# Some photos taken with a 60-year-old camera



## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Most (all?) photos posted here seem to be taken with modern high-tech digital cameras so, for a change, here's something different.

I was really into photography at school (35 years ago) and my father bought me my first real camera for me from Germany (he worked on the Tornado and spent a lot of time in Germany when I was a kid - never took me though  ). It was a Franka Solida III folding camera that took 120 roll film.

Recently I rediscovered it in a draw where it had been for over 20 years. I decided to put it on eBay as this type of camera can fetch decent money. To increase the chance of selling it - and get a better price - I bought a roll of film, took some pics, had them printed, scanned them, put them on my website and linked to it in the eBay auction. Alas, despite about 40 people watching the auction, I only got one bid, for the starting price, in the dying seconds  So, with the cost of the film, processing, eBay and PayPal fees I think I made about 52p profit. Oh well, some you win.....

Anyway, here's some of the photos - the rest are at http://www.magichamster.com/pics/solida/index.html

The last two are scenes from the office where I work


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## M4D YN (Nov 24, 2007)

nice :thumb:


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## bildo (Mar 29, 2008)

Sounds like a good old fashioned camera, hope you were exaggerating about the 52p? If not, that's pretty sad.


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## Gary-360 (Apr 26, 2008)

Nice to see some hard images for a change. I dabbled in 35mm when I was younger with some good results (Praktica ML35) but can't find where I stored them for safe keeping 

My Dad did some 120 stuff many moons ago and also had a processing lab in the attic, some stunning shots too.

Thanks for showing these mate, great to see them 

Gary


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## M4D YN (Nov 24, 2007)

they are post card material  get them sent out to the relevant folk and make some money :speechles


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

bildo said:


> Sounds like a good old fashioned camera, hope you were exaggerating about the 52p? If not, that's pretty sad.


Not far off - I got £14.99 for the camera, the film cost £4 and the processing £8.50, plus the fees.

This is the camera:


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## M4D YN (Nov 24, 2007)

thats so cool,old things get me going now,but i used to just laugh at stuff like that 

what camera did you use to take that pic??


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## megaboost (Feb 4, 2007)

Nice pics but it looks as though something needs a wipe, there seems to be the outline of some letters on the lens and it's ruining the pics 

I do like to see old photos or new ones with old cameras, did you see the piece on the BBC website last week where a chap had built an old camera to simulate an old pic Robert Howlett had taken of Brunel?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7753000/7753202.stm

Some nice shots but an interesting listen too.


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## Maxtor (Feb 23, 2007)

Great post and some great shots. The photos seem to have that "old style" look that digital can not capture.

Thanks for posting.

Maxtor.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

megaboost said:


> I do like to see old photos or new ones with old cameras, did you see the piece on the BBC website last week where a chap had built an old camera to simulate an old pic Robert Howlett had taken of Brunel?
> 
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7753000/7753202.stm
> 
> Some nice shots but an interesting listen too.


I hadn't seen that - have now, thanks for posting the link :thumb:


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

M4D YN said:


> what camera did you use to take that pic??


My EOS 400D - but taken handheld at 1/15 - 1/20th second which is why they aren't that sharp.


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## M4D YN (Nov 24, 2007)

parish said:


> My EOS 400D - but taken handheld at 1/15 - 1/20th second which is why they aren't that sharp.


is that the one that was on dw for sale??


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

M4D YN said:


> is that the one that was on dw for sale??


Nope - bought it brand new :thumb:


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## Tete (Mar 9, 2008)

Lovely shots and awesome camera! I love B/W pictures.
I've got a Canon AE-1 with a B/W film. But your camera is incredible. Take care of it, it's a treasure


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## M4D YN (Nov 24, 2007)

parish said:


> Nope - bought it brand new :thumb:


i was being nosey,as i was going to buy one and the person got back to me to late and i went and done the D40 thing instead :thumb:

but i am happy with it now,just need to learn a lot more and get better at it


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## Multipla Mick (Feb 5, 2006)

Great shots it takes aren't they, and the subject matter makes it all look like photos from the past too. Colour is everywhere now in magazines, books and papers, so it's like looking at an old copy of Country Life or similar. 

I've still got my OM10, last ran a film through it about 4 years ago, might have to dig it out and have a go.


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## spitfire (Feb 10, 2007)

Multipla Mick said:


> Great shots it takes aren't they, and the subject matter makes it all look like photos from the past too. Colour is everywhere now in magazines, books and papers, so it's like looking at an old copy of Country Life or similar.
> 
> I've still got my OM10, last ran a film through it about 4 years ago, might have to dig it out and have a go.


I think I've still got my OM10 too. I had it fixed twice due to sticking shutter magnet or something. A common problem with them I believe. I hope yours is OK after all this time. I've got lots of black and white pics that I developed myself but no way of getting them on the web yet


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Hehe, funny that, but I stopped using the Solida when I got an OM10 in 1980 :thumb:


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

nice one and some good shots as well :thumb:

I always wanted to collect cameras and even went to a few fairs to get some old ones :roleyes:

what film did you use just ou of curiosity? Those shots seem to lack a bit of contrast, and I'm wondering if that was the film or perhaps lost in scanning and compressing etc?


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## Pieface876 (Nov 14, 2008)

Love those Photos and the way the camera looks.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Bigpikle said:


> what film did you use just ou of curiosity? Those shots seem to lack a bit of contrast, and I'm wondering if that was the film or perhaps lost in scanning and compressing etc?


Ilford FP4+

I think that the scanning is the culprit as the actual photos look fine. It could also be the monitor they are viewed on. At work I've got dual LG Flatrons - same model - yet the colour rendition between the two is a bus-ride apart and no matter how I frig with them I can't get them anywhere near the same (I suspect it's down to the backlights). Anyway, when I view those photos straddling the two screens they look fine on one - plenty of contrast, and look black and white - on the other they appear to have a yellow/brown cast, as though they were pale sepia. They also look different on my CRT at home and my laptop.


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