New 127 manufacturer?

Roger Cole · Jan 3, 2015

The front says "Brownie Holiday Camera" and "Dakon Lens." I just opened it up and measured the opening at the back at the film plane and it looks rectangular, just over 4cms on the short side (4.25 or so) by just over 6cm, about 6.25.

I'll try to take some better photos of the camera but I have a not-great one on my phone I can post momentarily.

Where did you get the Bluefire Murano 400?

B&H lists HP5+ as "not yet available" so hopefully already rolled HP5 is coming soon. Yeah, it's fast for a Brownie but some soft development should work fine and also give some ability in somewhat lower light.

Roger Cole · Jan 3, 2015

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk and 100% recycled electrons - because I care.

Roger Cole · Jan 3, 2015

Yep, this is it - and I remember when this one looked like this too. The front plate is somewhat pitted but I think the rest will clean up nicely.

http://www.brownie-camera.com/28.shtml

I don't see any flash contacts anywhere so I imagine this is the unsychronized model. Looks like I can even get a manual for it.

Ektagraphic · Jan 3, 2015

Ah, I have that exact brownie! If I recall, it is 8 exposures per roll and is a rectangular format, just like you measured.

I bought the Bluefire Murano from Blue Moon as they have a reasonable price on it, but as far as black and white, Blue Moon doesn't sell the Murano black and white (which is HP5 and is sort of expensive) so I have chosen the ReraPan.

Roger Cole · Jan 3, 2015

W00t! Found the Bluefire stuff at Bluemoon camera. May have to finally get C41 chems for the Jobo though...and then that means get into RA4 again and...

Uh..but is there a Jobo reel that will handle 127? I can always use the Jobo as a tempering bath and develop in a Yankee tank, though.

EDIT: I was posting my Google results as you were posting that answer.

Sal Santamaura · Jan 3, 2015

Roger Cole said:
...I found her old Brownie...that accompanied us to quite a few family vacations in the late 60s...

Does it look like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-EAS...059?pt=US_Vintage_Cameras&hash=item259cc55d0b?

That model was my first camera, received new around 1963 (age 10), and the one from which I first developed film too.

Roger Cole said:
...I got a roll of Verichrome Pan, loaded it into my mom's Brownie...

Yup, that was the film of choice. While not sharp, its dual-emulsion design really held detail in both shadow and highlights, like the snow scene that included deep shaded areas that I shot with it and am looking at a print of now.

Roger Cole said:
...Does the Brownie shoot 4x4 cm frames?

Along with my new camera, I was given my father's copy of the Kodak book "How to Make Good Pictures" (25th revised edition from the 1940s) and a box of Velox silver chloride contact printing paper that carried a 1946 expiration date. Without a darkroom at the beginning, I took film to a drugstore for processing, but used some scrap window glass to make contact prints on the Velox in "Printing Out Paper" mode outdoors under full sun. Since then they've been sitting between the pages of that book, viewed only occasionally in subdued light, and now 50 years later they look like new. Yes, they are exactly 4 cm square.

Edit: I obviously spent too much time researching and composing. You have a different Brownie version that makes different size negatives. Oh well.

Truzi · Jan 3, 2015

Brownie Holiday - I believe that was the version that was my first camera when I was a child - it was my mother's when she was a kid. I know it's around here somewhere, but have been holding off on buying film until I find it.

Roger Cole · Jan 3, 2015

Sal Santamaura said:
Edit: I obviously spent too much time researching and composing. You have a different Brownie version that makes different size negatives. Oh well.

No matter, thanks for sharing the fun memories anyway! I find these sorts of stories fun to read.

StoneNYC · Jan 3, 2015

My JOBO definitely takes the 127 it's a 2500 tank with the black reels.

B&H is going to stock HP5+ in 127? Crazy, bet it's 3 times the price of hand rolling ($5/roll for me) instead of $11/roll for the Rerapan, I'm guessing they will try for $15/roll for B&H prices.

