Pony = Rides

smithdan · Aug 12, 2014

thanks for these Darrel. I'm sure that these ones as well as all Kodak's 35's and some 127's were ready for colour as Kodachrome was all theirs due to the unique processing.

Derrel · Aug 12, 2014

Yeah, I happened to have the scans on this computer, and I figured what better place than in a thread about the Kodak Pony 135-B to show some actual, Pony-era, Pony-shot, vintage color original shots. In my experience, the biggest issue with the Pony 135-B is two-fold. First is the way the shutter must be manually tensioned for each shot, and film winding and shutter tensioning are 100% the responsibility of the user; meaning, multiple exposures were fairly common. As were wasted frames. "Did I cock the shutter and then advance the film? Did I already shoot frame 15? AM I making a second exposure?" and so on. The second issue was the fact that this camera type is what is called a"viewfinder camera", meaning it has no rangefinder, and with the 51mm lens length, one needed to manually turn the focusing ring to the proper distance in order to get the sharpest image. And third, the camera has no light meter, and bulb flash has no electronic power variation or metering, so basically, the onus is entirely on the photographer to get everything set juuust right, with no assistance from the camera itself! I started my journey with the Pony and Plus-X Pan ASA 125 film; before long, I bought a GE light meter, then a Weston Master II meter.

smithdan · Aug 12, 2014

Luckily bypassed all that. First cameras were fixed focus, Target 620 box, then a Starflash. First serious camera (and still have it) was the first generation Spotmatic purchased new in '66.

all that manual stuff makes one think.

timor · Aug 12, 2014

My first camera was, taken away from my father Kodak (also Kodak) Retina, most likely type 126, I only remember it had an Ektar lens and the shutter release plunger was missing. Well, I destroyed it. The pain of that loss thought me a lot about my resposibilities as a photographer.

(1 year ban from touching any family own photo stuff.) Then I took over my fathers Praktica LLC. At the moment it was the best comunism ever produced in small format cameras. Zeiss glass, metal shutter, open aperture mettering (elctric lenses). I shot thru it a thousend rolls, no failure.