This is a Start B, a Twin Lens Reflex camera produced in Warsaw, Poland by Warsaw Photo-Optical Works or WZFO for short between the years of 1960 and 1967. The Start B was an updated version of the original Start TLR from 1954. WZFO was Poland’s first and only consumer…
Earlier this year I had an idea for a fun article full of cameras with strange names, so I put together a list of 10 Unfortunately Named Cameras. The week before I was going to post the article, COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic and my country started to shut…
You would assume that any magazine article telling the story of one of the most famous street photographers of all time would mention his name in the title. This week’s Keppler’s Vault about Arthur Fellig, better known as “Weegee” is the oldest article I’ve ever featured and is from the…
This is a Konica Auto-Reflex, a 35mm SLR camera produced by Konica of Japan starting in 1965. This model was the first in Konica’s long lived Autoreflex series and is the only one with a hyphenated name. It is also the only model that can seamlessly switch between shooting full…
What do you call a flashback to a flashback? A flashback-back, or is it a flash-flashback? Whatever it’s called, this week’s Keppler’s Vault is a double flashback-flashback, first from the May 1952 issue of Popular Photography magazine, who at the time had changed it’s name to Photography magazine, where they…
This is a View-Master Personal Stereo Camera, made by Sawyer’s Inc., out of Portland, Oregon between the years of 1952 and 1955. The View-Master Personal Stereo Camera shoots 14mm x 12mm stereoscopic images on regular 35mm film for use in View-Master slides, slide viewers, and projectors. The circular View-Master slides…
If your idea of enjoyable photography is picking up a camera, turning it on, pointing it at something, pressing the shutter release, and getting great images 100% of the time, then collecting and shooting old film cameras is not for you. One of the many reasons you hear for why…
Normally I reserve my recommendations for Friday Recommended Reading posts, but this time I have a special recommendation of Episode 129 of the Classic Lenses Podcast in which I am the guest, along with Simon, Perry, and Johnny. This was an especially raucous episode where we get off topic often,…
This is a Nikkorex F, a 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera produced by Mamiya Optical Co. for Nippon Kogaku starting in 1962. The Nikkorex F was part of Nippon Kogaku’s Nikkorex line which was their first attempt at an entry level line of cameras and was the only one with…
When Edwin Land released his first Polaroid Land Camera Model 95 in 1948, the world forever changed with the possibility of instant photography without the need to wait for a lab to process your film. Now with a Polaroid Land Camera, you could see the results of your image in…
This is a Zeiss-Ikon Contax III, a 35mm rangefinder camera built by Zeiss-Ikon in Dresden, Germany between the years 1936 and 1942. The Contax III was an upgrade to the Contax II from the same era, adding a selenium exposure meter to the top plate. The Contax II and III…
This week’s Keppler’s Vault is about System Cameras, but before we begin, perhaps it would be wise to answer the question, what is a system camera? Is it the same thing as a camera system? Apparently this question was on everyone’s minds 46 years ago when this article from the…
