Have Fun With Any Camera

This picture covers a relatively mind-boggling span of the history of camera technology, and deserves a bit of deconstruction. It shows, of course, a smartphone, resting on the beautiful new "Non-Use Device," acquired for decor in the recently completed TOP Headquarters atrium, a.k.a. the old table just inside the front door of my little house.

The Non-Use Device*, which turns out to be exceptionally beautiful and exceedingly well preserved, was built c. 1903–06 in Rochester, New York, not far from my new environs. The largest of the Pony Premo cameras of the era, the No. 6 also was a whole-plate (6.5x8.5-inch) size camera of a type called "self-casing." It folds into a neat little leather-covered box with a handle, like a small valise.

The smartphone, of course, is an iPhone, currently the most-used type of camera on Facebook, which in turn is the largest collection of publicly-accessible photographs in the history of the medium.

That's not quite all. Do you remember earlier this month when I wrote about "Mr. D.," the Illinois high-school photo teacher who came by HQ 2.0 in Wisconsin to pick up my once-prized SaltHill print washer? You might remember Jeff came by sporting a very cool axe, his Horseman Multiformat 985. I took a snap of Jeff using my phone, and he took one back using his Horseman.

So the picture being displayed on the iPhone in the above picture is his picture of me...which he took on B&W film and sent to me by email.

So in the top picture we have a medium-format film picture emailed to a smartphone which is itself a camera of sorts, and a turn-of-the-last-century "portable" view camera.

I dunno, it just seemed kinda around-and-about to me, weaving this way and that through the dense thicket of the history of image tech.

 Mike

* The name derives from the Single-Use Device, a whole plate Chamonix view camera I once argued was good for only one thing—black-and-white contact prints.

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

John Willard: "And what did you use to take that picture? And then post on the web...this is almost like a room with mirrored walls where you see an infinite number of your reflection."

Mike replies: Right, taken with my Fuji X-T1, a digital camera designed to be "retro" and reminiscent of older film SLRs....

Comments

[marcin wuu]

I still do not accept the phone as camera. I'm like "Look at that, damn that's beautiful, pity I don't have the camera on me" "what about your phone?" "what about it?"

[Roger Botting]

Some of the Pony Premo cameras came with cases that would strap onto the cross bar of a bicycle. That would allow you to participate in the two most popular activities of its era, bicycling and photography.
You could start up a new website line, the bike riding photographer.

[Richard Newman]

Why a 'non-use' camera? If its in as good shape as it looks, especially the bellows, it could be used. If it doesn't have a whole plate film holder, I understand they are available (but expensive) as is film. Since B&W is the proper film for this camera, I think you would enjoy using it. And using it need not degrade its condition.

[Speed]

Richard Newman suggests that Mike could actually take some pictures with this beautiful camera. But then he'd have to build a darkroom ...

[Tom Kwas]

Roger Botting...

The Milwaukee Public Museum has a fascinating collection of photographs from Sumner W. Matteson:

http://www.mpm.edu/research-collections/collection-support/photography/online-collections-research/sumner-w-matteson-co

He was an early photographer/bikerider. He not only brought his camera everywhere, did it by bicycle, and sold Victor and Overland bicycles as well! I have a very nice book of his work I purchased years ago, which the museum put out and is probably out of print now; but the book had plenty of shots of his bike with a camera slung from the top tube (as well as piled-up with a rudimentary camping outfit/bed-roll).

I remember reading the book in detail and thinking I wanted to quit everything I was doing and ride my bike around with a 4X5!

[xfmj]

And, Mike, I enjoyed and am now replying to your post on my iPhone 5 at an U.S. cafe that does its best to mimic a boulangerie in HC-B's Paris. Their French bread is pretty darned good, the correct mix of flaky, crunchy, chewy, squooshie, and cottony soft--- totally in the tradition--- but I do think their new oven is fairly high-tech. It's 2015, so I know better than to post a picture of my sandwich here, but I really really want to, as I am nostalgic for earlier, more naive Facebook times. You know, like 2009.

[Bill Poole]

A technological progression--but also revealing a tonsorial one, I think. Somewhere between Wisconsin and New York you, were stripped of your beard.

