Film Brownies

[Etta Lesniak]

VerichromePan was "nominally" 125ASA, but there was more to it than that, being double-coated with both slow and fast emulsions, giving very wide exposure latitude ... unfortunately this film has now been discontinued ... to my knowledge there's no direct modern equivalent. Tri-X is still available and is rated at 400ASA, but "modern" Tri-X, by many accounts, is a different animal to the original.

Thanks for the tips people. A week ago I experimented with running a roll of Ilford HP5 400iso through the camera. I too thought that it would be much faster than the accepted film used when the camera was new, therefore I was expecting any shots I took in the shade to be okay and any shots I took in the sun to be badly overexposed. As it turned out the sunny shots were the best, and the shady shots could have benefited from a little more exposure. Obviously when they recommended back then to take photos in bright, sunny, outdoor conditions they really meant it! Unfortunately I can't post examples because my film scanner can't scan negs that size.

The older box cameras where made when film speed was around 50 or slower. and the newer box cameras like what you have I believe was made for the Verichrome Pan mentioned before. The modern film have a very wide exposure latitude. I made a pinhole that fits a Fed 5B camera, I used exposures of 1/4, 1/2, and 1 seconds. The difference in the images or almost indistinguishable.

I am presuming that if I want to shoot colour film in a Brownie, the little red window for the frame number will create red light leaks, so I will need to figure out some other way of determining how far to advance the film?

2:33AM, 19 March 2009 PDT(permalink)

Depends on what type of Brownie you have.

If it feeds on 120 roll film your in luck. The 120 has a paper backing so its OK in your Brownie. If you shoot 220 film on it then you will have light leak. Tape up the red window with black tape, that should patch it up.

ages ago(permalink)

The backing paper on the 120 rollfilm provides the basic protection you need from fogging by ambient light. Better protection can be obtained by covering the red window between exposures, such as with some black electrical tape, or a more elaborate rig with velcro.

Many Brownie users simply leave their red windows alone, and actually enjoy whatever random streaks may occur from time to time.

ages ago(permalink)

"Brownie" refers to lots of different cameras - if you're using film with backing paper e.g. 120, 127, 620 then you can use the window as designed, although a lot of people choose to tape over them, lifting the tape when winding on.

If you're using 220 or 35mm film then you're right - you'll need to cover the red window and count turns or something to judge the wind-on distance.

ages ago(permalink)

In the ancient, misty era when box cameras roamed the earth, the most common snapshot film was Kodak Verichrome--an emulsion that was "orthochromatic."

Contrary to what the name suggests, ortho films had no sensitivity to red light. Kodak finally replaced the original Verichrome with Verichrome Pan sometime in the 1950s--panchromatic meaning sensitive to all colors of light.

So the original purpose of making the window red was indeed to reduce the chance of getting light flashes on the film. However, the way the film winds through most roll-film cameras, the opaque backing paper alone is enough to avoid light leaks, even with panchromatic film.

But if you find you get "spikes" of light-leaks at the top of some frames, they may be coming from the frame counter window (remember that an image forms upside down in a camera). Black tape over the frame counter will solve it.

ages ago(permalink)

When using cameras that have red film counter windows, I do what other suggest with the black tape but I'm also careful to point the camera up (which points the back down and away from the sun) when I advance the film, which I do as quickly as possible. Until I started doing this, I'd get a streak across the frame in the shape and size of the window.

ages ago(permalink)

Or just make some weed brownies with some boxed Pillsbury mix. I mean, it's easy as shit; please watch this video I love, with the hilariously deranged song ("I love you, Alice B. Toklas / So does Gertrude Stein"; my, what lyrics!) playing in the background as Taylor-Young's character transforms store-bought powder into "the food of paradise":

Hell, throw a damn party. Live a little! Take a slide into a state of utter delirium like these folks.(Please don't feed these brownies to people expecting some normal-ass batch of brownies. You are an asshole if you do this.)

The true hallmark of a perfect brownie is one that has that enviable shiny, glossy, crinkly, tissue thin crust on top. Not every recipe yields that gorgeous crust. And not every baker can produce that crust reliably.

I have a LOT of brownie recipes in the archives of this website. Deciding which one to bake can be a challenge. The good news is that you can apply the methods I detail below to pretty much any recipe. Some of my published recipes already use these methods, and others can be benefitted from them to all but guarantee that brownie crust.

I first experimented with this technique of whisking the sugar into the eggs back in 2012. It helps to agitate the sugar to better dissolve into the water content of the egg whites and for the sugar and egg proteins to form bonds.

In my Best Easy Brownie recipe, I shortcut this foaming technique by calling for whisking the eggs, sugar, and butter together by hand for 1 minute. However, this is done after the sugar is added to the hot butter and melted chocolate mixture. The heat encourages dissolution of the sugar into the water content.

