Bixiga antiques fair takes place every Sunday on Don Orione square. Most of these cameras are in good condition. All they need is a CLA (clean, adjust, lub) and they are good to go again.
Here a Canon AE-1, Minolta and Olympus OM.
Kodak Brownie and Zeiss Contaflex.
A bunch of cameras: Olympus Trip, Olympus Pen, Ricoh and others.
Including a Pentax Spotmatic with meter which is hard to find and seems be in good shape. Plus a Canonet.
Everytime we join some friends on a cafe to talk we make this kind of picture. Most of these cameras were shown on this blog.
The picture below was sent by Dimitry.
A contribution from Denise: this is the e-mail that freestyle is sending to their customers.
“Dear Valued Freestyle Customer,
The recent announcement by Eastman Kodak Company that they have voluntarily applied for Chapter 11 restructuring comes at no surprise. This is a situation that has been brewing for quite some time and we have received many calls and emails from customers voicing their concern over the future of silver-halide, traditional photographic materials. We have never relied too heavily on any single supplier for our future. As opposed to what you are reading in the media, interest in Film, Wet Darkroom and Historical Photographic Processes is not declining. If it were, Freestyle would very quickly be forced to change course, focusing its efforts on other products. The media tends to dwell on the negative, ignoring the details of a situation to deliver quick sound bites that will capture your attention.
Here are some facts to consider:
Kodak’s sales in their film division increased 20% last year, and this division continues to be a profitable segment. They have billions of dollars in assets. Citicorp Group just gave them $950 million to help fund their restructuring efforts which will continue for 18 months.
Sounds like Kodak will be around for a while longer and that Citicorp is pretty sure they are going to get their money back with interest. The film division seems to be doing quite well and may even prosper under new management as a separate entity. Regardless of what happens, Freestyle is prepared to make a sizable investment in product to keep important products available for years to come.
Kodak film is not the only brand of product Freestyle sells. While Kodak is an important and high volume supplier of ours, in actuality, we do more business individually with Harman Technologies in Ilford Brand B&W Film and Paper, Foma, Fotokemika and Adox brands. These brands are totally committed to continuing manufacturing for the foreseeable future and have absolutely no plans to stop production as sales continue to be quite robust. They have already taken necessary steps to restructure their facilities for long term survival.
As individual items have been discontinued over the years, folks have adapted to the ever changing product selection and have continued creating their art and means of photographic self expression. While we are to some extent limited by the availability of products it by no means hinders creativity.
Hopefully some of these thoughts will reassure those who are nervous. Know that Freestyle continues to be THE driving force in traditional photographic products and that our commitment is stronger than it has ever been.
Sincerely,
Eric Joseph”
This is one good news. Kodak´s film division is not only profitable, but it also increased its sales by 20% last year. So, SUCK IT end-of-the-film prophets! We will have film available for a loooooong time.
Every Sunday there is an antiques fair at Bixiga neighborhood (gosh! I have to learn how to entry a google map). Among lots of junk this guy sells some very nice large format cameras.
None are ready to go. All of them need some CLA or parts replacement. But nothing special. Just a bit of work and voilá! You have a LF camera.
I have some friends that shoot LF and I´v been thinking in start in LF photography too. Any of these cameras would be fine for me.
What called my attention in this picture is the wooden tripod. This one seems very rigid and good for a LF camera.
Everytime I go to Optimar I spend at leat two hours talking to Ms. Yeda. She has always something interesting to show: old or new pictures (mostly from her family), old magazines, photobooks, etc.
Last time she showed me some of their cameras like these two Rolleiflexes, both with Planar Lenses: at left is a 2.8F with prismatic viewfinder and at right is a 3.5F with Tele Mutar 1.5x.
Exacta Varex IIA with three lenses: Zeiss 50 mm f/2.8.
Zeiss Flektogon 25 mm f/4.
And Meyer Goerlitz 400 mm f/5.6 with shoulder strap.
A Bolex 16 mm movie camera with Kern Switar 17-85 lens in perfect condition.
Bolex 8 mm movie camera (working).
Cosina Super-8 boxed.
Kodak 16 mm movie camera working smothly.
Keystone 16mm projector (not working – so far).
Last week I went to a used bookstore looking for cheap photography books. Well, I found some… (yes, this is all photography books).
There are some very nice books and the price ranges from cheap to “a steal”. I bought only one: Kodak Guide to Shooting Great Travel Pictures by Jeff Wignall.
It cost me 5 US dollars and is intended for beginners. Each page brings some nice tip for one particular travel subject. For example:
Page 52, Tropical Beaches:
– Capture expansive views.
– Don´t let bright sand fool your meter.
– Include people.
Page 100, In The Rain:
– Explore puddles and wet pavements for abstract designs.
– Control rain-streaking with shutter speed.
– Protect cameras with plastic bags or waterproof housings.
And so on… Everything ilustrated with plenty of beautifull pictures.
Dimitry was using three 35mm cameras.
Praktica MTL 50 with 50 mm f/1.8 lens.
Olympus Trip 35
Kodak Disposable with waterproff housing.
And THAT´s how you shoot three cameras at same time.
From petapixel.com:
“Film (still and cinema) remains a profitable business for Kodak, and we have the broadest and most respected portfolio of films in both segments. We have taken steps to sustain the business as it has declined, and we know that there are hundreds of passionate fans of film for the artistic and quality reasons they cite. We remain committed to make film as long as there is profitable demand for it. And as I noted, it is still profitable.”
Those are good news.
The best way to help film companies to keep making the films we love is we keep buying these films. My recent purchases are:
Kodak Tri-X 400. Beautifull grains. Once I use medium-format much more than 35mm – and medium-format lenses are slower than 35mm – this film is perfect for low-light shooting. Sometimes I push it to 800. These I bought during a recent trip to Buenos Aires where they are cheaper.
And these 35mm I bought on a sale on a local shop.
Fuji Acros 100. Fine grains and wonderfull grey tones. I use it for daylight shooting and sometimes for long exposure with a tripod because it has no reciprocity up to 30 minutes. They are easily found on local shops for a very affordable price.
Fuji Velvia 50. For daylight and only when I know I will find bright colors. Ken Rockwell wrote so much and so good about this film that I decided to try it. Have shoot some but didn´t develope´em yet.
Fuji Provia 400. For every situation. I love the colors it renders. Do you have a friend that thinks digital is the best and film sucks? Show him a medium-format chome in the lightbox. He may not quit digital but he will probably start shooting film.
saopaulocamerastyle 
