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Sony Mavica MVC-FD7 Digital Still Camera, 1997
What Happened To It? Sony and electronic still photography have a long association and
they are often credited with being the first, with the original Mavica
(Magnetic Video Camera). This was shown in prototype form in 1981. In fact the
technology had been around for a while and both Texas Instruments and Kodak
demonstrated working electronic still cameras ten years earlier. Sony’s first production
electronic still camera, the Mavica MVC-7AF, eventually appeared in 1987.
However, like the earlier prototype Mavica, it was partially analogue in
nature, using video technology to capture a still frame image, then copying
that to a miniature 2-inch Video Floppy Disc (VFD) called a Mavipak. This was
another Sony development. It also became a standard and was used on several
other video still cameras (like the Canon Ion) for the short period before
digital cameras and solid-state memory cards took over the world. The first
generation of analogue Mavicas went through a number of refinements and the
last ones rolled off the production line in 1992. The FD5 and FD7’s arrival in
1997 put Sony back on track, this time with a long running range of digital
still cameras. It continues to this day with some of the most highly regarded
models on the market. The earliest electronic still cameras from the 1990s are now
starting to attract the attention of collectors and inevitably prices will
increase steadily from now on. Notable first of breed, groundbreaker and
milestone models are the ones to go for. They often had short production runs
so there are fewer of them around. The Sony MVC-FD5 and FD7 are first
generation digital models and again, they weren’t around for very long but. As
well as being a new venture for Sony they‘re an interesting departure from what
went before and, what followed. Vintage gadget fans will probably find them
appealing on two levels, there’s the undoubted Sony cachet, and the quirky
association with floppy disc. Currently, though, these models do not seem to
attract much interest. Useable gadgets tend to be more popular so whilst these
cameras can take pictures, actually seeing them on anything other than the tiny
built-in LCD screen could be a problem. Prices will tend to rise, though, and
there will be fewer bargains, like this one. If you insist on showroom
condition, full working order expect to pay for the privilege, but even with a
working cheapie you will still need for a PC with a floppy disc drive and
expect at least some bother and expense sourcing a working battery. DUSTY DATA First Seen: 1997 Original Price: £700 Value Today: £30 (0421) Features: 10x optical zoom, 0.3 megapixel,
0.25-in CCD image sensor, 640 x 480/320 x 240 resolution, 4.2 – 42mm f1.8 – 2.9
lens, ISO 100, shutter 1/60 – 1/4000sec, auto flash, auto/manual focus, 60mm
(2.5in) colour LCD screen, 6-mode auto exposure, 5-effects mode (normal, sepia,
B&W, solarize, negative), 10 sec self timer, 1.4Mb 2.5 in floppy disc
storage (max 20 images full resolution), floppy copy Power req.
NP-F330 7.2 volt InfoLithium rechargeable battery Dimensions: 133 x 102 x 60mm Weight:
600g Made (assembled) in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest) 7 GEC Sashalite Photoflash Bulb, 1930?
Anyway, back to the Sashalite; in its day it too was a safer and
more convenient replacement for an older technology. Prior to the arrival of
disposable flashbulbs in the 1930s photographers had to cope with a lethal
contraption with a small tray filled with fine magnesium powder. You often see
them in action in old and period movies. If it’s a comedy the result of putting
too much powder into the tray generally produces an impressive plume of smoke
and a lively flame, setting anyone and anything in the immediate vicinity on fire. The
Sashalite’s box highlights these key advantages: ‘No Smoke’, No Flames, No
Noise and No Danger’. The last one is a moot point. Used bulbs remained very
hot for some time, if the glass was cracked they could explode, and in
situations where the photographer wanted to take a several shots in hurry –
think of a pack of press photographers -- the ground around their shooting
position would quickly become a sea of broken glass.
What Happened To It? Flashbulbs evolved over the years to become smaller and cheaper
and along the way, in the mid 70s or thereabout, some bright spark (pun
intended…) invented a mechanical flashbulb called the Magicube. These had a
trigger button on the underside which, when struck by a small plunger coupled
to the camera’s trigger, worked like a miniature match, producing a spark
inside the bulb which lit the magnesium ribbon. Although very clever it was
widely believed to be just a way to sell more flashbulbs. The real problem with
flashbulbs, though, apart from the cost, was that they were unreliable, or
failed to go off because you forgot the replace the battery in your camera.
Everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief when electronic flashes arrived, in the
late 60s, though they remained quite expensive for another 10 or so years.
Eventually, though, they became so cheap they were fitted to disposable
cameras. And once again the technology moved; nowadays the flash in your smartphone
is just a very bright LED. Surprisingly, and given their very short lifespan, vintage
flashbulbs like the Sashalite bulbs are not as rare as you might think. There’s
often one or two on ebay selling for between £10 and £20. There also appears to
be a small but lively market for vintage flashbulbs and flashguns of all types,
but again don’t get too excited; prices remain quite modest for the more common
items. Of course there are sought after rarities out there but, like most
things to do with collecting vintage cameras and photographic accessories, it’s
very easy to make expensive mistakes if you don’t know what you are doing. DUSTY DATA First Seen: 930 Original Price: 20 pence? Value Today: £10.00 (0620) Features: Magnesium foil filled evacuated
glass bulb, *MES (Medium Edison Screw), connector fitting, firing current 0.25
amps. Dimensions: 70 x140mm Weight: 50g Made (assembled) in: England Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 7 Wein/Honeywell WP-500 Flashmeter,
1973
Needless to say this one, probably from the early to mid 70s (it has a Bakelite case), came from a car boot sale
and was as is so often the case, a helluva bargain, costing me just 50 pence. It was a
calculated gamble -- not that 50 pee was much of a risk – and the meter on its
own would be worth several times the asking price, assuming it was working. The
fact that it look clean and un-tinkered with and the meter needle moved freely
when gently shook, suggested that it was worth a punt. It was, and it worked,
at least the meter moved and stayed put when I ‘flashed ‘ it with a camera. It
is almost certainly in need of calibration, though, and the simplest to do
that, without access to a service manual, is to do side-by-side comparisons
with a known good meter. Suffice it to say it will have to take its turn on my
never-ending to-do list. What Happened To It? It appears that the WP-500 was originally
designed by Honeywell in the US. Some Flashmeters are co-branded but at some
point the design was passed or more likely sold to Wein who took over
production. There’s little in the way of background on the web about how and
when this happened, or much about Wein, who nowadays mostly make air purifiers.
This lack of information is a little surprising considering that the WP-500,
500B and 1000 were all highly regarded by amateur and professional
photographers. A fair number must have been sold if ebay listings are anything
to go by, but most of them are in the US, which might indicate that it wasn’t
extensively exported. The market for instruments like this would have
been at its height from the mid 60s to the late 90s. That was a golden era for
film photography with large numbers of affordable high-performance cameras
coming out of Japan. Inevitably automation played a large part in the slowdown
in demand for flash meters, but it was the arrival of advanced digital cameras
in the early noughties and sophisticated low cost digital light meters that
meant only a tiny handful of companies continued making analogue instruments,
and Wein may well have been the last one. It’s a classic design, expensive in
its day and still very useable. You would be forgiven for thinking they command
high prices but more often than not working examples in good condition sell on
ebay for less than £20, a lot less in some cases. Be warned, though, shipping
from the US to the UK can add £15 to £25 to the final price. Vintage cameras
are highly collectable, with prices to match, but accessories and ancillaries
currently have less appeal, which makes them a good starting point for anyone
interested collecting photography-related items. As time goes by as the cost of
desirable cameras keeps on rising there is good reason to suppose that the cost
of accessories will also go up. Right now there’s a lot of really good quality
instruments on offer, and you can afford to be choosy and seek out clean,
working and boxed examples, which will be the most likely to appreciate in
value in the future. DUSTY DATA First Seen: 1968 Original Price: £95.00 Value Today: £10.00 (1119) Features: Direct
reading, exposure range f2 – f22 (1/3 f-stop accuracy), 25 – 400 ASA/ISO
adjustment, peak hold, battery test function
Power req: 9 volts DC, PP3 type battery Dimensions: 103 x 74 x 52mm Weight: 250g Made (assembled) in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 7 Rayco Micro-Electronic Darkroom
Timer, 1985
That eight-legged hero is a small and very
humble microchip. It’s not one of those super fast microprocessors or even a
monster memory chip stuffed with millions of transistors, in fact the silicon
slice concerned contains a paltry 27 transistors, 2 diodes and 15 resistors.
That makes it a prehistoric relic in the evolution of the microchip, yet it is
still in production and in widespread use. At the last count it is being or has
been manufactured by more than 50 companies around the world and the total
production, since it first appeared in 1972, almost certainly runs into the
billions.
Anyway, back
to the timer and its recent and only known history began at a South coast car
boot sale, in amongst a tangle of other electrical and electronic items. I
bought it for no other reason than the three original Bakelite ‘chicken-head’
knobs, which are perfect for restoring vintage guitars, amps and widgets, and
any other salvageable parts it might contain. The clincher was the £1.00 asking
price. It was in the usual filthy state of something that has spent several
weekends sitting in wet muddy fields. But it cleaned up well and appeared to be
in fairly good condition. Internally it was near pristine so after a couple of
safety checks to make sure it wasn’t going to explode or give me a nasty belt,
I plugged it in, and it actually worked! Not bad for an old-timer – one of my better intended puns... -- but it’s not the sort of thing I’m ever going to use. It’s still on
the spare parts donor list but it seems a shame to strip it down, so for the
moment at least it’s going to remain in one piece. What Happened To It? Before we get to Rayco’s apparently short and somewhat
uneventful history a few words about Hans R. Camenzind and his game-changing
555 chip. He sketched out the design in 1971, whilst working part-time as a
designer for US semiconductor manufacturer Signetics. It started out as a
configurable oscillator circuit, part of a more sophisticated tuner microchip.
Camenzind realised the oscillator part’s potential as a stand-alone circuit and
proposed splitting it off from the main microchip, so it could be used in a
wider range of applications. Signetics gave it the go-ahead and after further
development, which included refining the circuit so that it could be housed in
a compact 8-pin package. This represented a significant saving as back then
standard dual in line (DIL) chips had either 14 or 16 pins. The first prototype
was completed in autumn 1971; less than a year later it was being made by a
dozen manufacturers and it became a near-instant best seller. There are books a-plenty and countless articles
and circuits on the web featuring the 555 timer but the ‘short’ version is that
the 555 has three operating modes. It can be configured as an Astable or
free-running oscillator or pulse generator. In this mode it can also function
as a simple analogue to digital signal converter. Operating mode number two is
as a Monostable or single-shot pulse generator. Applications include timers,
like the Rayco, contact ‘bounce’ eliminators, frequency dividers, missing pulse
detection, touch switches and so on. Mode three is Bistable operation, which
encompasses a very wide range of switching functions, logic circuitry like
Schmitt triggers or comparators -- another Analogue to Digital conversion
function -- noise removal in digital circuitry, another host of switching and
contact bounce elimination, and various functions in power supplies. That’s the
briefest of brief snapshots of what the 555 can do and without it there is
little doubt that electronics, as we know it today, would not have advanced so
quickly and in so many diverse directions. Rayco Instruments Limited of Aldershot in
Hampshire is a bit of a mystery. Companies House records their incorporation
date as October 1984. They’re listed as dissolved, though when that happened
isn’t clear. Brief web searches turned up just two products, the Micro Timer
above and a companion mains stabilised power supply, and that’s about it,
unless someone out there has something to add… On the other hand there’s plenty to be said
about enlarger timers but it mostly boils down to the fact they’re a dying
breed, killed off by the relentless advance of digital photography. In spite of
all the advances in digital electronics, timers like the Rayco haven’t changed
much, even the 3-knob arrangement is still being used, and it has the advantage
of being really simple to use, especially in dark or near dark conditions and
it neatly avoids the problem of an illuminated digital display. In fact if you
want a new one be prepared to pay handsomely for one of the few units still
being made. But why bother when you can pick up perfectly serviceable second
hand units for a fraction of the price? This Royco Micro Timer was definitely a
bargain and it might even fetch £25 from a photo enthusiast on ebay but as a
collectible with investment potential it’s not going to happen. Even the
presence of an early 555 chip and some possibly useful vintage parts doesn’t
help, though if you every find another one be aware that original Bakelite
chicken head knobs are currently selling on ebay for between £5 and £20 each! DUSTY DATA First Seen: 1986 Original Price: 25? Value Today: £5.00 (1019) Features: NE555-based precision timer, 3-range
delay setting (seconds, x10, x 0.1), manual/auto (remote) trigger, relay
operated mains output 5Amp (max) loading
Power req: 220v AC Dimensions: 420 x 125 x 95mm Weight: 650g Made
(assembled) in: England Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 8 Brolac Camera In A Can,
1980?
After a quick clean up
it turned out to be in near mint condition and the fact that it is still with
us, and in good working order suggests that it hadn’t seen active service or
more than a small handful of cartridges in the last 30 plus years. What Happened To It? Putting a camera inside
a tin can is a surprisingly old idea. One of the earliest examples I have been
able to find is the US made Teddy Camera from 1924, which was housed in a small
tin box. It may even have inspired Edwin Land, the guy who invented the
Polaroid ‘Instant’ camera, as it came with its own developing tank. This fitted
on to the back of the camera and processed a print while you waited This particular Camera
In A Can is a more recent development (no pun intended) and was made by a
Taiwanese company called Eiko. It dates from 1980, give or take a year or two,
as sources on the web list this model as being in production from 1977 to 1983.
The background to the now obsolete film it uses is that from the early 1960s
onwards Kodak got into the habit of launching a new cartridge format every 10
years or so. It was an ingenious and hugely profitable marketing ploy, but one
that mostly benefited the film making and processing industries, rather than
the camera-buying public. Anyway, the 110 format first appeared in 1972 but it
took a few years before manufacturers in the Far East drove down the costs,
making cameras cheap enough to give away. This was towards the end of the 110
format’s life as in 1982 Kodak were at it again with the Disc Film format, but
that’s another
story. Novelty cameras in cans
continued to be produced throughout the photographic film era. A Hong Kong
manufacturer, called Ginfax were particularly prolific in the 80s and 90s with
a more up market promotional model. This used 35mm film and had a built-in
electronic flash. More recently the story has taken on a bizarre twist. If you
google ‘camera in a can’ you will find scores of websites showing you how to
fabricate simple (and some not so simple) film and digital cameras out of soft
drinks cans. Although the Eiko model isn’t common prices tend to be quite modest and you should be able to find one or two selling on ebay for less than £10.00. You might think that examples with obscure or long departed company names would be worth more, as they will be that much rarer, but this seems to have little or no bearing on value. The fact that it is now difficult and expensive to obtain, let alone process 110 format film doesn’t help either. However I see that as an opportunity for collectors on a budget and by rights a complete set of Eiko cameras could be worth a tidy sum one day, but please don’t quote me on that…. DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1980 (Instructions) Original Price: n/a (usually free) Value Today: £5 (0917) Features: Fixed focus, & aperture 22mm F11
lens, single speed shutter (1/100th sec), 110 format film cartridge,
100 ASA, optical viewfinder, mechanical film advance, wrist lanyard Power req. n/a Dimensions: 132 x 55mm Weight: 100g Made (assembled)
in: Taiwan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 7 Tamron
Fotovix TF-56WE Video Processor, 1990
Improvements
in the performance of digital cameras came thick and fast but they hit a major
stumbling block. Consumers had become accustomed to seeing and handling physical photographic
prints. It took more than a decade to break the habit as we slowly got
used viewing and sharing images on display screens. This was largely thanks to a number
of advances and price reductions during the noughties in computer power, digital
storage and broadband speeds and more recently, the success of smartphones,
tablets and social media. During those uncertain early years there were several
attempts to call a truce and unite the old and new worlds of photography, and the Tamron Fotovix
TF-56WE is one or the more successful examples.
All in
all it was quite a versatile package. Legend has it that professionals took
quite a shine to it and it found their way into a number of publishing companies and early
computer graphics studios. It's not hard to see why; it is very well made with
top quality optics and thanks to the full set of manual controls, easy to get a
sharp, clean image. By the way, the backlight uses a compact fluorescent lamp
producing a near natural daylight output but it's a simple matter to adjust
colours use the built-in control or filters, for correction or special
effects.
What
Happened To It? Tamron,
founded in 1950, is still a highly respected name in the camera lens and
specialist optics business. The Fotovix was a bit of a departure for Tamron,
and a sign that many Japanese optical and camera companies recognised the
rapidly growing importance of digital imaging technology. Unfortunately camera
makers in Europe and the US were much slower to respond and there were several
notable casualties including the once mighty Kodak and Polaroid corporations.
As far as I am aware consumer versions of he Fotovix continued until the end of
the decade but by then the market for his sort of equipment had started to
decline. Tamron saw it coming and upped their game, moving into the
professional market, supplying a demand for high performance products, for use
in studios, publishing and photo libraries, digitising and preserving large
collections of slowly deteriorating images on paper and slides. The
lack of a PC interface and the comparatively low-resolution image sensor on
this model limits its usefulness in today's digital arena so it really is only
of interest to old-timers and collectors of obscure and vintage technology (all
five of us...). It has little practical value but checking ebay recently I
found at least half a dozen examples of this model with starting prices of
between £10 and £100, though only two of them sold (needless to say the
cheapest ones, and one even came with its original box). It seems fair to say
that right now the investment potential is limited, but as always, if you have
the space never pass up the chance to save an old gadget or gizmo from landfill, because you
just never know... DUSTY DATAFirst
seen: 1990 Original
Price: £150? Value
Today: £15.00 (0517) Features: 0.5-inch CCD (323k pixels), manual focus,
iris and 3X zoom, film size up to 35mm, joystick colour control, neg/pos
switching, fluorescent backlight, 625-line PAL composite video output, slide
mount carrier Power
req. 220 VAC Dimensions: 315 x 104 x 152mm Weight: 2.8kg Made
(assembled) in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest) 6 Bolex Paillard 155 Macrozoom ciné Camera, 1968
The truth is ciné had been
on the slide for several years and from the early seventies onwards it was
fairly obvious that video would eventually overtake film. However, it is easy
forget that from the around the mid 50s to the late 70s ciné was very popular
and relatively affordable. A wide range of equipment was available, from bargain
basement cameras and projectors up to semi pro gear, capable of surprisingly
good results. The Paillard Bolex 155 Macrozoom featured here and dating from
1968 came somewhere towards the top end of the market, and as you can see, it
really looks the business!
The lens hood is another
feature that deserves a mention. It really gives the 155 a touch of style but
its real job is to protect the lens from damage, and shield it from extraneous
light, from above or either side. However, it’s the clever hinge arrangement
that sets it apart. Pull it forward gently and it flips down to completely
cover the lens. Very simple and very neat.
Although I have never been
particularly interested in ciné, back in the late sixties this was one camera I
wouldn’t have minded owning, though not necessarily been able to afford.
According to various online historic inflation calculators the £300 it cost
back then works out at between £4000 and £5000 today… It took almost 50 years
before I finally got my hands on one, and it was well worth the wait. It was
also good deal cheaper than half a century ago; it came from ebay, cost me just
£10, plus postage and I was the only bidder. Normally they are snapped up quite
smartly for between £40 and £100, depending on the condition, but this one
was described as for spares or repairs, and the rubber eyecup was missing.
