FPP 620 Film

The Film Photography Project store now has 100 speed black and white and color negative film in 620 size. The film stock is 120 film, as it says on the backing paper, wound onto plastic 620 spools. Because they are molded from plastic instead of stamped from metal, the end flanges on the FPP spools are about half a millimeter thicker than the end flanges of a metal 620 spool. This makes the FPP spools tight in some cameras. When FPP spools are tight on the take up side you can use a metal 620 spool as the take up spool. If the FPP spool is tight on the supply side you might be able to sand down the plastic flange to get more clearance. Put fine sandpaper on a hard, flat surface and move the flat end of the spool in a circular motion against the sandpaper to sand the spool evenly. I haven't tried this because sanding down the spool ends has the potential of getting bits of plastic all over your film. If you send your film out for processing, ask the lab to return your 620 spool for reuse. The snap top containers the FPP film comes in are usable for either 620 or 120 film.

FPP 620 ISO 100 Black & White Film

Here are my experiences so far with unmodified cameras.

Plastic FPP spools were OK on both the supply and take-up sides in these cameras: Argus Argoflex E (120 film also fits in pre-WII and some post-WWII Argus E cameras), Argus 40, Argus 75, Argus Super 75, Kodak Brownie Target Six-20, Kodak Chevron, Kodak Medalist II, Kodak Six-20 Brownie.

These cameras needed a metal 620 spool on the take up side: Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash Model (You might be able to bend the small metal tab that prevents the back from closing.), Kodak Reflex II, Kodak Six-20 Bull's Eye.

These cameras needed metal 620 spools on both the supply and take up sides: Ansco Anscoflex, Argus Argoflex EM and EF.

If you prefer to have film already on a 620 spool instead of rolling your own and you can use this film in your camera, the FPP 620 film is a good choice. Rolling your own 620 does save money at the cost of a little time and patience. This Youtube video shows you how: 620 Film: How to use 120 film in your 620 camera

The flanges on the FPP plastic spool (right) are thicker
than the flanges on the Kodak metal spool (left).

Anscoflex (1953-1956)

The Anscoflex is a simple camera with a waist level brilliant viewfinder. The body is plastic and aluminum. It is similar to the Eastman Kodak Duaflex camera, the Argus Argoflex Seventy-Five and others. It takes twelve 2-1/4" square pictures on a roll of 620 film. 620 film is no longer made, but you can use currently available 120 film re-spooled onto 620 spools. A yellow filter attachment and a portrait lens attachment were available and a 1-1/16" Series VI filter adapter will fit. The later Anscoflex II had the yellow filter and close-up lens built-in.

Front - Open

Back

The lens on the Anscoflex is an uncoated, approximately f/16, approximately 75 mm periscopic lens. A periscopic lens has two matched meniscus elements with the concave surfaces facing each other and the aperture stop in between. The shutter is a rotary shutter with a single, approximately 1/30 second, shutter speed. The film advance and shutter release are interlocked to prevent double exposures. You advance the film by turning the film advance knob in quarter turns back and forth to ratchet the film forward while looking for the picture number through the little red window on the back. You open the viewfinder and uncover the taking lens by sliding the tall front plate up. The viewfinder shows the scene right side up, but reversed left to right. The back is opened for loading film by pressing the red button near the viewfinder. The inside of the film chamber has a label suggesting size 620 Ansco "All-Weather" film, which at the time had an ASA speed of 64. The flasholder screws onto the left side of the camera. A tripod socket is on the bottom. The tripod socket is there mainly to attach the camera to its case. Because there is no provision for a time exposure or a delayed action for a "selfie" there isn't much need to attach a tripod.

The camera was styled by Raymond Loewy and Associates and was made by Ansco in Binghamton, NY. Ansco, part of General Aniline and Film Corporation, was the American film company that ran a distant second to Eastman Kodak Company. GAF got out of the camera business in 1977 and now is solely a building materials manufacturer.

Through the viewfinder.

Battle of Nashville Monument through a red Wratten 25 filter.

