I love these old folders. I learned on a Kodak Duo Six-20 as a fifth grader back in ‘69. I have several folders, including a Duo Six-20. They make surprisingly good photos. I love how I can tuck a folder into my back pocket.
Martin, thanks for another hugely inspiring video. This one couldn’t have been more timely for me. I have just been given a No.2 Kodak folding Autographic Brownie. There was a film in it with three exposures taken on an old variant of Kodak Verichrome Pan. I think that these shots must have been taken around eighty years ago, judging from the estimated age of the woman in the photos who was known to the chap who gave me the camera. Amazingly, when I developed the film, the three images came out with near perfect sharpness and tonality. I am still struggling to believe it! Keep up the good work.
Thank you for another great vlog, Martin. There is something very satisfying about getting great images out of these old timers. I recently took the plunge with purchasing an Ensign Carbine no.12 which takes 116 film and seems to be in remarkably good shape for it’s age as far as I can tell (albeit with no useable speeds below about 1/25th sec as is). I look forward, when time allows, to adapt it and get out shooting with it. Thanks again 🙂
I have the no 1 version of this camera, purchased new by my great grandfather about 1908. Still works! It was made for 105 film but works fine With 120, the 105 spools just had larger flanges to hold more shots on a roll.
It's always a joy watching the process of creating those beautiful pictures you shoot. With growing experience I hope I will get this "photographer's eye" of a seasoned photographer as you are.
wow !! An excellent video Martin and what a brilliant set of pictures that you made. Thank you for going out and proving that it's the photographer behind the lens and not the camera that makes great images. Totally inspirational !!!
Thanks a lot for this very inspiring video, it drived me to pick and try my grandfather's Kodak n⁰3A Autographic. I realised it's not an obsolete camera, quite the contrary.
you have a wonderful presentation style. oftentimes i scroll youtube and can't be bothered by videos longer than 10 minutes. however, with your down to earth demeanor, gentle background music and the unhurried pace, i actually felt relaxed after watching. it did not seem like 45 minutes at all. i have a brownie target 616 that my uncle left us when he passed. I have never used it. in fact it has just been sitting on a bookshelf like a relic, collecting dust for a few years now. i'm sure it would honor my uncle to try to run it again. i came across this video when searching for info about 116/616 film. i am grateful to have found yours.
Proper adapter sets are easily available for many vintage cameras to be used with 120 film. Try your favourite fleaBay! No need to make your own, available for various film sizes to 120.
Beautiful camera and the red bellows look wonderful. That mechanism is so clever and in such wonderful condition. £35 is a bargain. I love the panoramic images. I have the 1A Autographic, Martin. It has 1/25 & 1/50 & 1/100 with B & T options too. Aperture sizes from US4 to US128 so F/8 to F/45. It even has the Autographic scribe attached. Haven't shot with it yet but your modification has given me food for thought. Thank you.
I love your longer videos Martin. Such attention to detail but never boring. I think it’s wonderful how you thought of ways to improve the camera and get 120 film to fit. Keep up the good work in keeping old cameras and film alive. Thankyou.
The most simple but effective shutter tester someone can make is by removing a small solar panel from a garden lamp or something and connect it to the input of the sound card. Then use Audacity (free) to "record" the shutter time. As for the f opening of such lenses you can measure the focal length and divide it with the entrance pupil (you measure the opening from the front of the aperture in simple lenses) Have fun, and thanks for the videos!
Thank you for your video, I have my late aunty Carrie Cockfield (Painted 1910 Wooden Kodak No. 3A Folding Brownie Camera and many old family negatives. It's very similar to yours but it has opens with a Door-Bridge opening. It has aperture f4 to f128. The Shutter has T B 1/25, 1/50 & 1/100 speeds. It also has 2 off 1/4" screw mounting points. UNC or BSW, I haven't checked (but in the Free Class of threads they "Cross Thread" without a worry). The camera is still functional, and some fifty years back a put a sheet of 4 by 5 Inch Tri-x and took a photo of my parent’s back yard (the red window was covered). I don't remember what I developed it with, but in those days I was using Ilford ID11. Then somebody told me that Kodak D76 was a sharper developer. I did try Kodak D76 and compared it to Ilford’s ID11 and found it to be true, though I stayed with ID11, because it was cheaper, and my Zeiss lens were sharp enough. Thanks for the Tip on how to use 120 Roll film in the old camera.