Otherwise it appeared to be in very good condition. It was, and as it turned out
there was hardly anything wrong with it, just a couple of lightly corroded
contacts beneath one of the battery holders, which cleaned up easily. I am
reasonably sure from all the whirring noises, spinning drive gear and the
movement of the exposure needle in the viewfinder that it working properly.
Film and processing services are still available but it’s now a horribly
expensive business and I have no immediate plans to actually use it, but it’s
comforting to know that I could, if I wanted to. What Happened To It? Bolex was founded in 1924
by a couple of Swiss gents called Jacques Bogopolsky, (or ‘Bolsky’, the origin
of the Bolex name), and Charles Haccius. Bolex was sold to Ernest Paillard in
the 1930s and with Bogopolsky still at the helm, produced many innovative
professional cameras over the years. It was particularly busy during the first
wave of 3D movie making in the 1950s and it moved in to the home and amateur
ciné market in the mid 60s following Kodak’s launch of the cheap (then) and idiot-proof
Super 8 film format. Paillard sold Bolex to rival ciné camera and projector makers
Eumig in 1970, which promptly wound up production of Bolex’s Super 8 models to
concentrated on 16mm equipment. Eumig went bust in 1981 but the Bolex
management team bought up the rights, forming a new company called Bolex
International to continue production of high end 16mm cameras at its Swiss
manufacturing facility. As I mentioned at the beginning the demise of ciné, as a home movie format, happened quite suddenly and Eumig (and Bolex’s relatively short involvement with Super 8) was just one of the many casualties in the industry. The cost of ciné equipment plummeted and to this day you can pick up decent quality cameras and projectors at car boot sales, often still in good working order, for quite silly prices. That’s unlikely to change much in the near future, but there is a healthy demand for high-end equipment and in particular the more exotic and rare models. The Bolex 155 is certainly on the fringes of that market, if not quite a full-blown collectible, at least not yet. These days vintage movie cameras are more ornamental than useful, but don’t let that put you off. You might stumble across a sought after model and a cheap Super 8 projector can be well worth having. Boxes full of home movies and commercial films often turn up at boot sales, sometimes for just a pound or two and they can be fascinating to watch. They’re visual time capsules of a bygone age and often of genuine sociological importance, with a real value to collectors and historians. DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1968 Original Price: £300
(0317) Value Today: £40 Features: Super
8 (Cartridge) film format, 2 speed recording (18/32 fps), Paillard zoom lens
(8.5 – 30mm), f1/9, manual focus & zoom, auto exposure with manual lock, co-incident
image viewfinder with switchable shutter, film counter, battery check, folding
lens hood, tripod thread on handgrip, trigger safety mode, optional single
frame module Power req. 4
x 1.5 volt AA cells & 2 x PX13 button cells Dimensions: 205
x 233 x 58mm Weight: 1.4kg Made (assembled) in: Switzerland Hen's Teeth (10 rarest) 7 Sony CCD-TR55 Handycam 8mm Camcorder, 1989
From a technology
standpoint, though, it was an exciting time. A small handful of Japanese
manufacturers were locked in a fierce battle to produce the smallest, lightest
and most well endowed machine. Sometimes it seemed that new benchmarks for size
and performance were being set on a monthly basis and whilst most of the camcorders
from that era have been rightly forgotten, there were a few truly iconic
models, and one such was the Sony CCD TR55 Handycam.
In truth it wasn’t dramatically smaller or lighter than what had
come before. Throughout the 1980s camcorders had been getting steadily smaller, but the
TR-55 was far and away the best looking of the new breed and most importantly Sony made it. That
actually meant something back then; Sony was the Apple of its day, renowned for
innovation, quality and high prices. It was the brand to have and be seen with
and whilst the likes of Canon, JVC and Panasonic were making some excellent
machines they lacked the Sony kudos.
Well, the price for one
thing. At £1000 or thereabouts it was at least a couple of hundred pounds
dearer than comparably specified rivals, but this wasn’t a big problem for Sony
at launch. Eager early adopters would give up on little luxuries, like food and
mortgage repayments, to get one. They sold by the shed-load. And if that sounds
familiar, back in the day Sony’s slick publicity machine ensured that the
launch of a camcorder was an event, like a new iPhone, complete with all the
razzamatazz, queues and long waiting lists of punters desperate to get their
hands on one.
What Happened To it? At first it sold really well but once the dust settled the high price resulted in a slow down of sales. Sony obviously expected this to happen and within a few months it launched the more affordably priced TR-45. It was slightly less well specified but looked almost identical to the TR-55. Dealers began offering substantial discounts to shift unsold 55s, and in less than a year it was selling for under £800. By the early 90s Video 8
was on borrowed time; picture quality had been adequate for its time but
expectations, and TV screen sizes were increasing, making its shortcomings more obvious so something new was needed.
The VHS camp led the way with a ‘high-band’ variant of VHS called Super VHS, and its
compact camcorder-sized spin-off S-VHS-C. Sony responded with Hi-8, which
yielded similar improvements. However, as it turned out these souped up
analogue formats were just a stopgap for the main event, digital video
recording. First generation digital
systems tried to maintain a semblance of compatibility with previous
cassette tape formats and high band camcorders and VCRs could play older low band tapes. Digital VHS (D-VHS/D-VHS-C) never really got off the
ground and Digital 8 didn’t fare much better, but it all stared to take shape
in the mid 90s with the Mini DV and DV formats. These used much smaller tape cassettes and the potential
for near broadcast quality recording. But even that had a relatively short
shelf life of around 5 years. Recordable compact DVD and Blu-Ray camcorders provided a
brief distraction, and there was even an attempt to use micro hard disc drives
for storing digital video, but rapid improvements in digital processing and compression, big
reductions in the cost of digital memory devices and advances in image sensor technology led us to where we are today,
with wholly solid-state digital video recording systems (i.e. no motors or gears).
First generation products stuck with the familiar palmcorder shape but by
around 2008, or thereabouts, multi-function smartphones and tablets, and to a
lesser extent digital cameras had taken over, for mainstream consumer use at
least. Needless to say dedicated, single-function camcorders haven’t entirely disappeared but their heyday is over and nowadays are largely confined to high-end, and professional applications. Vintage camcorders haven’t yet become serious collectibles and it is still possible to pick up near mint machines that once cost hundreds, if not thousands of pounds for a the price of a round of drinks. To be honest, at the moment that’s about all most of them are worth but there are a few milestone machines that are definitely worth looking out for and the TR-55 has to be one of them. Fortunately for would-be collectors the potential of that small handful of game-changers has yet to be spotted. Now is a great time to go bargain hunting, and you can afford to be choosy. Only consider well looked after machines in good working order. Avoid non-runners like the plague, not only are spares becoming harder to find, the folk with have the skills to fix them, like the camcorders themselves, are a dying breed. DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1989 Original Price: £1000 Value Today: £20.00
(0317) Features: 8mm
tape format, PAL system, SP & LP recording speeds, mono sound, 6 x zoom lens, 11-66mm F2.0 with macro, 290k
pixel CCD, min illum 5 lux, auto/manual focus, exposure & white balance,
manual/auto shutter (120 – 1/400 th sec), backlight adjustment, fade
in/out, miniature B/W CRT viewfinder, insert recording, time, date & title
recording, LCD tape counter & status indicator, dew sensor Power req. NP-55
6 volt NiCad battery Pack Dimensions: 110
x 108 x 175mm Weight: 800g Made (assembled) in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest) 7 Opax Stereo Microscope, 1985?
Part of the problem is that school microscopes, whilst
generally robust and reliable in design, are fairly conventional in nature.
They’re mostly monocular, with a single eyepiece, producing a flat
two-dimensional image, which is okay, but here’s a thought. How many students
might have been inspired to pursue their education, and a career in science if
what they saw through a school microscope was a spectacular view of the real
world, showing incredible depth and detail, in the kind of glorious,
mind-blowing 3D, that puts even the fanciest high-definition VR headset to
shame? Stereo microscopes are to optics what stereo sound is to audio; it’s like comparing chalk with cheese and given that most of us have two eyes (as well as two ears), it is hard to imagine why anyone would want to use only fifty percent of one of their most important senses. To be fair, unlike hi-fi, when it comes to stereo microscopes cost is a major consideration. Even conventional monocular microscopes can be expensive and it follows that stereo models of equivalent quality are going to cost at least twice as much, and often a lot more, due to the added complexity. Sadly that means few of us get to see what the micro world looks like in three dimensions, but they are out there for those who care to look.
Stereo microscopes tend to be mostly
purchased by institutions and organisations where the cost-benefit equation
favours expensive, professional grade equipment. Eventually, though, these
things will be replaced, and one way or another scientific instruments that
once cost hundreds and sometimes thousands of pounds can end up in the general
marketplace, often selling for a fraction of their real worth. This particular microscope’s backstory is unknown but
even though it’s not a top-notch, high-end instrument, it was probably bought
and used for a serious purpose. When new it would have cost a pretty penny,
definitely a great deal more than the 50 pence I paid for it at a car boot sale
in early 2014. In spite of that ridiculously low price it is a
pukka scientific instrument and you can tell that just by picking it up. It
might be small but it tips the scales at just under 1kg. That is mostly due to
the heavy-duty cast iron base and upright support arm, plus all of the other
metal and glass components; the only plastic parts are the tops of the
eyepieces and the two focussing knobs.
What Happened To It? Opax appears to have only made microscopes but
strangely there is almost nothing about the company on the web. It is really
unusual for a manufacturer to just vanish without trace; even if it had been
bought out or gone bust you would expect some sort of record, but in this
instance I drew a complete blank. If anyone can fill in the gaps please let me
know. The only certainty is that Opax was a Japanese
company, probably operating between the early 70s and late 80s, though that’s a
guess (see Update below). It’s based solely on an aggregate of the manufacturing dates mentioned
in the few microscopes that have appeared on ebay and other websites in the
last few months. There seems to have been at least three monocular microscopes
and three stereo models. Prices vary a lot but monocular types with their
original boxes typically sell for between £20 and £50 and in keeping with the
extra optics, stereo microscopes start at around £60. The brand is clearly not
in the top echelon, but judging by the prices and the relatively limited amount
of information available it would seem that Opax are quite well regarded and if
you come across an instrument in good useable condition selling for markedly
less than those appearing on ebay it should turn out to be a reasonably sound
investment. If it’s a stereo model, so much the better, and prepare to be
amazed.
UPDATE I am very grateful to Alysson Rowan for filling in several gaps regarding this microscope, which first went on sale in the 1960s. Apparently there were three model variants. The original had a cream coloured finish and was supplied in a high-quality dovetailed wooden box. A black version followed in the eighties and this also came in a wooden box; it was mainly sold to schools and according to Alysson they sold for £85 each (£65 in quantity) – which would be around £170 (£130) in today’s money (2018). The third version, like the one featured here, was finished in grey. These were widely distributed through camera shops, and specialist school supply catalogues up until the late nineties. However, unlike earlier models they came in a cardboard box and sold for £65. Alysson adds that her only criticisms of the design were that they required frequent cleaning, due to dust getting into the optics and their fixed, upright construction meant that they could be uncomfortable to use on a high bench. (08/18) DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1985? Original Price £? Value Today £20
(1116) Features Stereo optics, twin prisms (per optic), interchangeable
eyepieces (10x, 30x, 45x), rack & pinion focussing, ground glass stage,
retaining clips Power req. N/A Dimensions: 200 x 108 x 98mm Weight: 1kg Made (assembled) in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 8 Kodak Disc 6000 Pocket Camera,
1982
Disc film was a poorly judged
attempt to ride on the coat tails of the booming home computer revolution. In
designing a disc-shaped film it was clear they were hoping some of the digital
kudos would rub off. The trouble was the discs, around the size of an old style
floppy -- limited the size of the negatives (8 x 10mm) and number of exposures
(just 15). The long and short of it was that print quality was dreadful, which
more than wiped out the convenience of slim, shirt pocket sized cameras.
The Disc 6000 featured here looks
as though it has never been taken out of its presentation box; it certainly
hasn’t been used to take many photos as the batteries still have enough juice
to work the film advance and flash. It is in absolutely pristine condition, and
if you are expecting me to say I paid a fancy price for it, you may be surprised
that it cost me just £1.00, at a Midlands antique fair. Normally at this point
I go in to details of what had to be done to clean it up or get it working but
apart from giving the display case a wipe over, it was pretty much as the day
it was made. What Happened To It? Kodak’s marketing campaign must
have been quite convincing as a fair number of cameras were sold in the early
days but once customers saw the results the novelty soon wore off. Production
of Disc film stopped in 1998 but the format had been declared a lost cause
almost a decade previously and Kodak and virtually all of the licensed
manufacturers had wound up cameras production by 1988. It wasn’t just the
quality of the prints, though, a new generation of highly automated and
attractively priced compact 35mm cameras had appeared and were making
significant inroads into the consumer market. There is almost certainly a
collector’s market for Disc cameras – just about everything over 10 years old
is collectible these days – but I suspect that is focussed (no pun intended) on
rare and very high-end models, neither of which applies to the Disc 6000.
There’s usually half a dozen or more of them on ebay, typically selling for
under £5.00. It’s one to keep an eye on, though, and as time goes by prices may
well go up. If there’s one of those semi regular retro revivals it could even
get trendy and if someone starts making film and offering affordable processing
who knows how high prices could go... Back on planet earth a complete set of
mint Kodak disc cameras has to be worth something, if not now, in ten years
time, and now is the time to snap them up (also intended…) as they will
probably never be as cheap as they are right now.
*Update I am indebted to Roger W, whose father worked for Kodak in the 60s and 70s. It seems that the Disc format had other, less obvious benefits for Kodak. He writes: One of the attractions of the Disc film was that it could easily processed by machine. Roll film had to be unrolled from the spool and joined together before running through the processor. Disc film was cracked out of its housing leaving it on a central hub which was then slipped onto a spindle with many others to create a ‘kebab’. This could then be dipped into developer etc. and spun to agitate it. Other film development methods had to use expensive nitrogen injection agitation. The biggest advantage was that the kebab could be spun at high speed to throw off water and aid drying. DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1982 Original Price £50.00 Value Today £2.00
(1116) Features HR Disc film format (15 exposure), 12.5mm, f 2.8 aspheric
lens, 2-mode fixed focus (portrait/landscape) lens, focal range: 0.5 – 1.2m
(portrait), 1.2m – infinity (landscape), motorised film advance, shutter speed
1/2000th sec (1/100th sec in flash mode), CDS light meter, optical viewfinder,
built-in flash (automatic), Power req. 2 x 3 volt CR123A Lithium battery Dimensions: 124 x 80 x 30mm Weight: 220g Made (assembled) in: USA
Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 6 Silma 120m Super Zoom 8mm Projector,
1966
In 1966 cine projectors like this
Silma 120M Super Zoom were in amongst the first wave of Super 8 products. It
has many of the features that helped to popularise the, then, fledgling format.
These included a self-threading film loading mechanism. Watching movies on
previous generations of projectors involved a lot of faffing about, lacing film
around sprocket wheels and rollers, through the gate and onto the take-up reel.
With this one all you had to do was fit the reels, switch it on, feed the film
leader from the supply reel into a little slot above the lens; a few moments
later the film was winding on the take up reel and your latest mini epic was
showing on the screen. Other handy options are variable speed replay, forward
and reverse playback, pause mode, adjustments for centring the frame, precision
focus, and a novel zoom lens. It could take reels up to 17.8mm (7-inches) in
diameter -- containing up to 120 metres (400 feet) of film -- lasting around 20
minutes. As an added bonus, on the rear of the projector there’s a handy socket
for a room light or table lamp, which switches off whenever the projector is
running.
I found this one at a Sussex car
boot sale. It had clearly only been used a few times; it came in its original
box, complete with all the poly packing, a spare bulb and the instructions, all
for just £3.00 (haggled down from a fiver)! The stallholder mentioned that it
was being sold as a non-runner, but said that the light came on, and it made
whirring noises. This didn’t sound too serious, possibly just a broken drive
belt, but even if it turned out to be something more serious it was still a
great deal and worst case, would make an interesting doorstop or table lamp…
Not having played with a decent
Super 8 projector for some time image quality of the 120M was a very pleasant
surprise. I had forgotten just how good amateur home movies could be, even
those shot on fairly basic equipment. Some of the films in my very small
collection are more than 40 years old but the pictures are as crisp and colours
as bright and vivid as the day the movie was shot. That’s more than you can say
about some of my earliest home videos, dating from the late 70s, which are now
in an advanced state of decay and almost unwatchable. What Happened To It? Although Super 8 was popular for
more than a decade, by the early 70s, when Philips launched the first home VCR,
it was obvious that the future of home movie making lay with video tape,
which offered instant playback, audio recording and long running times.
Although Super 8 was very convenient, movies could never last longer than a few
minutes, when shot on domestic equipment, and there was the inevitable wait and
expense of having films processed. Video didn’t happen overnight,
though, in fact it took a good 20 years from the arrival of the first
‘luggable’ portable video outfits until handheld camcorders came even close to
matching the quality of cine. The final chapter of Silma’s
history was closely linked to the rise of home video. The company was founded
in Rivoli in northern Italy in 1951, and initially known as Cirse. The name was
changed to Filma in 1959 and it became Silma in 1965, shortly before it was
taken over by the German photographic company Bauer. Although moderately
successful throughout the 60s and 70s and well known to aficionados, Silma
never became a household name. The company finally succumbed to the relentless
onslaught of video and ceased trading in 1985. Cine’s days as a home movie
format were over several years previously though, and this was in spite of some
valiant attempts to keep it going. These included big improvements in camera
and projector technology and performance. Even Polaroid had a poke at the demon
video with its ill-fated Polavision Instant Movie system in 1977. It tried to
challenge the immediacy of video with an ingenious self-developing movie film,
but it was seriously flawed and almost certainly contributed to the corporation’s eventual downfall. Like vinyl LPs, 8mm film and Super
8 never completely went away, though and there are still plenty of loyal
enthusiasts around the world keeping the formats alive. Film is still being
made and is readily available, though at a price. Several companies have
processing facilities and hardcore fans can even develop films themselves with
a few readily obtainable chemicals. Cine is a very long way from total
obsolescence, which means there is a healthy market for cameras and projectors
and not just amongst die-hard collectors; a lot of people have reels of old
home movies that they enjoy watching, from time to time. A good projector can
also be used to make passable cine to video or digital copies, to preserve or
share their old movies. It’s fairly easy to do too, just point the video camera
directly at the screen, or use a purpose-made cine to video transfer box
costing under £20. Top-end projectors, in good
condition, can change hands for several hundred pounds on ebay and specialist
web sites; lower down the scale middle of the road models like this one can
easily fetch £50 or more on a good day. If you don’t mind a spot of tinkering
fixer-uppers can be found for considerably less, and because they’re largely
mechanical in nature, DIY repairs, with basic skills and a few simple tools,
are entirely possible. Some spares can be hard to find though, but commodity
items, like replacement drive belts and bulbs are widely available for most
models. It is unlikely that cine will ever
enjoy the same sort of revival as vinyl recordings and analogue
audio but it’s a practical, and still very affordable area of vintage and retro
technology, and if you keep your eye out for boxes of old home movies at car
boot sales, it can provide an interesting and sometimes comical insight into
recent history and the often dramatic changes in society and our
surroundings. DUSTY DATA (Manual)First seen 1966 Original Price £? Value Today £25
(0916) Features Super 8 film format, F:1.4 15-27 mm Pallux Zoom lens,
forward/reverse/pause projection, variable speed, automatic threading, 120
metre reel capacity, +100 watt/12 volt lamp, room light connector Power req. 110- 240VAC 50Hz mains Dimensions: 290 x 222 x 160mm Weight: 6kg Made (assembled) in: Italy Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 8 Polaroid Automatic 104 Instant Camera, 1965
The Automatic bit is the shutter, which operates over
a range of 10 seconds down to 1/1200th of a second. A photosensitive cell
mounted next to the lens measures light level; this is connected to a simple
battery-powered transistorised circuit that controls the shutter mechanism.
