Monthly Shooting Assignment - Jan/Feb 2014 - Cheap camera challenge!

OK! I'm back from the backwoods of Alaska and it looks like I need to set the shooting assignment for the next couple of months. I've been thinking about it today and here's what I have come up with, I hope everyone enjoys it.

How about a cheap camera challenge? Break out your $5 thrift store find or that Holga that has been collecting dust and put a roll of film through it. Maybe try a disposable camera and get the film processed at your local Wal-mart. Instant cameras, pinholes or homemade cameras would be awesome too. Bonus points if your camera has been repaired or constructed with with duct tape. Cheap lens on a good camera is fine too and as is shooting bargain or expired film.

Everyone has different standards for what is 'cheap' so I'm not going to be too strict on what is acceptable but basically the winner of this challenge will be the photographer who does the most with the least.

The choice of subject is up to you but when you post your entries please tell us the story of the camera and film you used to take the photo. Most of all, be creative and have fun!

I think that's about it. Here are the (there was a url link here which no longer exists) and otherwise if you have questions please ask. Can't wait to see what people come up with!

Awesome! A completely new direction for the MSA! Love it!

I'll have fun with this one. Makeshift and homemade cameras are sort of my "2nd photography" hobby. The pinhole camera I used for the last two MSA was made from a $5 polaroid "colorpack II" from goodwill. I used a hacksaw to remove the front and attached a black matboard front/pinhole/shutter with .... drumroll.... black duct tape of course.

My current two favorite pinhole cameras are:
1) a coffee can for 5x7
2) a black matboard and tape box for 8x10. ( duct tape is the shutter on this one )

But the timing for this MSA is good because I just built a new lensed camera made from black foamcore ( also sealed with black duct tape, including the door I use to change out the negs... ) I've been making paper negatives and contact printing. In the last 3 days I've made my first salt prints from these and am having a blast doing it. So probably I'll pick whatever the best one is in the next 2 months....

Sounds like great fun, thanks!

I'll start with an example - a shot I took in 2010 with an Olympus Trip 35 I paid $2.10 for at a local thrift shot. As it is "dated", it should not be eligible for the winner's "prize".

It is in my APUG gallery, with the title "Estuary Windfall - $2.10".

This I certainly can do!! Creative tinkering with cameras I like!!
And this MSA is just the deadline I need to tinker up one of my imaginary projects.
Duct tape it is!! And some card board and an old glass lens element I'm gonna rip out of something.
Or yet a multi pinhole camera - also ducted together.
Or rebuilding that used single-use-camera into something.
I also have a triplex-and-duct-tape-360-degrees-pinhole-camera lying around that I still have to finish (shoots one image on an entire 120 roll film).
Or ...

WOW, this is fun!!
(I hope I don't forget to put a film in it)

Funny I was actually planning to add an old non LF lens to my kit but now I'll use duct take instead of more sturdy materiels

I like what I'm hearing so far, looks like this is going to be a lot of fun. Already three people are promising break out the duct tape! :w00t:

Matt that's a great image with any camera. Thanks for starting us off.

Does a Polaroid count? I wish I had a Holga.

Matt- that's beautiful!

Why wouldn't a Polaroid count? As long as it didn't cost you alot.

I'm wondering about free cameras. I was gifted my Nikon FE and my Yashica LM, from friends who weren't using them. I was also gifted ("if you don't take it I'm sending to the dump") a large copy stand. Canabalized it, and traded the bellows and lens (to someone who wanted to build a 16x20 camera) for my Korona 8x10.

sly said:

Why wouldn't a Polaroid count? As long as it didn't cost you alot.

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LOL - yeah, have you seen the going prices for the SX-70?! Crazy stuff for a 'cheap' camera. I paid less for the Exakta.

This will be just the excuse I needed to try out the new IP black & white film for the 600. Should be fun.

For sure, a Polaroid 600 definitely counts as a cheap camera (with expensive film). I would love to see some instant shots!

VaryaV said:

LOL - yeah, have you seen the going prices for the SX-70?! Crazy stuff for a 'cheap' camera. I paid less for the Exakta.

This will be just the excuse I needed to try out the new IP black & white film for the 600. Should be fun.

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Goodwill/Salvation Army have them for $4

adelorenzo said:

I like what I'm hearing so far, looks like this is going to be a lot of fun. Already three people are promising break out the duct tape! :w00t:

Matt that's a great image with any camera. Thanks for starting us off.

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Do I have to use duct tape? I was GOING to kind of do a nice job with it... Maybe I'll just use duct tape temporarily then do a better job later... Lol

Thank you for motivating me!!! I had been lazy about trying this, now I'm excited!


In pieces

Shutter in

Element in

Tada!!

Kodak 2A folding Autographic repurposed, 1/25, B(not working), 1/50, T, 1/100

Seemingly no light falloff (cell phone example is bad) AND movement capability...


So excited to try this!!

I don't know what focal length this lens is but my other one (that has a nice filter thread but also is in better condition and I wasn't willing to sacrifice) was 130mm I believe, so about that.