Kodak Six-20 Bull's Eye Camera (1938-1941)

The Kodak Six-20 Bull's Eye Camera looks like a plastic version of the metal Six-20 Brownie Special. Both cameras take eight pictures on a roll of size 620 film.

Front

Back

Open for Loading Film

Latch

The shutter on the Bull's Eye can be set for instantaneous (about 1/50th second) or time exposure, and is not synchronized for flash. The lens is a fixed focus, uncoated meniscus lens that makes a reasonably sharp picture of subjects eight or more feet away. The aperture is about f/15. The Bull's Eye holds the film in a curve to sharpen the corners of the picture. The camera does not have a tripod socket. To make a time exposure you need to put the camera on a table or some other steady support. There is a knob on the side of the camera to let it rest evenly on a flat surface for portrait oriented pictures. The latch to open the camera for loading film is on the bottom. The cone lifts straight up from the camera. The film runs from right to left.

Kodak offered a portrait attachment that allowed pictures of a subject about 3-1/2' distant for a head and shoulders portrait. There also was a yellow pictorial filter used mostly to darken the skies for landscape pictures. A 1-5/16" Series VI adapter also fits to allow the use of Series VI lens accessories.

The Bull's Eye name came from Samuel N. Turner's Boston Camera Manufacturing Company. Mr. Turner was the first to put picture numbers on roll film and he put the once familiar little red window on his Bull's Eye cameras to show the numbers. Eastman bought the company in 1895 to get the film patent. A number of Eastman cameras have some variation of "bullseye" in the name. There is a 1950s Brownie Bull's-Eye Camera that is a fancier model than this one.

Like any other Brownie the Six-20 Bull's Eye takes a good picture as long as you stay within the limits of a camera without any adjustments for focus, aperture or shutter speed. Because modern films are better than the ones available 80 years ago, this Bull's Eye probably takes a better picture now than when it was new. Unlike a few other 620 film cameras, you can't squeeze a 120 spool into this one - you will need to re-spool your 120 film onto a 620 spool.

McKeown's Price Guide to Antique & Classic Cameras describes this model as "uncommon". The original list price for the Six-20 Bull's Eye was $3.00.

Compare to a similar picture made with a No. 2 Brownie in the post for February 22, 2020.

Zeiss Ikon Contaflex I (1953-1958)

The post-WWII Contaflex was Zeiss Ikon's single lens reflex camera for amateur photographers. This Contaflex I was made in the mid-'50s at the Zeiss Ikon camera factory in Stuttgart, West Germany.

Front

Back

Bottom

Interior

The camera body is made from a light metal alloy and has chrome and black leather trim. This camera has a non-interchangeable, Carl Zeiss Tessar f/2.8 45 mm lens in a Synchro Compur leaf shutter. The lens is a front cell focusing design. The distance scale on my camera is marked in feet for the export market. The focusing screen has a split prism focusing aid. The camera body has a removable back for loading film, like the back on the Contax, and a removable film take up spool. Spools and cassettes made for the Contax also will fit the Contaflex. If your take up spool is missing you can tape the film to the spool from a regular 35 mm film cassette. The camera has knob wind film advance. The reflex mirror is not instant return. After you take a picture the view finder is blacked out until you advance the film, which lowers the mirror and opens the shutter for focusing and aiming the camera. Advancing the film also cocks the shutter for the next picture.

Argus Model K (1939-1940)

According to advertising copy, the Argus Model K was made to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the invention of the daguerreotype by Louis Daguerre, but in reality may have been made simply to use up parts for the abortive Model D. The Model D was going to be a spring motor drive, automatic film advance camera like the made-in-Germany Berning Robot, but Argus did not manage to get beyond the prototype stage. The list price of the model K in 1939 was $19.50 (about $365 in depreciated 2020 dollars). The Model K is uncommon; only about 1,800 were made.

Argus Model K and Box

Front

Back

Bottom

Top

Interior

The camera body is die cast metal with leatherette covering and chrome trim. The front of the camera has the lens, the rim-set shutter speed dial, the shutter release, the focusing dial and the windows for the viewfinder and extinction exposure meter. The back of the camera has the film advance button and the eyepieces for the viewfinder and extinction exposure meter. The latch for the film door is on the left side. The top of the camera has the film advance knob, the exposure counter and the cover for the film cartridge chamber. The bottom of the camera has the film rewind knob, the tripod socket, the aperture dial, and the shutter speed dial.

