Guess what's in the field case

[Jack Conrad]

Ezzie is the winner!

What I meant by pretty was the outward condition more that the design, sorry bout that.

Anyway, here it is in all its painted bakelite glory.

These PH-324 military issue Kodak 35 cameras had an interesting history in that the military tried to bulldoze the little things into oblivion. The camera's were issued to thousands of troops but later recalled or decommissioned and destroyed in order to avoid a flood into the used market. 🙂

A few of them escaped the scrap heap and were stripped of their serial no. plates on the front and even spray painted by GI's in order to smuggle them back into the states. :angel:

 

[Ezzie]

The condition is not that bad. I think its rather nice. Well done.

 

[Jack Conrad]

Thanks for playing, everyone.

I spent the morning gently cleaning it up and studying on the Net what it was I'd found.

The black paint over the brass(especially around the lens) is not in great shape 😱 ... kind of bubbling up and soft, so unlike what I would usually do, I hesitate cleaning it more thoroughly.

I'm pleased to find that the shutter and aperture diaphragm are still quite snappy and the Cooke style Anaston triplet lens while slow and not particularly sought after is clear and without scratches.

All in all I'm pretty sure this thing can still shoot.

While it's not so much a "user" camera which is what I'm mostly in to, it is an interesting historical and maybe even desirable collector camera that can still be used.

There's no telling what it has photographed or whether its been in combat on a battlefield, but whoever it was issued to must have liked it enough to take a little risk and smuggle it back home.

 

[oftheherd]

Unlike today, America had an aversion to getting involved in other people's wars, but then unlike today America didn't need other people's oil, either.
The war started in 1939. It took two years for the US to decide to join in. To say there was no war before December 1941 is pretty offensive to a lot of people who had been fighting one for two years prior. "Pretty tricky"? No, it was pretty terrible.

My reply was meant to be USA-centric, since the OP stated the camera was USA made. Sorry you found it offensive. The USA was indeed more isolationist at that time, and tended to think more in terms of things in the Americas.

I don't know that we decided to join in, but were sort of forced to by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Given the stated and demonstrated goals of world domination by the Axis powers, the active involvement of the USA was no doubt just a matter of time.

Prior to that time, as I said, people knew what was going on, and didn't approve, but didn't want to engage in a war. After all, the USA wasn't out of the depression yet, as well as there being German and Soviet sympathizers in the USA. The USA did send a lot of aid to England, and was not in favor with the 3rd Reich for that reason.

 

[oftheherd]

Thanks for playing, everyone.

I spent the morning gently cleaning it up and studying on the Net what it was I'd found.

The black paint over the brass(especially around the lens) is not in great shape 😱 ... kind of bubbling up and soft, so unlike what I would usually do, I hesitate cleaning it more thoroughly.

I'm pleased to find that the shutter and aperture diaphragm are still quite snappy and the Cooke style Anaston triplet lens while slow and not particularly sought after is clear and without scratches.

All in all I'm pretty sure this thing can still shoot.

While it's not so much a "user" camera which is what I'm mostly in to, it is an interesting historical and maybe even desirable collector camera that can still be used.

There's no telling what it has photographed or whether its been in combat on a battlefield, but whoever it was issued to must have liked it enough to take a little risk and smuggle it back home.

Seems you have a fun camera to play with. I look forward to seeing some photos from it.

 

[Jack Conrad]

Seems you have a fun camera to play with. I look forward to seeing some photos from it.

Actually I'm kind of hesitant to shoot a roll through this particular camera. 😱

I'm just guessing..., but there may be less than a thousand of these things left on the planet and as such a relatively rare collectible I'm thinking I should just sell this one on to a more qualified person. Maybe someone into WWII reenactments or a military gear head. 🙂

It may not be worth all that much since it doesn't have the ID serial no. plate remaining on the front, but it might be worth a Barnack beater or some other nice folder MF RF in similar condition.

 

[Ezzie]

Then again, if you do put a film through it, using all speeds and apertures, and find its OK, you´ll either want to keep it, or you´ll gain more interest when selling it.

