Cameras over the period 1850 to the present.

This is an account of the features of the cameras I have used since 1948, five film cameras and five digital. I hope the former may be of interest to members who only know of digital cameras and may provide happy reminiscence for older members. The cameras are listed by name and the year when I acquired them.

ROBERT GALLOWAY LRPS.

Preamble: 19th Century Bellows Camera.

Before discussing the cameras I have used I refer to an old ancestor which was given to me in 1950 and was probably then a century old (photo. 1). There is a ground glass screen on the back on which the image can be focussed by moving the lens back and forward smoothly using the brass knob of the screw drive towards the front of the camera base. The lens has a focal length of 10 inches, an aperture of choice (f8 to f32) can be slid vertically into the lens barrel and a lens cap can cover the lens. Pictures are taken on a photographic glass plates 61/2 X 43/4 inches which are stored in light tight plate holders, one of which is shown lying beside the camera. A plate holder can be slid onto the back of the camera in place of the ground glass screen. A feature of note, typical of mid-19th century cameras, is that the lens does not have a shutter to control the exposure. The sensitivity of the photographic plates was so low that the exposure could be controlled simply by removing and later replacing the lens cap!

Zeiss Ikon, 1948.

The camera is of a bellows construction (photo.2left) and can fold into its self (photo.2right) to provide secure protection of the fragile working parts.

The lens is 75 mm focal length, f4.5 adjustable down to f32; the focus scale ranges from 4 to 30 feet + infinity; the mechanical shutter speed ranges from 1 s to 1/175 s and the shutter must be activated before each use. All settings are made manually based on the judgement of the photographer: I carried a small notebook in which to record the settings and so hoped to learn from successes and frequent failures.

The Zeiss Ikon uses 120 size roll film on which it gives 16 negatives, each 6 cm x 4.5 cm. Initially only black and white film was available and the highest sensitivity was about 100 ASA (100 ISO).

The camera has a tripod screw and the standard cable release of the time could be screwed onto the shutter to operate it remotely. Now in the digital age we no longer have a simple remote control device like the cable release which can fit most cameras, I regard this as an unfortunate loss.

My Zeiss Ikon was a present on my 14th Birthday and was much used for 16 years until the shutter ceased to work reliably. Interest and enjoyment also came from doing my own film developing and printing until colour dominated my photography.

How well did the Zeiss Ikon camera work? Photo. 3 shows a present day digital scan of a black and white photograph of King’s College, University of Aberdeen taken and printed at 61/2 by 81/4 inches in 1950 (my first heritage photograph?).

In 1956 I started to use colour transparency film as illustrated by photo 4. This originated from a colour transparency from which an A4 colour print was made about 20 years later and the print was digitally scanned recently for the photograph. We should realise that the Zeiss Ikon camera was not produced for professional photographers and that the originals for the scanned photos. 3 and 4 are about 70 years old’ sensitivities ranging from 25ASA (ISO) to 160ASA (ISO) for colour transparencies and 80 ASA(ISO) for colour print film.

The Exacta Varex lasted for 7 years until the shutter broke down.

Photo. 6 is a recently made digital copy of a colour transparency made with the Exata Varex in 1965.

Exacta Varex IIB, 1964.

This is a single interchangeable lens reflex camera (photo. 5), shown with the Zeiss Tessar 50 mm f2.8 lens. This combination cost £80! All settings are still made by the judgement of the photographer although the focus is observed on the viewing screen. I had two additional lenses, a Zeiss Sonnar 135 mm f4 and a Mayar Lydith 30 mm f3.5.

The camera can be mounted on a tripod, can take a standard cable release and can trigger an electronic flash gun.

I added a Weston Master Exposure Meter to my accessories. The Exacta Varex used 35 mm film with

Minolta Dynax 500si super, 1974.

This is a single lens reflex camera (photo. 7) which is much more sophisticated than its predecessor. It still uses 35 mm film but is battery operated and had interchangeable zoom lenses, 28 – 80 mm f4 / 5.6 as in photo. 7 and also 70 – 210 mm f4,5 / 5.6.

In addition to manual camera settings, the battery supported automatic operations, auto focus and auto exposure with a selection of programme modes including Aperture priority and Shutter priority, and had a built in flash.

This is clearly a step forward with a film camera with many of the facilities that we now take for granted in a digital camera, indeed it later became the basis of Minolta’s first fully digital camera. which produces negatives or transparencies 13 mm by 17 mm. Because of this small size prints were usually no larger than 5x7 inches, although I usually made colour transparencies. Photo. 10 compares the sizes of 110 and 35 mm transparencies. 110 size film cameras had a popularity in the 1970’s.