Get it right, though, and the results can be very
good indeed, though Polaroid colour prints do have a quality all of their own.
They also tend fade a lost faster than regular film, and can disappear
altogether in a matter of a few months to a year or two if not stored in a cool
dark environment. Like most people who grew up in the 60’s and 70s
several Polaroid cameras passed through my hands and most were only used a few
times due to the very high running costs. This one was a very late acquisition,
though, and was found at a car boot sale a few years ago. It appeared to be in
very good condition and as an added bonus it was loaded with half a pack of
film and came complete with instructions. With an asking price of just £2.50 it
was a no-brainer. Needless to say the film pack had long since degraded and
Polaroid stopped making them in the late 90s. Fortunately it’s not completely
useless and Fuji still make a semi-compatible instant film, which I will get
around to trying one day. I have absolutely no doubt the camera still
functions. The original PX4 battery died years ago and new ones cost the earth
but it’s really easy to rig up a 3 volt supply using a couple of AA cells,
which fit easily inside the compartment. With power applied the auto shutter
clearly works when tested in variable levels of light, and there’s very little
else to go wrong. The bellows are light proof and the pressure rollers are
clean and move freely. Otherwise the camera is in excellent condition and it
cleans up well and looks almost as good as new. What Happened To It? Polaroid cameras became progressively more
sophisticated throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s, to the point where the last
generation of regular format models were capable of taking a decent picture
almost every time. However, by the mid 1990s it was becoming increasingly
obvious to everyone, except apparently Polaroid, that the days of Instant film
cameras were numbered and that digital photography was going to remove
Polaroid’s one remaining advantage over conventional film cameras. The company
came to a messy end, declaring bankruptcy (for the second time) in 2008.The
brand lives on, though, and there is a thriving community of users and several
companies still marketing cameras and instant film. The 104 Automatic was very successful so they are by
no means rare or difficult to come by, often quite cheaply. Polaroid cameras
were also very well made, and by their nature generally well looked after (used
a couple of times and packed away in the back of a wardrobe…). Collectors will
pay over the odds for mint examples and on a good day they can fetch £50 or
more on ebay but there are usually several perfectly serviceable ones to be had
for £10 - 20 or thereabouts, less if you keep your eyes peeled at car boot
sales and flea markets. DUSTY DATA (Manual)First seen 1965 Original Price £50 Value Today £25
(0815) Features Auto shutter (10 seconds - 1/1200th) sec, 14mm f/8.8 lens,
manual rangefinder focus (1m – infinity), manual aperture (lighten-darken –1 to
+2 f stops), Polaroid Type 100 peel-apart film pack (Colour and Black &
White), synchronised flash socket Power req. 1
x PX24 3V battery Dimensions: 200
x 73 x 143mm (folded) 200 x 150 x 143 (extended) Weight: 1.1kg Made (assembled) in: USA Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 6 Shackman Mini Four x Four Passport Camera, 1975?
It’s a Shackman Mini 4 x 4, and as you can see it’s
designed to take four identical pictures at once, and like those photo booths
you got the picture in your hands almost straight away because it is part
Polaroid Instant film camera. For a specialist camera it is remarkably
unsophisticated, just a simple lightproof box with four internal divisions, it
has 4 lenses, a fixed speed shutter (1/100th sec), and a basic exposure control
F/11 – 64. It doesn’t sound very promising, as far as image quality is
concerned, but that’s really all you need to take a small photo in a well-lit studio.
Attached to the back of the box there’s a standard Polaroid film back that uses
type 100 Pack, peel-apart instant film. Sadly this is no longer made but Fuji
makes a compatible instant film (FP-100C) that works in most Polaroid cameras
that use this film format.
What Happened To It? There is surprisingly little information online about
Shackman, though it appears that the company was founded in the 1930s by two
brothers, Rubin and Albert Shackman. They were jewellery makers by trade, who
turned to manufacturing specialist cameras and optical instruments, like bombsights,
during the Second World War. This became the main part of their business and
Shackman cameras were developed for a bewildering variety of applications,
everything from electron microscopes to oscilloscopes. The few references I
could find suggest that D Shackman & Sons became Shackman Instruments at
some point in the 1980s and were based in Gerrards Cross, but at that point the
trail goes cold and until I get time to investigate further I cannot say for
certain if they are still in business.
As far as this particular type of camera is concerned,
I suspect that this was one of the last of the line. Everything points to it
being made somewhere in the late seventies to mid eighties, and it is the least
well-documented model, so it probably wasn’t around for very long. Passport
cameras of all types were never made in large numbers though; even when
photographic studios were a relatively common sight most people would have used
cheaper and more convenient photo booths for their passport pictures, but it
was probably the decline and eventual disappearance of Polaroid film in the
early noughties, and the spectacular rise of digital photography that killed
them off. It is difficult to say how much they are worth now; passport cameras
rarely appear on ebay and when they do prices can vary enormously, anywhere from
£25 to £250 in the short time I have been monitoring sales. Serious camera collecting
is not for amateurs and dabblers though, especially when it comes to specialist
designs like this one, so only get involved if you know what you are doing but
as you can see, there is always the chance of stumbling across a boot sale
bargain. DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1975? Original Price £200? Value Today £50
(0415) Features Lens:
f/11 – 64, min focal distance 1.52 metres. Single fixed speed shutter (1/100th
sec), optical viewfinder, flash synchro socket, cable-release shutter
mechanism, flash shoe, tripod mounting thread, type 100 Pack instant film (10
exposures 85 x 109mm, print size 4 x 35 x 35mm)) Power req. n/a Dimensions: 158
x 150 x 145mm Weight: 1.6kg Made (assembled) in:
England Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 8 Kodak Pony 135 Model C, 1958
Kodak’s Pony range was mainly aimed at amateur
photographers; it’s an intermediate model, sitting between basic point and
shoot cameras, like the classic Kodak ‘Brownies’, and more advanced and capable
pro and semi-pro designs. The first Pony’s appeared in the late 1940s but this
one, the Model C dates from the mid to late 50s. It’s a tough little camera,
with a brown Bakelite body, good quality mechanics and optics. It uses 135 film
cassettes, which was the Kodak designation for 35mm film; this is loaded into a
compartment on the rear of the camera and manually threaded onto a take-up
reel. The film is advanced, one frame at a time by turning the large knob on
the right side of the top panel (looking at it from the rear), and when the
roll has been exposed, it is wound back into the cartridge by the big knob on
the left.
In its pure state Thorium is only weakly radioactive
and emits mostly Alpha particles, and on the scale of nastiness this is
considered the least harmful type, outside of the body at any rate. Alpha
radiation has very little penetrating power – particles can be stopped by a
sheet of paper and do not pass through skin – so on the face of it, its
inclusion in glass lenses doesn’t seem especially controversial. However, as
Thorium decays it creates Beta and Gamma radiation (weirdly, the production of
decay products means that the radioactivity increases over time, which is the
opposite of what you would expect). Beta and Gamma has more penetrating power
than Alpha radiation and it can cause problems, especially when there’s enough
of it, in close proximity to living tissue. Fortunately the amounts of
radioactivity given off by these and similar lenses is not generally regarded
as hazardous, under normal circumstances and with normal use. However,
radiation is tricky and highly contentious stuff so play safe and on no account
put a bag full of Thorium-doped lenses in your trouser pockets… Joking aside, if this is something you are
concerned about the clever thing to do is read up on the subject, and if you
want to check if the cameras in your collection, or plan on buying, have
radioactive lenses do your homework – there is plenty of information online --
and it could be worth your while getting hold of a Geiger Counter (sorry for the
shameless plug). My little Pony came from ebay a good few years ago
and as far as I recall it cost a couple of pounds. It is still in great
condition and I have no doubts that it is still capable of taking photographs.
I actually sought this model out, as a radioactive test source, after acquiring
one of my first Geiger Counters. It proved to be very effective, though it
needs to be in close physical contact with most instruments to get any sort of
reading, and it doesn’t register anything when held a few centimetres
away. What Happened To It? Kodak’s Pony series ran from 1949 to around 1962 and
throughout that period most models were fitted with either an Anaston or the
higher quality 4-element Anastar lenses, and almost all of them used Thoriated
glass. By the time it was being phased out Kodak had introduced the first of
its pioneering Instamatic cameras, which at the time was arguably one of the
biggest advances in photography for 50 years. Kodak obviously didn’t abandon
the 35mm format but it gradually evolved into a serious amateur and semi pro
format, with Instamatic and Instant cameras rapidly taking over the mass
market. It is not known how many Pony cameras were made but you can take it as
read that it was a heluva lot. They are really well made, and usually come with
a protective leather case so there are still plenty of them around. They’re
flea market and car boot sale regulars and because they look so ordinary, tend
not to attract much attention and typically sell anywhere from 50 pence to
£5.00, sometimes more if they’re in tip-top condition, boxed and come with
instructions. Pony cameras are not yet serious collectibles but inevitably
prices will only increase so now is as good a time as any to add one to your
collection and whilst it is not much to look at, it does have an interesting
story to tell. By the way, although there are no significant health hazards
associated with this and other cameras with radioactive lenses if you have one
then it is prudent not to let children play with it and it’s a good idea to
store it safely, preferably in a metal box.
DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1955 Original Price £22
($34) Value Today £10
(0315) Features 35mm
format, Thorium doped Kodak Anaston lens: 44mm, shutter: B, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100,
1/300th sec, aperture: f/3.5, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, presets
Ektachrome/Kodachrome Bright/Hazy/Cloudy/Cloudy Bright, shutter sync, optical
viewfinder, film advance interlock (to prevent double exposures) Power req. n/a Dimensions: 140x
65 x 85mm Weight: 510g Made (assembled) in:
Rochester, USA Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 5 Optikon Binocular/Magnifier Spectacles, 1955
Optikon appears to no longer exist and there is no
indication of when it was made so the date of 1955 is a best guess, based on
the design, styling and the mixture of materials used. It’s also difficult to
say what it is for. If they were simply a pair of spectacle-type binoculars
then there would be no problem, but the add-on magnifying lenses, which are
standard-issue accessories, simply raise more questions, and possibilities.
There is no end of trades and professions who routinely use head-worn
magnifiers, from surgeons to watchmakers, but why would any of them suddenly
feel the urge to shift from looking at things close up, to gazing at distant
objects? Perhaps I’m over thinking this and it simply is what it is, a
Binocufier, and if that’s not a real word, it is now, and you read it here
first…
The original temples had become brittle with age,
they were broken and the parts that remained were badly cracked. Fortunately
spectacle design has changed relatively little over the years and they were
easily replaced with modern ones. I found a near identical pair on some
sunglasses and they were a perfect fit with the metal hinges. The only real
difference is the colour, which was light green but is now light brown. Given
time and inclination it should be possible to find an exact colour match. I found them at a Surrey antiques market and what
first caught my eye was the custom, padded leather carry case, which immediately
marked it out as a quality, and probably once very expensive item. It was
complete but in a fairly grubby condition, and the broken temples had obviously
dampened the sellers expectations as the asking price was just £3.00. What Happened To It? As far as I can tell Optikon of Hamburg are no longer
with us, though there are several companies around the world with that name but
they all appear to have been established relatively recently. The closest match
is the Optikon Corporation of Canada, who are manufacturers of optical
instruments but its company history only goes back to 1974, makes no mention of
ever having been based or founded in Germany or ever making anything like this.
Binocular glasses are still being made, though, as are ‘near vision’ binoculars
or magnifiers. A cursory web search turned up a tiny handful of mostly cheap
and nasty novelty combination bins/magnifiers and needless to say none of them
came anywhere near the quality of this one. There is a small collectors market for vintage and
unusual spectacles, and a large and thriving one for antique optical
instruments such as binoculars, telescopes and microscopes, and they can fetch
eye-watering prices (no pun intended). But these do not fit into any of the
usual pigeonholes, so it is hard to say what they are worth. I have only ever
seen two of them on ebay and they were both pretty tatty and had wildly
optimistic reserves of £50 and £80. Neither of them attracted any bids, so the
£25 price I have put on this one is pure speculation but given it’s very decent
condition and the accessory lenses and carry case it could even make a little
more if a couple of determined bidders took a fancy to it. DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1955? Original Price £? Value Today £25 0914 Features Combined
spectacle-style binoculars and magnifier. Binoculars approx 2.5X magnification,
focal range 3m to infinity; magnifier approx 2.5X focal range 20 – 25cm,
objective lens 28mm dia, individual focus mechanisms, interocular distance adjustment
(58 – 70mm), adjustable bridge pads, folding side frames, fitted leather case Power req. n/a Dimensions: 130
x 38 x 50mm (folded) Weight: 64g Made (assembled) in: Hamburg, Germany Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 8 Minolta –16 II Sub Miniature Camera 1960
The Minolta –16 is just a little larger than the
Minox, and nowhere near as sophisticated but it really looks like a piece of
serious spy kit. It has the all-important push-pull film advance and shutter
cocking action, and when you press the shutter button all the little gears and
levers whirr away inside the shiny metal case. It’s definitely not a toy,
though and is perfectly capable of taking good quality pictures under a wide
range of conditions, including complete darkness, though you need the optional
accessory mount for the optional flashgun. There are a number of clever design
touches, including another one borrowed from Minox, and you can tell when a
frame has been exposed as the front leaf of the shutter mechanism has a blue
circle printed on it, which disappears when the button is pressed. Sadly, though, its picture taking days are well
behind it and even though it is in full working order. The film cartridges,
which hold up to 20 shots of 16mm wide film are long obsolete and almost
unobtainable. Old cartridges can be spooled with modern 16mm movie film stock
but only a tiny handful of labs are able to process the film, and will charge
you a pretty penny for the privilege.
What Happened To It? The design of this camera dates from the mid 1950’s,
though the original Minolta –16 didn’t reach the shops until 1957. This one is
the Mk II version, from 1960. Outwardly it looks very similar to the Mk 1 but
it has a better shutter, slightly smaller but more advanced lens plus extra
shutter speeds and aperture settings. In spite of the proprietary film
cartridge, which no other camera maker adopted, and this model only being
around for 3 years, it sold very well, especially in the US, and other Minolta
cameras, which also used this cartridge, remained in production for almost two
decades. The lack of support almost certainly killed it off though, that and
intense competition in the 70s from the Kodak 110 format, which quickly became
an industry standard, in spite of being inferior in almost every way. I don’t recall
ever seeing the Minolta –16 II on the big (or small) screen, and this certainly
wouldn’t have done it any harm but I would be very surprised it hadn’t had made
a fleeting appearance at least movie or TV programme, and if you ever spot one,
please let me know. This one is a fairly recent acquisition and came from
a bric-a-brac market on the South Coast, haggled down from £15 to £10, which is
around half what you can expect to pay for a really nice one on ebay. It is in very good condition, and it came with the detachable
flash/accessory/tripod mount, and a single filter but it lacks case and
instructions. Complete outfits, especially if they are boxed can easily fetch
£100 or more but there are usually one or two on ebay at any one time for under
£20. Even apparently rough ones are worth considering, more often than not they
were well looked after when used and probably have spent the past few decades
collecting dust in the back of a drawer and just need a little TLC to get them
back to showroom condition. Surprisingly these little cameras haven’t had much
impact in the collectors market, which means that at the moment they are
relatively plentiful and cheap, but don’t expect that to last. DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1960 Original Price £20 Value Today £20 0714 Features proprietary
16mm film cartridge, 1:2.8, F22mm 4-element Rokkor lens, fixed focus (2.7
metres); Shutter: B-mode, 1/30, 1/60, 1/124. 1/250. 1/500th sec; Aperture:
f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16. flash sync socket, optical viewfinder,
sliding accessory lens/filter mount, tripod, frame counter, wrist strap,
detachable flash/accessory/tripod mount
Power req. n/a
Dimensions: 78
x 45 x 24mm
(closed) 105 x 45 x 25 (cocked) Weight: 152g Made (assembled) in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 6 Etalon Luxor Light Meter, 1962
It’s an Etalon Luxor, made by a Japanese company called Chuo Electronics, probably sometime between 1960 and 1963. This is a modest mid-market model, quite small for its time, not much larger than a matchbox, but once you get the hang of it, it is quite easy to use. The technology is fairly conventional in that it employs a selenium photocell – the forerunner of today’s silicon photovoltaic (PV) solar cells -- and when it is exposed to light it generates a small current. The photocell is connected to a moving-coil meter movement, which represents the light level reading on a rotating disc. This is a slightly unusual arrangement; the majority of light meters have a conventional moving pointer over a fixed scale. On this model the moving disc or dial is an integral part of the circular exposure calculator that works out the optimum aperture and shutter speed settings for a given light reading.
Another minor oddity it the ‘Arrestor
Button’. Basically this is a brake that locks and unlocks the dial. You press it to take a reading and when the button is released the
reading, and exposure calculation is fixed. It also comes with a detachable
incident light cover, attached to a short chain, to stop it getting lost. This
is a clear plastic block with small lenses moulded into the back surface that fits into the front of the meter. The idea is a light meter is generally used to measure light reflected from the scene or subject, into the camera
lens. However, this can give misleading readings, especially when the scene contains highly
reflective, shiny or light coloured objects. To compensate for this the incident
light cover is fitted and a reading taken of the light falling on the
subject, by positioning the light meter in front of the subject and pointing it
at the camera.
Using a light meter sounds like a bit of a faff and it is true that it
is pretty much unnecessary these days. Digital cameras will make all of the
decisions for you. It’s quite difficult to to get it wrong with features like program AE and scene presets and on more advanced models there is always the option to take multiple
images with a range of exposure settings. Then there is the safety net of photo
editing software, to rescue wrongly exposed images and cover up mistakes.
That’s all well and good but old school pros will tell you that there is
still no substitute for getting it right first time, using a decent light meter
and the ultimate precision instruments, the human eye and brain. I have always been a lazy photographer and generally
rely on the camera, and luck to figure out exposure settings, which may explain why, until cameras got really
smart, in the 1970s, I took so few photos that I was entirely happy with. This
little light meter is a
comparatively recent acquisition, picked up at some time in the early noughties,
probably at an antique fair. I doubt that I paid more than a fiver for it and
ironically that is about as much as it cost when new. I can be fairly certain
about that as it appeared regularly in ads in 1960s photography magazines,
generally priced at between £4.50 and £5.00. It is still in excellent condition and in good working order, though it is difficult to know how accurate it is now.
