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My Old Cameras - Dated from 1896 to 1941
 
ROCHESTER OPTICAL CAMERA CO. CYCLE POCO NO 3 - PAT'D JULY 21-1896
 
CYCLE POCO NO 3
 
CYCLE POCO NO 3
 
KODAK FOLDING AUTOGRAPHIC BROWNIE - CIRCA 1915-26
 
KODAK EASTMAN POCKET - CIRCA 1926-31
 
WELTA "WELTUR"
 
WELTA "WELTUR"
 
WELTA "WELTUR" - CIRCA 1937-41
COMMENTS
Mittens said at 4:25 p.m. on Apr 2, 2007:
Reta, your just too fast for me...haha. I wasn't even finished this tabblo and your message was already posted. I guess I should have posted it as private before I finished it? Well now it's finished! Aren't these cool?
Mittens said at 4:28 p.m. on Apr 2, 2007:
These cameras were given to me by my father-in-law. We shared the love of photography! He actually used these cameras and use to develope his own pictures. I wish he was still around to teach me more. I sure do miss him!
OscarDaniel said at 5:00 p.m. on Apr 2, 2007:
Nice to see this old cameras , and very good shots, thanks!!
Noe said at 8:18 p.m. on Apr 2, 2007:
Great collection Linda, and very nice shots too =)
Engelgrafik said at 9:24 p.m. on Apr 2, 2007:
Very cool stuff. I bet you could find film for some of these cameras as well. If you ever want to shoot these babies and are looking for film, drop me a line and I'll tell you one or two companies that might still sell film for these. These old cameras and the glass they use have characteristics that aren't found anymore on modern cameras. We've settled for low quality for the sake of mobility and easiness. We just don't realize it!
JoanW said at 11:08 p.m. on Apr 2, 2007:
Super! Just love your collection of old cameras. You have made a gread presentation out of them Linda. Looks really good here. What an amazing bunch of oldies!
Geddon22 said at 11:39 a.m. on Apr 3, 2007:
Beautiful portraits--so jealous--I'd love to start collecting too.
Setu said at 12:42 p.m. on Apr 3, 2007:
Wow ! These classic oldies must be your pride possessions !
Margaretshoemaker said at 10:19 p.m. on Apr 5, 2007:
You have some great cameras there. Thanks for sharing.
Siagian said at 2:16 a.m. on Apr 6, 2007:
holy moly! you could open a museum with these! VERY cool.
Andre. said at 7:29 p.m. on Apr 18, 2007:
Have you actually used any of them ?
Mittens said at 8:12 p.m. on Apr 20, 2007:
Thanks everyone. I haven't had a chance to use these old cameras but I plan to try to in the future. Maybe make another tabblo with the results?
Scottography said at 3:55 p.m. on Apr 30, 2007:
These are great shots. I collect cameras, too, so I was very interested to look at your pictures. I especially like the Cycle Poco No 3. Thanks for sharing!
Anup said at 5:32 a.m. on May 2, 2007:
Thats an amazing collection you have got......
JuDeck said at 6:13 p.m. on Jul 12, 2007:
Linda, this is a great collection of cameras. Nice tabblo of them too.
Chippyoz1 said at 9:36 p.m. on Jan 19, 2008:
HI there, for what it's worth. the Welta camera pictured is a Welta Weltur not a Weltini. a Weltini looks very much the same at first glance particularly in photos of the camera, however the Weltini is a small version (takes 35mm film and has a 50mm lens) of a Weltur, or if you prefer a Weltur is a large version of Weltini. Weltur's take 120 film (still readily available) and as your picture shows has a 75mm lens with the top shutter available at the time, a compur rapid 1-400 instead of the cheaper compur 1-250. i have a catalogue from 1939 and it shows it cost around 2200 RM in its day, except for mabye the Welta Superfecta this camera could be considered thier most expensive and thier top offering. a very nice example you have as many of these look complete wrecks nowadays. imho these weltur cameras were ahead of their time-or at least took other manufacturers years later to offer a camera with the quality and features of these. the war saw the end of this camera being made though and the company found themselves on the other side of the wall afterwards and never quite the same.
Mittens said at 4:03 p.m. on Jan 21, 2008:
Thank you Chippyoz1 for the information on my Welta Camera. You sure seem to know your cameras? I was told by someone who teaches "The history of photography", that it was a Weltini but I believe you are right. I checked out the camera again and there is no indication that it would be a Weltini. The lens is, as you mention, a 75mm with a rapid 1-400. Thanks for letting me know about the mistake. I will have to change the information on this tabblo.
Chippyoz1 said at 1:30 a.m. on Jan 23, 2008:
Your quite welcome Mittens. it is a very high quality camera and pretty easy to use even by todays standards- providing you know a few basics. at least compared to the Poco which is somewhat more difficult and fiddley compared; it can be mannipulated to take sheet film (still available but you have to seek it out) and with the size negs it produces would capture amazing superior detail compared to.. hmm almost anything in common use today.

the welta will produce a neg 6x6cm which is the same size as say a hassleblad ( but a hassleblad is at least the size and wieght of a house brick, whereas the welta will fold up and fit in a winter coat pocket, or i can guess and say a ladies handbag lol). which up until recently high end wedding and portrait photogs would use, now its all digital of course (digital not better quality, just easier to make money and quicker... hmm sorta). that size neg will give incredible tonal range, colour and detail and more that no digital on the market can produce (even a $57000, 39 Mega bite hasslebald) and is 3.6 larger than 35mm film; well worth having a go at. actually if you scanned a neg from the welta it would prob give you hundreds of megs depending on the scanner, even a basic scanner would give 40+ megs but printing in the old way will give the best results. also if black and white was your thing then film is still the best; no digital anywhere can succesfully reproduce what B/W film does

do you know how to operate it mittens? its not difficult, it has one touch rangfinding and focus, (one of its great features) your main obsticle is getting the correct exposure as unlike modern cameras it has no built in light meter but that is easy enough to learn (sunny 16 rule for instance on a sunny day use f16 and 125 more or less; just like a disposable camera) or get a small handheld lightmeter or use and old film camera with light meter to take a reading...hehe definaly take it out and give it a run, yours has the famous 4 element top of range Tessar lens. the bench mark for lenses of that era and long after!
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