Borrowed some vintage cameras for showcase

I am going to SPH tomorrow to do a video interview wrt the OMY Photo Blogger of the Year competition.

It was the perfect excuse to bug my friend Mike to lend me some of his vintage camera collection and showcase it. I’m not the most comfortable person in front of cameras (ironically). I’ve been told also, that i sound exactly like the horrible Bolo Santosi.

These vintage cameras ought to take some of those attention away.

First up is the Canon IIF rangefinder. I was originally promised the Nikon S2 rangefinder but the plan fell through. According to Mike, this camera was a generation before the Canon 7 rangefinder was born.

The shutter is made of cloth. Mike specifically warned me that i cannot point this to the sun as the cloth shutter will catch fire.

Up next is a chick magnet. The Kodak Petit circa 1930s 127mm (yes 127mm) film camera.

This camera was designed specifically for the female market back in the 1930s and 1940s. That little squarish thingy on top of the lens is the viewfinder, which serves little purpose. From what im told, using this camera is as good as using a hybrid of Holga and Pinhole camera. I only managed to figure out a bulb mode switch and a mysterious shutter speed. But looking at the small lens hole, i’m guess a decent exposure on 127mm film will need at least a few seconds.

Like I mentioned, this camera was designed specifically for the ladies. Check out the pretty typography.

Lastly, my personal fav of the lot is a Czechoslovakia spy camera.

Well.. depending on how you see it, the camera is not really a spy camera. You see, back in the 1960s, the camera, Mikroma II, had two models. The green model (picture) was produced for the civillians while the black one was created specifically for spies and special agents.

I hope these cameras will be enough to eat up the whole 5min interview segment.

Like anyone of them? I’m told they are for sale too. Contact me if you are keen.

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