[Manuel]

I fully agree with Richard Newman.
The other day I went to the shop where I have my film developed and scanned; tthe owner, who is an analogue photography enthusiast with a collection of over five hundred cameras, showed me a folding, medium format Voigtländer Bessa he had for sale. It was in pristine condition, and I held it in my hands for some moments. It's a gorgeous thing to behold and touch. Despite its age, everything was working perfectly (so I was told); the shutter release, in particular, gave a fantastic feel. Even the rangefinder was in great condition, even though the bright lines were a bit dim. I'm not sure why I wouldn't buy it: is it the fear of being taken for an old fart? Too complicated to operate? Not my kind of camera? Sour grapes? the jury's out.
What's great about these medium format film cameras is that, no matter how old they are - and providing the lens is a decent one and there are no light leaks or mechanical issues marring its operation -, they're capable of jaw-dropping image quality. As for the iPhone, I can't really see anyone holding it in an old camera shop in the future. Chances are it will have been recycled, or will be rotting in some landfill by then. With luck it may be found at a flea market, selling by $5, but no one will buy it because it will be unusable due to the operating system being obsolete.
Living in the now can be nice, of course - in case you were wondering I'm not writing this on a 1955 Underwood typewriter -, but everything is so ephemeral. I expect our grandsons to ridicule iPhonographers as much as the latter ridicule film shooters now.

[Craig A. Lee]

So, if as a previous poster stated, that the Pony Premo had a bicycle mount available, does that also make them the "Go Pro" of their time?

[Ed Hawco]

* head explodes *

[A. Dias]

Great stuff! Love the tech sequence. Love old tech too.

Re phone as camera... everything is a computer. A smart phone is a computer with RF and optical peripherals attached. Same for the newest gizmo-loaded Sony A7RII.

[Moose]

"Have Fun With Any Camera"

The title alone is wonderful!

Perhaps the best, certainly the most succinct, summary of photography for me.

Seems to me the title transcends the content, which, pleasant as it is, seems to me superfluous.

The title alone would have made a great post!

[c.d.embrey]

Mike says: "...a digital camera designed to be 'retro'..."

One of the best arguments I've seen to replace a camera with an iPhone. Retro, another form over function meme.

I learned motion picture editing using an up-right Moviola. When the non-linear editors came along, traditionalists were complaining about the lack of the tactile feel of film. The fact that non-linear was faster and easier was lost on them—it just didn't feel right to them.

[John Krill]

I have one of those straps that connect to the camera at each end. Don't see them much anymore since it has become fashionable to hand hold any camera. My point is I can raise the camera to my eye and fire off one or two really good photos before you can start the camera app in your iPhone.

That's the advantage of a single purpose device.

This is my attempt at humor but then again it really may be true. I think? :)

[Hugh Smith]

I have always loved the bellows folders. But, the phone reminds me of the days when I carried a Minox B with me when I couldn't carry my Mamiya C330 with me.
Still have the Minox. The C330 is long gone, replaced with my digital equipment (sigh).
Mi dos centavos.

[Nick Hunt]

OT: "Non-Use Device" - in theatre parlance, a prop that isn't required to work is "non-prac", short for non-practical. So a "practical" is any prop that has to be used, as part of the action - for example, a desk lamp that has to light up, or - er - a camera on a hall table that needs to be used to actually take a picture.

[Darko Hristov]

I learned a new word here today, again. Valise. And a beautiful one too.

[Darlene Almeda]

I think you should use your pony camera to take b&w portraits of visiting photographers. It seems a shame to me to not use it. Maybe a reader here can help connect you to a craftsman that can retro-fit/design a back that will take a Horseman/Mamiya/Hasselblad 120 film back. Just say'in.

[Dennis NG]

A very good picture, or should we say that is what a good picture should be!

You do not need a thousand picture or being convenient. BTW, where is my 4x5 traveling camera. I told it is shipping (soon).

[Dogman]

I also have difficulty remembering there's a camera in my iPhone. I guess I'm just a little backwards...by a generation or three.

My late mother was a quilter and I couldn't help but notice the one covering the table. Very appropriate for the photo.

[Richard Alan Fox]

One more twist, when I post to Facebook in the field (away from my computer), I shoot raw using an Olympus, convert in camera to JPEG transfer via wifi to my iPhone and develop in Snapseed.

[Hugh Smith]

The other day I was "forced" to open my Sim Card on my Android with the help of Customer Service.
It occurred to me how equal in size the card is compared to Minox film. (It appears to be close to the 7.5mm of the cassette film negative).
I don't know how this relates to anything, but the day will come when we will all most probably bemoan the "good ole days" of the Androids just as we wax poetic about the darkroom days which I do not miss at all.
Just my two pesos.