I am guessing it led a fairly sedate life and probably spent the last 20 or 30
years safely contained inside its leather case -- which sadly I do not
have -- in the back of a drawer. What Happened To It? The golden age for light meters would have been
between the mid 1950s and late 60s, coinciding with the growth in popularity of
photography as a hobby, and the availability of cameras with respectable
performance and features at affordable prices. The decline almost certainly began soon after
the first Instamatic, point-and-shoot cameras appeared. There was no turning
back after that and thereafter the vast majority of light meters would have
been mostly bought and used by serious photographers. The final nail in the coffin,
though, was the development of digital photography, which removed the
variability of film speed from the equation, and the huge advances in fully
automated exposure systems made taking photos a pretty mindless, but usually successful
process. Light meters never disappeared completely and
advanced electronic models continue to be produced to this day, though it has
become a highly specialised market, with prices to match. Fortunately light
meters were sold in vast numbers, there’s not much to go wrong and they tended
to be well looked after. That means there is no shortage of good examples in online
auctions, antique fairs and car boot sales, often at surprisingly low prices. There
are exceptions, of course but you have to be clued up to snag the rare and more
valuable models, which are much sought after by collectors. DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1958 Original Price £4.5.2
(£4.26) Value Today £8
- 10 0414 Features Selenium
cell, moving coil movement, aperture scale f/1 to f/32, Cine film 8,16,32,64,
shutter speed 125 to 1/10000 sec, speed ratings 3 ASA/6 DIN to 25,000 ASA/45
DIN, Arrestor button, zero adjustment Power req. Self-powered
selenium photocell Dimensions: 75
x 50 x 22mm Weight: 114g Made (assembled) in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 6 Aldis Medium Format Folding Slide Viewer, 1960
Sadly, though, it has become an almost irrelevant argument
since no one is going to swap their convenient and feature-laden digital
cameras and smartphones in favour of film cameras, which means highly
functional gadgets, like this Aldis folding medium format slide viewer have
already gone the way of the dinosaurs. It’s always tempting to make comparisons
with contemporary technology, and you could say it’s a bit like a small laptop
or netbook PC, in that it is (semi) portable, it folds up and you can look at
photographs on it, but that is really pushing it. Portability and small size
are the key features, though. It’s the kind of thing a photographer might carry
around with them, to view or share images with clients, and you can tell
straight away from the tough, all-metal construction that it is never going to
let you down.
That really is all there is to it. There’s virtually
nothing to go wrong, apart from the bulb, which is readily accessible and easy
to change; no switches, no adjustments, and there’s an optional (or it may have
been supplied as standard) adaptor for 35mm films slides. What Happened To It? Since the advent of cartridge films and rapid rise in
popularity of 35mm cameras in the 1960s, medium format films were mostly used
by professionals, so this would never have been a mass-market product. Details
are sketchy, but thanks to a little label inside the top of the case I can date
the patent application and publication very precisely, to March 1951 and June
1953 respectively. It is listed as ‘Viewing apparatus for transparent picture
or the like’, and assigned to a company called Hard Coating Ltd. How and why it came to be produced by Aldis and how much it
originally cost remain a mystery, but what is certain is that Aldis Brothers of
Hall Green in Birmingham were a well-established manufacturer of photographic
products and signalling lamps (the famous Aldis Lamp). The company was sold to
the Rank Organisation in the mid 1960s and products thereafter were badged
Rank-Aldis, so that, in conjunction with the materials, cosmetics and finish
leads suggests that it was made somewhere between 1955 (allowing couple of
years after the patent was published and for it to be acquired by Aldis) and
1965, so I have split the difference and come up with a date of 1960 – as
always corrections and clarification are welcome. If it continued after the
takeover by Rank it probably wouldn’t have been for very long, and if it did I
suspect that some or all of the components would have been made in plastic. I fond this one at a wet and muddy car boot sale in Dorset
a few years ago and didn’t bother to haggle over the 50 pence asking price. It
was as you see it now, in remarkably good condition, with almost no signs of
wear or corrosion; indeed, it looks as though it has hardly been used. The few
examples I have seen on ebay typically sell for between £20 and £30, depending
on condition, which is about right. The value is unlikely to increase as time
goes by as it is technically unsophisticated and a borderline collectible,
probably only of interest to old school photographers or anyone with a
collection of 2¼ inch slides. Don’t let that put you off though; you may not
have any medium format films now, but one day…
DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1960? Original Price £? Value Today £25 0114 Features light
source 15-watt pygmy lamp, folding holder for 120 roll film/slides (2¼ x 2¼
inch/60 x 60mm frame), optional clip for 35mm slides, ground glass diffuser,
magnifying lens Power req. 230VAC
mains Dimensions: 190
x 135 x 65mm (folded) Weight: 1.2kg Made (assembled) in: England Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 7 Minolta 16P Miniature Camera, 1960
The case and all of the important moving parts are
made of metal, giving it a really solid feel and it was clearly built to last.
The shutter, aperture control and winding mechanism on this one, which has not
been touched in any way, still works and feels as good as new. In fact I have
little doubt that it could still take a very decent picture, were it not for
the fact that the film cassettes stopped being made over 20 years ago. You can
still get hold of original, and long out of date films on ebay, and there are
specialist companies who can process them. However, for the really determined
it is possible to refill empty cassettes with new 16mm film stock and process
it yourself using standard film developing techniques and chemicals. For hard-core
enthusiasts there is even a specially designed developing tank for this type of
film, so one way or another it is still perfectly useable. I came across this one at a Surrey car boot sale, and
at first glance I thought it was a 110 compact, but something about the small
size, shiny metal case and Minolta badge made me pick it up and have a closer
look. It seemed to be in good condition, the shutter clicked and it came with a
nice leather case, so I didn’t argue when the stallholder asked £1.50 for it. What Happened To It? The big question is, if the 16mm format was so good
why didn’t it succeed? To be fair it had a pretty good run, it proved popular
with enthusiasts and cameras were in production for around 20 years, until the
early 1970s. But Minolta on its own simply
couldn’t compete with Kodak and the 110 format, which was adopted by all of the
major manufacturers and film companies. Kodak couldn’t lose; it had a near
worldwide monopoly on film processing, hugely efficient distribution systems
and almost bottomless pockets, when it came to advertising and promotion. I only became aware aware of the 16mm
format in the mid 70s, by which time it had become all but obsolete so this is the first one I have actually owned but I have subsequently acquired
a Minolta 16 II, based on a design which first appeared in 1957. This has
a similar push-pull winding mechanism to the classic Minox spy camera. The good
thing about these cameras is that they are not that expensive and there are
plenty of very presentable ones on ebay, with prices starting at well under
£20. It is probable that prices will eventually rise, but for the moment at least
it seems that they have been largely overlooked or ignored by serious camera
collectors. DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1960 Original Price £10 Value Today £5
- 25 0514 Features 16mm
film format (ASA 10, 25, 40, 80, 200, 10 x 14mm frame), 3-element, fixed
focus 25mm Rokkor lens, f3.5-f16, fixed shutter speed 1/1000th sec, aperture
presets: Bright Sun, Hazy Sun, Cloudy Bright, Cloudy Dull, flash sync socket,
tripod socket, wrist carry strap Power req. N/A Dimensions: 104
x 44 x 24mm Weight: 140g Made (assembled) in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 6 Kodak EK160-EF Colorburst Instant Camera, 1979
For the consumer buying an instant camera was a gamble,
with the odds heavily stacked against them. Polaroid cameras were usually quite
cheap to buy, and for the most part they worked fairly well, but the model
range changed with alarming regularity during the 70s and 80s. Film cartridges
started out expensive and became progressively dearer as the cameras that used
them were replaced and production of film packs wound down. Eventually they
became unobtainable, at which point the cameras were effectively obsolete, though most
Polaroid models probably never made it that far and the majority of them were
only used a few times, due to the high cost of film. Kodak played a very dangerous game taking on Polaroid at
its own game when its first daylight developing instant camera, the EK2, was
launched in 1976. It was clear from the outset that it had tried hard to avoid
infringing Polaroid’s patents -- unsuccessfully as it turned out -- but there
were several fundamental differences between the way the two film formats
worked. Polaroid film is exposed from the top (picture side up), and a mirror
has to be used to reverse the image so that it comes out the right way around.
After exposure the upper layer of the film becomes opaque to protect the light
sensitive layers beneath, while the image is processing, and then turns
transparent so the picture becomes visible. Kodak film is exposed from the
backside of the print; this simplifies the optics as the image is the right way round and in theory it means the picture will be
sharper and more detailed because the light has to penetrate fewer layers. There
is also no need for an opaque layer as the processing chemicals keep out light
as the film develops. The other key difference is that Polaroid film packs
contain an expensive flat lithium battery, to power the camera, which bumps up
the price and reportedly made them less reliable; Kodak got around that problem
with a hand-crank mechanism (EK2) or by putting the batteries (4 x AA cells in
the case of the EK160) inside the camera.
The EK160-EF (aka Colorburst 250 in the USA) was one of the
last of the line and uses a PR-10 film pack containing 10 self-developing
prints. It is quite a lump, not as elegant as Polaroid’s offerings, but both
camera and film packs were a little cheaper. The cartridge slots into a hatch
on the underside of the camera, and all you have to do is frame the shot and
press down the shutter release on the side of the camera. The only decision you have to make is whether or not to use
the slide out electronic flash gun (to reduce red-eye), if the light is
poor. A second or so later out pops a
print that develops in your hand over the course of the next couple of minutes.
If the picture was under or over exposed – which it often was – you adjusted
the ‘Lighten – Darken’ slider and took another one, adding another pound or
three to Kodak’s coffers. It’s virtually foolproof and when you got the
exposure right, capable of producing perfectly decent looking snaps. Like
Polaroid prints they have to be looked after and kept out of sunlight, as they
would fade quickly; they faded anyway, but if you kept them in a dark place
they could still be viewable for several years. This one was included in a box of photographic bits and
pieces that I came across at a local car boot sale. I haggled the price down to
three quid, which seemed about right for a camera of unknown condition and with
no hope of ever taking pictures again. As it turned out the box also contained
a nice little electronic flash gun, some movie cartridges, a film cutter and
some other odds and ends that were probably each worth the price I paid on
their own account. The camera cleaned up well and with a set of fresh batteries
installed seems to go through the motions, but without a film pack it is
impossible to say if it works or not. Unused PR-10 packs occasionally turn
up on ebay but the price tends to be stupidly high, and they would be so long
out of date the chances of them being any good is virtually zero. As it turns out it may not be a total dead loss and Fuji
was manufacturing a near compatible film pack in Japan up until May 2010.
Apparently these can be modded to
fit into the EK160 – a filter also needs to be attached to the lens to
compensate for the higher speed rating – but it doesn’t look too difficult,
however getting hold of an in-date film pack at a sensible price is another
matter. What Happened To It?
Kodak’s involvement in Instant photography goes back
further than most people realise, and although it’s first own brand instant
camera didn’t appear until 1976, it had been quietly manufacturing instant film
for Polaroid since the early 1960s. The launch of Kodak’s instant camera
smashed Polaroid’s near monopoly, and it quickly retaliated with a patent
lawsuit that dragged on for several years. It resulted in Kodak being found
guilty of infringing 7 Polaroid patents, and led to them withdrawing from the
instant camera market in 1985, facing a huge bill for compensating owners. The
compensation scheme wasn’t very well publicised in the UK and Kodak instant
cameras were being thrown or given away in their thousands. Ironically, to
those in the know, they became quite valuable commodities and if you returned a
camera to Kodak you received £10 in cash or a voucher, which could be used
against the purchase of Kodak products. Sadly the compensation offer expired in
1988, otherwise this one would be winging its way back to them. Whilst it may be theoretically possible to get one of these
cameras to work again the effort and expense is a major drawback so it has to
be regarded as a bit of a doorstop. There are still plenty of them around
selling for a few pounds (considerably more for mint examples with packing
manuals and extras). It is unlikely they will ever increase very much in value
in our lifetimes, though, but it scores a few Brownie points as a conversation
piece and no collection of instant cameras would be complete without one. DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1979 Original Price $39.99
(approx £25) Value Today £5
- £25 1113 Features Instant
film camera, Kodak PR-10 film cartridge, f1.2, 100mm fixed focus lens,
automatic shutter 2 – 1/300th sec, 5-step manual exposure, electronic flash, tripod
mounting thread (on r/h side) Power req. 4
x 1.5v AA cells Dimensions: 205
x 135 x 90mm Weight: 1.1kg Made (assembled) in: USA Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 4 Yashica AF Motor 35mm Compact, 1981
For a while it looked as though 35mm film, one of the oldest
formats and the mainstay of the mid to high end of the camera market, might
even fall into decline. No one disputed the fact that 35mm film was capable of
outstanding, professional results but it suffered from two key problems.
Loading 35mm film could be a fiddly business and to get the best out of it a
camera needed a decent lens and a good range of exposure options. However, struggling
with large cameras, messing around with lenses, twiddling knobs, reading dials
and making judgments about aperture and shutter speed was a major turn-off for
the average happy-snapper, not to mention the cost of all the kit. But then something happened. In the late seventies and early eighties, a new generation of
compact and highly automated 35mm cameras began to appear, breathing life back
into the ailing format. The key developments that made them possible were fast
auto focus and exposure systems that removed all of the guesswork out of
taking a photo. These used advanced electronics, optics and mechanics devised
for camcorders. The other innovation was lightweight motor driven film
transport mechanisms, which simplified loading, film advance and unloading.
Basically, all you had to do was pop in a film, point and shoot, and when the
film was finished, the cassette would be rewound, ready for processing. This was pretty much the same proposition that had made Instamatic
cartridge cameras so successful, except this time you could take photographs in
a much wider range of situations and lighting conditions and there was a very
fair chance that it would be correctly focused and exposed, and the quality
was good enough for them to be enlarged.
This one was one of a number of 35mm compacts that I
reviewed for group tests in Next… magazine, in the early 1980s and for some
reason was never reclaimed. Although by then I was a committed SLR user I did
occasionally carry this one, when travelling light or for holiday snapping, and
the results were generally pretty good, though the four-step focus system
needed good light and contrast between the subject and the background. As I
recall, it also had one of the quietest motor drive mechanisms. It’s still in
full working order, which says a lot about build quality, and considering that
it has spent most of the last quarter century sitting in the back of a drawer. What Happened To It? Yashica (short for the Yashima Seki Company) was formed
shortly after WW2 and by the time the AF Motor appeared it had produced a
long line of generally well-received twin lens reflex, 35mm compacts and SLRs.
During the mid sixties Yashica became a leading innovator in the field of
automated exposure systems. It also had a reputation for good quality lenses
and although at launch the AF Motor received favourable reviews, it was up
against some tough competition from the likes of Canon and Minolta in the
competitive mid market sector, and relative newcomers, keen to make a name for
themselves and grab a slice of this market, like Chinon, Konica, Mamiya and
Richo. These makers pitched in with some impressively specified and
attractively priced models. Yashica was bought up by another up and coming
brand Kyocera, in 1983; from then on the company
moved gradually away from high-end to more budget priced models. The name was
eventually resold in the early noughties and now appears on a number of digital
products sold mainly in the Far East It is unclear how many AF Motors, and the handful follow-up
variants were produced but it was never a top seller. It was really well made,
though, many are still around to tell the tale and you won’t have much trouble
finding good examples in online auctions and even at car-boot sales, sometimes selling
for just a few pounds. It still ranks as a solid, practical camera but probably
not a classic example of the genre; contemporary models made by Canon and
Minolta are generally more sought after by collectors. Nevertheless, if you
spot one, in good condition and going for a fair price, grab it becase it deserves to be given
a good home. DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1981 Original Price £80 Value Today £10 1013 Features 35mm
(25 – 400 ASA). Lens: f2.8, 38mm. Full auto exposure, focus & shutter (1/8
– 1/500th sec), focus lock, auto load, motor wind & auto rewind, film
advance indicator, self timer, pop-up electronic flash, low light warning in
viewfinder Power req. 2
x 1.5V AA cells Dimensions: 131
x 74 x 52 Weight: 555g Made (assembled) in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 5 Cragstan Daiya TV-X Junior Movie Viewer, 1963?
The Daiya TV-X is basically a tin box full of nothing but
air. That is because it is an 8mm movie viewer or back-projector, cunningly
styled to look like a small TV and it’s only when you look around the back that
its true purpose becomes apparent – more on that in a moment. It’s almost
certainly little more than a toy, probably made by a Japanese manufacturer of
tin toys, judging by the materials and construction techniques, and my gut
feeling is that it dates from the early sixties. However, I have managed to
find very little on its origins or history and I cannot be more precise so if
anyone can fill in the gaps, please let me know.
What Happened To It?
I paid just £5.00 for this one, which was a bit of a gamble
as its condition was unknown but it turned out to be a real bargain. Other than
the missing rewind crank (and box and instructions) it was complete, and in
quite excellent condition for something that must be the best part of 50 years
old. It works too; it was a bit cranky at first but a few drops of oil got it
running smoothly again. As to its present value, that’s very hard to say as it
is so difficult to categorise. Is it a sixties toy, Japanese ephemera or a
movie collectible? It’s all three, and £20 is a complete off the top of the
head figure based solely on the fact that it is rather unusual and undoubtedly quite rare. In the end who is to say, but it has to be worth more than a
fiver? DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1963? Original Price £? Value Today £20 0913 Features 8mm
movie viewer, back projection system, manual tracking, carry handle Power req. 6
x 1.5volt D Cell Dimensions: 250
x 190 x 183mm Weight: 1.1kg Made in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 8 Open University McArthur Microscope, 1972
In fact it is a McArthur microscope, named after its
inventor Dr John McArthur, who came up with the concept in 1934. This
particular version was produced for the Open University in 1971, designed to be
compact and rugged, ideal for field use, yet powerful and capable of the kind
of performance required for serious scientific study. It met all of those
criteria with ease, many thousands of them were made for the OU by Scientific
Optics Ltd in Hastings, and such was its popularity that it was later sold to
the public and, priced at just £15.50.
In spite of the all-plastic (ABS) construction – apart from
the lenses and mirrors – it is very much a precision instrument; it weighs under
200g so it is just the job for a spot of close-up work out in the field. It’s
tough too, and you would have to be pretty determined to damage it, though
openings in the case do seem to let in a fair amount of dust so it needs
regular cleaning. What Happened To It? Several versions of this microscope were produced, one with
a revolving stage, and the modular design made it easy for the manufacturers to
improve and upgrade the design. I haven’t been able to find out when this one
was made – I bought it on ebay several years ago for £15.00 -- or how long
it was in production but as always clarification is welcome, so get in touch if you know more about it. It is a timeless
design, though, it works, and works well and there’s little or nothing to go
wrong so my guess is that it continued well into the 90s. It remains a thoroughly useful collectible, you never know
when you’ll need to get up close and personal with something tiny. It’s a handy
thing to keep around the house, and, being highly portable, about your person
too, for those unexpected mobile microscopy moments… Surprisingly few of them seem to come on to the market,
probably only a handful makes it onto ebay UK each year. Prices can vary
enormously, according to condition and how many parts are missing but a decent
one, with all its original bits can easily fetch £40 to £50, and possibly much
more if a couple of keen collectors get into a tussle. The only other source I
am aware of is a Canadian ebayer, who seems to have a stock of them and at the
time of writing he/she has one or two on offer every few weeks. Prices
generally start out quite low and the bidding rarely gets heated but you have
to add on the cost of postage, which can be quite high and this rather takes
the shine off it. DUSTY DATA (Manual)First seen 1971 Original Price £15.50 Value Today £30
- £50 0413 Features 10x
eyepiece, 8x & 20x objective lenses (8x & 200x magnification), internal and external light sources, Power req. 2
x 1.5 volt AAA cells Dimensions: 126
x 75 x 25mm Weight: 170g Made in: England (Scientific Optics Ltd, Hastings) Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 7 Polavision Instant Movie Camera, 1977
It was an ingenious sounding idea. Simply pop a cartridge
of self-developing movie film into the lightweight camera, shoot your movie,
take out the cartridge insert it into the dedicated TV-style viewer, the film
is automatically processed and showing on the screen after only 90 seconds.
