The Ansco Craftsman

I started this forum for any collecting hobby and it turned into my camera collecting and using forum. I use it mostly to keep a record of my photo adventures. Nobody but me seems to have photo adventures that visit here....but however. I have so many cameras now that I forget which is which and which ones work and which ones don't. If you have cameras and adventures you would be welcome to post here.

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Niner
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Posts: 11513
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2003 1:00 pm
Location: Lower Alabama

The Ansco Craftsman

Post by Niner » Thu Aug 16, 2018 4:40 pm

The 1950 kit box camera. Boy Scout magazine advertised them as $3.50 and you could construct it yourself. A simple box camera that made eight 6x9mm negatives on 120 film. Simple lens. Shutter of one speed...depending on how strong the spring was....about 1/30. The Aperture is reported to be about a F14. A direct knock off of the vintage Kodak box camera. Couldn't resist the impulse. Came today and I rushed out and shot eight times and got eight images.

There was a little light leak somewhere... think that was when I was retrieving the film possibly. Only a couple of the last shots had a little light smudge.

Considering the slow shutter, the simple lens, and the box with little to help steady it, the photos came out with more clarity than I'd have thought. The one with the goose was made with the camera resting on a hand rail. There are two view mirrors ...one horizontal and the other vertical, neither very good in shade and totally worthless in the sun. The lens is focused at about 6 ft to infinity and pretty sharp all things considered. The shutter is in front of the lens as you see in the photo.
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Example one.jpg
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Niner
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Posts: 11513
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2003 1:00 pm
Location: Lower Alabama

Re: The Ansco Craftsman

Post by Niner » Tue Oct 18, 2022 9:39 pm

What it looked like as a kit.
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