Category Archives: photography

Seeing the world through my viewfinder.

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Voigtländer Brilliant Test Roll

voigtlander brilliantI learned about the Voigtländer Brilliant while I was doing a little research on TLRs and pseudo-TLRs. I’d read that the Voigtländer Brilliant V6 was the basis for the LOMO Lubitel TLR, so of course I wanted to get one. Alas, I jumped the gun on an eBay auction without reading carefully and ended up buying the second metal model, rather than the bakelite V6 I’d been wanting.

That’s OK, though. I rather like this little camera. It’s the oldest in my collection, manufactured in 1935, and it definitely takes photos with character.

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Brownie Reflex 20 Test Roll

Brownie Reflex 20I picked up the Brownie Reflex 20 for about $12 at a local antique mall back in July. I have a thing for Brownies, and for pseudo-TLRs, especially ones that have a zone focus rather than fixed.

I respooled some expired 120 film onto a 620 spool — my current method is to sit on my basement steps in the dark to do my respooling, and I really hope I get faster at it with practice. Unlike the first time I tried respooling film, I didn’t create any light leaks this time. In fact, the camera was pretty solid in that respect, too.

The short version: It works. It’s not my favorite, but it takes decent photos, and the camera itself looks kind of cool. The shutter speed is so slow that handholding is sometimes iffy, especially with the focus set to infinity. It did take some decent photos in bright sunshine on expired ISO 160, but there’s not much character to them, in my opinion — not much to distinguish this camera from other box cameras I own.

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I probably won’t be taking this one out again, but it was a cheap and kitschy addition to my Brownie collection.

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Imperial Flash Mark XII Test Roll

Imperial Flash Mark XIIWhen I first bought this camera from the antique mall some eight years ago, I didn’t own any other 620 cameras — and even if I’d had an extra couple of 620 spools handy, it hadn’t even occurred to me to try respooling 120 film onto a 620 spool. I managed to run two rolls of 35mm through the camera to try some sprocket photography, but couldn’t quite get the film plane flat. It wasn’t until recently that I realized I now have enough extra 620 spools to run a real test roll through this cute little camera.

It’s a box camera: there are no settings. Not only that, but my particular camera is missing the rear element on the viewfinder, so the image is teeny tiny and only really usable as a guesstimate unless I squint reeeeally hard.

Other fun features of this camera that I discovered upon seeing the test roll: First, there’s something stuck in the camera (I assume) that’s causing a black triangle shape to appear in the bottom right of almost all the images. (Edit: I’d applied some gaffer’s tape inside the camera to eliminate some emulsion scratches on my sprocket photography rolls, and that was coming off. Mystery solved!) Second, I have what some would consider an enviably kitschy mint green light leak in the bottom center of nearly every image. I’m not keen on it myself, especially since the camera actually makes some decent, otherwise usable images with vignetting and blur at the edges.

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Pickwik Reflex Test Roll

Pickwik Reflex with Cat I picked up the Pickwik Reflex at a garage sale for $4. As I recall, the woman assumed a camera that old (circa 1940) would only be good for decoration; she was surprised when I told her it looked like it would actually work.

It’s a pseudo-TLR box camera that takes half-frame photos on 127 film (aka Brownie film). No settings other than Instant / Time (Bulb) for long exposures. Online reviewers of this camera generally mention that the half-frames tend to overlap, and that the focus is iffy. Given the heads-up, I was able to wind the film so that the “A” exposure was at the very leading edge and the “B” was at the very trailing edge, so I only got two instances of overlap: the very first four exposures, which were my test of winding the film “correctly” versus intentionally overcorrecting.

As far as the iffy focus, I’m convinced it’s a film plane issue. Each of my exposures were out of focus in one place or another, and they weren’t consistent — not like other toy cameras that have specific sweet spots.

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