What could possibly go wrong? It failed on so many levels that it’s hard to understand
how it ever made it into production but the most obvious flaw was the timing.
After a lengthy development the Polavision system was finally launched in 1977,
just in time for the video revolution. True, it would take a few years before
affordable domestic camcorders made it into the shops, but everyone knew they
were coming, and portable outfits were available at the time of Polavision’s
launch, which brings us to the second big drawback, running costs. Polavision
cartridges cost between £10 and £15, equivalent to £30 - £40 in today’s money,
and held only 40 feet of film. This gave a recording time of just two and a
half minutes, with no sound, and needless to say they were only usable once.
VHS and Beta portable outfits, in contrast, could record for two or three
hours, with sound and tapes, which cost a fraction of the price of a Polavision
cartridge, are reusable. There were plenty of other reasons consumers gave it a
wide berth, including poor picture quality due to the dense multi-layered film,
which also meant movies could only be shot in brightly lit conditions. Movies
could only be watched on the companion viewer and couldn’t be projected, edited
or copied without destroying the cartridge. The camera and player were really
noisy, movies deteriorated unless very carefully stored, film jams and
breakages were quite common, and the list goes on. What Happened To It? Polavision limped on for a couple of years before being
quietly dropped and the remaining stocks sold off at bargain basement prices.
It allegedly lost the company almost 70 million dollars and its failure also
led to the resignation of Polaroid’s chairman and founder Edwin Land in 1980
and may have contributed to Eumig’s bankruptcy, who were sub-contracted to
manufacture the camera and viewer. The death knell finally came in 1989 when
production of film cassettes came to an end. Unused cartridges do turn up on
ebay but they are now so far out of date that it is extremely unlikely that the
processing chemicals will still be effective.
It was a shame, and it’s important not to understate the
technical achievements involved in getting the thing to work, but no-one was
very surprised by its rapid demise, or mourned its passing. Even Andy Warhol’s
brief interest in the format, and a change in marketing strategy to position it
as an industrial tool couldn’t help. It was quickly forgotten, overshadowed by
video, though every few years there’s short-lived revival of interest. A fair
number of Polavision movies have been preserved for posterity, converted to
video or shot from the viewer and these can be seen on YouTube. There are also
TV adverts from the day showing the system in all its glory, though I am a
little suspicious of the quality of the pictures shown. My first encounter with Polavision was at a press preview,
shortly before the UK launch; I and almost everyone else who saw it were
largely unimpressed and I can’t remember the Polaroid people ever bothering us
again. Fast-forward to 2010 and I spotted this Polavision camera on ebay with a
starting bid of 99 pence. I put in a bid of £5.00 and by the time the auction
ended only one other fellow saddo bothered to bid, pushing the final cost up to
£1.50, plus £5.00 post and packing. It’s in pretty good shape and probably
still works, but without a supply of film cartridges or a viewer I will
probably never know, unless someone gives me one for free. I can’t see myself
paying for one, though I am sure that there are collectors and revivalists out
there who are prepared to splash out on mint examples. It’s quite possible that
one day it will be worth something but like most vintage Polaroid products,
without the consumables they’re essentially just decorative objects so you need
to be a fairly dedicated fan to fully appreciate them DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1977 Original Price £600
(camera and viewer) Value Today £25
- £75.00 0313 Features 1:1.8,
f12.5, 5-25mm lens with x2 zoom, 2.5 minute record time using ‘Instant’ movie
film, replay and processing on dedicated viewer, twin action grip, battery
test, TTL optical viewfinder with focus zone indicator, external ‘Twilight’
(movie light) connector, film remaining indicator Power req. 4
x AA cells Dimensions: 175
x 210 x 60mm Weight: 680g Made in: Austria Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 6 National Hyper B II Flash Gun, 1965
Since the late 1970s we’ve become accustomed to snapshot
cameras having built in electronic flashguns and only those of us of a more
mature disposition can remember back to the days when, if you wanted to take a
picture indoors or in poor light, you had to have a flashgun and buy
disposable, one-shot flashbulbs, either singly, or later, mounted inside little
plastic cubes or in bars. This wasn’t something you did lightly (no pun
intended); flashbulbs were quite expensive, they often didn’t work – resulting
in a wasted shot, that you still had to pay to get developed -- the results
were frequently disappointing, and you got burned fingers when you tried to
change bulbs too quickly. No one was particularly sorry to see them go, though on the
plus side most old-time flashguns didn’t give your subjects ‘red-eye’. This
wasn’t because of any significant differences in the light coming from burning
magnesium ribbon and xenon flash tubes, but simply because separate flashguns
ensured the bulbs were normally positioned well clear of the lens’s central
axis, so light reflected from eyes didn’t bounce back into the camera.
For added convenience it uses two different types of bulb.
The cheapest option is press-fit AGI types, with simple bent wire contacts;
these are also the least reliable. The alternative is larger, brighter and more
expensive XMB1 bulbs, which have a bayonet type fitting. A small adaptor ring
for AG1 bulbs was included with the flashgun and when not in use it clips into
a holder on the battery cover. Bulbs are still obtainable and there’s currently
plenty of vintage stock on ebay, but they are quite expensive and since they’re
a finite resource, you may want to think twice about actually using them. The flashgun is powered by a now virtually obsolete (though
still obtainable for around £5 - £10) 22.5 volt battery. This is a similar size
and shape to standard 9 volt PP3 type batteries and fits inside a compartment
on the front of the unit. This also houses what looks like a AAA type cell,
though it is actually a 1000 microfarad capacitor, which when charged, provides
the short burst of power to fire the bulb. It is held in place by a couple of
spring clips, presumably so it can be replaced when eventually it looses its
oomph. What Happened To It? Flashbulbs and flashguns began their steep downward spiral in the
70s with the development of cheap and near infinitely reusable electronic flash
tubes. There were a couple of last-gasps by flash bulb manufacturers, keen to
hold on to their markets. The most notable was the Flashcube, an ingenious way
of packaging four AG1 bulbs and reflectors into a small box and charging up to
ten times as much for the privilege and dubious convenience of no-more burnt
fingers. Then came the Magicube, an even cleverer development that did away
with the need for batteries, instead the tube was fired mechanically by a spring
loaded trigger, a bit like striking a match in fact. There were other attempts
to repackage flashbulbs, like Flipflash and Polaroid’s horrifically expensive
Flashbar for its range of instant cameras. But the flashbulb and its matching
flashgun was doomed and by the end of the 1970s had all but disappeared. National
are still with us, though nowadays they are better known in the UK as
Panasonic, part of the mighty Matsushita Corporation, and they’re still in the
photography business, with a highly regarded range of digital cameras and
camcorders. Where this one came from I cannot be certain. I have a dim
recollection of buying it many years ago at a flea market or boot sale, and I
certainly wouldn’t have paid more than 50 pence for it. It’s in virtually
as-new condition, complete with its horrible grey carry case. I have no idea
how long they were in production but it is clear that a helluva lot of them
were made and plenty have survived so you’ll have absolutely no trouble getting
hold of one, to start off your collection. DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1963? Original Price 35/- (35 shilling or approximately £1.75) Value Today £5.00 0313 Features 125mm
‘fan’ type reflector, compatible AG1 and XM1B disposable flashbulbs (adaptor included),
exposure calculator, cable and hot-shoe connections, test functions, ready
light Power req. 1
x A412 22.5 volt battery Dimensions: 105
x 45 x 40mm Weight: 103g Made in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 4 Pentax Asahi Spotmatic SP, 1966
So what made the Spotmatic so special? Well, you only have
to pick one up to understand its appeal. It feels reassuringly heavy and solid, as if
it has been hewn from a solid lump of metal, but it all starts to make sense when
you cock the shutter. The action is silky smooth, and you can hear, and feel
all of the gears and levers turning and engaging with satisfying clicks, then,
when you press the shutter there’s the crisp swoosh of the shutter blinds
accompanied by the solid ker-chunk of the mirror flipping up and back down
again. It’s pure magic and even after all these years I find myself repeatedly
cocking and firing the shutter, just for fun, to hear it going through the
motions. However, what really made the Spotmatic SP stand out was
the range and quality of the lenses available to use with it, and the ingenious
metering system that assured a perfectly exposed shot almost every time.
It is really easy to use. The aperture is held open for maximum
brightness, allowing for pin sharp focussing, then all you have to do is flip
the SW lever on the side, which stops down the lens and allows you to gauge the
depth of field. This also activates the built in coupled exposure meter; you
then adjust the speed and aperture to suit the scene and conditions, aiming to centre a needle on the right hand side of
the viewfinder, and when you are happy with it, press the shutter button. I came across this Spotmatic body on ebay, it was listed as
being in good cosmetic order but it had a jammed shutter mechanism, so it was
being sold for spares or repairs. There were no other bidders and I snapped it
up for £10.00. Had I been patient I could have had one in full working order
for a fiver more a couple of hours later... As it turned out I was very lucky and it was relatively
simple to fix. After removing the bottom cover I spotted the problem, a small
lever had become slightly bent and was preventing the shutter from releasing.
All it took was a quick tweak with a pair of long-nosed pliers and it was firing
sweetly once again. A week later an original 50mm Pentax lens came up for sale,
again no rival bidders and it was mine for just £8.00 and I had a very useable
35mm outfit for less than £25 (including the postage). What Happened To It? Originally a sub brand of Asahi Optical (formed in 1938),
the Pentax name was adopted by the company in 1957. Pentax is still going
strong and now incorporates a number of other well-known brands, including
Ricoh, Hoya and Seiko Optical. Pentax began producing SLR cameras way back in 1952; the
first Spotmatic SPs appeared in 1964 and the SP series remained in production
until 1973. It went through numerous revisions and upgrades but all models all
shared one common feature, screw-on lenses with a 42mm thread, generally known
as an M42 fitting. Countless lenses and accessories were produced for this
camera, a great many of them are still available from specialist camera shops,
ebay and they turn up quite regularly un junk shops and flea markets. It is a
very practical collectible and they’re not expensive. Really good bodies, in
full working order, can be found for less than £40, maybe £15 - £25 more if
they come with a lens. Bog standard SPs probably won’t increase very much in
value, they tended to be quite well looked after and it
seems that a lot of them are still around – which speaks volumes for the build quality. However, there are plenty of rarities and special
editions for hard-core camera collectors to look out for, and possibly make some money
on, but for me, this is the one I always wanted, it’s a very old friend and sparked a
lifelong interest in proper cameras, with lots of moving parts that make
pleasing noises. DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1964 Original Price £250
(with 50mm f/1.4 lens) Value Today £25.00 1212 Features 35mm
SLR, focal plane shutter (speeds B, 1 – 1/1/000th sec), exposure meter, 42mm
lens mount (M42), shutter cocked indicator, FP & X Flash contacts, self
timer (5 – 15 seconds) Weight: 860g
(with lens) Power req. 1
x AG10 button cell Dimensions: 143
x 90 x 85mm Made in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 6 Speedex Micro ‘Hit’ Spy Camera, 1950?
Hit cameras as I’ll collectively call them from now on were
characterised by the film they used, which was 17.5mm wide, paper backed and
sold on tiny 10-shot reels. That’s an odd size, I hear you say, but it is
one of the reasons these cameras exist. You’ll notice that 17.5 is half of 35,
and 35mm film just happened to be relatively cheap in Japan in the mid to late
1940s, struggling to recover from the ravages of WWII. The country was
essentially broke and for most photoraphy was an unaffordable luxury, until these
little cameras came along. The quality of materials and manufacture was
relatively poor but the low cost, cheap film (made by splitting 35mm film
stock) and straightforward processing made them hugely popular. It didn’t seem
to matter too much that they didn’t take very good pictures – and that’s being
kind – the Japanese market was soon awash with models. That probably would have
been the end of it but in the late 1940s they began exporting them, mainly to
the US, where they often sold for a dollar or less and that sometimes included
a very smart little leather carry case. They sold in vast numbers and earned
Japan much needed currency but they weren’t taken very seriously as cameras and
were often sold as novelties, toys and Christmas tree decorations.
A camera like this was high on my wish list as a kid growing up in the 1960s. Ads showing them in the hands of private eyes and secret agents were a regular fixture in American comic books but back then they might as well have been on sale on the Moon as there was no way, that I could see, for someone living in the UK to buy one. I came across this little Speedex in a junk shop a few years ago. The memories came flooding back; I happily paid the £5.00 asking price, cleaned it up, oiled the shutter mechanism, played with a for a while then put it in a drawer and forgot all about it.
My interest was revived recently when I
stumbled across a page of Hit cameras on ebay. I hadn’t realised that
there were so many different types and they had become a collectible. I even
managed to find some film and now have half a dozen unexposed rolls though I
seriously doubt that after all these years they’re any good. Incidentally, I
suspect that it’s possible to make up some rolls of useable film by hacking a
35mm film cassette and backing the cut film with paper, or block the frame number window to stop light getting in; hey-ho, yet another
project for a very rainy day... What Happened To It? The Hit camera fad seems to have peaked in the mid 50s but
production lasted well into the 1960s and during that time I suspect several
million of them were sold. Because of their cheapness, crude design and poor
performance they didn’t attract much attention from camera enthusiasts and seem
to have virtually disappeared from view, until recently. They’re still a bit of
a backwater in the vintage camera collecting market but I have a sense that
they could become popular once again and have a lot going for them. They look
brilliant, they’re tiny, so collections don’t take up much space, there are
hundreds of different models to collect, and best of all, you can still find
bargains. Really nice ones complete in their original box and leather case can
be found selling on ebay for between £15 and £30. For those who don’t mind getting
their hands dirty, decent fixer-uppers can be found for a fiver. Prices can
only go up, probably not by very much, but there’s only so many out there so
get one while you can. DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1945-ish Original Price £0.25 Value Today £25.00 1112 Features Single
speed shutter 1/50th sec & B Mode (open shutter), fixed focus lens,
10-shots on 17.5mm paper backed film, manual film advance Weight: 43g Power req. n/a Dimensions: 55
x 32 x 35mm Made in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 5 Tasco SE 600 Deluxe Microscope, 1966
It was actually the second of my microscopes; the first was a little Merit
model, finished in black crackle paint, probably part of a chemistry set, and
essentially a toy. This one was a big step up in terms of sophistication, still a bit of a toy
but it came in a really well-made fitted wooden box, complete with a set of
clear and prepared slides, slide covers, some specimens and a tiny bottle of
what was to me, then, a mysterious orange liquid called Canada Balsam. It is a compact, sturdy design, mostly made of metal; a
rotating turret fitted with three lenses gives 75x, 300x and 600x
magnification. Actually they are rated at 5x, 20x and 40x; the headline figures
are due to the detachable eyepiece, which has its own set of lenses, providing another 15x
magnification. The specimen platform or stage has a couple of spring clips to
keep slides in place and underneath there’s a mirror, mounted on a gimbal, to
provide illumination, from the sun (indirectly, unless you wanted to go
blind...) or a light source, like a table lamp. According to the instructions a
battery-powered lamp was available as an optional extra. Not that you needed
instructions to use it, there’s only one control, a pair of knobs on the side,
which moves the barrel up and down for focussing and the whole thing pivots on
its stand for a comfortable viewing angle. Included in the box of slides are three prepared ones labelled Angora rabbit, something called Silver Berry scaly hair, and ‘Sheep hair manufa-cture’. This last one looks like some coloured strands of wool and my guess it is another early example of Japanese translation skills. To be fair the actual instructions are not too bad, certainly enough to get a budding scientist up and running.
And so to the Canada Balsam, which many years later I
learned is a type of turpentine, made from the resin of the Balsam fir tree.
It’s used to seal specimens between a slide and thin glass slide cover. The
instructions say it takes two weeks to dry, which explains why the bottle is
still sealed and I never got around to using it – life was too short back then,
to wait two weeks for anything… By the way, almost every ‘young scientist’ type
microscope I’ve owned came with a prepared slide of mysterious hairy red fibres.
They were never labelled and I’ve never found out what they were, so if anyone
knows, please put me out of my misery. I can’t remember where my Tasco DeLuxe came from, though
many of my early scientific toys and gadgets came from the marvellous Headquarters
and General shop in London’s Edgware Road, or one of the many Aladdin’s caves
nearby and in the Tottenham Court Road. I can’t recall how much it cost either
but it probably wasn’t much more than £5.00 or so, but that was when a
fiver was worth something… What Happened To It? It is still in excellent, almost unplayed-with condition, which suggests that my youthful dalliance with microscopy didn’t last very long. The fact is that once you’ve inspected the bits of your own body and the fluids that can be fitted under the lens, dead insects, leaves and any other flora and fauna that came to hand, you move on to other diversions, it gets packed away and forgotten. This remained undisturbed in my late mother’s loft for over 40 years, and apart from a few specks of dust trapped in the optics, it works as well now as the day it was made. It’s not a serious scientific instrument; the optics are of passable quality and getting a clear, sharp image can be quite a fiddly business. Microscopes of all stripes can be found on ebay and at boot sales but only the oldest and best quality instruments command high prices. Models like this one are rarely of interest to serious collectors so if you want to start a collection it won’t break the bank; just don’t expect it to be much of an investment. For what it is, and what it cost back then, it was great
introduction to the world of the very small, but apart from the seriously nerdy
it wasn’t the sort of thing to keep the average young person in the 1960s
amused for very long. Of course microscopes are still available and today’s
‘junior‘ models come equipped built-in CCD cameras and designed for PC
hook-ups. They look really exciting, though speaking now as a parent I have a
feeling that most of them are destined to suffer the same fate as my old
‘scope, but with a much smaller chance of them still working in 40 years time… DUSTY DATA (Manual)First seen 1966 Original Price £5.00? Value Today £10.00 1012 Features 15x
magnification eyepiece, 5x, 20x & 40x magnification objective lenses on
rotating turret, adjustable mirror, focus adjustment, 9-piece slide set and
cover slips, fibre and fabric specimens, Canada Balsam, fitted wooden case Weight: 700g Power req. n/a Dimensions: 195
x 65 x 110mm Made in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 5 Kodak Instamatic 100 Camera, 1963
First generation Instamatics used the revolutionary126 film
cartridge. This was one of the first and arguably the most successful attempt
to make photography idiot-proof, and Kodak lots of money. Until that time
amateur photography was often an unsatisfying and unpredictable experience.