Important sugar consideration: Your recipe must have ENOUGH sugar to develop a tissue thin crust. The sugar creates viscosity which is required to develop that crust. Well balanced brownie recipes have enough sugar to be fudgy and moist with the crust on top without becoming cloyingly sweet.

One thought is that the melted chocolate contains more fat and less moisture than butter. So if a large portion of the fat in the recipe comes from chocolate, there will be less water to prevent that crust from forming.

For an 8 by 8-inch pan of brownies, add around cup (128 grams) chocolate chips. For a 9 by 13-inch pan of brownies, add 1 cups (256 grams) of chocolate chips. Gently fold the chips in to the brownie batter as the final ingredient.

This is really helpful information for us brownie fanatics out here. I am so impressed with the way you actually performed prospective experiments to demonstrate a difference in outcome with different techniques. Thank you for this.

I recently discovered and subsequently fell in love with one of these cameras in a charity shop I visited back in February with my fiance, Cat. She purchased the camera for me for a valentines gift and after a little haggling, we walked away with the camera for the princely sum of 8. Now I didn't know a lot about these cameras at all. I remember my grandad having what was called a 'Box Brownie' (I now know there are a number of Kodak cameras that fall into this category) but all I knew as a child was that t took pictures. I remember playing with the shutter, and wondering what the red window on the back was for. Years later, I come across one and I still know very little about them. The chap in the shop took it away to inspect it and after a few minutes said it appeared to be in perfect working order, and that the film it took, 120, was still readily available. I took him at his word and scampered home to inspect my new toy in privacy. And here she is in all her glory.

Since I knew nothing about her, I decided to do a little investigation. As it turns out, she doesn't take 120 format film at all, she takes 620 format film. As you guys will know all too well, this format was special developed by Kodak for nefarious reasons to try and 'lock' the camera user to Kodak film. A neat idea, or so they thought. Unfortunately, 620 film was discontinued by Kodak some time ago, and is very rare indeed. So would I ever be able to take pictures with this wonderful machine? As it turns out, yes I can! After some more research, it turns out there are a number of possibilities to take pictures with a brownie. One way, is to re-spool 120 stock onto a 620 spool. Since I don't have a darkroom, or a changing bag, or even the knowledge of how to perform such a task, this was a no-no. And besides, I'm lazy and always on the lookout for an easier way. Secondly, I could obtain film from someone who had already performed this task. A quick search on Ebay confirmed by suspicions. Yes, there are a few people out there who have done this, but they want an absolute fortune for the privilege! Not only am I lazy, I'm also a Yorkshireman, through and through! There must be an easy, yet cheap way. After more o-nline research it turns out, with a little jiggery pokery, you can adapt 120 film so that your Brownie camera accepts it to shoot with. To perform the task, you need to obtain some sturdy nail clippers and a fine file or sand paper. (I obtained some very cheap nail clippers and a metal nail file from a certain chemist that rhymes with 'Hoots'). First, buy some 120 stock. You'll find it's cheaper if you buy multi-packs, but being the cautious sort, I decided to buy just one roll of Ilford B & W 100 speed in case there were any issues. Before I started I checked the retaining spring on the camera housing to make sure it was nice and tight to ensure there wouldn't be any light leaks. I took the film out of it's packet and got everything together on a nice flat surface. First, I trimmed the edges of the 120 spool to make it the same diameter as the 620 spool. There is a little lip that runs around the edges which is roughly the same size, which makes a nice guide. After flipping the spool over and doing the other end, I carefully ran the metal file over the whole thing to make it nice and smooth. Next, I compared the spools for hight. 620 spools are ever so slightly shorter than 120 spools, so I used the file to bring them down just a little bit. I offered the spool up to the camera to see what it was like, and what do you know, it was a perfect fit! Now I'd never used one of these cameras before, and surprisingly, details on how to load the film were pretty scarce. through trial and error, I worked out which way round the film was supposed to go and how to feed it into the take up spool. I loaded the housing back into the camera body, and sealed it shut. t was a little stiff at first, but I managed to wind the film onto the first frame, success! Now all I needed was a fine day and something interesting to shoot! A couple of weeks ago, Crich Tramway Museum held a 40's weekend. Both my fiance and I are 40's enthusiasts and I prayed the sun would be out so that the conditions for shooting with my brownie were favourable. Luckily, it was a perfect day, and my 12 exposures ran out quickly. Then it was off to my local Jessops to get them developed. What with Bank holidays and royal nuptials, it took over a week to get the photos back. Gingerly, I opened the envelope and to my utter shock, the results were stunning! Despite shaking more than Elvis in an earthquake and completely ignoring distance and speed settings, most of the pictures were crisper than a winters day! I honestly couldn't believe these pictures were taken with a camera over 50 years old! My father has kindly offered to scan the negatives for me and I'll post the results as soon as I have them. I've managed to obtain some expired 620 colour stock (expired in 1983!) and I'm now scanning the weather forecasts for more sun so I can shoot some more pictures with my favourite camera, there's life in the old brownie yet!

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