I have a Kodak no 2a folding pocket camera which I believe was made in the autumn of 1910. It's the "luxury" version of the old Kodaks, it has a tripodmount😊. Like yours it's made for 116-film. It has rectangular sides. One of the spools has a 35mm centered slit which gave me the idea of making an adapter for 135 film in wood. Like you I made a frame for the smaller negative. In my case it became 24x72mm. I got only, due to a little accident when unloading the film, two usable negatives. Enough to spark my interest for using it again in the future. Will do that.
Congratulations on your 10,000 subs. I get a lot of pleasure from taking photographs with a Zeiss Ikon 515/2 I believe was made in 1937. The sharpness of the images from these old folders may not be perfect, but is certainly good enough for most purposes.
Yet again an excellent video of a vintage camera, you attention to detail and honesty in relaying the points is what can only be described as reassuringly comforting, the time watching passed like watching an interesting and entertaining programme. I think the points having taken the photos were also accurate and a testament to the photographers of those infancy years of photography, although unintentional it also displayed the crudeness of todays disregard for architectural beauty, with the yellow and black boxed frame entrance to one of the old mills. But the camera I thought performed well and perhaps some kind of securing mechanism to grip the camera, like those used for iPads with expanding grips that could be modified, like your viewfinder hood and dare I say, the ubiquitous lackey band! But then could be used with a tripod and the aperture closed down to the F32 giving a really clear detailed shot at 1sec or more like a fine art print, with real charm, from a bygone age. Lastly you have a sound and loving son, to have seen the camera and realised the happiness that it would bring, not only to you, but to all that appreciate craftsmanship. Excellent!
There's something about the image quality from big negatives shot on simple lenses, that's very compelling. Of course, they were never meant to be enlarged much if at all, so they have an intimate feel in small print sizes. I'd have risked a touch of overlap for that sixth negative, but maybe not on the first film. Calculating wind-on can get complicated, as the increasing take up diameter, and shrinking feed spool size changes the turns necessary to advance the the film correctly.
Martin you’ve inspired me!! I have a Kodak Pocket Folder 3A which takes 130 format film. I’m going to adapt it to 120 which will result in 6x14. This will be fun!
That looks like an interesting camera to use. I'd be inclined to add a tripod socket, and possibly some method of using a cable or air shutter release. The hood for the finder is a brilliant idea.
Inspirational Martin. I also love the look of the shots, whilst not sharp when pixel peeping the lens rewards attention to exposure and composition. Excellent video!
Another great video. These old cameras do produce some great photos. I was out with a voightlander vf101 which I total rebuilt and the lens gave some very sharp images for 35mm size. The voightlander Vito's get very little attention but produce a very crisp negative. Have you got into using glass plates? I bought a lovely small folder with all the dark slides and the insert to convert them from glass plates to sheet film. Zebra plates do some glass plates here in Europe. I've yet to get the time to try it.
@MartinHenson This is amazing! I recently made some repairs to my grandfather's No 1A Pocket Kodak (and made a video about it), but I haven't yet attempted to take photos with it. I only have Ilford HP5 Plus in 120 right now, and was wondering if Ortho Plus 80 might be a better choice? Excited to try it, but I suspect I'm going to waste some film before I figure it out. By the way, hello from Georgia, USA, but my family is mostly from Lancashire, so I really enjoy your photo walks. :)
Martin you mention that the lens in the camera is a single element achromatic lens - is this two lenses cemented together, one convex and one concave, you should be able to determine this if you can get to both sides of the lens - one inny and one outy - Many Thanks.
Thank you for a great video. It has inspired me to resurrect a similar camera I inherited. Any thoughts about choice of film speed or film? Originally they would have had only very slow film (equivalent to ISO 50 or probably much less ?) and orthochromatic. Anyone tried to either mimic the original look or do something different with more modern film?
Hi Martin, congartiolation to you 10.000 Abos. I wait for you to see your short movies and to learn a lot. It is every time a Intressting video. By the way Martin, wich ISO or ASA is be used normal? Best, Andreas
Hi Martin. I have a similar camera - Kodak 1a Pocket Model C which was manufactured 1906-1909. I just got my first pictures back from the lab and some of them seemed to come out blurry and not very sharp. The edges on trees were really soft and thin branches weren't sharp or distinguishable. Do you know what the issue is? I've been extending the bellows all the way for the focus. Am I slightly moving it when taking the photo, therefore causing blurriness and softness? My shutter speeds are I, B, and T. I've been using I(instantaneous) with f/11 for the most part. How quick is the shutter for I? One youtuber said it was 1/50 of a second.
Hi, I've recently come into possession of one of these, however when I see the 120 film online I see things like 400 120 or 200 120 or 100 120 film. My guess is the first numbers are the shutter speed? Would I be right to guess that 100 120would be most suitable for this camera?