One thing that makes the Model K different is that the viewfinder is on the bottom. The photographer holds the camera against his forehead to take a picture.

The lens is an uncoated, f/4.5-11, triplet anastigmat. The shutter is a self-setting leaf shutter with speeds of 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 and 1/200 second plus bulb and time. The shutter has a socket for a cable release. Close focus is 3-1/2 ft. The lens and shutter are like the ones on the Argus A.

The first steps in loading film are taking off the film chamber cap, dropping the film cassette inside, and replacing the film chamber cap. Then the photographer inserts the film leader into the slot on the take-up spool and rotates the film advance knob until the film catches. The film counter is manually set and counts up from zero. To advance the film the photographer pushes the film advance button on the back of the camera, turns the film advance knob about a quarter turn, releases the film advance button, and turns the film advance knob until it stops. To rewind the film the photographer turns the rewind knob until the film is back inside the cassette. The sprocket wheel freewheels while rewinding. There isn't a rewind clutch. All of the pre-WWII Argus 35 mm cameras rewind this way. The film runs from right to left, which is opposite the way it goes in most other 35 mm cameras.

The extinction meter works by extinguishing the light visible through the meter eyepiece. The photographer turns the film speed knob on the bottom of the camera to match the value that is set on the shutter, aims the camera at the scene and adjusts the aperture dial until the center dot of light visible through the meter eyepiece just about disappears. The meter has no way to account for the sensitivity of the film, unlike the meter on the A2. Light is attenuated by strips of film attached to the film speed knob and aperture dial. The film strips have graduated densities that correspond to the control settings. The lowest densities are for f/4.5 and 1/25 second and the highest densities are for f/11 and 1/200 second.

The shutter on mine is oily and needs to be cleaned in order to work, not a job I want to do right now, and the film strip for the aperture dial on the extinction meter has come loose.

[Update] I got the shutter to run. Sample pictures to follow.

Kodak Signet 80 (1958-1962)

The Kodak Signet 80 is the last of Kodak's 35 mm cameras with the Signet name, and the only Signet with interchangeable lenses. It was made in Rochester, NY, from 1958 to 1962, and had a list price of $148.50 on introduction.

Kodak Signet 80 with 35 mm lens and auxiliary viewfinder

Back

Film Take-Up Chamber

The Signet 80 has a squared-off, metal and plastic body. The top of the camera has the light meter dial, an accessory shoe and the shutter release, which is threaded for a cable release. The front of the camera has the window for the viewfinder, the front cell for the light meter, the shutter speed dial, the latch for the interchangeable lenses, and the film counter. The right side of the camera has the film advance lever and the latch for the film door. The left side of the camera has the "Kodalite" pin and screw fittings for a flash attachment, and a PC flash sync socket. The back of the camera has the combined viewfinder-rangefinder eyepiece, the film rewind clutch and a holder for Kodak film exposure reminder cards. The bottom of the camera has the tripod socket and the film rewind crank.

The shutter is a behind-the-lens leaf shutter that runs from 1/4 second to 1/250 second plus bulb. The shutter synced with bulbs at 1/30 second and with electronic flash at any speed. As far as I know Kodak did not offer an electronic flash attachment for the Signet 80.

The Signet 80 came with an f/2.8 50 mm normal lens. You could get an f/3.5 35 mm wide angle lens and an f/4 90 mm telephoto lens. An auxiliary viewfinder was available with frame lines for the 35, 50 and 90 mm lenses. Removing the lens takes setting the lens to infinity focus, sliding the lens latch away from the lens and lifting the lens straight out. Replacing the lens takes matching the pin on the side of the lens to the notch on the lens mount, putting in the new lens and sliding the latch back toward the lens. You needed to focus from infinity to 2.5 ft. and back again to make sure the pin on the back of the lens engaged the index hole on the rangefinder coupling.

