Old school photography

 The other day, for no good reason, I got thinking about film and old school cameras. When I was a kid my dad had a pretty good collection of old cameras and shot a fair amount of 120 type film.

If you've never used 120 film it's around 60mm wide, so nearly twice the width of the more common 35mm stuff. It comes open on reels and requires a little skill to handle.

Interestingly it's still being made, so I ordered some:

I ordered from B&H Photo in New York but it's available from a lot of different places. This is all brand new film, that one on the end has "vintage packaging".

When we came back from our last trip to camp we stopped at my parent's house to snag a camera. Unfortunately it would appear the collection has been packed away somewhere. I did find this: 

It's a Kodak No.2A Brownie. The line started in 1907, the 2A was made from 1920 to 1924, so right around 100 years ago. It was my great grandmother's, unfortunately we don't know any more of the story than that. At the start of 1920 she was already married with 2 kids and a third on the way.

Unfortunately this camera uses 116 film which is a little wider (and longer) than 120. It's possible to respool 120 film onto 116 spools or to fit 120 spools into a 116 camera with adapters. It's also possible to buy bulk 116 film and fit it into a 116 spool.

For the moment I think what I'm actually going to do is buy another camera. They made millions of 120 cameras, they're not particularly rare or expensive. At some point I'll probably revisit this Brownie, stay tuned...