Best simple Box camera in 120 Format

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paniolo

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Hello Photographers,
is there any kind of overview about those box cameras? like the kodak brownie or Agfa Clack?
I would like to add one of those to my collection but it should have at least some simple manual controles like shutter speed, focus and f stop. Like a classic folder, just without the folding stuff. ;)

Any hints?
 
Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor came in various guises. The black one with the Art Deco front (black triangle-pointed frame both top and bottom) often has three aperture settings and three distance settings. Shutter speed is always approx. 1/30th.

Very nice camera. I'll link a picture, hold on

box-tengor-54-2.jpg
 
Several mebers will mention the kodak box brownie No2.

I've got a Gevaert Gevabox, which according to the manual that I have (which shows flash connections underneath the camera which my actual camera doesn't have), has an 'M' speed of 1/50, but when I compared mine to a ricoh 500gx I thought the speed looked more like 1/30, it has three apertures of f8, f11 and f16 and 3 indexed focusing distances on the front of the lens housing although focusing the lens shows that any distance can be used form 0fficially 5 feet to infinity. It is also made of metal rather than cardbaord etc. This does mean that many of them are quite rusty. Multi-exposures are very easy with it, just press the shutter button again and perhaps again and again. I don't know how mine performs yet.



Click on the pic to see a bigger version.
 
I'm rather fond of my Ilford Craftsman. Two speeds plus B, two aperture settings, helical focusing. Great big bright viewfinder, too.
 
In all honesty, if you are after adjustments on things like shutter speed, do you really want a box camera? Most of them were built to be cheap and simple tools that anyone could use (well, anyone with decent eyesight, as you'll find with a few of the waist-level viewfinders!).

That said, there are options with at least some of those. The No2 Brownies (I have several Model Fs and a Model E) come with Waterhouse stops at about F11, F22 and F32, and are my personal favourites results-wise for box camera photography.

The Model E is on top, there's also a 127 Model 0 in there.
Box Brownies by gray1720, on Flickr

There's also the All-Distance Ensign which has everything you ask for except the shutter speed adjustment, though I've never got as good photos out of it as the Kodaks.

All-Distance Ensign by gray1720, on Flickr

Adrian
 
Hello guys,
thanks for your replies. Maybe "box" was not the right term for what i was looking for exactly.
I would like to have something like a "better" Holga. The Lens IQ doesnt matter, i just want a compact body with some controles and f stop range from about 3.5 to 16.
I had a Rolleiflex 3.5 once and realy liked it, but well, it was big and heavy. Right now I am using an old Zeiss Ikon folder without RF, works well and I realy like it, but I would like to have exactly the same thing without bellows.
 
paniolo said:
Hello guys,
thanks for your replies. Maybe "box" was not the right term for what i was looking for exactly.
I would like to have something like a "better" Holga. The Lens IQ doesnt matter, i just want a compact body with some controles and f stop range from about 3.5 to 16.
I had a Rolleiflex 3.5 once and realy liked it, but well, it was big and heavy. Right now I am using an old Zeiss Ikon folder without RF, works well and I realy like it, but I would like to have exactly the same thing without bellows.
Click to expand...

F 3.5 !?!? Really?
That's not just a 'better' Holga, you are into TLR territory in medium format there. Just get a nice clean Yashica, a model D should be fine. Even the very early model A would do. They are compact and simple. Not cheap, but available on the big auction site.
 
Yeah, anything with available apertures larger than about f/8 moves you out of box camera territory and into the realm of the TLR. Lubitel, Voigtlander Brilliant, that sort of thing might suit your needs.
 
If you liked the Rolleiflex 3.5, go for a Rolleicord this time... it is a lighter and stripped down version of a Rolleiflex. If that is still too heavy, maybe a Lubitel 166+.
 
At a flea market I chanced upon a Agfa Isoly III (although nowhere on the camera is it identified as such). This was a top of the heap one at the time with a focus by scale 60mm f3.9 lens, at triplet I would imagine. A 1/30 to 1/250 + B, Prontor S shutter with hot shoe only sync. Tests indicate it will X-sync too. Of course this is a smallish 4X4 format on 120 roll film, 16 exposures per roll. Cheap though at $12, with a case no less. The camera has no strap eyelets so the case is the only way to use a strap. They made this model with various lens/shutter combos, from very simple to the model I have. Might be something to consider also, even with the 4X4 format. It is a very light weight, less than a pound with film. The viewfinder ain't fancy but is big and acceptable in use.

Note; Sometimes 4X4 Isoly's are misidentified as 6X6 format so be careful if you look for one.
 
I know this prolly ain't the right thread for this question, but can any photo lab do 4x4 film, especially in Britain?
 
seany65 said:
I know this prolly ain't the right thread for this question, but can any photo lab do 4x4 film, especially in Britain?
Click to expand...

Don't know about Britain but, I would think any remaining labs still doing film could process either 120 (60mm wide paper backed roll film) that has 4X4 format on it or 127 film (which I think is 46mm wide, and is also paper backed roll film). Either can be 4X4 format. The 120 film is still common and available. Size 127 is sold by 1 or 2 vendors and is very expensive. Some 127 film is hand rolled from slit down 120 film.
 
Dacora Digna cameras. Most of them use a slow lens (f/8) and a simple shutter, but they made a few (very hard to find) with better shutters and lenses, including one with an f2.8 lens.

Otherwise, just get a Ricohflex, it's about the smallest and lightest a TLR can be (aside from a Lubitel).
 
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