Virtually all cheap ‘snap’ cameras used cumbersome roll film, which had to be
unwrapped and manually threaded onto a take-up reel in near dark conditions. It
was very easy to get it wrong, and back then you only found out that the film
was blank or full of rubbish photos days or weeks after the event, and after
you had paid to have it processed. The Instamatic 100 couldn’t be simpler or more convenient
to use. Just open the back, drop in a cartridge, advance the film to the first
frame with the side mounted thumb lever and it’s ready to go. It has a fixed
focus 42mm f/11 lens and a single shutter speed of 1/90th second, which is fine
for most well lit daylight situations. In poor light press the button on the
front and up pops the flashgun and the shutter switches to a 1/40th second
exposure. It’s hard to convey now how exciting that flashgun was, especially to
a 12-year old. It was a proper gadget feature and it’s a testament to the
strength of the design that after all these years, and I suspect several tens
of thousands of pop-ups later, it still works. By the way, it uses AG-1
disposable one-shot bulbs, which cost a few pence each. They were also pretty
exciting, especially for budding schoolboy experimenters; dangerous too, in
fact I think I still have a couple of scars, but that’s another story… On the face of it, such rudimentary optics and exposure
options suggest that its capabilities are limited but if you followed the
rules, made sure the Sun was always behind you, and didn’t try to take pictures
in poor light, or close-ups without a flash, then the results could be quite
good. Pre Instamatic snapshot cameras typically had ‘hit’ rate of around one in
four. In other words, for every decent photo you took, three would end up in
the bin. With the Instamatic this rose to better than one in two, which
naturally encouraged you to take more pictures. What Happened To It? This particular model of Instamatic remained in production
until 1966 and was exceptionally popular; indeed between 1963 and 1970 more than 100 million Instamatics were
sold. The Instamatic name was also used on a range of 110 cartridge cameras in
the 70s and even a small number of Super 8 movie cameras. Instamatics
peaked in popularity the early seventies. A steady decline followed and the
last Kodak camera to bear the Instamatic name rolled off the line in 1984.
Kodak continued to be a leading innovator in film photography well into the
1990s but it failed to repeat earlier successes with the ill-fated Disc and APS
film formats and waited far too long to get into digital photography, with
predictable results. The brand survives but in early 2012 Kodak filed for
bankruptcy and announced that it would stop making consumer cameras and
concentrate instead on corporate and industrial digital imaging. This Instamatic was bought for a school trip to France,
probably in 1964. I saved up for ages; half the cost came from pocket
money and my paper round and the rest from my parents. It was so reliable, and the results were so good that
it was the only camera I, and the rest of my family, used for the best
part of decade. I can’t remember exactly when or why it was retired but it has
spent most of the last five decades unused, sitting around in boxes, cupboards,
drawers and various lofts until it came to light recently. Apart from the
leather-ish case looking a bit wrinkled, it was in near perfect condition and
everything appears to work perfectly. You can still get hold of 126 cartridges,
and empty ones can be loaded with 35mm film (see this YouTube video), and one
day I’m going to have a go. Sadly, even after all this time and it being practically an
antique, old Instamatics are virtually worthless. Millions were sold and it
seems a great many 50s and 100s are still around, in junk shops, flea markets, boot
sales and of course ebay, where you can pick one up in good condition for a
pound or two; expect to pay £10 for a really fine example. Not much of an
investment then, but it’s a surprisingly usable collectible. Getting one
working again, with 35mm film, sounds like a fun project. In case you’re wondering, you
only need to get the exposed film developed as negatives, which shouldn’t be
too difficult. You can then scan them into your PC, to view and make prints. DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1963 Original Price £10.00 Value Today £5.00 1012 Features 43mm
f/11 lens, 2-speed leaf shutter 1/90th sec, 1/40th sec in flash mode, 126
cartridge film format, built in flash (AG-I single-use bulbs), mechanical film
advance, optical viewfinder Weight: 267g Power req. 2
x AAA cell Dimensions: 102
x 52 x 62mm Made in: England Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 3 King Folding Binoculars, 1968?
They are cheaply made but the actual quality of
construction is quite good. The case and all moving parts are stamped metal, so
it’s able to withstand frequent opening and closing; the spring is surprisingly
strong and they pop open very smartly, with a noisy clunk (mouse over the first picture to see it open and closed). The focussing
mechanism is also very sturdy and after a thorough cleanup all mine needed was
a couple of drops of oil to get a silky smooth action. The overall condition
was excellent, the lenses polished up well, even the tacky leatherette trim was
still firmly stuck in place and the chrome trim shined up nicely. There’s not
much to say about its optical qualities; it makes things a bit bigger but the
lenses are fairly crude with some edge distortion, and if your eyes are set
wider or narrower than the fixed 65mm IPD (Inter-Puplillary Distance), you are
not going to get a true binocular 3D effect, or get a squint trying… What Happened To It? I can’t say for certain when this design first appeared,
but I have a feeling it was in the early to mid 1960s, which would be around the time
when I bought my one. It was the sort of thing that made regular
appearances in the Exchange & Mart. I can almost picture the ad; it would
have shown a keen bird watcher or sports enthusiast, gazing at some far-off
creature or event, looking amazed by the size and clarity of the image. You
could get away with that sort of thing back then, and I would have almost
certainly fallen for it. I still regret not buying a pair of X-Ray
spectacles when I had the chance… I have seen the same or near identical models bearing the
name Butterfly, Elyco, Glider, Osaniua, Reader’s Digest (probably a promotional
item), Sport Glass, Star-Lite, Super Zenith, and I have no doubt there were many others. I
am not sure when they stopped making them but my guess would
be the mid to late 70s, for no better reason than the decline in opera and
theatre going and the appearance of more powerful and better quality pocket
binoculars. There is no shortage of this model on ebay and you shouldn’t have
to pay more than around £5.00 for a clean boxed example, However, don’t expect
too much, they’re an interesting knick-knack, and it’s fun to make people jump
when you pop them open, but if you want to see distant objects either buy a
decent pair of bins, or get closer… DUSTY DATAFirst seen 1968? Original Price £3.00? Value Today £5.00 1012 Features Galilean
optics, folding objective lens, thumbwheel screw focus, 2.5 x magnification,
24mm objective, 9mm ocular Power req. n/a Weight: 105-g Dimensions: 110
x 63 x 19 Made in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 4 View-Master Stereo Viewer, 1955
Which brings us in a roundabout way to the View-Master
stereo viewer. It’s a development of the stereoscope, an idea that dates back
to the 1830’s. Basically each eye sees a separate image, taken by a camera with two lenses, spaced at roughly the same distance as our own
eyes. (Stereo images can also be taken with an ordinary camera on a mount that
allows it to move sideways and take two images in quick succession; see also the Nimslo 3D camera). Either way
you end up with two pictures of the same scene taken at very slightly different
angles and when viewed on a stereoscope the brain recombines them to give the same impression of
depth that we get with our own eyes. View-Master is just one of hundreds of stereoscope designs
that have come and gone over the past 180 odd years. It has the distinction of being the
best-known, longest-lasting and, at the time of writing, it is still in
production, though the design of the viewer has changed many times since it
first appeared in the late 1930s. The only thing that has stayed the same is the
picture wheel or disc – more on that in a moment. This View-Master is a family hand me down, almost certainly
purchased by my parents. I can date it precisely, thanks to the
excellent 20th Century Stereo
Viewer website. It’s a Model C, which was produced between 1946 and 1955. It’s
towards the latter end of that date range because
a moulded panel, with details of patent numbers, lacks a raised border. It’s made
of Bakelite, a tough and durable thermo-setting plastic, which helps to account for
it’s near pristine condition. It may also have something to do with the fact that it has spent most of its life
in its cardboard box; the novelty wears
off quite quickly... Operation is simple; just pop a picture disc into the slot on the top of the viewer. These are around 90mm in diameter and hold 14 images (7 stereoscopic pairs). Face a strong light source, peer through the eyepieces and prepare to be amazed. When you get bored with it there are 6 more pictures on the disk to look at, which you select by pressing down on the lever at the side. Optional battery-powered light adaptors were available for some models, others had their own built in light bulbs, so the fun was never ending… However, like modern 3D systems I suspect that a lack of software rapidly consigned most viewers to the loft or the backs of dusty wardrobes. Viewers usually came with a small selection of discs to get you going but once you’d flicked through the Wonders of the Taj Mahal, The Majesty of the Austrian Tyrol or the delights of an overcast Edinburgh a few dozen times, it somehow lost its appeal. That’s not to say there was a ever shortage of picture discs, far from it, and I seem to remember that you could buy them at souvenir shops at tourist attractions, but they were fairly expensive, and quite frankly, not as involving as the snaps that you could take with your own camera. On the plus side, the stereo or 3D effect was generally
very good and the photographers who took them were obviously skilled at
composing the shots to achieve the maximum depth. In case you are wondering, I
still have the original discs that came with my viewer, it’s just that I don’t
know where they are, and if you could see my loft you would understand. This
really isn’t a problem, though because there are literally thousands of them
for sale on ebay. They often sell for a pound or two, though the older, and
more historic views and especially rare discs can fetch more but since more
than 1.5 billion of them have been produced to date, I doubt that they will
ever be in short supply. What Happened To It? If you are interested there’s a detailed history of the View-Master brand on the 20th Century Stereo Viewer website. Suffice it to say it has been bought and sold several times and is currently part of the Fisher-Price toy empire. That would seem to be it’s proper home; it always was basically a toy, in spite of it being marketed to adults, but today’s grown-ups can now dabble with their own home-made 3D stills and movies, thanks to a wide assortment digicams, camcorders, smartphones and software applications. Whether or not View-Master can withstand the digital onslaught remains to be seen. I have my doubts, but it has shown a lot of resilience and it remains a fertile ground for collectors, especially of rare and unusual models. Just don’t expect to get rich if you have an old one, and prices are unlikely to go up very much in the foreseeable. DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1946 Original Price $2.00 Value Today? £15.00 0912 Features:
Optical stereo viewer, slot loading, optional light attachment Power
req. n/a Weight: 188g Dimensions: 105 x 92 x 75mm
Made in: Belgium Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 4 Minolta Weathermatic-A Underwater Camera
1980
The Minolta
Weathermatic-A ticks all of those boxes, plus a few more besides, and it became
a favourite with divers, snorkellers, sailors and outdoor types who got wet. It was one of the first (possibly the first) underwater
camera using the long defunct 110 cartridge format. Underwater in this context
means it’s rated to a depth of 5 metres, though that was almost certainly a
fairly conservative figure and it would probably be able to go twice as deep
without mishap. The bright yellow case is a really rugged design and the
waterproofing measures are most impressive. There is only one opening, at the
back and the removable clear panel is held tightly in place by two rotating
compression clamps. A rubber O-ring around the edge of the back panel and seals
around the two control knobs, shutter button and film advance lever ensure that
no water can get in. Key features include a
high quality 3-element, f1:3.5/26mm lens, large focus, aperture and film winder
controls and a ‘Sportsfinder ‘ viewfinder that can be used as normal or through
diving goggles when beneath the waves. Focus is from 0.9 metres to infinity;
it’s continuously variable but there’s a detent on the portrait (3.5m) setting.
There are three aperture presets for sunny, cloudy and flash and the shutter
has a fixed speed of 1/200th sec. Viewfinder displays include a simple pointer
showing the chosen focus setting and an LED that shows insufficient light and
flash ready; the latter is powered by a single AA cell. I bought this camera
from a friend a dozen or more years ago. It was in as-new condition and had
never been used and as far as I can recall I paid a tenner for it. I would
dearly love to say it has been with me on many descents to the briny deep but
the truth is the deepest it has ever been is a couple of meters, at our local
swimming pool plus a few quick sploshes in the sea. That’s not to say it hasn’t
been used. It has given reliable service and produced some great pictures on
dry land, surviving the attentions of my two kids as they grew up and took it
on holidays and school trips. It’s a tough customer and even after lying
dormant for several years it still looks good, it works too and the flash fired
up straight away. What Happened To It? Minolta’s Weathermatic
camera range, which also included binoculars, followed the trends and changes
in film formats with 35mm and aps models in the 80s and 90s. The 110 format was
already on the wane by the time this model came out. Nevertheless, it seems
that it continued in production throughout most of the 1980s. There were only a
small handful of rival waterproof models available, and as far as I can see,
and in spite of the 110 formats many shortcomings, none of them were as good as
this one. Minolta had a tough time in the 1990s and never really got into
digital photography, which would have been the next logical step for the
Weathermatic marque. Minolta merged with Konica in 2004 and pulled out of the camera
market in 2006. Weathermatic-A models,
like this can be found on ebay, often selling for £10.00 or less. This reflects
the fact that they are effectively obsolete, 110 film is now very difficult to
find, and getting it processed can be a problem. Like any specialist camera it
has the potential to become a collectable but it may take a while. Don’t let
that put you off, though, that just means there are some real bargains to be
had and now is a great time to buy, just don’t expect anyone other than your
great grandchildren to benefit from your investment… DUSTY DATAFirst seen:
1980 Original Price
£40.00? Value Today?
£5.00 0712 Features: 110 (16mm) cartridge format, f1:3.5, 26mm
4-element lens, zone focusing (5 distances), 3 aperture settings (sun, cloud,
flash), metal blade shutter fixed speed 1/200th sec., LED under exposure/flash
ready warning, built in flash, optical sportsfinder with parallax correction
frame, next carry strap, 5m submersion Power req. 1 x AA cell Weight:
347g (ex film & batt) Dimensions: 190 x
72 x 38 mm
Made in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 5 Coca-Cola Burger King Keychain Camera,
1980?
I’m putting the date at
late seventies to early eighties but this is just a guess. The 110 film
cartridge format was introduced in 1972 but it will have taken a few years for
cameras of this type and simplicity to evolve. Similar designs can still be
found, but this particular model may have been made by a company called Ansco,
or it might have been Micro-Pet, or one of half a dozen other equally obscure
makes, but they mostly seem to have disappeared in the mid 80s. I haven’t been
able to find anything on the relevant Coke/BK or Kellogg’s promotions, so if
anyone out there can help me pin it down I would be grateful.
It goes without saying,
but I’ll say it anyway, it takes terrible pictures. It could hardly do anything
else, as the 110 film format wasn’t noted for quality. The chances of a tiny
plastic lens, probably costing a fraction of a penny to make, capturing a
sharp image is next to zero; less than zero in fact when you factor in the lack
of any exposure controls. I dare say you might get a recognisable blur on a
bright sunny day but that’s almost certainly as far as it goes. To be fair,
these were made to be given away. They were a bit of fun and mostly aimed at
kids, but I suspect they managed to annoy quite a few parents, pestered into
buying and processing a film, with predictably disappointing results. What Happened To It? The 110 format film
remained in production until 2008. There may even be someone somewhere still
making it but it had passed it sell by date at least 20 years earlier, killed
off initially by Kodak doing their usual trick of introducing a new film type
in 1982 (the ill fated and short lived Disc format). Also in the early 80s 35mm
compact autos proved very popular and in 1995 Kodak launched the APS format,
and latterly the rise and rise of digital photography. Cameras like this are quite collectable, but mainly as promotional items, and I’m guessing that there’s a dedicated Coca Cola or Burger King fan out there who would dearly like to get their hands on this one, but that doesn’t mean it’s worth anything. My estimate of its current value of £5.00 is probably rather generous, especially as I only paid 50 pence for it at a car boot sale. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting and little travelled by water of photography and maybe one day miniature freebie cameras like this will be collectable in their own right, and as an added bonus they don’t take up much space… DUSTY DATAFirst seen:
1980? Original Price
usually free Value Today?
£5.00? 0512 Features: Single speed (1/100th second) shutter,
flip up viewfinder, film advance thumbwheel, shutter button, detachable
keychain Power req. n/a Weight:
24g (without film cartridge) Dimensions: 65 x
35 x 30 mm
Made in: Taiwan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 4 Minolta XG-SE, Compact SLR, 1978
Now that may not sound
like much of an argument for old-tyme 35mm film cameras, but knowing that you
may only have one chance to get it right, and it is going to cost you money
however the pictures turn out, makes you a better photographer. Even getting it
wrong teaches you valuable lessons. You had to actually think about things like
exposure, lighting and composition. It’s a far cry from today’s digicams where
you just blast away in the hope that one of your snaps will turn out okay, and
even if it doesn’t, you can tweak it on your computer. It’s probably a bit pretentious
to describe 35mm photography in this context as an art form, but digital has yet to fully replicate the look and texture of film and taking photos with a camera like this really is more challenging
and satisfying, especially when you get it right. I produced my fair
share of good pictures on this very camera (well, I think they were okay),
which I bought on a trip to the US in 1979. It was state of the art and the
best I could afford; I reckon I must have blown a month’s wages on it. But it
was worth every penny, becoming a constant companion on assignments and
holidays for a good few years, and it never let me down once. The picture shows
it fitted with one of several zoom lenses I used over the years, and a Minolta
motor drive that I bought for one special job. That was the launch of the first
Space Shuttle in 1981, which I was covering for a magazine. The sequence of
pictures I shot from the press enclosure, just over 3 miles from the launch
pad, were the best I have ever taken, though annoyingly I missed the full
spectacle, viewing much of it one-eyed, through the viewfinder. I would like to think
that I chose this model for its easy to use controls, range of exposure options
and great quality (photographically and mechanically). It has all of those, but
it was the compact shape, the Minolta brand, smart black body and a very persuasive
salesperson that sold it to me. But whether by luck or judgement it was
definitely one of my better buying decisions. The selector wheel on
the top spent most of its time in the ‘A’ (Aperture Priority) position and the
camera sorts out the shutter speed, leaving the user to manually adjust iris
and focus, and for the most part it worked superbly well. There’s a simple
illuminated display in the viewfinder that shows the selected shutter speed, so
you can make creative decisions about the depth of field and so on, by
adjusting the iris. Focusing is also near idiot-proof, with an optical spit
screen then ensures pin-sharp results, almost every time. What Happened To It? It turns out that the
XG-SE model was only in production for a year or so. It wasn’t significantly
different to a couple of other XG cameras in Minolta’s range, though I doubt
that many of them were made. Sadly it’s showing its age now so it’s probably
not worth much but it’s an old friend and I wouldn’t part with it. The XG
series built up a good reputation for quality and value for money and continued
with several improvements and variations until 1982 when it was replaced by the
X-370 range. My SE still works; I haven’t run a film through it for several years but I have no doubt that it is still capable of taking brilliant photographs, though not necessarily by me. My photography muscles, such as they were, have become fat and lazy over the years, thanks to a sucession of 35mm and APS auto compacts and super-smart digital cameras. Like everyone else I can’t wait to see the results, or resist the temptation to fiddle with my snaps on the PC, which is a great, but I miss the anticipation and even the smell of a crisp envelope full of newly developed prints. Taking pictures nowadays may be as easy as falling off a log, and you are virtually guaranteed to get a picture in almost any lighting condition, but it just isn’t as much fun as it used to be... DUSTY DATAFirst seen:
1978 Original Price $290 (with standard 45mm f1.4 lens) Value Today?
£50.00? 0312 Features: Horizontal-traverse cloth focal plane shutter, 1 second to
1/1000th second, with X-sync at 1/60, centre-weighted CdS cell exposure meter,
aperture priority auto-exposure with step-less shutter speeds, manual shutter,
PM type focusing screen, with a horizontal bi-prism, electronic self-timer (10
secs), battery check light, hot flash shoe with X terminal, Power req. 2 x LR44 button cell Weight: 700g (with standard lens) Dimensions: 140 x
90 x 90 mm
Made in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 6 Zenith BM-51-2 Stereo Microscope, 1985?
