Agfa Clack on the Hudson

[jake]

Not that this is an example per se, but I am recently most happy with photographs taken with cheap cameras. Perhaps the magnitude of difference between expectation, results & dollar value makes me feel a bit more glad-hearted when I open up the processing can. Certainly when I get a blurry photo from the Leica, I know it wasn't the camera. I am way worse a photographer than that camera is. But with the Clack, I am king.

I post this photograph, because I like tugboats. Just like I like hammers, film, wood, etc. Seems like an honest boat. This one is going up river to help guide the QEII out of her berth. Shot from the 42nd St. Circle Line ferry. If you come to NYC and can spare the 3 hours, take the full circle tour of Manhattan. Really great.

 

J Ake :twisted:

[Mark B.]

That is a lovely photo. For me the Agfa Clack is a magical camera.
I had purchased one as a gift for my girlfriend in 1996 as a joke. She
kept asking me to get her a simple camera. I got her a Pentax K1000,
but that wasn't simple enough for her.
For over a year I had seen a Clack on the shelf of an antique store near where we lived. I didn't know anything about it.
The price was $6.00. On a whim I bought it for her. She
took a roll of film with it and we were both totally amazed by the results.

[connealy]

That is awfully nice.  The large size of the negative really over-rides other considerations of quality.  The Clack seems to have entered the twilight zone inhabited by the Diana and similar cameras, so I doubt that I'll get a chance to try one.  Glad to see someone here is using it to good effect.

[ImageMaker]

Well, heck, Mike, there are lots of other cameras similar to the Clack floating around, many of them still under $5.  Just in this room, I've got an Ansco Pioneer 620 (6x9) and a Savoy 620 (6x6), and on the end of the kitchen counter where "active" cameras (those loaded with film, ready to travel at a moment's notice) hang out, I have a Speedex Jr. (also 6x6).  All are reasonably competent cameras; the Speedex Jr. is more than reasonably competent, takes 120 film, and it folds.

Do an eBay search on Speedex Jr. and get one -- clean up the lens and shutter, patch any holes in the bellows, and put a roll of J&C Classic 200 through it and you'll be amazed.  It's not in the same universe as a Holga, and shouldn't cost you any more than $10 plus shipping.

[jake]

For those interested, behold the Click (6x6) and the Clack (6x9).

 

[jake]

BTW, there is a Dutch seller on Eb@y who usually has Clacks for sale. At least one listed at all times, usually with a nice vinyl everyready case. Can go for less that $20, though the first one I had I bought for $5.

J Ake :twisted: