The $50 Film Camera Project: “Reporter” box camera
Mit diesem Beitrag nehme ich teil an Brian Auers Projekt The $50 Film Camera. Deshalb versuche ich, den folgenden Bericht über meine “Reporter” Boxkamera auf englisch zu schreiben.
Here is my $50 film camera:
It is a German-made box camera, I guess from the 1950s or earlier. It’s hard to find any specifications online on the camera except this auction page with a very similar camera that suggests that the manufacturer is Lindar.
The “Reporter” is a twin-lens camera. The main lens is a fix-focus 80 mm focal length lens with an f9.5 opening. The camera takes 120 roll film and exposes 6×6 cm square format frames.
The upper lens is for the viewfinder on the top of the box. It is a Brillant finder which makes it somewhat difficult to frame the shot.
Having a fix-focus, one fix f-stop and two time settings (approximately 1/60s and a bulb setting) the “Reporter” doesn’t offer much to play with, except a built-in yellow filter that is good for increasing the contrast in black and white images.
Nevertheless, taking the time to carefully frame the image is what fascinates me the most about this camera. The low-angle that is characteristic for twin-lens cameras gives some intimacy with the subject. I am usually very concentrated and totally tensed before I release the shutter.
The rather long focal length gives a close crop to the subject. The deep depth-of-field allows for images with many details. If I want to have some parts out of focus, I have to bring them closer to the foreground. The overall sharpness of the photographs is surprisingly good, I think.
Exposure works fine in sunny weather with ISO 100 speed film and the available camera settings. Using the bulb setting, all the images turned out overexposed (and thus blurred) so far.
I bought the camera on a flea market in Zurich for CHF 30 (27 US$). Without cleaning, I ran the first roll through it. Later, I opened the box and took it apart for a good cleaning. The condition of all the parts seems to be fine. It’s fascinating to see the mechanics work together to capture photographs after so many years.
All the pictures that I take with the “Reporter” box camera are in this set on Flickr. I use other vintage cameras, most of them for 6×6 medium format film, too.
And here are the 12 frames of my latest roll:
The order of the photos here is not the order of the frames on the film. I arranged them for the purpose of presentation.
This is my favorite shot of the roll. As with many other shots in this roll, I’ve experimented with a foreground that is out of focus. Here, the impression of depth works well, I think, and the light is right.
Again, an out of focus foreground.
This object was obviously a bit too close for the fix-focus lens.
Extreme out of focus foreground. Yet, the farther parts give the picture some depth.
Quite low morning light. Makes for interesting shadows.
An unintended double exposure. This may also be a feature of the camera, if used on purpose. The “Reporter” has no mechanism that prevents from exposing the same frame twice..
Indoor shot, very low light for ISO100 and the standard shutter speed of this camera.
For this shot, I turned the camera upside-down and looked through the viewfinder above my head. In Bulb mode, approx. 1 second, handheld.
Yellow filter hasn’t much of an effect on these clouds. I should have waited for clearer sky, to get a more intense effect.
I like this one too. Early morning.
That’s it. It’s fun to be part of Brian’s project. Please leave a comment, if you have something to add.
[Update] Here are all the 80 Film Cameras that participated in Brian’s project. My vote goes to #42, the review of a Chajka II.
If you want to read more of my blog posts in English, try browsing the site using the Google translation:
24.09.2008 um 17:04
What a great find! This is a very interesting camera. I like the photo taken upside-down of the light. Very nice!
Good luck with the $50 Film Camera Project.
24.09.2008 um 18:25
[...] The $50 Film Camera Project: “Reporter” box camera So gesehen. Weblog über meine Fotografie. [...]
23.12.2008 um 15:17
[...] Juli: An einer alten Boxkamera konnte ich einfach nicht vorbei gehen. Sie passt schön in meine Sammlung. Im September beschrieb ich die Kamera im 50$ Camera Project-Beitrag. [...]
10.09.2009 um 15:32
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R.