I have been fortunate to inherit from my late father a rather classic photography relic, an old 120 roll film bellows camera, an English made Kershaw "King Penguin", we gather that it would have been purchased in about 1952 so its older than me !!!. I gather its the earlier model with automatic focus … sorry, fixed focus, unlike the deluxe model that had a a choice of close and distant settings - very posh.
The camera takes 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 negatives, that's about 6cm x 9cm which is double standard 645's so we get 8 shots on a roll. Settings ? well aperture is f11 or f16 with shutter speed of approx 1/60th or bulb - and that's it - as a Meercat would say 'simples'. I did manage to find a pdf online of the original handbook with many useful tips on taking photographs like 'make sure you hold the camera steady" and 'don't point the lens into the sun" - brilliant !. The manual consists of 12 rather small pages and its the only camera manual that I have read more than just a few pages.So, buying my first stock of roll film for many years I went for Agfa Delta 400 which is a medium speed black and white film that should enable reasonable shots with the available aperture settings in the Scottish winter outdoors.
I wanted to capture some local landmarks which would offer a timeless appeal and decided on the local castle ruin and the Falls of Dochart, all I had to do was pick a time when the light was right and not having a tripod mount with the right thread, hand holding or balancing on a stone wall was the order of the day.
I saved a few frames to try some studio shots light using the modeling lights, will try and use flash later but his will need a frig as there is no flash trigger !
The results.
I was to meet a local photographer to discuss some other work who works mainly in film and she was happy to develop the film in time for me to check the camera asap.
I was so relieved, and somewhat excited that the first roll that this camera has shot for possibly more than 40 years was just fine. Accepting the limitations of a rather simple lens the images are not bad at all, certainly representative of photography in the days long before 35mm. Clearly no light leakage in the bellows and the shutter still works fine so should continue to produce photos for as long as the film is available which hopefully will be a long time yet.
With the knowledge gained its now time to run off some more rolls and plan to use for some of my future fine art location and studio work !