But back to the matter in hand, and this Russian-made Zenith BM-51-2 stereo binocular microscope, with a fixed magnification of 8.75x. There’s not much information online but I am fairly sure they were in production for at least 25 years. They were popular with schools and colleges as they are really tough, and very easy to use. It’s a simple design, and if you look closely at the two eyepiece parts you’ll see that they look a lot like a pair of binoculars. That’s because that’s what they used to make it; they even left on the neck strap retaining loops. This model has only
three adjustments. The distance between the eyepiece lenses is set by twisting
the two prism housings, the instrument can be raised or lowered – to
accommodate larger specimens, and there’s a simple rack and pinion arrangement
for focussing. The circular plate in the base can be flipped over – the other
side is black. A pair of spring clips can be used to hold thin flat specimens
in place. Stereo microscopes have
several advantages over the single barrel type. The image is in glorious stereo
or 3D, they are much less tiring to use for long periods, and because there are
two optical paths more light gets through, producing a brighter, sharper image.
The big downside, of course is the increase in cost and complexity. Good stereo
microscopes can be very expensive indeed, but that’s where the BM-51-2 scores
so well. The simple, rugged design is pitched at the education market. It is
made in Russia and certainly the first ones would have been produced in the
Soviet USSR era, when most factories were state owned, cost was not an issue
and products like this were often produced for export and sold for artificially
low prices to bring in much needed foreign currency. What Happened To It? Production on the
BM-51-2 lasted well into the 21st century. Its replacement is a little more
sophisticated, with a magnification of 10x but the general design is basically
the same. In the wider world stereo microscopes have changed little over the
years, though high-end models often now sport built in video cameras or
attachments for the same. Microscope collecting
is a specialised field and fine quality antique instruments can sell for tens
of thousands of pounds, Even if you lower your sights it can still become an
expensive hobby, good quality microscopes costs a lot when new, they last for
years so not that many are made and comparatively few of them make it into the
marketplace, where prices hold up well. There are bargains to be had but they
are few and far between or they are fixer uppers or have parts missing. This instrument is at the bottom end of the scale. Serious collectors tend not be interested in models like this, which are comparatively recent and made in fairly large numbers, which explains why it only cost me £12.00 at a antique fair. They were supplied in wooden carry cases, unfortunately this one wasn’t but it seems to have been well looked after, although it was a bit grubby. It scrubbed up well, though and now looks like new, though judging by the markings I suspect it is from the late Soviet era. It works a treat, and whilst 8.75x magnification may not sound a lot, it’s more than enough for examining things like banknotes and documents, small creatures, working on miniature electronic devices and gazing at the fine detail on a multitude of natural and man-made objects that you only really appreciate when you get up close and personal, and in stereo, of course. DUSTY DATAFirst seen:
1980 Original Price
£50 Value Today?
£20 0312 Features: Stereo binocular
microscope, fixed 8.75x magnification, rack and pinion focussing, reversible
specimen platter, specimen retaining clips Power
req. n/a Weight: 1.5kg Dimensions:
300 x 174 x 130mm Made in: Russia (USSR) Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 5 Polaroid Swinger II
Instant Camera, 1970
Taking a photo is fairly straightforward. You frame the shot then pinch the large red and white shutter button. This illuminates a small checkerboard display in the bottom of the viewfinder; you have to twist the shutter button until the word ‘YES’ appears clearly in the display and you can click the shutter button. Next, you press in the blue button on the back, pull back a hinged flap and use your thumb and forefinger to grip the film sheet, which you pull out of the camera in one steady movement. This draws a small sachet of developer chemical and the exposed film through a set of rollers, the sachet ruptures and spreads the chemical over the surface of the film. After a couple of minutes – the actual time varies according to ambient temperature – peel apart the film from its backing sheet and if you were very lucky the picture was revealed. More often than not, though the picture was too light or too dark so you had to have another go; if you got more than four useable pictures from a pack you were doing very well. Film packs also included a sort of squeegee coated with a chemical fixer that you wipe over the image, to stop it fading, at least that was the theory... Having the image
develop there and then was a hugely impressive trick; Polaroid instant cameras
had been around for quite a while, but very few people owned one as they were incredibly expensive. The
Swinger also known as the Sentinel bought instant photography to the masses and it
became one of the top selling cameras of all time with more than four million
of them made between 1965 and 1970. They were very cheap to buy; I suspect they were heavily subsidised, as usual the real money was made on the film packs with each
print costing the equivalent of five or six pounds in today’s money. What Happened To It? The Swinger’s biggest
drawback was that it could only take black and white photos, which by the late
60s was decidedly old hat with colour photography becoming the norm for home snappers. Polaroid didn’t leave that gap in the market unplugged for long and by
the early 1970s it had developed a Colour Swinger model. Many more cameras followed
and Polaroid pretty much ruled the instant camera roost well into the late 1990s
when digital cameras started to take off. This one is in good condition and as far as I can tell in the absence of a film, it is in full working order. I found it at a car boot sale where it was priced at £2.00 but I haggled it down to £1.50. This gives you some idea of its real value. A great many of them have survived so if you want one you can afford to be really picky as there are plenty of examples in mint condition to be had, some in their original box and with instructions. However, I doubt that they will ever be worth very much, production of Type 20 film stopped several years ago so they’re of little or no practical use. Nevertheless, it’s still an interesting object and a must have for anyone keen on sixties vintage cameras and of course, collectors of instant cameras. DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1965 Original Price £20 Value Today? £2 0212 Features: Simple manual exposure system, optical
viewfinder, optional flashgun, carry strap Power req. 2 x AA cells Weight: 150 x 125 x 125mm Dimensions: 610g Made in: UK Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 3 Prinz Dual 8
Proofmaster Cine Editor, 1970
You don’t need to be
particularly cinematically minded to work out what it does and how it works.
You load your unedited footage and an empty reel onto the capstans on the two
crank arms, thread it through the rollers and under the little spring-loaded
guide clamp beneath the screen and crank away. When you find the bit you want
to chop just remove the film, snip the section out and rejoin the ends. It’s an
absurdly simple and near idiot-proof process that for all of its digital
wizardry, video movie technology has yet to match. There’s very little to
say on the how it works front. The optical system comprises a small lamp
shining through a rotary shutter or gate. This is driven by the sprocket holes
that are cut into the edge of the film. Light passes through the each film
frame, then a lens and onto a mirror that projects the image onto the rear of
the ground glass screen. The only control, apart from the crank handles, is a
rotary knob on the lamp housing that switches the frame aperture, between
Standard and Super 8 film sizes. In side there’s a small 10 watt lamp, which
produces quite a dull image but I suspect that’s deliberate, to avoid damaging
the film, through excessive heat and light as it is liable to be stationary for
long periods. What Happened To It? Prinz was a Dixon’s own
brand but I can’t be entirely sure who made it. The Proofmaster hails from
Japan and it seems very well made, maybe one of the well known photographic
companies was doing a spot of badge engineering? There’s very little info about
it online so I’m also guessing the original price, which I’ve put at £50.
Anyone who knows better please feel free to put me right. Although video killed cine stone dead in the late 80s and early 90s there remains a determined band of enthusiasts who keep it going so devices like this are probably still in demand and sought after. I checked and there always seems to be one or two on ebay though they never seem to fetch much, unless they are in pristine condition. I doubt that many were made cine was never a mainstream hobby. A fair number of people bought cameras and projectors but the hassle and expense of making a jittery 3 minute movie meant that relatively few people got beyond half a dozen reels and only a tiny percentage went on to edit their films. The presently low prices for cine equipment is a surprise though and doesn’t reflect the original cost, precision and high quality of construction of these products. My guess is prices will rise and within the next few years these wonderful looking gizmos could become quite collectable as decorative objects, let alone the fact that they still have a practical use. Who knows, maybe it’s time for retro cine revival? Stranger things have happened… DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1970 Original Price £50 Value Today? £5 0112 Features: Standard 8 & Super 8 compatible, twin
crank drive, manual shutter advance, 10 watt lamp Power req. 220 volts AC Weight: 140 x 170 x 235mm (ex crank arms) Dimensions: 2kg Made in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 3 Prinz 110 Auto Pocket
Camera, 1978
It first appeared in
1972 almost exactly 10 years after the Instamatic format was launched. The most
important feature was the small size of the cassette, which resulted in a new
generation of ultra compact cameras. With each frame of film measuring just 17
x 13mm it posed no threat – at least as far as quality was concerned – to 35mm
and the larger film formats, but that wasn’t the point. A 110 camera fitted
snugly in your pocket or purse and you could whip it out and take a picture of
anything that took your fancy with a minimum of fuss. Prinz was a Dixon’s own
brand and unusually, the 110 Auto was a notch or two above most other budget
110 cameras of the day. Points of interest include a simple automatic exposure
system, a ‘one-touch’ sliding film advance lever on the bottom, a light-sensor
on the front, next to the lens, a cable release trigger next to the shutter
button and there’s even a tripod mount on the underside. Low cost electronic
flash was still to come, so to keep the price down this camera used Flashcubes.
This was another ingenious money-spinning idea. Essentially each cube contains
four one-shot flashbulbs, (costing many times as much as four ordinary
flashbulbs), but the really clever thing about Flashcubes was that they were
fired mechanically, similar to striking a match, so the camera didn’t need
batteries. In fact the Prinz 110 Auto does use a battery to power the AE
system, it’s a proprietary 4.5volt design that needless to say is no longer
available. Incidentally, the
optional Flashcube ‘stalk’ was an attempt to avoid redeye. This was a perennial
problem with 110 cameras, due to the proximity of the flash to the centre-line
of the lens. The narrow angle increased the chance of light from the flash
bouncing back from the subject’s retinas into the lens. What Happened To It? 110 cameras were
initially quite successful; there were scores of models to choose from though
it has to be said that most of them were pretty awful. With film size that
small the roles of the lens and exposure system are critical but performance
and quality just wasn’t an issue for most manufacturers. Never the less, the
format enjoyed quite reasonable sales for several years; film was still being
made as recently as 2009, though rumour has it Kodak still has a small scale
plant in operation. The format didn’t die
overnight, but as before it was Kodak that effectively pulled the plug by
introducing its ill-fated Disc format in 1982. By now you may have spotted a
pattern. That’s right, since the 1960s on average Kodak has launched a new film
format every 10 years or so (well almost, the APS format was a bit late and
didn’t appear until 1995…). No prizes for guessing
where this one came from. As with so many other gizmos on these pages it was
rescued from a car boot sale and cost 50 pence. It was an absolute bargain as
it came with an unused film, and a flashcube with two good bulbs. It’s in good
condition too and the winder and shutter still work, but alas the AE system is
all but useless due to the lack of a battery. It should be possible to
refurbish the pack with some modern button cells but that’s a project that will
have to wait for a very dull rainy day. Cameras like these are far too common
to have any real value but there were a number of high-end models made by the
likes of Canon, Minolta, Minox, Pentax and Voigtlander and I imagine that they
could become quite collectable, so it is worth keeping an eye out for pristine,
boxed examples. DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1978 Original Price £10? Value Today? £2 0112 Features: 110 format film, auto exposure, flashcube
flash with extender, slide lever film advance Power req. 538 custom battery pack, 4.5 volts Weight: 170g Dimensions: 125 x 55 x 27mm Made in: Japan Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 3 Kodak Brownie Starflash, 1960
But back to the Starflash and it was a hugely
successful design with the first ones appearing in the mid fifties. The black
and silver model I have here was the most common type but there were several special
editions, including a very rare Coca-Cola branded model that’s now worth a very
pretty penny. It’s popularity and longevity can be put down to one thing,
simplicity. It’s a true point-and-shoot design and if was a bit dark, or you were
snapping away indoors, just pop in a flash bulb. There are only two controls, the shutter lever
on the side and a very simple aperture lever beneath the lens for switching from black and
white to less sensitive colour slide film. The cameras takes 12 exposure 127
roll film and this was its Achilles heel. It had to be loaded in near dark
conditions and since this involved threading the end of the reel onto a take-up
spool it was a really fiddly business. You could try loading it in subdued
light but if you got it wrong and light got onto the film it would be fogged,
or if it wasn’t threaded properly it didn’t wind on and you wouldn’t know until
it came back from the processors. Despite all that it did take reasonable
pictures but the prints were very small, measuring 4 x 4 cm or just over
1.5-inches square. Of course you could have them enlarged but it was expensive.
Colour slide film was more successful but it was
quite pricey and of course you needed to have a projector in order to view your
photographs. Flash bulbs too could rack up the price as well but the
disadvantages were more than outweighed by the fun factor, ease of use, robust
build quality and the fact that there’s very little to go wrong. What Happened To It? No prizes for guessing, it was Kodak’s own Instamatic
film cassette, introduced in 1963 that did for the Starflash and most of the
other roll film cameras around at that time. Kodak’s innovative and near
idiot-proof cartridge system solved at a stroke all of the problems surrounding
loading a camera with film and as an added bonus automated processing systems were
able to produce bigger, sharper prints. Millions of roll film cameras were
abandoned almost overnight in favour of the new technology and sad to say, no
one really missed them. This one is a fairly rough example that I picked up in a Brighton junk shop recently for £7.00. On the plus side it works perfectly and there was even a roll of film and a pair of vintage batteries inside. I suppose the price was about right but you will find plenty of better examples on sale at boot fairs and on ebay for not much more than I paid for this one. It’s far from rare, though, so many were made that you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding one and you can afford to be choosy and hold out for a mint example in its original box or case, or splash out on one of the scarcer two-tone coloured versions. By the way, films, flashbulbs and processing can still be found but think twice before using one to take photographs as it could develop – pun intended – into a very expensive habit… DUSTY DATA Manual
First seen: 1955 Original Price £8.00 Value Today? £10 - 50 depending on condition 0112 Features: Fixed shutter & focus, two-position aperture
(colour/black & white), Dakon lens, integrated flashgun, 127 roll film,
M2/M3/M5/M25 flashbulbs, carry strap Power req. 2 x AA Weight: 180g Dimensions: 130 x 55 x 85mm Made in: USA Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 6 Polaroid Supercolor 635CL Instant Camera 1985
In the 70s and 80s just about everyone owned a
Polaroid camera at one time or another, and generally – though I have no hard
data to back this up – purchased two or three packs of film then aghast at the
real cost of instant photography, put the camera into the back of a cupboard
and forgot about it. In other words they are not rare, though when Polaroid
announced a couple of years ago they were stopping production of film packs I
suspect quite a lot disappeared into landfill – but that’s not quite the end of
the story as we will see in a moment. Like most Polaroid cameras the 635 is absurdly
easy to use, just open the door at the front, slide in a 10-print 600 film pack
(the film pack also contains the battery), close the door, snap open the lens
cover/flash bar, frame the shot, press the button and out pops a print that
develops in daylight in around a minute. If you were very lucky it didn’t look
too bad. Most of the time though it looked awful, so you took another one, and
if you listened very carefully you could hear the sounds of hands rubbing
together and cash registers jingling at the Polaroid Corporation. If there wasn’t enough light the flash would
fire, and if you judged the result too light or too dark there’s a simple
slider control on the front under the lens, so you could take yet another
photo. The 635CL had an added refinement in the shape of a close-up facility,
basically a pair of lenses that slides in front of the main lens and
viewfinder, for snapping subjects between 0.6 and 1.2 metres in front of the
lens. What Happened To It? Following a sustained campaign by diehard fans
Polaroid recently announced that it was going to resume production of instant
film packs. For no good reason that I can see Polaroid cameras have become
quite trendy, especially amongst art students (so my art student daughter tells
me…), and there was sufficient interest to persuade Polaroid to start making
them again. In fact the supply of films never quite dried up and old stocks
have been on sale on ebay, recently fetching silly prices – at the time of
writing 600 film packs were selling for around £25, or well over £2.00 a print. How long this revival will last is anyone’s
guess, I give it a couple of years at best. Instant film cameras became
obsolete for three very simple reasons, they cost a fortune to run, the
pictures were not very good, and the deathblow was finally dealt by digital
photography. There are probably still many hundreds of thousands of Polaroid cameras still kicking around; this one cost me two quid at a car boot, so don’t expect anything made from the 1980s onwards to appreciate much in value in the foreseeable. Older Polaroid cameras are becoming collectable though, and later high-end models still fetch a good price, but regard that as an opportunity. Their value should increase in the long term so now is the time to grab a few good examples and tuck them away, while you are at it, it might be a good idea to buy a few film packs while you can, they should be good for at least 10 years if stored properly. DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1985 Original Price £50 Value Today? £5 1211 Features: Lens 1:11 / 116mm fixed focus, close-up
adaptor, electronic shutter 1/4 - 1/200th sec, image size 8x8 cm, built-in
flash, Film Pack type 600 Power req. Battery incorporated in film pack Weight: 600g Dimensions:
145 x 90 x 120mm Made in: UK Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 2 Canon Ion RC-260 Still Video Camera, 1988
The rise and rise of the digital still camera
has been nothing short of phenomenal and by my reckoning it happened in just
six or seven years, starting sometime in 2003/4. In fact it took a good 30
years for pixels to replace film and there were several false starts, which
brings us to the Canon Ion, also known as the Q-Pic in Japan and
Xapshot in the US. It was arguably the first successful attempt to
take electronic photography to the masses but it was by no means the first
electronic still camera. That honour belongs variously to Texas
Instruments who filed a patent for an all-electronic still camera in 1972,
Kodak who demonstrated a briefcase-sized prototype camera in 1975 but my vote goes to
Sony who in 1981 showed the first practical model, called the Mavica (MAgnetic
VIdeo CAmera). Sadly it never went into production (though the Mavica name was used on later models) but it set the ball rolling and
back then, after having seen it at a trade exhibition I was absolutely convinced that one
day soon photographic film would be obsolete. Film isn't dead yet and electronic photography took much longer than I expected to take off, but it's
been quite a journey and the Canon Ion had a pivotal role to play in this
story. Prior to its launch in Japan in 1988 there had been several attempts to
launch a still video camera (SVC), but they had all been bulky and
eye-wateringly expensive. The Ion certainly wasn't cheap, costing around £700 -
£800 by the time you'd bought all the necessary accessories, but this was a
fraction of the price of its rivals. However, one of the defining features was that it
didn't look like a conventional still camera, it was curvy and futuristic but more importantly it
overcame one of the fundamental problems of electronic photography in the 1980s, namely
how to view recorded images. Back then home computers -- such as they were -- lacked any significant image display capabilities and there was no
easy or economical way to print out electronic images, so Canon designed the
Ion to connect directly to a an ordinary TV.
By today's standards the spec is laughably
basic, to begin with it's not a digital system, it was loosely based on Canon's
analogue camcorder technology, recording up to 50 still video images with a
resolution of less than 300 lines on a specially designed 2-inch floppy disc.
Essentially these were still frames, and anyone who remembers VCRs of that era
will know how poor the quality of still frame images could be. In short it was
out-performed on almost every level by cheap Instamatic film cameras, but it
was a start and for a while it even looked as though Canon's still video floppy
could become an industry standard format.
