Back in the 60's a friend wanted one of those Instamatic jobs and did not have the $20 or so to purchase. He did have a Zeiss Icon Contessa, a small travel sized range finder camera with a 45mm Tessar 2.8 mm fixed lens. The camera folds compactly or opens with a short bellows design. These high quality cameras were made in Stutgart, Germany between 1950 and 1955. His father had brought it back from Korea. My friend had no interest or idea how to use it.
I had no idea how to use it but gave him the $20 he wanted, went to the library checked out a book and was on my way! I still have that camera and it still takes very nice shots! For fun I looked on ebay a minute ago........value appears to be between $100 and $150. I would not sell mine for that!
The Villages wrote:
Oh yes. In those days you could spend more time in dealing with the composition of the picture and not have to deal with all kinds of settings.
You still can...it's called "Auto"!
Zounds! And rotating flash cube too!
Yep. A good way to "learn" photography is to ignore all the whiz-bang features and go to manual on everything. A challenge would be to take one of these simple cameras and make the best photos you can from it.
Hassie
Loc: Central Pennsylvania
Mac wrote:
That was my first camera. I took many pictures with it when I was in the Navy.
I was in the Air Force and took a lot of pictures with one of these until I went to Clark Air Base and bought a Petri 7S.
Thought that was the zenith of cameras. Can't believe it is 52 years.
I had a Yashica TL Super in Nam.
When my Helicopter got shot down I got out O.K.
But my camera didn't.
Developed most of my film in Black & White to make the situation look worse !!
klaus
Loc: Guatemala City, Guatemala
When I was a kid I wanted one of those really bad. My dad thought it was crap and bought me a used rangefinder with real dials instead. Now I am so glad he did!
I was SOOOO glad when flashcubes came out, as I was tired of burning my fingers on those pop-out flash bulbs that turned milky and bumpy and hot!
I still one of those - - - somewhere
no12mo wrote:
I still one of those - - - somewhere
I found mine and decided to duplicate some shots that I took in the 1970s....but nobody sells 126 film anymore.
Even mirrorless! What a deal.
Lars Bogart wrote:
This Solves Them All !!
D.O.F., ISO, ETC.
Here is what I got for Christmas last year !! The ever so popular Brownie Hawkeye: The last time I used something like this was in 1956 or so.
Lars Bogart wrote:
This Solves Them All !!
D.O.F., ISO, ETC.
My first camera!! State of the art for me at 11 years old.
If you want to reply, then
register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.