HELP,,, l am requesting your knowledge about my newly acquired camera and some film l have sitting here l believe will work in it,you see I'm a big TITANIC person and I believe my camera fits right into that window if nothing else than inside of OLYMPICS window but regardless l have need for some particulars of info about my camera which l just picked up pretty much for free and I don't believe it was shut for 90 + years before it landed in myhands,but with a little oil l believe her too be in perfect working condition
I like the camera and how you modified it. I have already printed similar helps for cameras with small, rather dark viewfinders. The image results are really amazing! Thanks for the video!
Please keep doing these long-form, slow, no frills videos. I love them so much.
Your enthusiasm shines through with this camera.
I love these old folders. I learned on a Kodak Duo Six-20 as a fifth grader back in ‘69. I have several folders, including a Duo Six-20. They make surprisingly good photos. I love how I can tuck a folder into my back pocket.
These folding Kodaks make some very interesting paper negative photos.
Martin, thanks for another hugely inspiring video. This one couldn’t have been more timely for me. I have just been given a No.2 Kodak folding Autographic Brownie. There was a film in it with three exposures taken on an old variant of Kodak Verichrome Pan. I think that these shots must have been taken around eighty years ago, judging from the estimated age of the woman in the photos who was known to the chap who gave me the camera. Amazingly, when I developed the film, the three images came out with near perfect sharpness and tonality. I am still struggling to believe it! Keep up the good work.
Thanks Martin, you bring old cameras back to life.
That little viewfinder modification / attachment you've made works absolute wonders
Thank you for another great vlog, Martin. There is something very satisfying about getting great images out of these old timers. I recently took the plunge with purchasing an Ensign Carbine no.12 which takes 116 film and seems to be in remarkably good shape for it’s age as far as I can tell (albeit with no useable speeds below about 1/25th sec as is). I look forward, when time allows, to adapt it and get out shooting with it. Thanks again 🙂
I have the no 1 version of this camera, purchased new by my great grandfather about 1908. Still works! It was made for 105 film but works fine With 120, the 105 spools just had larger flanges to hold more shots on a roll.
Well done Martin. You are the master of these old cameras. Truly impressive.
It's always a joy watching the process of creating those beautiful pictures you shoot. With growing experience I hope I will get this "photographer's eye" of a seasoned photographer as you are.
I sincerely admire your dedication for this project, course I gotta admit, I wouldn't have enough patience for that...
wow !! An excellent video Martin and what a brilliant set of pictures that you made. Thank you for going out and proving that it's the photographer behind the lens and not the camera that makes great images. Totally inspirational !!!
That's me away to make a viewfinder hood for my Kodak No. 1 Autographic Junior.
Thanks a lot for this very inspiring video, it drived me to pick and try my grandfather's Kodak n⁰3A Autographic. I realised it's not an obsolete camera, quite the contrary.
you have a wonderful presentation style. oftentimes i scroll youtube and can't be bothered by videos longer than 10 minutes. however, with your down to earth demeanor, gentle background music and the unhurried pace, i actually felt relaxed after watching. it did not seem like 45 minutes at all.
i have a brownie target 616 that my uncle left us when he passed. I have never used it. in fact it has just been sitting on a bookshelf like a relic, collecting dust for a few years now. i'm sure it would honor my uncle to try to run it again. i came across this video when searching for info about 116/616 film. i am grateful to have found yours.
Thank you, get the camera working and resurrect film history
Blue Moon Camera out of Portland, Oregon, sells 116 film. Can be ordered over the web
Proper adapter sets are easily available for many vintage cameras to be used with 120 film. Try your favourite fleaBay! No need to make your own, available for various film sizes to 120.
Beautiful camera and the red bellows look wonderful. That mechanism is so clever and in such wonderful condition. £35 is a bargain. I love the panoramic images.
I have the 1A Autographic, Martin. It has 1/25 & 1/50 & 1/100 with B & T options too. Aperture sizes from US4 to US128 so F/8 to F/45. It even has the Autographic scribe attached.
Haven't shot with it yet but your modification has given me food for thought. Thank you.
Thank you Mr. Martin for the inspiring video. I am following your channel from now on.
Thank you
Hallo Martin,
es war wieder eine grosse Freude zuzusehen und zu lernen.
Danke aus Berlin
Mathias
I love your longer videos Martin. Such attention to detail but never boring. I think it’s wonderful how you thought of ways to improve the camera and get 120 film to fit. Keep up the good work in keeping old cameras and film alive. Thankyou.