Each lens has a retaining ring for Series V drop-in filters, an exposure value scale, a shutter speed scale, an f-stop scale, a distance scale and a depth of field scale. The shutter speed scale and exposure value scales work with the built-in light meter. You can use just the f-stop scale on the bottom of the lens if wanted. All the lenses focus to 2.5 ft.

The built-in light meter is a selenium cell with a match needle dial. You set the ASA value of the film, ranging from 10 to 6400, on the inner dial and turn the outer dial until the red pointer matched the white needle. The indicated exposure value shows next to the red arrow on meter dial. For the exposure value system to work you needed to set the shutter speed ring on the lens to the same setting as the shutter speed dial. After you set the scale on the lens to the shutter speed, you set the aperture to the indicated exposure value.

The film advance is by a thumb lever on the right side of the camera. It takes two pushes on the lever to advance on frame and cock the shutter. The film counter is in a small window below the lens and counts up. The film counter resets to "E" for empty when you open the film back. You have to advance a couple of blank frames before you get to the first frame. The camera is unusual because it does not have a film take-up spool. Instead, the photographer inserts the film leader in the slot of the take-up chamber and the film simply curls inside. Loading film was problematical for a lot of amateur photographers. Customers often brought their cameras to the camera shop to have them loaded with film by the clerk. The Signet 80's "injection" system was just one of Kodak's attempts to simplify film loading, leading up to the cartridge loading Instamatic and Pocket Instamatic cameras of a few years later. The Signet 80 system may not have been entirely satisfactory because the slightly later Kodak 35 mm cameras, the Automatic 35 and Motormatic 35, use take-up spools.

The Signet 80 is a good picture taker. The viewfinder is bright and the rangefinder works well.

Clarus MS-35 (1946-1952)

During the immediate post-WWII era a number of small and not so small American manufacturers entered the market for 35 mm cameras, lingered for a while and then exited the market or closed completely. One of the small ones was Clarus Camera Manufacturing, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Clarus model MS-35 vaguely resembles the earlier Perfex cameras made by the Candid Camera Corporation of America, Chicago, Illinois, but without the slow speeds or the extinction meter of the Perfex.

Front

Back

The Clarus has a fairly heavy metal body with chrome and black "Redolite" trim. The top of the camera has the film advance knob and the exposure counter dial, the shutter release, the shutter speed dial, an accessory shoe and the film rewind knob. The camera came with a 2-inch (50 mm) lens. The accessory shoe was to hold auxiliary viewfinders for interchangeable lenses ranging from a 35 mm wide angle to a 101 mm telephoto. The front has a window for the viewfinder and two windows for the range finder. The back of the camera has separate eyepieces for the viewfinder and range finder. The bottom of the camera has a socket for a tripod. The latch for the film door is on the right side. This example has a coated Wollensak-Clarus 2-inch (50 mm) f/2.8-22 lens in a focusing mount. The close focus is 3.5 ft. The lens unscrews and could be exchanged with wide angle and telephoto lenses. These are uncommon. The focal plane shutter runs from 1/25 to 1/1000 second and has a bulb setting. The shutter speed dial rotates as the film is wound and as the shutter is released. The shutter needs to be cocked in order to set the shutter speed correctly. To rewind the film you hold in the shutter button and rotate the rewind knob clockwise. This is the only 35 mm camera I've seen that used the shutter button as the rewind clutch.

For the first year it was made the Clarus suffered from a number of design and manufacturing faults. They were eventually corrected, but the company never recovered from its initial stumble. The one I have is one of the later examples. The moving range finder mirror has come loose and the top will need to be taken off to fix it.

[Update] I cemented the moving mirror to its support, now I need to recalibrate the range finder.

Inside the Top

The moving mirror is near rhe right end of the camera as seen from the front. It is attached to a lever that is moved by the lens as it focuses. The moving mirror reflects an offset view of the subject to a stationary mirror near the shutter speed dial. When the subject is in focus the reflected view of the subject coincides with the direct view of the subject. The stationary mirror is adjustable to make the two views coincide at the correct distance. To adjust the range finder you need to focus on an object using a ground glass and a magnifying loupe at the film plane and then nudge the adjustable mirror until the reflected image and the direct image coincide.