Steevithak of the Internet » bilora_bella_3b http://www.steevithak.com It's never straight up and down. It's a wiggly world. Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:10:40 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Retro-Photography Update http://www.steevithak.com/2009/04/10/retro-photography-update/ http://www.steevithak.com/2009/04/10/retro-photography-update/#comments Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:33:00 +0000 steevithak http://www.steevithak.com/?p=873 I posted a while back about my experiences repairing and using a Bencini Comet S 127 film camera. Since then I’ve acquired a few more interesting old cameras. One is an Argus C, an American 35mm camera made in 1938. I bought it at an estate sale for $10. The Argus C series cameras were also know as “bricks” because they have the same form factor, aesthetics, (and seemingly the same weight) as a brick. The Argus was in very bad shape and required a lot of work to get it operational. I shot a roll of film and got some interesting results despite a chronic focus error.

The next camera I got my hands on was a German Bilora Bella 3b, made between 1955 and 1957. I got the Bella on eBay for $8. It was in remarkably good condition, requiring only some minor repairs to the case to solve a light leak problem. The first roll of film produced some interesting photos but also revealed a strange optical artifact, possibly produced by light reflection in the lens.

So far the most interesting images were produced by the Bencini Comet S and I’ve continued to shoot with it. I’m still looking for old film cameras at estate sales and will post more results to my flickr photostream as I can.

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