127 Roll Film format
As a child I often had access to our family camera, which was a 127 point and shoot.
It was a great way to learn photography - loading the roll fim, estimating distance and exposure, sending off the negatives for developing and getting back the prints - non of which seemed high quality, but were great for record shots.
Quite a few years ago, I discovered that that there were a range of 127 format cameras made by Leica, Certo and Ihagee in Europe and in Japan by Yashica, Minolta, and others which were not cheap and ordinary, but were capable of superb results. Many of them called "baby" cameras, particuarly of the 4x4 cm variety.
The only problem was obtaining film. Fortunately when I started to use these cameras, Efke in Croatia was making B&W 127 roll film. They have now stopped maufacture, but Rollei in Germany still has film available.
Although I was quite happy with the Efke film, I wanted to try modern emulsions like Delta100 and C-41 and E6.
So, I built a cut down device, to slice off the edge of 120 film to make 127 format. The device is really simple - a cutting blade inserted into a balsa wood block, placed inside an old 6x9cm, 120 film folder. A photo of the device is
is shown in the gallery 127 Cameras and Equipment.
I have also been fortunate to purchase some 100 foot rolls of Portra 160 film, which simply needs to be cut to length and rolled onto spools with backing paper.
It was a great way to learn photography - loading the roll fim, estimating distance and exposure, sending off the negatives for developing and getting back the prints - non of which seemed high quality, but were great for record shots.
Quite a few years ago, I discovered that that there were a range of 127 format cameras made by Leica, Certo and Ihagee in Europe and in Japan by Yashica, Minolta, and others which were not cheap and ordinary, but were capable of superb results. Many of them called "baby" cameras, particuarly of the 4x4 cm variety.
The only problem was obtaining film. Fortunately when I started to use these cameras, Efke in Croatia was making B&W 127 roll film. They have now stopped maufacture, but Rollei in Germany still has film available.
Although I was quite happy with the Efke film, I wanted to try modern emulsions like Delta100 and C-41 and E6.
So, I built a cut down device, to slice off the edge of 120 film to make 127 format. The device is really simple - a cutting blade inserted into a balsa wood block, placed inside an old 6x9cm, 120 film folder. A photo of the device is
is shown in the gallery 127 Cameras and Equipment.
I have also been fortunate to purchase some 100 foot rolls of Portra 160 film, which simply needs to be cut to length and rolled onto spools with backing paper.