I like it, Stone! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Stone that looks awesome. I have one of those old Autographics and that would never have occurred to me. Can't wait to see what you can produce with it.

adelorenzo said:

Stone that looks awesome. I have one of those old Autographics and that would never have occurred to me. Can't wait to see what you can produce with it.

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Thanks, it's a 116 not a 120 and so I figure the image circle would be big enough for 4x5 with a little nice vignette but it looks like it actually covers way wider than that. We'll see though.

The red cloth is duvytine, I know you are supposed to use black, but I have a ton of this red lying around so just figured I would use that instead and it's mostly recessed so should be fine to prevent any light leak and not reflect too much light.

I'm mostly worried about metal particles getting caught in my toyo body, but I think it's ok, we'll see how it goes.

should hte photographer upload a photograph of the camera used too ?

Hmm, I don't really own any cheap cameras. I guess that I could go out and buy one, but that would cost more than using a camera and film that I already own.

StoneNYC said:

Thanks, it's a 116 not a 120 ...

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Hi Stone, I'll have to take a picture of the camera I'm using, it's a little similar to that. I used the lens from an old Kodak 3A that I got just for this purpose. The lens is nice but the body was a disaster, so I only paid about $15 for the camera. If I remove one of the B&L rapid rectilinear elements it covers 8x10. My biggest problem is that I keep forgetting to remove the front lens element... now my wife made me a big sticker that says "Take off the lens!!!" and I've made a bunch of nice 8x10 pictures in the last week.

Edited... ( I was thinking of the Kodak 2, not the 2A ... )

My 616 (same film as 116) camera was intended for 2.5" x 4.5" negatives, so the lens should cover 4" x 5".

My dad gave it to me, freshly refurbished, in 1967. I doubt he paid more than $25.00 for it at the time. Can we use the "cost per year" to determine whether it is cheap enough?

NedL said:

Hi Stone, I'll have to take a picture of the camera I'm using, it's a little similar to that. I used the lens from an old Kodak 3A that I got just for this purpose. The lens is nice but the body was a disaster, so I only paid about $15 for the camera. If I remove one of the B&L rapid rectilinear elements it covers 8x10. My biggest problem is that I keep forgetting to remove the front lens element... now my wife made me a big sticker that says "Take off the lens!!!" and I've made a bunch of nice 8x10 pictures in the last week.

Edited... ( I was thinking of the Kodak 2, not the 2A ... )

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Cool, yea I have the 2a, it's the earlier model and only has one element to my understanding (but I can't quite tell, sometimes two together can look like one, anyway shooting my submission tonight, I'm going to compare by using a modern 150mm lens to see how different they are, I hope this one has really interesting characteristics that make it worth the effort. It certainly has more coverage than I could ever have expected (though probably not sharp).

EDIT: the camera itself cost me like $10 on eBay a while back, the seller said it was usable, and when I got it, it had holes in the bellows the size of a pencil, and the front standard was bent at an angle, and it smelled like cigars. But I kept it cause it cost more in shipping to send back! Lol

(Ok enough talking, on to the pictures!)

Hmmm, guess I could join in. My Nikomat bodies both originally cost me about $15 each. The FT2 is already loaded up with a partially finished roll of CHS 25... I could pair it with the $20 28/3.5 Nikkor-H...

-J

OK!!!! I had to run a control on this... just to know how different it would be, so here is the control.

CONTROL: Graflex Holder Image #5
TOYO45a, Schneider 150mm f/5.6 Symmar-S f/16@1 second.
TMY-2 in Rodinal 1:50



NOW the actual image submission...

Shot with this lens...


Graflex Holder Image #4
TOYO45a, (Kodinar? still confirming) 122mm f7.8 shot at "#2" stop (f/16? still confirming) @ "1 Mississippi".
TMY-2 in Rodinal 1:50 "Tea Time"


If you look at the difference between the two images up close you can see degradation in the edges as far as sharpness, and even at the sharpest part near the top of the kettle, the Schneider does better, however for a lens that was made in the late 1910's for a 116 brownie folder, not 4x5, I'd say it did fairly well.

The second submission I took outside, it was misting and I was in a hurry, I'm fairly certain that the edge falloff is due to the aperture closing down and not simply from the lens being farther from the film plane. I checked the edge and they were all very bright before I stopped down. (but I learned something, to check twice after the aperture is stopped down).

Fidelity/Lisco Holder
TOYO45a, (Kodinar? still confirming) 122mm f7.8 shot at "#4" Stop (f/32? still confirming...) @ 1/25th (assuming the shutter is at all accurate)
HP5+ in Rodinal 1:50 "My stream and Neighbors back yard"



I'm really excited about this lens, it's a lot of fun, and all the LF guys told me it wouldn't work, I can't wait to post this on LFF too.

I already know my entry is going to have been shot with my soviet half-frame (there was a url link here which no longer exists), now I just gotta choose a picture...