BBC article on Box Borwnies

[Ricardo Miranda]

BBC article on Box Brownies

Here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30530268

 

[snapguy]

wow

Fine article. Makes me want to drag out my Box Brownie and Brownie Reflex and take some snaps. The article gives me an idea -- for me to photograph older parts of Palm Springs CA with my Brownies....

 

[tessar]

Brownie box cameras can give excellent results within their limits, as the photographs in the article show. I was surprised at what my No. 3 Brownie with three f-stops could produce. Official film size was 124 (3-1/4 x 4-1/4 in.) but 122 film (postcard size, 3-1/4 x 5-1/2 in.) also had numbers for the shorter frame length. When I got my Brownie ($5 used) 122 Verichrome film was still being produced -- shows my age. The quarter-plate negative size sure made up for that one-element lens!
I'd like to use the camera again, but 122 film can apparently now only be bought in multiples of 50-ft rolls.

 

[NedL]

Brownie box cameras can give excellent results within their limits, as the photographs in the article show. I was surprised at what my No. 3 Brownie with three f-stops could produce. Official film size was 124 (3-1/4 x 4-1/4 in.) but 122 film (postcard size, 3-1/4 x 5-1/2 in.) also had numbers for the shorter frame length. When I got my Brownie ($5 used) 122 Verichrome film was still being produced -- shows my age. The quarter-plate negative size sure made up for that one-element lens!
I'd like to use the camera again, but 122 film can apparently now only be bought in multiples of 50-ft rolls.

Not sure if this would work in a 124 brownie, but if I slice 1/4" off the top of a sheet of 4x5 film, I can fit it into my 122 autographic. In mine, I have to use a black paper "holder" behind it to keep if flat because the film gate is 5-1/2" wide. In the brownie, it might just sit flat against the gate without any fuss. I enjoy taking a camera out that has only one shot in it...

 

[bergytone]

Great article.... I shot a roll over the summer with a brownie hawkeye and loved the '50's look to the shots with that meniscus lens.
I posted a few of them on the photo gallery of the Brownie group page. For outdoor shots you've gotta use slow film, and really hold the camera against your body to keep them from blurring. I want to measure the shutter speed, but I think the hawkeye was advertised at 1/50 sec, so that limits the shots you can take. Great fun to use, and they attract a lot of attention.

 

[fotch]

Thanks for the interesting article, really enjoyed it.