Sirius Glass · Jan 3, 2015

FreeStyle, one of our sponsors now sells 127 film.

StoneNYC · Jan 3, 2015

Sirius Glass said:
FreeStyle, one of our sponsors now sells 127 film.

Yes Rerapan as I mentioned, but not HP5+ or any 400 speed film, 100 is just too slow IMO for the kind of thing you would use a TLR for, again working habits vary, but I bought a roll of the Rerapan to try but haven't been able to use it yet because there's just no lighting situation good enough yet.

And no color, but FILMferrania will have that soon so that's good

Sirius Glass · Jan 3, 2015

StoneNYC said:
Yes Rerapan as I mentioned, but not HP5+ or any 400 speed film, 100 is just too slow IMO for the kind of thing you would use a TLR for, again working habits vary, but I bought a roll of the Rerapan to try but haven't been able to use it yet because there's just no lighting situation good enough yet.

And no color, but FILMferrania will have that soon so that's good

It is fast enough got toy cameras and box cameras.

Ken Nadvornick · Jan 4, 2015

The simple little rotary shutters in many Brownies are kind of cool because often you can mask off the opening in the metal disk to achieve effectively faster shutter speeds. I did that with my Kodak Hawkeye Brownie after placing a small square of polyester yellow filter behind the simple lens to sharpen it up a bit for use with black-and-white film.

The measured unmodified shutter speed was about 1/40 sec, so handheld negatives were frequently blurred. By using a simple Calumet shutter tester I optimized the size of the shutter mask to give a speed of about 1/200 sec at the fixed aperture of approximately f/16. This is roughly the correct Sunny-16 exposure for HP5+ behind the yellow filter and in bright sun.

With both reduced camera shake and reduced chromatic aberration the little guy now produces surprisingly good quality b&w negatives with a vintage look to them. At least on sunny days with the sun behind you.

Ken

Roger Cole · Jan 4, 2015

StoneNYC said:
Yes Rerapan as I mentioned, but not HP5+ or any 400 speed film, 100 is just too slow IMO for the kind of thing you would use a TLR for, again working habits vary, but I bought a roll of the Rerapan to try but haven't been able to use it yet because there's just no lighting situation good enough yet.

And no color, but FILMferrania will have that soon so that's good

Hey Stone, see above, color is available in a C41 film, and in your desired ISO 400 as well:

http://automat.bluemooncamera.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=160

Roger Cole · Jan 4, 2015

Ken Nadvornick said:
The simple little rotary shutters in many Brownies are kind of cool because often you can mask off the opening in the metal disk to achieve effectively faster shutter speeds. I did that with my Kodak Hawkeye Brownie after placing a small square of polyester yellow filter behind the simple lens to sharpen it up a bit for use with black-and-white film.

The measured unmodified shutter speed was about 1/40 sec, so handheld negatives were frequently blurred. By using a simple Calumet shutter tester I optimized the size of the shutter mask to give a speed of about 1/200 sec at the fixed aperture of approximately f/16. This is roughly the correct Sunny-16 exposure for HP5+ behind the yellow filter and in bright sun.

With both reduced camera shake and reduced chromatic aberration the little guy now produces surprisingly good quality b&w negatives with a vintage look to them. At least on sunny days with the sun behind you.

Ken

There's a couple of cool ideas there, thanks. I'm pretty sure modifying the shutter is beyond me, and I wouldn't try it on my mother's camera anyway (but these are cheap enough that buying one just to try it would be nothing) but adding a sheet of yellow filter material is a great idea. Most B&W films have a response more like human vision when used with a yellow filter anyway - I routinely use yellow or light yellow for pretty much ALL my black and white if a deeper one like orange or red isn't called for - and will also sharpen up the image by reducing chromatic aberration as you say. It will also add some density and make HP5+ developed in something soft like maybe D23 or divided D23 a pretty usable film.