Amazing results from such an old camera.
brilliant thoroughly enjoyed that, even got me scanning ebay for one, thanks Martin, keep the videos coming
Love this video - I inherited this camera and am excited to take pictures with it!
A very enjoyable video Martin... I have a 1953 Perkeo II that I love to take out...was happy to see that yours made some loving images at 112 yr old!
A very helpful video. I'm going to make some viewfinder attachments for my folders.
The most simple but effective shutter tester someone can make is by removing a small solar panel from a garden lamp or something and connect it to the input of the sound card. Then use Audacity (free) to "record" the shutter time.
As for the f opening of such lenses you can measure the focal length and divide it with the entrance pupil (you measure the opening from the front of the aperture in simple lenses)
Have fun, and thanks for the videos!
Impressive and I also like the aspect ratio.
Excellent video. I have a Kodak 116 format folder that I was considering adapting, so this is perfect advice. I love that little hood for the finder.
Great pictures, great video! 🤩
Thank you for showing this beautiful camera!
That big video billboard looks like it …. it needs a new home.
Another wonderful video, Martin!
Thank you for your video, I have my late aunty Carrie Cockfield (Painted 1910 Wooden Kodak No. 3A Folding Brownie Camera and many old family negatives.
It's very similar to yours but it has opens with a Door-Bridge opening. It has aperture f4 to f128. The Shutter has T B 1/25, 1/50 & 1/100 speeds. It also has 2 off 1/4" screw mounting points. UNC or BSW, I haven't checked (but in the Free Class of threads they "Cross Thread" without a worry).
The camera is still functional, and some fifty years back a put a sheet of 4 by 5 Inch Tri-x and took a photo of my parent’s back yard (the red window was covered). I don't remember what I developed it with, but in those days I was using Ilford ID11.
Then somebody told me that Kodak D76 was a sharper developer. I did try Kodak D76 and compared it to Ilford’s ID11 and found it to be true, though I stayed with ID11, because it was cheaper, and my Zeiss lens were sharp enough. Thanks for the Tip on how to use 120 Roll film in the old camera.
Hi Martin ! Great ...... Great video !!!
Thank you Martin, provides a challenge to me to try a vintage camera.
I have a Kodak no 2a folding pocket camera which I believe was made in the autumn of 1910. It's the "luxury" version of the old Kodaks, it has a tripodmount😊. Like yours it's made for 116-film. It has rectangular sides. One of the spools has a 35mm centered slit which gave me the idea of making an adapter for 135 film in wood. Like you I made a frame for the smaller negative. In my case it became 24x72mm. I got only, due to a little accident when unloading the film, two usable negatives. Enough to spark my interest for using it again in the future. Will do that.
I like the hood, I will have to make one for mine.
Brilliant work mate!
Excellent video Martin - very inspirational - I was glued to the screen.
You might try a cell phone adapter on it next time, great video
Congratulations on your 10,000 subs. I get a lot of pleasure from taking photographs with a Zeiss Ikon 515/2 I believe was made in 1937. The sharpness of the images from these old folders may not be perfect, but is certainly good enough for most purposes.
Yet again an excellent video of a vintage camera, you attention to detail and honesty in relaying the points is what can only be described as reassuringly comforting, the time watching passed like watching an interesting and entertaining programme.
I think the points having taken the photos were also accurate and a testament to the photographers of those infancy years of photography, although unintentional it also displayed the crudeness of todays disregard for architectural beauty, with the yellow and black boxed frame entrance to one of the old mills.
But the camera I thought performed well and perhaps some kind of securing mechanism to grip the camera, like those used for iPads with expanding grips that could be modified, like your viewfinder hood and dare I say, the ubiquitous lackey band! But then could be used with a tripod and the aperture closed down to the F32 giving a really clear detailed shot at 1sec or more like a fine art print, with real charm, from a bygone age.
Lastly you have a sound and loving son, to have seen the camera and realised the happiness that it would bring, not only to you, but to all that appreciate craftsmanship. Excellent!
Such an interesting video, thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge.
Enjoyed this and also surprised at the quality of that single element lens. Cheers
Great job as always! Thanks for making the video!
Beautiful. Thank you.
There's something about the image quality from big negatives shot on simple lenses, that's very compelling. Of course, they were never meant to be enlarged much if at all, so they have an intimate feel in small print sizes. I'd have risked a touch of overlap for that sixth negative, but maybe not on the first film. Calculating wind-on can get complicated, as the increasing take up diameter, and shrinking feed spool size changes the turns necessary to advance the the film correctly.
Great video, Martin!
I always enjoy your videos - please keep making them
Top video 👍
Really nice video and shots as usual! Lots of interesting information on these old cameras!
