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A Little About "Plastic Cameras"...
The so-called vest pocket camera was an innovation of
the early 30’s. They were smaller and easier to carry thanks to
the invention of plastic. They were lightweight and small enough
to fit in one’s pocket. Cameras prior to these were bulky box
cameras or bellows-type affairs.
Vest pocket cameras were usually made of Bakelite, an early
plastic. They used the smaller 127 roll film and made 16 frames
per roll using the “twin frame” method…i.e. two shots squeezed
onto one frame.
The backs of these cameras have two small
round windows in which the film numbers were centered. The A
hole was the first frame; the B hole was the second. Care had to
be taken while winding the film in order to reduce frame
overlapping. In truth, it was almost impossible to avoid frame
overlapping because the film was wound by hand.
All cameras in this display are not vest
pocket cameras, but are now lumped into the category of “plastic
cameras”. Ordinary people used these to take snapshots. They
were cheap to buy, had plastic bodies and lenses, and were
generally not precision equipment.
Some of these went on to become “cult”
cameras among modern photographers, such as the Diana 120 roll
film camera made in Hong Kong. There are two examples of
Diana-clone cameras in this display – the Rand and the Valiant.
These cameras take photos with a soft focus, sometimes
mysterious “look” that some photographers find desirable.
Today, few photographers use these old
cameras due to a general disdain of their low-tech qualities and
difficulty in purchasing 127 films. Film in all its forms is on
the way out.
All cameras in this display were produced
between the 1930s and 1960s, except for the Cola Cam, a novelty
plastic camera from the 1990s.
-Richard Toronto
To see work from cameras
such as these, visit Richard’s virtual gallery at
Flimflamkam.com
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Vintage Plastic Cameras
