Imperial 620
Imperial 620 and Imperial Herco 620: The Imperial Six-Twenty Snap Shot camera was made in the USA. It’s completely plastic, right down to it’s cute little plastic handle. It’s 2 3/4″ wide 3 1/8″ deep and 3 3/8″ tall (not including the viewfinder). There are absolutely no settings to have to fiddle with on this […]
Birdseye Camera
I had some fun with the Birdseye camera today. Took my friend’s eagle sculpture out for a photo opp. (That’s at the bottom of the page.) The original review is here: Cam McCubbin sent the Birdseye to me, all the way from Canada. It accepts 620 film, so I re-loaded some 120 onto 620 spools. […]
Mark XII
I found this Imperial Mark XII camera on eBay. The year was 2000. It had film in it. This camera accepts 620 film and the film that was inside had been exposed oh way back when. I processed the roll and … well… I really don’t have much to say about that. Fast forward […]
Hollywood Reflex
They say Hollywood is a tough town to get a break in … and this is one tough camera. A cast metal twin-lens reflex “style” (meaning, not the real thing) camera. Manufactured in 1947 … well, what do you know? I just happen to have a roll of 620 film that expired in May of ’47! […]
Valiant
The Valiant 620 film camera. I think Pete Lutz sent me this camera from Texas. The shutter button didn’t seem to allow the shutter itself to release correctly. Well, I don’t really know why it took me so long to use it. It ain’t like it’s rocket science to figure out how to synchronize it […]
Sunbeam six-twenty
I purchased this camera at the Puget Sound Photographic Collector’s Society camera show. They hold this show every April in Kent, WA. I paid a whopping five bucks for it. It’s gray deco self is cute enough, but I knew I had to own it when I turned it upside down to find, “HELEN’s. 1956 Won it for a […]
Dover 620-A Camera
Manufactured in Dover, New Hampshire, the Dover 620-A is one of the weirdest cameras I’ve used. I bought it at a camera show. I bought it because it’s weird and four bucks was within my budget. When I carry this camera, I need nothing more … other than maybe flashbulbs. Stamped on the camera’s back is what might […]
Anscoflex and Anscoflex II
The Anscoflex and the Anscoflex II cameras were designed by Raymond Loewy (the same guy who designed the Studebaker Avanti & Lucky Strike cigarette package). The Anscoflex & Anscoflex II cameras have big, fabulously bright viewfinders. The Anscoflex II has two built-in filters, one yellow, one close-up. Only one filter can be used at a […]
Ansco Rediflex
I spent a whopping eight bucks on this camera at a junk store in Raymond,WA. I even referred to the store as an antique store in front of the owner and she said ,”No, this is a bunch of junk.” There was film already in the camera. The photo of the boat on the […]
Ansco Shur Shot
Doesn’t everyone have a pile of Shur Shot box cameras? Sometimes they’re Ansco, sometimes Agfa. The graphics differ as do the limited features. The Agfa Ansco Corporation introduced the Shur Shot camera in 1932. One model had a 6×9 cm frame. Another model, with a smooth front, had a 6.5×11 cm frame. That same year, Ansco introduced […]
Kodak Duex
The 27 page (!) instruction booklet says the camera accepts 620 film. I trimmed down a 120 spool and got 16 images per roll. Very Kodak Bullet-like, in that it has a helical-telescoping front. (Them’s fancy words for – the front screws out.) If you forget to unscrew the lens to make it pop out, […]
Brownie Hawkeye
My mom had one of these. If you were born before 1970, your mom probably had one of these too: When I was a kid, it sat on the floor in my older brother’s room. I remember picking it up and making the button click. Then I’d mess with both buttons and it wouldn’t click […]
Ansco Panda Review
This dear, sweet camera resides in a spot close to my heart. Years ago, some friends of mine were having a discussion about online interest groups and how you can make a group for anything and folks will join. From this discussion the original Ansco Panda group was created on Yahoo. Folks did join. I believe […]
Imperial Debonair
Olive drab Bakelite, inlayed with stylish graphics, this camera has Herbert George’s DNA all over it . With its little carrying strap sticking straight up out of its head, it grows on you. It takes twelve wide-angle-ish images on 620 film. (Here’s a link about how to respool 120 film onto a 620 spool.) The […]