Oldest camera?

Oldest camera?

  • Yes

    Votes: 548 80.7%

  • No

    Votes: 131 19.3%
  • Total voters
    679
In case I haven't posted this previously, I am in the middle of getting various bits needed to be able to use my Gevaert gevabox 6x9 version, (the actual box camera version), made from 1951 to 1955(?), but I don't know which year it's from.
 
Oldest in the house is a 1936 Super Ikonta B (530/16), followed by a two Contax II (1936 and 1937) and a 1938 Ikoflex II/III. Then we jump to the late 50's.

Of the Zeiss cameras, only one of the Cantax II has been serviced.
 
dxq.canada said:
Rochester Optical
Folding Premier - 1892
Sadly, not in working condition.

ROC.jpg


... no, not the little black one.
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it is 5x7? It probably has a tilt back inside
 
Glad this resurfaced 🙂

I've only got back to 1925 (or so) in cameras I own. I only want to have cameras I can use (and so that means really collectable museum pieces are out of the question). The 2 1925 options both use 120 - a Kodak No.2 Brownie (but with the metal build) and a 6x9cm plate film view camera with a roll film back added.

It's interesting to me that while these would be regarded as using a quite decent-sized film now, at the time they were almost toy cameras - in fact the Brownie really was. The pre-1925 versions of the ICA plate camera I have were marketed as children's cameras, the 1925 version is slightly fancier but I have no doubt would still have been seen as a "children's" camera for wealthier parents.

I have a negative holder that would suit the 6x9 plate camera - to be used for contact printing. We forget that enlargement just wasn't done "back in the day". Even my 6x9 plate camera from about 1929 would have been too small to be a professional's camera - a serious amateur though.
 
Scrambler said:
Glad this resurfaced 🙂

I've only got back to 1925 (or so) in cameras I own. I only want to have cameras I can use (and so that means really collectable museum pieces are out of the question). The 2 1925 options both use 120 - a Kodak No.2 Brownie (but with the metal build) and a 6x9cm plate film view camera with a roll film back added.

It's interesting to me that while these would be regarded as using a quite decent-sized film now, at the time they were almost toy cameras - in fact the Brownie really was. The pre-1925 versions of the ICA plate camera I have were marketed as children's cameras, the 1925 version is slightly fancier but I have no doubt would still have been seen as a "children's" camera for wealthier parents.

I have a negative holder that would suit the 6x9 plate camera - to be used for contact printing. We forget that enlargement just wasn't done "back in the day". Even my 6x9 plate camera from about 1929 would have been too small to be a professional's camera - a serious amateur though.
Click to expand...

You right. Majority of these camera really for amateur. I never see in old catalogs children with camera, but many pictures of some ladies & gentlemen on the bike or in park with small cameras in hands (I guess they not professional photographer 🙄).

I have try to used these cameras. It still hard to use no mater of plate size. I guess level of "amateurish" is little different 100 yeas ago
 
oldest one i have is Agfa Billy Compur (1934 to 1942 according to camerapedia), I shoot total of 2 roll with it, because I picked up an Agfa Record soon after, and I like the convenient of the rangefinder in the agfa record.
 
I think everything before 1910s it is a really museum items. I try to use 1904-10s old camera and is still works, but it take twice more time to make one shut. Old wood and brass not tighten well after so many year. Everything shaking too much.
 
I have a simple Kodak box camera with an instruction booklet dated 1914. The camera looks that old but I don't know the actual age. The camera has never functioned since I've owned it so I haven't used it. The oldest cameras I now own that I've used have been a couple of Kievs from sometime in the 1960s (I think). I also had a 1967 Nikon F that I used a lot in the 1970s and early 1980s until it was stolen. All the cameras I currently use are digital so none can be considered "old" unless you're talking dog years.
 
Dogman said:
I have a simple Kodak box camera with an instruction booklet dated 1914. The camera looks that old but I don't know the actual age. The camera has never functioned since I've owned it so I haven't used it. The oldest cameras I now own that I've used have been a couple of Kievs from sometime in the 1960s (I think). I also had a 1967 Nikon F that I used a lot in the 1970s and early 1980s until it was stolen. All the cameras I currently use are digital so none can be considered "old" unless you're talking dog years.
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you can check your camera in catalog here:
http://piercevaubel.com/cam/catalogsekc.htm

Very often company make some modification each year (or each two year) and show it in they catalog. If you have original camera and shutter you can dated them really close.
 
I have a small variety of Kodak box cameras, and Ansco and Kodak folding cameras of unknown date so it's hard to say which is the oldest. Some of the folders have patent dates, but I don't know the exact manufacture date with any certainty. Most likely the oldest are early 20th century, teens or earlier. I've used a few of them, the small box camera which takes 120 film is the easiest to deal with. I bodged some 120 into one of the smaller folders which took 116 film and used it to take some long images. But in general I don't use these cameras because they're a bit impractical. I can't afford the yearly Ilford run to get the right kind of wide film for them, and missed the era most recently when you could buy some of the larger spool formats online for $30 or so a roll (again too expensive at the time).

One of my older cameras that I hope to use someday after the bellows have been replaced is the Kodak Autographic Special Camera. It's one of the earliest cameras with couple rangefinder made in the late teens or early twenties.
 
5x7 inch Graflex SLR w/Xenar 4.5/240mm lens and
pinhole. In bright light you can see enough to compose
with the pinhole before putting the hugh mirror up.
Film holders are special, not the usually 5x7 ones,
with wider short side and no ridge at the top. The
camera will take modified standard 5x7 holders
because the sealing on the wide side is good, but
the holder must be visually lined up (there's a 1/4"
gap on either side of the short side; I was able
to file down some standard wooden 5x7 holders to
eliminate the ridge.
Made from 1906 to 1927. The focal plane shutter
is not operatable. I use the mirror down to cap exposures.
I've also got one glass plate 5x7 holder, that I haven't used.
I've got a 1000 ft roll of 5" Panatomic-X to pump through
the beast!
Hari
 
My current project camera is a Mamiya Six IV circa 1947, 'Made in Occupied Japan'.

First roll through is very encouraging. Just have to disassemble rangefinder to cleanup inside of exit lens and then adjust rangefinder to focus at the film plane.
 
My oldest camera is probably a Voigtlander Rollfilm, circa 1928 I'd say.
Although it really looks its age (worn leatherette, scratches on metal, haze in viewfinder) it is perfectly functional at all speed and aperture settings. And the lens is in good condition.

Rather a bargain for 40 francs in 1992 (that would have been around 10$ then ?)
 
Currently use a Contax IIa and an M3. Not sure which is older but I use both. Will need to check serial numbers/dates. Had a Leica IIIb but sold that about 2 years ago as I never used it.
 
Manufactured about 1904 the Wizard Duplex No.1 could be used as a normal roll film camera taking 1/4 plate size photographs on Kodak 118 size roll film. The roll film backs were specially made for Manhattan by the Kodak Company. The "Duplex" feature allowed the photographer to insert a dark slide into a slot in the back, to prevent light from fogging the film, and, with the camera on a tripod, remove the roll film back. A focusing screen could then be fitted to enable accurate focusing and exposure onto a plate, or the back could be replaced and exposure made onto film. There are two small catches at the sides of the bellows to unlock the body from the back.
36156339150_4cab8ca6e6_b.jpg
 
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