 

[Jack Conrad]

Then again, if you do put a film through it, using all speeds and apertures, and find its OK, you´ll either want to keep it, or you´ll gain more interest when selling it.

Yep. You've identified my conundrum. 🙂

 

[Darshan]

Nice camera and history associated with it.

In my opinion, I think you should use it, just for fun...and post some pics here. 🙂

 

[Jack Conrad]

Nice camera and history associated with it.

In my opinion, I think you should use it, just for fun...and post some pics here. 🙂

Alright, you asked for it! I loaded it with some horribly expired 1998 Kodak Gold 200 and will take some pictures. The film probably sat in someones 110 degree garage for the past decade. Perfect. 🙂

The camera took me a while to load though... I thought I was just stupid but after digging around I found a tiny torn piece of film that had been stuck in the slot on the take up spool. Once I removed that it was simple.

 

[Jack Conrad]

Update. I took the camera for a cruise and finished off a roll while waiting at a car repair place for work being done on my car.

This 1940's Kodak Military 35 PH-324 gave me an excuse to chat up everybody within ear reach and because of it I got some really awesome "potential" shots of greasy mechanics, annoyed customers and assorted piles of used tires and such. Kind of a fish that got away story. lol

Anyway, it shot smooth, wound on with a nice solid click at the end of the throw. Everything worked great.... even the frame counter worked well.
This is a nice little camera.

But then I reached the last frame,...click...and as I hadn't really researched quite what to do at the end to rewind, I ended up over tensioning the film to the point it was stuck right between shutter releases. Argh!

Anyway, after fiddling and stressing I freaked and opened the back up sacrificing the film.... but just as I did that I discovered the advance knob easily pulls "up" and the film was released. Double Argh!

So what can I say. I'm an idiot and I should remember to always pull "up" before I open the back.

The camera worked very nicely and I have it loaded again for another try tomorrow.

These Kodak 35's are cool. They have a very decent small tight ergonomic feel to them. And many of them have very good Ektar lenses as well.

 

[Darshan]

Now that I keep looking at the camera, I like it even more. Can't wait to see some pics off it.

 

[Jack Conrad]

Now that I keep looking at the camera, I like it even more. Can't wait to see some pics off it.

I can hardly wait to get some pics from it either. :bang:

Strike II... The horribly expired film I used is definitely no good.

I'm going to have to load the camera with fresh film.


I'm glad I was using my DSLR as a spot meter since I get to see the shot before I take it with the film. Pretty slick, except I don't much like carrying two cameras around like that.

I can almost do without a light meter, except this Kodak 35 only goes to 1/150 and it's pretty easy to find subjects that are too bight, even at f16.

I also need to film test a Konica Auto S that I've been working on.
So, it's off to CVS or Walgreens or whoever may be selling film at a discount. 🙂

 

[Jack Conrad]

Ok, the third roll's the charm. This 1941ish Kodak 35 PH-324 military issue camera definitely shoots.
A little flair prone but otherwise not half bad. 🙂

 

[Spleenrippa]

Wow, not too bad. I love the way the world looks through that lens.

 

[Darshan]

Wow, not too bad. I love the way the world looks through that lens.

I agree. And looking at these broad daylight photos, I don't think you are limited by the 1/150 ss.

Enjoy. 🙂

 

[Guaranteed]

Looks like a fun camera to use.

It's a shame I just saw this now and not before yesterday, one of the local bases had an open house with some WWI and WWII reenactments. If you were looking to sell it I'm fairly positive someone would have wanted to purchase it. A lot of them were really into it, quite a few had their own motorcycles w/sidecar, jeeps, half tracks. There was even some with their own tanks(IIRC five).

 

[Ezzie]

Nice indeed Jack, nothing at all wrong with what the camera is capable of. Contrast is not too bad for its age. Congratulations are in order.

I agree with Dan, the looks sort of grow on you. I rather like it now.

 

[oftheherd]

Nice photos you got there. That camera is a good user as well as a historic find.