New Project: Old Cameras

Recently I was bemoaning my lack of space (tiny apartment, two dogs, one cat, one baby and one husband) when my mother noted that I have an immense array of old cameras on "display." She wondered why I didn't put those into storage along with my winter coats and various other items (like an ancient typewriter) that I have no room for but can't, for the life of me, part with. I was, of course, horrified. Why, I use all of those cameras, ALL OF THE TIME. My mother raised an eyebrow, "Really?" OK, so, no, I rarely, if ever, use any of them.

So, I have decided to embark upon a new project - I am going to use each and every one of these cameras and write about the results here.

First up: the Mamiya 645. I used this when I first purchased it, maybe twice. I was actually looking for a medium format that produced square images. The Mamiya is medium format that produces 6x7 cm images. At the time, I found the Mamiya heavy and intimidating (I ran around with my trusty and extremely light Pentax K1000 - which I used professionally and probably would have continued to do so if I hadn't started doing sports photography which required the switch to digital). Since I took it up again, however, I am loving the detailed images it produces and the fact that it's all manual. I recently developed the second roll I shot with it from possibly 9-10 years ago. Great details, great lighting (oh, how I love film). I shot a new roll of the bambino but found the manual focusing a bit tough (I'm out of practice) when you are trying to capture your delightful, yet squirmy, wee one. Two examples:

The bambino.

And this was taken when I first purchased the camera but never developed the film.

Next up: The Polaroid Automatic Land Camera 100. I'll be hunting down the 4.5 v battery and some Polaroid 600 film (and Fuji 100). The camera that I am most coveting right now? The Polaroid 600SE. It's a beauty.

2 3 4 5