06.28.07
Posted in Photography at 12:13 am by thomas
My first serious attempts with the Kodak Duo Six-20 have returned from the photo lab, and as it turns out this is a camera that needs a much lighter touch than many of the other vintage Kodaks I usually shoot with.
The wide – and accurate – aperture and shutter range and the very exact focusing mechanism allow for great shots while at the same time limiting the room for error. Out of my first roll of 16 photos were only maybe two or three that look like I knew what I was doing… here’s one of them.
This is the entrance to the Cable Car shed in San Francisco after hours – the End of the Line.
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06.24.07
Posted in Photography at 11:40 pm by thomas
I’ve finally upgraded to a better scanner (nothing extreme, but our new Epson 4490 does medium format scans with a nice, dedicated film holder) and I’m very happy with the scan speed and the results.
Here is a shot I took with my Kodak Medalist on Ilford Delta Professional 100. This was back in February in Chinatown during an exceptionally cold rain shower. But this picture was worth my sniffeling nose for the following couple of days…
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06.20.07
Posted in PhotoBlog: Camera Porn, Photography at 9:20 pm by thomas
This is the Kodak Vigilant Six-20 camera, a classic folder that was made around 1946. This was a relatively simple machine for a time when there were already very complex cameras like the Medalist or the Monitor available. There is no protection against double exposures and the Dakon shutter can fire multiple times on the same frame.
The model shown here has the cheaper f8.8 lens which cost $24 at the time, roughly $400 dollars in today’s money. Kodak built this camera over a ten year period until 1949 with almost a dozen different lens/shutter combinations, probably depending on war time supply limitations and rapid lens innovation cycles.
Like many other Kodak cameras from this period, the Vigilant is a 620 format camera, which means that modern 120 medium format film has to be re-rolled onto vintage spools to be used in this camera.
What makes this camera attractive to modern enthusiasts is the simple, robust build which makes this a great medium format folder to bring along casually without worry, the very low price charged in auctions, and the huge 6×9 centimeter exposure format (2 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches), which allows for very high resolution film scans.
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Posted in Photography at 12:36 am by thomas
A couple of weeks ago I pulled my Kodak Vigilant from its perch on the shelf and loaded it up with some film for the first time in years. The last time I used it I had been somewhat unhappy with the results, but it may have been badly re-rolled film more than actual issues with the camera.
Here’s two shots I took with the Kodak Vigilant Six-20 on Ilford Delta 100 film, shooting into the evening sun down along Sutter street from my office window.
Again, as so often with these vintage cameras, a pleasant surprise. After seeing these pictures I started to do some more research on the Vigilant and as it turns out, mine is one with a rather inferior lens – a f8.8 with Dakon shutter from 1946.
The Vigilants were made over a period of ten years until about 1949 with at least ten different lens/shutter combos, and so I went out and started looking. Just recently I’ve now found a Vigilant with a f6.3 lens with the same reliable Dakon shutter and I’m looking forward to do some comparisons between the two lenses…
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