Softball on Film

For the last game of this year's softball league, I decided to bring my Pentax 6X7, Kodak Brownie Model B Number 3, and my DSLR. I took a single roll of HP5+ (400 ISO) with the 6X7 and a single team photos with the Brownie. I had loaded it the day before with a sheet of 100 ISO Arista 4X5 sheet film. I'd never tried 4X5 film in the Brownie before, and was both nervous about and excited for the results.
Pentax 6X7














Kodak Brownie

To make sure the camera was light-tight, I cut 127 backing paper to fit over the red hole and used mashing tape to hold it on. That large white dot is from when the tape failed overnight, exposing it to a little light from the streetlamp outside my window all night. I also wrapped the junction in backing paper, though in hindsight I think that was silly. In all, I'm really happy with the shot. It proved that the old Model B cameras can use 4X5 film for one-off fill-frame use (respooling any film size onto their paper backing leaves a cropped image.) Also, it showed that, with some care, the camera is lightproof enough to use sheet film. And, it showed that the simple meniscus lens has enough resolving power to provide good photos on modern films.

First Five Shots from a Box Camera

I piked up a Kodak Brownie Number 3 for $7 about two months ago. It had a 124 film spool in it, but no paper or film. Two weeks ago I shared some images of D.C. trolley cards that I developed. Those negatives came on a 122 spool that I bought for the spool and paper backing. After I developed the trolley car images, I spooled some 35mm film onto the 122 backing just to see if the box camera works. Here are the results.

High tension tower. I tried, with each frame, to estimate the camera's panoramic effect (due to the negatives being much less wide than 124 film) and line up the images appropriately. Sometimes it didn't work.

A tree with Mt. Diablo and Eagle Peak in the background.

I mined up this electrical tower better than the other.


I had the most hope for this shot and it turned out, I think, the best of the lot. In all, it's a decent result that does as good a job as can be done of capitalizing on the panoramic format.

Another I had high hopes for. I just set it down and did a time exposure for about three seconds, I think. The lens has good resolving power and nice contrast. For a camera made in the early 1920s, it really holds its own. If you'd like to see more about this camera and this model of camera, here's the YouTube video I made about the Kodak Brownie Number 3.