I found this little gem from the local second hand shop. I actually know very little about cameras, and even less than that about vintage cameras and I was just wondering why this one had no price tag and after the cashier said it was 8 euros and after my answer was 4 euros and I didn't want to buy it even for 6 euros, I ended up being a curious owner of a Kodak Box 620 and 4 euros poorer.
I thought that the box camera looks so simple that even if it has something wrong with it, I would be able to fix it at least a little bit (or get it fixed) and take few artsy photos with it, so 4 euros definitely wasn't that bad.
Later at home when I googled with the computer more info about it (I hate googling with my phone) I found out that this model was actually made only few years in the mid and late 1930's. It's not that rare as I found few cameras like this for sale. If it was in pristine condition, it could be worth perhaps 20 to 30 euros. Perhaps even little bit more.
But mine certainly isn't in pristine condition so I think it's worth is under 10 euros. Perhaps only that 4 euros which I payed for it.
Even if it's worth more, I'm not selling. (Well if it would be worth way more then I of course would sell it, but it's not.)
I am most definitely going to USE IT!
Remember my last cheap pocket film camera purchase? Cosina Flash 35E for 2 euros when I went for a trip to Northern Finland aka Lapland and forgot my Sony 6400 home! So I bought the first cheap film camera from Kemijärvi and hoped that it would work. And it did! You can find the travel posts which have the photos taken with the camera here: day 1 and day 2.
After developing the Kemijärvi film roll I bought a new 36 photo film roll and I actually have not taken all 36 photos with it yet. Or it's broken and I just have double or triple exposure photos or it doesn't show the actual amount of photos taken with it. Anyway, should be interesting!
I am absolutely going to use this camera and take vintage photos of the modern world with it, even if my 70's pocket camera's film roll isn't full.
I found a video: How to use 35mm Film in a Kodak Brownie 620 Box Camera
Brownie is just a later model of the Kodak Box so I think this works fine with this older camera too. And fortunately I also have a 3D printer so extra parts are easy to do in order to fit a 35mm film in it. And I was thinking that I should also use the advise that shows how to roll the film to an empty roll so that the camera can be opened without a darkroom. Although it wouldn't be a problem since there's a camera shop really near me that sells films and old vintage cameras so they can open the camera.
I also found a manual, in German but that's not too hard and I have to say, the camera is really, really, really simple to use. But manual is always a good thing to have. Even if reading afterwards. After everything. After using the camera for few years.
Release the film roll and open.
What makes this really interesting is that even if everything else is okay and I can get the film on it's place, I have no idea how many times I am supposed to turn the knob on the side so that there's a fresh spot in the film to use for a new photo. In one of the videos I found (again it was the Brownie camera but the same rule applies here) an advice that you should try with one developed or ruined film how many times you're supposed to turn the knob, but my guess is that it still isn't that simple so... well, we'll see.
Of course I will also ask every question imaginable in the camera store to get a better idea on how this thing is supposed to work.
So one of my questions will be can the camera be opened more and cleaned because I only got two parts apart and no access to the viewfinders.
The viewfinders on the top and in the side need cleaning.
And I have no idea if the camera leaks light inside or if it does, is there something I can do to it.
Or I can leave it to the camera store for them to clean. If it's not too expensive. Again the film needed for the camera is about two times the cost of the camera. I don't remember how much I payed for the second film but I suspect it was more than the one I bought from Kemijärvi. That was 8 euros but everything costs more here in Tampere so regardless of the cheap camera, this is going to be an expensive hobby. If I decide to take more photos than once a month.
The viewfinders are indeed really dirty. You can barely see the light through them, let alone the thing you're trying to take a photo of.
But if it's impossible to open the camera more to clean it, I will still try to photograph with it because I'm really curious of the results. I better remember to take a reference photo each time with my phone too.
The lens seems to be okay and clean and that's the main thing because it's not what I see but what the camera sees.
I though at first that I would post this to Analog (FILM) Photog community but as I wasn't sure if it's okay to post old film camera photos taken with a digital camera, I ended up choosing photography lovers. But next time when I show you the results of either one of my film cameras, I will definitely choose the Analog community.
These photos were taken with my Sony A6400, 55-210mm lens, auto ISO, +1 exposure compensation, most of the photos f5.6, shutter 1/200.
Camera on top of a yellow pillow and a TV with random tv serie on in the background.
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I'm super jealous. I wish I could find something like that around here. Just last week I was looking at old Holgas and hoping to get into film photography for all the crazy fun effects one can get with old sloppy cameras. I hope you enjoy your purchase, 4 euros seems reasonable. 😊
The thing with stumbling upon great findings might be that you should look vigorously for something, which you obviously won't find, at least for a reasonable price, and then you just happen to find something entirely else but great, that you actually weren't looking for at all. 😁 That's the second hand market and antique shop karma. The tiny gods of used but needful things are like: "I know they are searching for this thing but I'm not going to let then find it, instead I'm going to put this other thing in front of them, let's see if I can get that human to play according to my rules."
So this only worked because I wasn't looking for a camera.
Quite a find, @insaneworks! 💛
Indeed! I still haven't photographed with it so let's see if it ends up being just a decoration or something better. Let's hope for the best. I have bought a 120 film for it and it's waiting for installing in the fridge. I can take 8 photos with it so the photos better be super well planned. 😀
Hehehe! I'm sure then that super well planning is... ummm... in the plans. 😉
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