What Happened To It? In spite of several attempts to improve
picture quality, including a shift to slightly higher definition 'Hi-Band'
operation SVCs were doomed by the picture quality and the lack of any means of
preserving images, other than on expensive floppies or recording pictures to a
VCR (with a consequent drop in the already dire picture quality); printing
simply wasn't an option at that time due to the cost. New SVCs continued to appear throughout the early 1990s but there was comparatively little interest from consumers and professionals. Then in 1994 the digital still camera (DSC) market came alive, thanks to developments in digital storage, data and image processing plus innovative and increasingly affordable products from the likes of Apple, Canon, Fuji, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus et-al. Like SVCs a decade earlier it was a slow burn to begin with, hardware prices were still very high and quality was still a bit ropey -- compared with film cameras -- but the world had changed.
By then home computers had become almost
commonplace and the Internet was on the rise so now there was a mechanism to store, manipulate, print and share images.
Sales of DSCs finally took off in 2001/2, fuelled by the
development of multi megapixel image sensors, cheaper memory, broadband Internet,
mobile phones, inexpensive colour printers and well, you know the rest... Several Canon Ions passed through my hands for
testing and review in the late 80s and early 90s. They were nice toys to play with but I
can't say they left much of an impression. They were far too expensive
and the quality just wasn't good enough to make me want one, at least not back then. Times change, nostalgia kicks in and after a lengthy search I finally snagged one on ebay. It is the Hi-Band version of the RC-260 and it would have cost a very pretty penny back in the day. I paid £25.00 for it, which I consider a bargain as it came with a full accessory kit and a dozen still video floppies..
My one is in excellent condition and it still works perfectly, using the mains adaptor for power. The weird lead acid rechargeable battery has long since expired and I don't hold out much hope of finding a replacement. Prices for the Ion and its ilk are still quite low, which I find surprising, as I doubt that many SVCs were sold. Cameras like these are bona-fide technology milestones but they seem to have been temporarily forgotten and my guess is they have an excellent chance of becoming a future collectible so keep your eyes peeled. DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1988 Original Price £500 - £800 Value Today? £100, depending on condition 1211Features:
0.5-inch 230K pixel CCD,
9,5mm f/2.4 lens, built-in flash, video
floppy disc, remote control 230 line resolution Power req. 8-volt proprietary lead acid rechargeable Weight: 400gDimensions: 120 x 111 x 50mm Made in: Japan Hen’s Teeth (10 rarest): 8 Hanimex 220 Disc Camera, 1986
I was handed one of the original Kodak
Disc cameras at the launch, to try out but I must have given it away soon
afterwards once I realised how bad it was. I found this Hanimex 220 at the
bottom of a box in the loft and I’m not sure where it came from but it’s a good
example of the genre. It features the typical slim body, compact lens assembly
built-in flash and motor drive of most of its contemporaries. There’s very
little to say about it, other than it is beautifully simple to use, just pop in
the disc cartridge and a couple of AA batteries and it’s ready to go. The only
controls are a shutter button and a simple slide switch on the front for
setting sunny/dull days and covering the lens. The flash is automatic and a
lever on the top opens the back, for loading and unloading discs. What Happened To It? The Disc camera format was Kodak’s first
attempt to make photographic film look sexy and technically advanced. The early
80s were the start of the digital age and discs were all the rage. LaserDiscs
had been around for a year or two, Compact Disc had just started to make an
impact on the home audio market and first generation PCs were using floppy
discs for data storage. Kodak’s bright idea was to mount the film on a rotating disc, which instantly made cameras a lot thinner and, in their view much more likely for users to slip one into their pockets and handbags and take more pictures. You have to remember Kodak never made a bean out of selling cameras; all of its money came from selling film and processing. On paper it sounded like a good idea, the trouble was the tiny films – each one measured just 11 x 8mm – had to be massively enlarged and produced truly awful grainy prints. Most camera manufacturers had a half-hearted stab at the Disc format but after a brief flurry of interest most users gave up on them and moved onto the increasingly popular and vastly superior compact 35mm cameras that were coming onto the market. Disc cameras were only around for a few years. Kodak finally pulled the plug on the format in the late 90s to concentrate on its next white elephant, the APS format, but that’s another story for another day… I believe you can still buy disc film and there are a handful of specialists capable of processing it but it has little value beyond that of a short-lived novelty. Nevertheless, as time goes by cameras will become scarcer so if you have one, or spot a particularly nice one at a boot sale, preferably still in its box and selling for less than a couple of pounds, grab it. It might actually be worth something one day… DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1986 Original Price
£25? Value Today?
£1? 1011 Features:
f2.8, 12.5mm 3-element lens, automatic flash, motor drive, optical
viewfinder Power req. 2 x AA Weight: 160g Dimensions: 115 x 82 x 27mm (whd) Made in: Hong Kong Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 3 Waco TV Slide Lighter, 1970?
This Waco ‘TV’ does have some
visual features, though. It’s a slide viewer; pop a 35 mm transparency in a
slot in the top and it appears on the screen and a small light bulb behind the
screen lights it up. It has another hidden talent; it’s also a cigarette
lighter. Press the button on the top and the spring loaded lighter cover pops
up. The spring mechanism strikes a flint that lights a petrol soaked wick. It
probably ran for years on a filling. Around one third of the TV case is taken
up by the petrol tank, the other two thirds are occupied by a pair of ‘C’
cells, to power the viewer bulb. The pretend TV is superbly
detailed, all the knobs look as though they should work, the big one at the top
actually does, it’s the switch for the slide bulb. The mind boggles at the
concept of a fake miniature TV with a built-in slide viewer and cigarette
lighter. What were they on? I grew up in the 60s and 70s and it was a strange
time but I can’t say I ever remember anyone passing round the slides and fags… I’m not sure where it is made,
there are no marks other than the ‘Waco’ badge and I haven’t managed to find any
references to it on the web. My guess is it hails from Japan or Hong Kong, but
that’s pure speculation based solely on the styling of the TV. If anyone knows
better I would love to know. What happened to it? Novelty table ciggy lighters are quite common though mostly they have just the one obvious function and I can’t see this weird combination of features being especially popular so I suspect it didn’t hang around for very long. This particular one has suffered from leaky batteries at some point. Fortunately most of the damage is inside and after a good scrub with a wire brush and coating of WD40 it should be okay. The plastic battery holder disintegrated when I tried to remove it but a modern replacement fits neatly in the case. I found it at a large antique fair in Surrey and it managed to haggle the dealer down from a fiver to four pounds, which given that the condition can only be described as fair, wasn’t a bad deal. DUSTY DATAFirst seen:
1965? Original Price
£5? Value Today?
£5 0911 Features:
Combination cigarette lighter and 35mm slide viewer Power req.
2 x C cell Weight: 0.5kg Dimensions:
98 x 75 x 100mm (whd) Made in: Japan, Hong Kong? Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 5 Minox B, Sub-miniature Camera 1968
It really is beautifully made, like a fine watch, and as you pull the camera apart you cock the shutter mechanism. You have to set the focus manually; the viewfinder is coupled to the focus dial to minimise parallax errors. For close-up work, photographing documents and secret plans, you use the measuring rings on the chain to gauge the focal distance. The exposure setting is elegantly simple, you press a little button next to the light meter dial to take a reading then rotate the shutter speed dial (the large one in the middle) until an arrow on the meter dial aligns with the meter needle. It’s quick and accurate and just the job if you are in a hurry, with the baddies about catch up with you. When you press the shutter button it makes a really satisfying (though not too loud) clockwork motor sound. There’s more gadgets; the knurled strip above the viewfinder window slides a Neutral Density filter in front of the lens, and there’s a circle marked on one of the two shutter leaves, so you can tell if you’ve taken the shot or not. There’s also an accurate frame counter, a flash synch socket, and shed loads of accessories, that Q would be proud of. There even used to be specialist films including, as I recall, infrared film for really dark conditions. Best of all, it takes really great pictures. What Happened to It? The Minox heritage lives on and the company, now owned by Leica still makes miniature and sub-miniature cameras. Personally I don’t think the modern ones are a patch on this one and its predecessors. They are still small and very cute but they just don’t look like proper spy cameras any more. As I say I bought this one over 30 years, along with a Minox developing tank, which I stupidly sold to another enthusiast some years later. I think I paid around £50 for both items, which was probably a bit over the top. Quite a few model B’s were made so they’re not exactly scarce; model As are rarer and therefore dearer. Good Minox Bs can be found on ebay for less than £100, and considering the precision workmanship I reckon that’s a fantastic bargain. DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1958 Original Price £75.00? Value Today? £100.00 0811 Features: Complan Lens, f=15mm, manual shutter (T, B, 1/2, 1/5, 1/10, 1/20, 1/50, 1/100, 1/200, 1/500, 1/1000), manual focus (8in – infinity)2 –stage ND filter, external flash sync, Selenium light meter, measuring chain, Power req. n/a Weight: 125g Dimensions: 100 x 28 x 18mm (case closed) Made in: Germany Hen’s Teeth (10 rarest): 6
Polaroid
Land Camera Model 330 1969
The 330
is a real handful, and that's before you've figured out how to unfold it and
drive the bizarre rangefinder focus mechanism. Once you've taken a picture you
need three hands to develop a print. It's a real palaver, first you have to
pull a white tab, then pinch and tug at a yellow tab that draws the print
through a set of rollers, spreading a secret chemical concoction across the
surface of the exposed negative and positive papers. You then had to carefully
time the process, making sure it was neither too hot or too cold, then peel it
apart. Most times you ended up with an image that was either too bright or too
dark, so you had to start over. It was sheer genius and Polaroid couldn't lose
with prints working out at around a pound a pop (and that was when a pound was
worth something...). What
Happened To It? The 330
was phased out in the early 1970s to be replaced by a new range increasingly
elaborate instant cameras and although briefly challenged by the likes of Kodak
and Fuji, Polaroid was the only game in town if you wanted a picture on paper
in a hurry. Then it all came crashing down in the early 1990s with the first
stirrings of digital cameras. It took another ten years before digicams and
colour printer technology came of age but it was all downhill from and
eventually even professional photographers, who had kept the technology afloat,
bailed out. This one is a boot sale bargain, it cost £5.00 (haggled down from £8.00) and it came complete with the original flashgun, leather carry case and even the instructions. It is in fantastic condition and I have every reason to suppose it is good working order but I'll have to wait until I can find a film for it. DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1969 Original
Price
£40 Value Today? £25 0711 Features:
Instant camera, 2-element 114mm, f/8.8
lens, rangefinder focus, auto ‘electric eye’ shutter manual iris
(lighten/darken), 75/3000 asa colour/black and white film, film timer,
detachable flashgun Power req. n/a Weight: 1kg Dimensions: 200 x 150 x 75mm Made in: USA Hen’s Teeth (10 rarest): 51 Chinon 722-P Classic Super 8 Cine, 1973
The Chinon 722-P Classic featured here is a prime example; it’s a mid-range ‘family’ model that uses Super 8 film cartridges, developed in the 1960s. As the name suggests the film used is 8mm wide, each cartridge holds 50 feet of film, enough to 3 minutes and 20 seconds of shooting. This model has only a handful of controls, the start/stop button on the handgrip and zoom rocker on the top. There’s also an on/off switch on the side and a battery test button on the top, and that’s it. Just load four AA cells into the handle, pop in a film cartridge, frame the shot in the optically coupled viewfinder and press the Start button. Everything is automatic and the only decision you need to take when to start and stop recording. When the film is finished you send it off to be developed. The more adventurous, and those making, shall we say more exotic sorts of films, could develop them at home, usually with nothing more complicated than a bucket and a bottle or two readily available chemicals. The real problem was cine came when the film was returned and the need to mess about setting up a screen and a projector. On the plus side editing was really easy, all you needed was a pair of scissors and some sticky tape. Another major advantage of cine, that’s been long forgotten in the age of video, was that with so little filming time to play around with the need to think carefully about each shot meant that each shot counted and little was wasted. The Chinon 722-P is really sturdily made, very well balanced and since this one is still working faultlessly after more 30 years, you can take it as read that it was very reliable. What happened to it? In a word, video. The first clumsy and overweight portable video outfits appeared in the late 1970s but they were little of no threat to cine. Then in the early 1980s the first camcorders were launched, they were still large and clumsy but by the mid 80s small hand-held models were coming out of the woodwork. Prices fell and by the late 80s cine was dead. Ironically it wasn’t until the mid 90s that video picture quality started to beat top-end cine but it was all over for film. There’s a still a small hard core of enthusiasts and cine cameras are a regular at car boot sales (this one cost me £2.00) so there are plenty of bargains to be had but grab-em quick, they are disappearing fast. DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1972 Original
Price
£100.00 Value Today? £15 0411 Features:
2 x power zoom, auto exposure, through-the-lens
optical viewfinder Weight: 0.8kg Dimensions: 180 x 53 x 180 mm Made in: Japan Hen’s Teeth (10 rarest): 4 Kodak EK2 ‘The Handle’ 1977 (manual)
However, although the cameras were comparatively cheap, film packs were horribly expensive, costing around ten times as much as normally developed film and everyone knew most instant cameras were bought by people who wanted to take pictures that were, shall we say, of a ‘private’ nature… Incidentally, in 1977 Polaroid developed an ‘Instant Movie’ camera system, called Polavision, it was a huge flop, and the timing was dreadful, coming just a couple of years before the first video movie systems.
Polaroid had the instant
still camera market pretty much to themselves but in the mid seventies Kodak
and several other manufacturers bought out instant film cameras, though as we
shall see Polaroid were not about to give up their market dominance without a
fight.
The Kodak EK2 dates from 1977 and was quickly dubbed ‘The Handle’ because of the large handgrip. It’s very easy to use, pop in a 10-shot PR10 pack, crank the handle and its ready to go, the film number is shown in a small window on the back. To take a shot frame your subject in the optical viewfinder, pull back on the large blue shutter button on the right side, crank the handle and out comes the print, which develops in daylight in a couple of minutes. If the picture was too light or dark there’s a crude exposure control on the lens, operated by a thumbwheel. Indoors or in the dark you clipped on a Flip Flash, which contains a set of 10 flashbulbs. Like the Flashcube it was a brilliant way of extorting money from users, with Flip Flash bars costing several times as much as the equivalent number of single-shot flashbulbs.
What Happened to It? Kodak’s dalliance with Instant Film cameras lasted from 1976 to 1986 and was brought to an abrupt end following a two-year lawsuit bought against the company by Polaroid, for infringing its patents. Part of the ruling was that Kodak had to stop production and compensate stranded camera owners. Anyone who owned one could return it to Kodak in return for a cash, coupons and rebates. This meant that although millions of them were made relatively few are still in circulation. Unfortunately there’s little or no possibility of this or any other Kodak instant camera ever working again but makes an interesting addition to any gadget collection. Good examples, complete with case and accessories can only increase in value.
DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1977 Original
Price
£40 Value Today? £20 0211 Features:
10-shot Instant camera, manual
‘lighten-darken’ exposure control, 10-shot ‘Flashbar/Flipflash’, manual wind Power req. 6V ‘J’ Battery Weight: 0.8kg (ex film pack) Dimensions: 140 x 175 x 140 mm Made in: England Hen’s Teeth (10 rarest): 6 Kodak Instamatic Camera & Magicubes 1972
It all sounds a bit obvious
now but before then you had to faff around with roll film, threading it onto a
roller that more often than not didn’t wind the film on properly. 126
Instamatics remained tremendously popular for more than 10 years. The 56X was
nothing special, just one of hundreds of very basic fixed focus and exposure
manual wind cameras made by Kodak and countless other manufacturers but because
they were so cheap and cheerful they were regarded as semi-disposable so
probably not that many have survived. The amazing Magicube really
deserves its own Dustygizmo slot. What makes Magicubes really clever is the
fact that they are pyrotechnic, rather than electrical devices. As you probably
know one-shot flashbulbs are filled with a fine magnesium ribbon that’s ‘fired’
by passing a small current through an element. This heats up the magnesium so
that it burns and gives off a brilliant flash of light. Magicubes were more
like small fireworks. They are fired by the camera pressing a pin in the base
of the bulb. It works a bit like striking a match, setting off the magnesium in
the bulb. It’s simple, reliable (mostly) and there’s no need for batteries.
More importantly for Kodak and the other manufacturers they were very
profitable as they cost several times as much as ordinary flashbulbs What happened to it?Magicubes were always a bit of a con, most users disliked them because they were expensive and incredibly wasteful and they all but disappeared when cheap electronic flash systems were developed. Sales of 126 Instamatics
had started to tail off by the early 1970s so Kodak introduced the 110
cartridge format in 1973, which enabled cameras to be made even smaller and
cuter. After an initial burst of interest that too started to wane, so Kodak’s
next attempt to maintain their market share was the ‘Disc’ camera format in
1982 (pencilled in for a future Gadget of the Week). It didn’t do very well and
by that time first generation digital still cameras were just starting to
appear. Kodak never saw it coming and plugged away with its core photographic film business and in 1994 it introduced its last gasp effort, the clever but ultimately doomed APS format. But by then it was too late, digital photography had started to take off, Kodak belatedly jumped aboard the bandwagon but it lost out by being so slow and it has seen its film camera business virtually disappear. But relics like these live on and are becoming collectable, especially the more elaborate Instamatics; there was even an SLR type. Look out too for Disc cameras; because of the format’s lack of popularity and relatively short life they are comparatively rare and good examples could become a worthwhile investment. Check out the Kodak Classics website for everything you ever wanted to know about these cameras. DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1972 Original
Price
c £20 Value Today? £1 0111 Features:
Fixed focus
f/11, 43mm lens, 1/50th sec shutter, manual wind, Magicube socket, optical
viewfinder Power req. n/a Weight: 200g Dimensions: 110 x 65 x 60 (very approx) Made in: England Rarity: 4 (1 = common, 10 = Hen's teeth) Nimslo 3D Camera 1980
It’s an ingenious design and one of the key selling points was that it used ordinary 35mm film. When you click the shutter it takes four images through each of its four lenses. The horizantal distance between the lenses -- the outer ones are spaced approximately to equal to that of our own eyes -- means that each image is taken from very slightly different angle to it neighbour. The really clever part, though, is in the processing. The four images are layered one on top of each other, and on top of that is a thin, grooved transparent film, called a ‘Lenticular’ screen. The grooves act like prisms, so as you alter the angle of the print you see the different layers, giving a strong impression of depth. It’s a bit like one of those toy badges, where the image changes as you move it What Happened to it? Nimslo prints could look spectacular but it took practice to get it just right as you had to pose your subjects and any objects in the field of view to ensure that they were at the optimum distances from the lens, to get the full 3D effect.
Unfortunately only a couple of laboratories were able to handle the special process; it took weeks, sometimes months to get a film developed and it was eye-wateringly expensive. The camera limped on for around 10 years, sustained by a small band of devotees, but it simply cost too much and it was never going to be become a mass-market product. A specialist company in Canada still provides a processing service for Nimslo film and a number of the other 3D cameras that have come (and mostly) gone over the years. If you would like to know more about this fascinating topic pop along to stereoscopy.com.
DUSTY DATAFirst seen: 1980 Original Price £80 Value Today? £100 1210 Features:
Continuously
variable electronically controlled shutter, fixed focus (1:5 6/30mm) lenses,
35mm film 100 - 400 ASA, manual wind and rewind, flash hot shoe, cable release
socket, double exposure prevention Power req. 2 x alkaline button cells Weight: 0.35kg (ex batteries) Dimensions: 137 x 74 x 43(very approx) Made in: UK Rarity: 8 (1 = common, 10 = Hen's teeth) |
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