The camera has a 26 mm f2 lens (field of view similar to 52 mm lens with 35 mm film) with aperture, focus and shutter speed set manually and with an over exposure warning lamp in the viewfinder.

A small flash unit can be fitted to the shoe on top of the camera and a standard cable release can be fitted

Remote control of this camera now required a cable specific to the make of camera.

Photo. 8 shows a digital scan of a colour print dating from 1980 obtained using the Minolta Dynax camera. The derelict farm buildings have an interesting history which I learned from a local octogenarian who had lived in the glen all his life. The quality of the stonework suggests to me that the buildings probably date from about 1890. Until early in the 20th century the building on the left housed milk cows and the other building housed milk churns, horse and cart which delivered milk to houses throughout the area. By 1914 the farming here was changing to sheep which could roam the hills behind. The trees only came after 1964 when this part of the estate was purchased by the Forestry Commission.

Unlike my previous cameras the Minolta Dynax did not stop working, but went out of use as I moved to digital photography.

There is absolutely no trace of remains of the roof of the long stable building to the left, so we may surmise that it was probably dismantled to replace the roof of the neighbouring farmhouse which had been burned down and fallen down, in 1914.

Canon 110 ED, 1975.

The Cannon 110 ED is a particularly compact camera (photo. 9) measuring 142 mm wide, 56 mm deep and only 29 mm thick. This was achieved by using 110 size film which is only 16 mm wide and

The shutter stopped working after about 12 years.

Ricoh GR1, 1996.

Seeking a replacement pocket camera, models using 35 mm film had become available from which I selected the Ricoh GR1 (photo. 12) which was described as a “high end” autofocus compact camera. It is very similar in size to the Canon 110 ED and a little less in weight, has a 28 mm f2.8 lens with Aperture priority auto exposure, electronic shutter speeds from 2 s to 1/500 s and built in flash. An example of a scanned print from 2004 is shown in photo. 13. effective pixels (12.3 million recorded pixels) and a sensitivity of ISO 80 to 800. The lens is a zoom of focal length range equivalent to 32.5 -130 mm on a 35mm film camera, f2.8 / 5.6. Manual or auto shooting with a choice of many shooting modes, built in flash and rear 2 inch LCD monitor with 154000 pixels. The shutter speed ranges from 3 s to 1/2000 s. Auxiliary add on lenses can extend the wide angle and the telephoto range.

The Ricoh GR1 has not yet broken down.

FujiFilm FinePix E550, 2005.

The performance of the FujiFilm FinePix E550 is illustrated in photos. 15 and 16. The camera is still functional.

Sony A100, 2007.

My first digital camera (photo. 14) is of pocketable size, which has a 1/1.7 inch sensor with 6.3 million

Greater versatility came with the Sony A100 (photo. 17) which had been developed from Minolta cameras and with which my Minolta accessories could be used. The Sony A100 is a single lens reflex camera for which there are interchangeable lenses; it has a C-size sensor (10.2 effective mega pixels), ISO 100 to 1600, shutter speed range 30 s to 1/4000 s, a wide range of manual and automatic settings. It has a built in flash which can provide wireless control of a remote flash unit.

A sample photograph is provided in photo. 18. The camera is still functional and is used occasionally.

Sony SLT A77, 2013.

The Sony SLT A77 (photo. 19) provided an improved range of facilities and higher resolution in it’s C size sensor of 24.1 mega pixels. A 90 mm macro lens and a 50 to 500 mm Zoom were added to my lens collection. Photo.20 provides a sample image.

I liked this camera very much until it broke down beyond repair, but fortunately I was able to find a second hand replacement after two months. It is still in use.

Sony Compact RX100VI, 2018.

For a convenient pocketable camera I moved to the Sony Compact RX100VI (photo. 21) which has a Zoom (24 to 200 mm) but not interchangeable lens and otherwise is of comparable quality to the Sony SLT A77.

A sample image is in photo. 22.

Sony A7RIV, 2021.

My most recent camera has a full frame 60 mega pixel sensor, Sony A7RIV Photo. 23.

An example of an image is in photos. 24 and 25.

iPhone

Finally I should not ignore ubiquitous iphone cameras, although I am an infrequent user. The occasional use which I have found for the wide angle lens on my iphone 7+ is for close up images when it’s 4mm focal length can give a good depth of focus even when the automatic system uses a wide aperture, f1.8. All the photos of small cameras above (Photos. 2, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 17,19, 21, 23) were taken with my iphone and show the lens of the camera at distance of about 15 cm with a depth of field continuing backwards for about a farther 10 cm.