Monday, February 21, 2022

Kodak Instamatics

Friends make our lives sweeter.

Do you know how I got into film photography? A friend. My close friend Ashley gave me a Holga camera as a birthday gift. It returned me to film after decades-long absence. Since then I've dived deeper into vintage film cameras and love shooting them.

It's happening again. Unsolicited, a friend sent me two old film cameras to play with. Both are Kodak Instamatics, equipment I've never used before although I remember seeing them during the 1970s. It'll be fun to explore the capabilities of these primitive machines.

The camera on the left is an Instamatic 30 which was made between 1972-1976. It uses 110-cartridge film which is easy to load. The camera on the right is an Instamatic X-15F, made from 1976-1988 and uses 126-cartridge film. 

These camera were point-and-shoot devices designed for simple snapshots. They're mostly plastic and have cheap lenses. Because the negatives are very small, enlarging their images produces grainy, fuzzy photographs but, in the right hands, that doesn't mean the cameras can't make art. :)

Do you remember these cameras?

18 comments:

  1. I might have said I'm too young for those cameras but I definitely remember someone in my life having something a dead ringer for the one on the right.

    Disposables were the name of the game for most of my early life. I wish I had kept one through my teen years. Digital cameras were a thing, but so many pictures were terrible quality or lost to time and outdated tech.

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    1. These cameras were cheap and popular. They sold millions of them, so it's likely you (and everyone else) saw one somewhere.

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  2. My favorite things about these cameras were the 4 sided flash cubes that attached to the top. I was fascinated with them and use to think of making a pendant out of them. You have interesting hobbies. I use to have a huge passion for billiards and at one time owned a red felted pool table. Many fun times gathered around that thing. I eventually moved to a smaller house and gave it away. Looking forward to see your playhouse. Is that where you'll be storing your new bike too?

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    1. I got those cubes! They are fascinating. My new place will have more garage space so it'll help with my growing fleet of vehicles.

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  3. I remember not these, but such cameras. Can you still get film for them? And are there shops left which develop these films?
    Greetje

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    1. My film-developer can handle any film. The camera on the left uses 110-cartridges which are readily available; I just bought some. The camera on the right uses 126-cartridges which sadly are almost impossible to find. The only ones out there have expiration dates in the 1980s so who knows if they'll work.

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  4. A Kodak Instamatic was my first camera, and I've still got it! xxx

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    1. Yay! Good for you. When's the last time you used it?

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  5. I'm excited to see what pictures come from these retro beauties!

    -Ashley
    Le Stylo Rouge

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  6. I remember both of those! I had a Kodak Ektachrome - very snazzy!

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    1. Cool! That's the nice thing about vintage cameras: the memories we have of them from the past.

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  7. Such a good memory! Thanks for sharing.

    Love: Mariann Yip
    https://www.mariannyc.com/falling-in-love-with-windjammer-landing/

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  8. I don't remember these but they look really cool and I cannot wait to see the images you come up with!

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  9. I do! And my husband's uncle left him two very old cameras. I should probably use them but I kind of like just looking at them.

    Karen @For What It's Worth

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    1. They're pretty. You might be surprised at how much fun it is to use them.

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  10. No one in my area sells films for those cameras anymore. lol

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