Martin you’ve inspired me!! I have a Kodak Pocket Folder 3A which takes 130 format film. I’m going to adapt it to 120 which will result in 6x14. This will be fun!
Thank you sir..
Amazing shots from an extraordinary vintage camera, thank you Martin 🙏🏻
Great video as always, thank you for doing these. I'm learning so much. Thanks again.
Very interesting. Could you up the volume next time 🙂
Amazing captures , what a beauty of a camera .
Great video and images, the Henson turret for the viewfinder is genius! I shall be making a few sizes of these for various cameras.
That looks like an interesting camera to use. I'd be inclined to add a tripod socket, and possibly some method of using a cable or air shutter release. The hood for the finder is a brilliant idea.
Inspirational Martin. I also love the look of the shots, whilst not sharp when pixel peeping the lens rewards attention to exposure and composition. Excellent video!
Another great video. These old cameras do produce some great photos. I was out with a voightlander vf101 which I total rebuilt and the lens gave some very sharp images for 35mm size. The voightlander Vito's get very little attention but produce a very crisp negative. Have you got into using glass plates? I bought a lovely small folder with all the dark slides and the insert to convert them from glass plates to sheet film. Zebra plates do some glass plates here in Europe. I've yet to get the time to try it.
@MartinHenson This is amazing! I recently made some repairs to my grandfather's No 1A Pocket Kodak (and made a video about it), but I haven't yet attempted to take photos with it. I only have Ilford HP5 Plus in 120 right now, and was wondering if Ortho Plus 80 might be a better choice? Excited to try it, but I suspect I'm going to waste some film before I figure it out. By the way, hello from Georgia, USA, but my family is mostly from Lancashire, so I really enjoy your photo walks. :)
Martin you mention that the lens in the camera is a single element achromatic lens - is this two lenses cemented together, one convex and one concave, you should be able to determine this if you can get to both sides of the lens - one inny and one outy - Many Thanks.
Yes your correct
Thank you for a great video. It has inspired me to resurrect a similar camera I inherited. Any thoughts about choice of film speed or film? Originally they would have had only very slow film (equivalent to ISO 50 or probably much less ?) and orthochromatic. Anyone tried to either mimic the original look or do something different with more modern film?
Hi Martin,
congartiolation to you 10.000 Abos.
I wait for you to see your short movies and to learn a lot.
It is every time a Intressting video.
By the way Martin, wich ISO or ASA is be used normal?
Best,
Andreas
I have this camera also, it is a Model C. What year was my model made? I tried looking but you may know better how to find that info. Thank you.
Wonderful video, thank you.
你可以讲讲alphax快门的操作吗？网上很少。
Can you explain the operation of the alphax shutter? Very few online.
It’s just a spring tensioned shutter set at a single split time speed, plus moving a lever locks the shutter at B or Time setting
Hi Martin. I have a similar camera - Kodak 1a Pocket Model C which was manufactured 1906-1909. I just got my first pictures back from the lab and some of them seemed to come out blurry and not very sharp. The edges on trees were really soft and thin branches weren't sharp or distinguishable. Do you know what the issue is? I've been extending the bellows all the way for the focus. Am I slightly moving it when taking the photo, therefore causing blurriness and softness? My shutter speeds are I, B, and T. I've been using I(instantaneous) with f/11 for the most part. How quick is the shutter for I? One youtuber said it was 1/50 of a second.
Not sure with these old cameras, could be camera shake 1/25 sec could be its fastest, maybe the film is not sitting over the film gate flat
Hi, I've recently come into possession of one of these, however when I see the 120 film online I see things like 400 120 or 200 120 or 100 120 film. My guess is the first numbers are the shutter speed? Would I be right to guess that 100 120would be most suitable for this camera?
Yes I’m bright ish conditions
@@martinhensonphotography lovely stuff. Thank you Martin!
HELP,,, l am requesting your knowledge about my newly acquired camera and some film l have sitting here l believe will work in it,you see I'm a big TITANIC person and I believe my camera fits right into that window if nothing else than inside of OLYMPICS window but regardless l have need for some particulars of info about my camera which l just picked up pretty much for free and I don't believe it was shut for 90 + years before it landed in myhands,but with a little oil l believe her too be in perfect working condition
What did you use to close off the gaps for the 120 film?
Just black mount board
How did you affix it? Did you glue it in? On my 1a Series II, I don’t have as much depth to work with as it is a metal frame.
Super glue
These cameras could've been used during the first world war!
I like the camera and how you modified it. I have already printed similar helps for cameras with small, rather dark viewfinders. The image results are really amazing! Thanks for the video!