For my birthday earlier this year, the incredible Mr P bought me this equally-incredible vintage camera.
It’s a Kodak Duaflex II, and I adore it a little
more than is possibly sensible. While vintage cameras make for beautiful
objects to display, what I especially like about this one is that I can use it,
too.
If you haven’t come across TTV photography before,
it’s well worth checking out this Flickr group, or searching ‘TTV’ on Etsy for
some truly beautiful images. The general concept is that you use your
modern-day, bells-and-whistles DSLR to take photographs through the viewfinder
(hence TTV) of the simpler vintage camera. The noise and scratches, along with
the rounded corners and slightly faded quality of most images are all part of
what makes them special, and a little different from camera to camera.
If you have seen TTV images before, but think they’re
too complicated and technical for anyone but a professional to create, it might
be time to think again. The images below were taken on a sunny day in my back
garden with nothing but the two cameras lined up, one above the other, by a
very average happy-snapper (that’ll be me).
They’re far from perfect, and you can definitely tell from the added bits of flare and glare that a little gadgetry wouldn’t go amiss, but as quick and easy test-shots go, they made me super-happy.
A few weeks after taking those first shots, I had
some extra time while I was away visiting my family on holiday in Cornwall.
While everyone was getting ready one morning, I folded a single sheet of black
A4 card into a tube-like accessory for my cameras. There might be a proper name
for it, and there’s doubtlessly a better way of doing it, but mine was shaped
like a long, four-sided cylinder, open at the bottom to slip over the Duaflex
camera, and at the top for the lens of my DSLR to look through. I took it out into the garden and, although it was
a little tricky to balance, I think the effort paid off.
I even managed to take a few fun beach shots later
on in the day.
One of the things I hadn’t realised until I
properly investigated TTV, was that you need a macro lens to get any kind of
sensible images. To begin with, I was disheartened – even secondhand, the
cheapest Canon macro lens we could find was around £200. Rarely discouraged,
though, Mr P did a little more searching and found a much less expensive option in a
set of filters which fit onto the end of my kit lens. For me, and my admittedly
non-professional purposes, they’ve been fantastic – adding an extra option to
my existing lenses, and letting me play with TTV, as well as a few bits of more
general macro photography. Things like the blossoms on our (very small) apple
tree.
Or unexpected garden visitors.
Officially, I don’t know how much the Duaflex cost
(it was a present, which adds a big chunk of sentimental value to the actual
cost), but you can pick them up on eBay for a pretty reasonable amount, and
probably less if you spot one in a junk shop or flea market. Either way, if
you’ve ever been tempted by TTV and find yourself in a position to snap one up,
I’d say go for it. They’re beautiful, practical and a fun addition to your
regular photo-taking options.
And if you already have one, well you know how nosy
I am. Point me towards your favourite shots, and I’ll be there to check them out faster than you can say ‘cheese’.
x
