This is an old folding camera.
Old folding cameras still can function nearly as well as they did when they were made because there are no electronics to fail. Folding cameras usually had a good, fixed-focus lens, a bellows and very large negatives. This means when you develop the images, you can blow them up really big for enlargements of all or part of the scenes. Here's use them.
Instructions
1. Clean the camera thoroughly. You don't know the circumstances under which it was kept for many years, so before shooting film through it, clean every bit. Use a soft cloth. Use lens tissue for the lens. If you clean the shutter curtain, be very careful not to damage it.
2. Determine what kind of film the camera uses. Many old folding cameras used variations on 120-sized film, but the spools are different. With some fiddling and filing, you may be able to get 120 film to fit 620-film cameras or even 616-film cameras. You also can search around the Web for places that may still sell the original film sizes. All these companies usually do is take 120 film and place it on the other spools.
3. Check the camera for light leaks. The biggest problem some old folding cameras can have is light leaks in the bellows. Open the back of the camera with the bellows extended, then hold the camera up to a light. If the light leaks are minor, you may be able to plug them with black tape. If they are major, you may need to replace the bellows or simply find another old camera to use.
4. Try the camera in bright sunlight. Many old folding cameras have a rudimentary focus on the lens along with a shutter speed dial and aperture ring. Assuming you are using 400 ISO film, set the shutter speed to maximum, turn the aperture to the smallest opening (the biggest number) and approximate the distance to the subject for focus. For more precise exposures, use a hand-held light meter.
5. Shoot big scenes. Because most of these cameras produce very large negatives or slides, you will get a lot of detail and have the opportunity to enlarge the images a lot. While the sharpness of the lens probably won't compare to modern optics, these cameras took a lot of great pictures over the years. You can take even more.
Tags: folding cameras, light leaks, camera light, cameras have, folding cameras have, large negatives