Amateur Photographer - UK (2021-11-13)

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

manually controlled slower speeds. The
camera shot eight 6x4cm pictures to a roll.
In 1915 an autographic back was added.
This comprised a trapdoor in the back with a
stylus and used special autographic film that
incorporated a wax sheet between the
backing paper and the film. The trapdoor was
opened and the stylus used to ‘write’ notes
on the backing paper. Pressure from the
stylus broke the wax paper in the shape of
the writing, then leaving the trapdoor open
allowed light to fog the writing onto the rebate
between frames of film. The Vest Pocket
Kodak became known as the soldier’s
camera because many First World War
soldiers were reputed to have illegally carried
one with them when they went into battle.
The camera was later restyled as the Model
B and Series III models that resembled more
conventional miniature folding cameras
available in a range of colours.

Snapshot cameras
A great many 127 cameras were made with
fixed focus lenses, single shutter speeds and
fixed apertures for simple snapshot
photography. The Brownie 127, which shoots
eight 6x4cm pictures to a roll, is perhaps the
most famous. Made by Kodak in 1952, it
features a body moulded in smooth black
plastic with an eye-level viewfinder
incorporated into the top plus a white shutter
button and film wind knob. The camera uses
a simple meniscus lens, notorious for
producing images sharper at the centre than
at the edges. To compensate, the film is led
around a curved film plane. Hence the curved
back of the camera, which leads to the
overall ovoid shape of the body. Snapshot
cameras like these are still usable in good
sunlight. The lens quality might be a little iffy,
but there again, that fact alone should appeal
to Lomography fans who delight in strange
lens aberrations.

16 - on- 127
In 1930, Zeiss Ikon introduced a new idea to
127, based on a concept first mooted by
Ensign for 120 film. Instead of one red
window on the back of the camera where film
numbers were wound one to eight, there were
two red windows. Frame number ‘1’ was
wound to the first window, a picture taken,
then ‘1’ was wound to the second window.

After another exposure, ‘2’ was wound to the

first window, then to the second.... and so on

until 16 pictures had been taken, each one

3x4cm. That first Zeiss camera was the

Kolibri, after which the craze for 16-on

cameras was taken up by manufacturers

around the world. Many have top-brand

lenses, plus full specifications of shutter

speeds and apertures, making them still very

usable. If you are buying a folding 16-on-127

camera, however, check the bellows appear

light-tight.

Coupled rangefinder cameras

Although there are still a great many 127

cameras to be found, they are mostly

viewfinder types that rely on manual focusing

without the aid of a rangefinder. The

exception is the Ensign Multex,made in 1937

to shoot 14 exposures of 4x3cm. The lens

pulls out on the end of a short tube into its

shooting position and rotates to focus from

3ft to infinity, coupled to the rangefinder

below the viewfinder which is a direct vision

type mounted on the top plate. Shutter

speeds fall into two groups: 1/2-1/15sec,

set against a red indicator, and 1/25-

1/1,000sec set against a black indicator. The

shutter speed must be set before the film is

wound and shutter tensioned. If you fancy

using one today, beware. They are rare which

makes them expensive and, worse still,

shutters are notoriously unreliable.

Single lens reflexes

The first 35mm SLR was the Kine Exakta, but

its style was based on an earlier camera that

shot eight 6x4.5cm pictures on 127.

Between 1933 and 1939, the German Ihagee

company made numerous variations on the

same theme, exemplified by the Exakta B,

whose clockwork-controlled shutter allows

speeds down to a full 12 seconds. The black

body has a tapered design that slopes away

from the lens panel, a focusing hood that

springs up from the top to reveal a waist-level

viewfinder and a left-handed shutter

release on the front of the body. Also

Five different

styles of 16-on-

127 camera,

clockwise from

top left: Comet III,

Zeiss Ikon Baby

Ikonta, Zeiss Ikon

Kolibri, Nagel

Pupille and

Eho-Altissa Eho

Baby Box

Bringing coupled rangefinders

to 127 cameras: the

Ensign Multex