vintage camera usage: I have seen some photographers , online using what looks like a vintage camera. { late 1800's, early 1900,s} are these box cameras made new? are they made...

redhogbill Loc: antelope, calif

I have seen some photographers , online using what looks like a vintage camera. { late 1800's, early 1900,s}
are these box cameras made new? are they made digital? or are they using film?
I have been searching the web for some time on info for them, cannot find any info for using them or even a club where I could get some info

any info in the direction will be helpful!! thank you

BebuLamar

I don't think any are actually use those. You may see them pose with the cameras as prop. Nobody has yet make a digital camera that look like an old box camera although it's quite possible.

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

Yes, many people actually use them. They are using film or doing wet plate collodion.

Here is a good source on all things analog photography. http://www.apug.org/

redhogbill Loc: antelope, calif

Darkroom317 wrote:

Yes, many people actually use them. They are using film or doing wet plate collodion.

Here is a good source on all things analog photography. http://www.apug.org/

thank you , I will start there

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

Like these?

http://www.google.com/search?q=8x10+view+cameras&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjhvsSukonKAhXEYyYKHegMDtsQ_AUICCgC&biw=1279&bih=622

Those are 8x10 and 4x5 view cameras and use sheet film. They are still in use. A couple of UHH members use 4x5 view cameras. I don't know if any use 8x10 view cameras.

Ansel Adams used an 8x10 view camera. Photographers still use them. There are lots of videos on youtube if you search 4x5 view camera or 8x10 view camera.

Bob

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

redhogbill wrote:

I have seen some photographers , online using what looks like a vintage camera. { late 1800's, early 1900,s}
are these box cameras made new? are they made digital? or are they using film?
I have been searching the web for some time on info for them, cannot find any info for using them or even a club where I could get some info

any info in the direction will be helpful!! thank you

There are older cameras available at places like eBay, and there are people who are refurbishing them (if necessary) and then using them the old fashioned way (i.e., the way they were used when new).

I hope that someone else can give you better information. I do happen to know a guy who has gone back to this sort of effort. Below are a couple of posts he has made at a discussion site he runs:

http://www.goatbbs.com/cgi-bin/bbs50/webbbs_config.cgi/noframes/read/1013

http://www.goatbbs.com/cgi-bin/bbs50/webbbs_config.cgi/noframes/read/1065

redhogbill Loc: antelope, calif

Bobspez wrote:

Like these? br br http://www.google.com/search?q=... (show quote)

YA!!! I was using the wrong terminology!! thanks

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

redhogbill wrote:

YA!!! I was using the wrong terminology!! thanks

That's what confused me. They are view cameras not box cameras. Box camera usually refer to something like a Kodak Brownie.

I am one of the members here that uses them. I shoot 4x5 film and hand coated glass plates. The camera I'm using in my avatar is a 4x5 press camera made in 1940s.

BebuLamar

Bobspez wrote:

Like these? br br http://www.google.com/search?q=... (show quote)

Many are still using view cameras but not box camera like the brownie etc...

paccmps

What a "bunch" of old cameras ! After looking at the several pages of them i even went through the even more pages ! An nostalgic trip !!

GAS496 Loc: Arizona

Redhogbill, the use of view cameras of all sizes is alive and well. You don't see many of us talking about them here on UH because this site is mostly dedicated to digital users. I know several of us here that almost shoot exclusively with film and large format sheet film at that.

It is a great photographic experience using a view camera, no batteries necessary. I even mix my own chemistry. Back to the roots of photography. Just Google either view camera or large format photography and you will find plenty on the subject.

A photo taken by my wife after a two mile hike up a sandy wash in Death Valley. One thing about large format photography...that equipment can get heavy.

turp77 Loc: Connecticut, Plainfield

redhogbill wrote:

I have seen some photographers , online using what looks like a vintage camera. { late 1800's, early 1900,s}
are these box cameras made new? are they made digital? or are they using film?
I have been searching the web for some time on info for them, cannot find any info for using them or even a club where I could get some info

any info in the direction will be helpful!! thank you

I still shoot large format. I have a modest collection of cameras, mostly film, at present I have 4 4"x5" monorail cameras 7 field view cameras (1 8x10, 1 5x7, 4 4x5 and a monster that I have three different film holders an 12"x22", a 12x18 and a11x17) I also have 40 Nikon SLR film and 8 Nikon DSLRs and many others, (and yes I own 6 cannons. Last count was over 300. Have 6 enlargers and enough equipment to set up 3 dark rooms. So yes there are some of us around. If you are looking there are many sites out there, to name a few, B&H photo, EBAY always has many (look under "Large format Cameras"

alliebess Loc: suburban Philadelphia

redhogbill wrote:

I have seen some photographers , online using what looks like a vintage camera. { late 1800's, early 1900,s}
are these box cameras made new? are they made digital? or are they using film?
I have been searching the web for some time on info for them, cannot find any info for using them or even a club where I could get some info

any info in the direction will be helpful!! thank you

A photographer in Gettysburg, Pa., Rob Gibson uses a vintage camera with wet plate glass negatives which he prepares immediately before taking the photographs. There are others also using antique cameras and techniques, but I can't remember names.

pdsdville Loc: Midlothian, Tx

Ran across a couple in the Sabinal Valley in Central Texas hill country using an 11x14 camera. I talked to the lady and she said it was a film camera that he had built that exposed 11x14 film sheets. I was tired from lugging my DLSR down the valley and the guy carrying the 11x14 looked about my age so I can imagine how he felt hauling that monster and the huge wooden tripod he had it on down the valley. She said they specialized in calendar photos.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

alliebess wrote:

A photographer in Gettysburg, Pa., Rob Gibson uses a vintage camera with wet plate glass negatives which he prepares immediately before taking the photographs. There are others also using antique cameras and techniques, but I can't remember names.

So, he does it the same way Matthew Brady did it at the same location.