In a previous post I wrote about a Kodak Brownie Rainbow Hawk-Eye No. 2 Model C box camera that I found in an antique shop with an undeveloped film inside. This week I loaded a new film into it and took some photos while Kaori and I were visiting Carmel.

This camera is a pure point-and-shoot. You can’t focus, set shutter speed or aperture, or zoom in and out. There’s a tiny window on the top that gives a vague impression of what’s in front of the camera, and once you have it approximately pointed in the right direction, you slide the shutter release lever to take the photo.

This camera was made between 1930 and 1933, which makes it 82-85 years old. I had to figure out how to load the film by looking at the mechanism. Remarkably, 120 film is still made with numbers printed on the backing paper which show up in a little red-tinted window in the camera. To wind the film on after taking a picture, you turn the winding lever until the next number shows in the window. This particular camera makes huge 6 x 9 cm negatives, fitting 10 photos on one roll. There must be a standard governing where the numbers are printed on the backing paper and where the window in the camera is located because different cameras need different spacing between the numbers.

Unlike the other photos, which were taken in overcast light, I took this one in bright sunlight. Clearly, this camera prefers bright sun with a 100 ISO film.

I may not take the time to run any more film through this camera, but I kinda like some of the photos and it was fun to do. Here’s some more information about this camera.

Window light plus a reflector. I’ve really only used my Leica to take street photos, so this is different.

These were taken in natural light streaming in through the high windows of this bank-turned-cafe and bookstore. I loved this setting, which we visited a couple of months ago on a trip to the Sierras. I just developed the film today.

Here’s a list of the photography blogs and YouTube channels I enjoy.

Blogs

Johnny Patience

Rebecca Lilly

Load Film in Subdued Light

121 Clicks

Japan Camera Hunter

YouTube channels

Ben Horne

Digital Rev TV

Tony Northrup

The Slanted Lens

The Art of Photography

Matt Day

Mike Browne

Merry Christmas, everyone. Kaori and I had a quiet but very enjoyable Christmas Day. We got up at sunrise, scraped some frost off the car, and drove out to a local creek to take the dog for a walk. We weren’t quite prepared for how cold it would be, but I did take a few photos and we ended up the walk by warming our hands with our first gourmet coffee of the day.

For the photos, I used Fuji Neopan Acros film for the first time, and I have to say I don’t like it much. Compared to other films, the tonal transitions are not very smooth and the blacks are not very black. And unless I did something different with my scanning, the results are also not very sharp. Some people really like this film, but for me there’s a reason why it’s cheaper than other films.

After a hot shower, we did some shopping for seasonal foods at a Japanese grocery store and then had our second coffee with pastries in an asian-style French bakery.

We then went home and took a rare and lovely nap. Kaori made Japanese sukyaki for dinner with a rich warming broth while I developed these negatives. We then watched episode 1 of Mr Selfridge, which was recommended to us, and, I scanned the dried negatives. Now, it’s time to do a little reading. What a nice day!

These next couple of photos are from a recent outing to San Francisco. It was an overcast day which made for flat-looking soft images. This is one of the few photos with me in in. I’m always the person behind the camera! Kaori should take more photos because her composition was better than mine. I tried to separate her from the ship but she had the right idea.

And lastly, here’s one of the girls at Santana Row.

Overall, I hope to be doing another Christmas Day, but not not developing any more Fuji Acros.