1/40th is way slower than I'd have thought, though. At f/16 it would need that yellow filter even for a 100 film though it would barely be one stop over. You could use a deep yellow for the HP5 maybe... rigging up something to hold the filter in front would allow changing the filter for the light conditions though it would ruin the look of the camera in a way that an internal filter wouldn't. Best of all the filter is an easily and simply reversed "modification."

cmacd123 · Jan 4, 2015

The Bluefire stuff is made by "Frugal Photographer" and while the price is not all that frugal that claim to be making it as fast is the owner can roll it. http://www.frugalphotographer.com/cat127.php Note that he is now accepting back orders of what is out of stock, and he says he will ship them as soon as he makes them.

StoneNYC · Jan 4, 2015

cmacd123 said:
The Bluefire stuff is made by "Frugal Photographer" and while the price is not all that frugal that claim to be making it as fast is the owner can roll it. http://www.frugalphotographer.com/cat127.php Note that he is now accepting back orders of what is out of stock, and he says he will ship them as soon as he makes them.

Is it Portra400?

Ektagraphic · Jan 4, 2015

I've emailed back and forth with him and he seems to be a really nice guy! The film is actually rolled by machine and he makes the backing paper himself. There is a video on his Facebook page. He explained that he wishes to be able to lower the cost of the film especially since buying it through his website is expensive because the shipping is expensive. It is sold through a warehouse distribution company and they package the film and ship it, but their fees are paid through the shipping costs. Both of the color films that he is rolling are Portra.

cmacd123 · Jan 5, 2015

Ektagraphic said:
He explained that he wishes to be able to lower the cost of the film especially since buying it through his website is expensive because the shipping is expensive. It is sold through a warehouse distribution company and they package the film and ship it, but their fees are paid through the shipping costs.

I would love to encourage that. He actually is in Alberta Canada, but set up his shipping from the US as many Americans get nervous about receiving packages for outside the US. Thus his stock is all in the states, and so anything a Canadian Orders get dinged at USPS rates.

Some firms in the Toronto area ship USA orders through Buffalo NY to avoid that problem. I am not sure if Calgary has a similar workaround.

In any case the guy is an interesting fellow to deal with and is trying to fill some interesting Niche markets.

Chazzy · Jan 13, 2015

Has anyone made any progress on figuring out what film the Rera Pan is? The canister says that it was assembled in Japan, which suggests to me that the film itself is not necessarily Japanese.

Roger Cole · Jan 13, 2015

It could be cut down from 120 and re-spooled, if someone could get the backing paper and spools. If so then it could be any B&W film of similar speed. That's how the Canadian guy does Portra, I'd imagine.

Ektagraphic · Jan 13, 2015

Chazzy said:
Has anyone made any progress on figuring out what film the Rera Pan is? The canister says that it was assembled in Japan, which suggests to me that the film itself is not necessarily Japanese.

I was e-mailing with Maco and they said sent this to me and explained that the film is Rollei RPX 100:

Hello,
Thanks for your inquiry.
We are still working on this project (Rollei RPX 100 127).
The machine is not running and some spare parts are needed which are under production.
We hope to solve it and come back with a film in early 2015.
Currently the b&w Rerapan 127 from our Jpanases partner can be purchase:
http://www.macodirect.de/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=re127&sort=3a&language=en
We have supplied all materials to him for a manual production in limited quantities per month.
Mit freundlichem Gruss / With kind regards
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stefan Barth
-Director-
MACO PHOTO PRODUCTS

Ricardo Miranda · Jan 14, 2015

To note from above that Stefan didn't actually said that Rerapan is RPX 100.
He talked about his project of converting RPX 100 to 127.
Thanks for the message. I was wondering why it was taking so long. Now, we know it was the machine that is broken.
I wouldn't be admired if that machine was purchased from Efke.
The last news I had from what remains of the Samobar factory is that much machinery went out of the door.

Ektagraphic · May 24, 2015

Looks like the machine must still be down, or something, because Rera Pan still seems like the only thing they are offering

harry457 · May 25, 2015

Hey i think it was the version that was my first camera when I was a child.
Its looking old.

New 127 manufacturer?

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