There are
two breeds of camera collectors I know of. There are a good many enthusiasts
who find the greatest pleasure in collecting a wide range of cameras, to be
carefully put away in glass cases in their homes. Whether the instrument works
or not is of no concern to them; the vintage Edixa from Germany is there, and
the fact that it is his possession gives him indescribable pleasure. On the
other hand, there is the enthusiast who owns a camera and sets out to produce
photographs with it. His sole reason for owning a camera is to create images
using an antique instrument, making use of an equally antique process. The first
is attracted to the instrument, the second is keen on what he can get out of
it.
It gives
me great pleasure to say that we have Mr. James Mitchell from the UK here with
us today. James is a classic camera collector with a difference: he combines
the qualities of the ardent collector who is proud of his antiques, and the man
who goes on to load his camera with film, all prepared to experiment. James is
the collector who likes to put his cameras to use.
I first
came to know James after I had registered on an online analogue photographers’ community.
When I asked James if he would care to share with me his photographic
expertise, he was delighted, but later fell silent owing to various personal
issues which kept him occupied for over a year.
I am
pleased to say that Mr Mitchell is back again. James is full of enthusiasm, and while he hasn’t accumulated a truckload of vintage stuff, nor yet a sackful, he certainly owns a bagful of antique beauties. And he is here
to share pictures of his cameras with us. How delightful, and so very charming !!
James
lives in West Yorkshire in the UK. Now that name strikes a familiar chord for me. Yorkshire in England brings up faint recollections of a
lady.... a lady named Hazel Sanderson who
many years ago created a most stunning portfolio of pictures of the Yorkshire
countryside. The Dales of Yorkshire, it was called, put out by that bold
venture named Creative Monochrome. I have two of Hazel’s atmospheric pictures
with me: undulating hills, tiny farmhouses in the distance, sheep grazing on
the pasture, a vast unbroken silence... Or again, a vast open landscape, trees
swaying with the breeze, a pathway leading to a farmhouse; I can almost feel
the silence of the landscape, hear the toot of a horn far away, the distant cries of a mother calling out to her children...
What has
become of Hazel? I have not the slightest idea. I have two of her pictures with
me as a memento of my brief encounter with her. And that is all. I have not the
faintest notion where the lady might be today. It looks as if she has disappeared --- lost in the
mists of the dales she loved.
Getting
back to business we have James with us from Castleford in West Yorkshire. For some reason I had thought Mr Mitchell would hate to go out into the countryside with his cameras, but I was proved wrong. James has taken some stunning views in the Wolds of Yorkshire. And while we are not going to reproduce an example of his pictures taken in the Wolds, we do have a charming picture he took in the countryside using an Agfa Synchro Box camera right at the end of this post.
Here is a
charming picture of a bandstand James took during one of his rambles:
The bandstand was
taken with a Ful-Vue dating back to 1946, a reflex type box camera put out by that revered name,
Ensign Limited -- of High Holborn, London. And below is the Ful-Vue James used on the occasion...
Mr
Mitchell has interesting bits of information telling us about Ensign and its
products. “The only box-type camera I've been out within the last year or so is
the Ensign Ful-Vue with which I took the photo of the bandstand above,” says
James. “Although this looks nothing like a box camera—or indeed any other
camera, for that matter—it is essentially a box camera, albeit with a huge
viewfinder such that it's a box camera masquerading as a faux Twin Lens Reflex.”
James also
owns an Ensign Ful-Vue Super. “The Ful Vue Super you see below is actually a
later model dating to about 1950, despite it's less futuristic styling,” he
tells us. “What is better about the Super, though, is that it has a TLR-like
hood around the viewfinder making the image easier to see, especially in bright
sunlight,” he points out.
What has
become of Ensign Limited of London? It appears the company saw dwindling sales and eventually had to wind up business as they did not keep in step with the times.
“While the actual styling of the later Ful Vues is very futuristic, they were
actually a somewhat out-dated design for the 1940s - 1950s,” James tells us.
“It is said that the demise of Ensign was caused in part by the firm refusing
to accept the growth of 35mm after the second world war, when they just kept producing box and folding
cameras.”
James has
other interests besides the Ful-Vues he owns. He loves to experiment a good deal
with folding cameras with bellows. Here he encounters problems peculiar to
these tiny bellows-cameras, as polish gives way to rust and fungus with the passing years. To quote James, “I
like folding cameras but I've bought a few that have had to have new bellows
put in them which can double or triple the overall cost. Similarly, I've
had to have shutters serviced which again costs money. One thing I've found
with cheaper folders is that when using faster film, one can run out of
exposure speeds in brighter weather, that is, even when stopped right down, you
can't set the shutter speed fast enough so as not to over-expose. Consequently,
what I try to do on bright days is to use a film that is the reciprocal of
the fastest shutter speed on the camera, that is, if the fastest shutter speed
is 1/125, then take a film with a maximum ISO rating of 125.”
Stowed
away in a loft in his home, James Mitchell has a set of antique cameras that
will gladden the heart of any camera enthusiast. To the casual onlooker, they
may look like a set of boxes with glass eyes, some rusting away with age. To us
they mean a lot more. For the Ensign Ful-Vue we have seen is not the only box
James owns. He has several other models, all closely guarded, each a priceless
bit of treasure.
Here’s a
Kodak Brownie from James’ collection. It has a premium look to it, but I have
no idea of the date of manufacture. Whatever it may be, this camera is grand
old vintage stuff !!
What does
James have to say about his collection of Brownies ? Being a box camera, many
of these cameras came with simple uncorrected optics. “The fact is that most
lenses on Kodak cameras weren't that great,” points out James. “This was in
part based upon the fact that, given the 6x9cm negative size, most amateur
negatives weren't enlarged, but merely contact-printed onto photographic paper
for snapshots. Thus, the lenses didn't have to produce a high-quality
image given the relatively small size of the final print, as any defects in the
camera lens weren't going to be magnified by enlargement. Also, Kodak
were really a film manufacturer, and got into cameras only as a way of creating a
market for their film.”
It has been very kind of James to share his pictures and expertise with us here, and we can never thank him enough. As you go along this website, you are going to find more examples from James' treasure chest. Each is a shiny, sturdy instrument with pretty 'glass eyes' , each a misty reflection of a bygone age -- an age of classic cameras, roll films and developing chemistry.
 |
This lovely view of the English countryside was
captured by James using an Agfa Synchro Box. |
.................................
Photographs on this post courtesy of Mr James Mitchell.
Text by Ravindra Bhalerao.
