I already had the Indian make, so I gave away Paul's Viewmaster to a gentleman, with a few reels, and kept the remaining reels with me. I still have the Patel India Viewmaster, and about 15 - 20 reels.

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Ravindra
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