Cool Cameras

December 10, 2003 12:12 PM

I know about the Lomo & the colorful, high-contrast photos it produces, heard about the light leaks and sometimes questionable lens quality of the Holga, and seen some of the stuff Heather has been doing with her pinhole camera. Are there any other fun/odd cameras that I should be considering?
posted by jkottke to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (14 answers total)

multi-lensed cameras are always fun, but they tend to have mixed results, most annoyingly that the images are all off kilter from one another.
posted by sporky at 12:18 PM on December 10, 2003

pinhole: the pinhole blender produces some really interesting images and zero image has a really wide variety of pinhole options for different film types -- they've even recently released one that takes 35mm film.

"toy": there's the lubitel, the diana, the kiev 35, etc. the galleries at toycamera.com show the results of some of these wonders.
posted by heather at 1:05 PM on December 10, 2003

wow. someone linked to me. And with my site in such an embarassing state!

I used to have a lomo, but ditched it for a kiev 35, which is far cheaper, and allows great, long night exposures. Plus it's cheap. About $40, especially if you order from ebay, and get someone from the former USSR to send it to you. Don't be afraid. If you need recommendations, ask.

A couple of my Kiev 35 pics are here

The horizon/horizont family of panoramic cameras are very cool. You get big, wide images.

One fabulous idea was by the guy at holgamods, who took the shutter from a Lubitel, and grafted it on a holga body, with a holga lens. The net result was a camera with the dreamy, vignetting look of a holga, but with a totally predictable exposure. (Also easy time exposure with cable release) Total cost, about $50 US.
posted by websavvy at 1:19 PM on December 10, 2003

You could always build your own field camera. This site also has quite the list of cameras that range from cheap [or expensive] Russian and American cameras. Personally, I enjoy the whole process. I am building my second pinhole camera right now, and I do all of my developing in my Brooklyn bathroom. I like seeing everything from the beginning to end [self-link].
posted by plemeljr at 1:26 PM on December 10, 2003

I love my Holga. The only light leaks I've experienced are from the film not rolling tight enough (which can be a problem with any 120 camera), and the shoddy lens produces a fun effect.

But other interesting cameras? Stop into your local toy store and look for cheap kids' cameras -- they're bound to give you some interesting effects.
posted by me3dia at 1:30 PM on December 10, 2003

search for "leica copy" on ebay, you will find lots of neat russian rangefinder cameras. The Fed 2 cameras are usually very good quality and have that great "old-world" feel, but they are completely manual and will require a seperate light meter (I suggest something like a luna pro). You can see photo examples here (as well as for many other types of cameras)

The real challenge is finding a seller who is actually located in the US rather than the Ukraine or something.
posted by Hackworth at 2:20 PM on December 10, 2003

Holgas come with Polaroid backs too -- you should check that out. and you can get a pinhole Holga, too

same thing for old Polaroid Land Cameras -- interesting.
and dirt cheap at yard sales, real fun and somewhat quirky (you can also buy sepia-toned Polaroid film packs)

but I think what you're really after is an old uncoated lens, no matter what camera it's mounted on -- that's the ticket for strange, moody images.

if you don't mind tripods look for cheap old land cameras, 8x10's

even 220 folder cameras (you still can find custom-made 220 film for them) can be a lot of fun, like old Kodaks and stuff. eBay's full of them usually.
posted by matteo at 3:27 PM on December 10, 2003

Hackworth:

There are tons of good vendors in the Ukraine selling Feds, Kievs, and so on. They're usually in very good condition.

If you're getting an old Russian camera, I'd recommend buying a Sverdlovsk light meter. Mine was (including shipping) about $35. It's rugged and works perfectly for me. It's been compared favorably to domestic meters selling for $200-300.
posted by websavvy at 3:36 PM on December 10, 2003

P.S. I have a Fed-5 that I got for $9.99. And a Zenit-E that I got for about $6.

The $6 Zenit took this kitty picture
posted by websavvy at 3:38 PM on December 10, 2003

My SO likes doing polaroid transfers. There's a bunch of up-front equipment costs, but you can get some pretty neat results.

The trick is, though: you really need to use slide film to take the original image. Which isn't such a loss considering how nice slides look.
posted by bshort at 4:57 PM on December 10, 2003

I hate to say this (as it seems like exactly the opposite answer to the one you were seeking) but the old Leica M6 produces constantly surprising results - specially if you're used to the easy SLRs of the last thirty years.

I've had mine for three years and it's made me unlearn all my usual crutches and forced me to think in basic terms of light and film. Failures are rife, but interesting. I still can't get a decent photograph out of it - except by a fluke (reassuringly frequent, I should say) - which makes it all the more interesting. Every new roll gets undeniably better, though.

A friend of mine has an M7 and has none of these complaints - poor sod!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:02 PM on December 10, 2003

Have a look at the wonderful Alfred's Camera Page.
posted by crayfish at 5:02 AM on December 11, 2003

It's not technically a camera but you can create lots of intersting effects with liquid emulsion. If you have access to a darkroom you can do some interesting things with liquid light, basically you can put an image on anything you can paint, wood, rock, clothes, etc. If you don't have access to a darkroom you can do the same thing with a digital twist. Bear with me here.

Most ink jet printers can print on a piece of transparency film FA-1 Sensitizer . This is liquid chemical which you can apply to cloth or fabric and is exposed by sunlight. Place your transparency film (with the negative image) onto paper or a t-shirt and place in the sunlight for three or four minutes and watch as your image appears. The results are very similar to cyanotypes.
posted by jeremias at 6:09 AM on December 11, 2003

Shoot, messed up my links in the second paragraph. Second paragraph should read:

"Most ink jet printers can print on a piece of transparency film . Create an image in Photoshop and then invert it. Print the image onto the transparancy film (which is basically a negative). Get something called FA-1 Sensitizer . This is liquid chemical which you can apply to cloth or fabric and is exposed by sunlight. Place your transparency film (with the negative image) onto coated paper or a t-shirt and place in the sunlight for three or four minutes and watch as your image appears. The results are very similar to cyanotypes."

posted by jeremias at 6:17 AM on December 11, 2003