6cm x 6cm

This is my mum's twin-lens, which is more or less on permanent loan to me these days.



It's a Brownie Reflex - like the Lubitel or other twin-lens cameras, you look down into the camera. What you see is reflected in through the top lens. When you press the shutter, the photo is taken through the bottom lens. The design ensures there's not a lot to get wrong. The shutter is pretty much the only moving part, unlike a single lens reflex, which has to flip the mirror up out of the way as well. This Brownie dates from the early 1950s and quite a number of my childhood photos were taken with this camera. I saw some of those photos recently and was impressed with the detail. I didn't know much about 127 film - I thought it was smaller than 35mm. It wasn't until I looked inside the camera that I worked out why the pics were so good. 127 film isn't small.

127 film

This Brownie used 127 film which measures about 4cm x 4cm. That's smaller than the 120 rollfilm the Lubitel and Holga use but still bigger than 35mm film which measures 3.6cm x 2.4cm. Any film that's bigger than 35mm and smaller than large format (4 inches x 5 inches) is reckoned to be medium format, so 127 film is a medium format film. Nobody is making 127 cameras any more. But they are making the film, because a lot of 127 cameras were made over a long period and many people still use them.

I got interested in seeing if the Brownie still works. I know my mum would love to try it. So I dug around. I found that a number of companies in the UK sell and/or process 127-type film. Retrophotographic sells two types of 127 film and I plan to buy a couple of rolls of 127 from them in the near future and put them through the Brownie to see how well it still works. I would guess that Jessops probably sell some 127 film as well.

Other good 127 sites I found...

The Brownie Camera page is the best place to start. The Frugal Photographer has a full article on loading/using 127 film. onetwoseven.org.uk has a wide variety of information about the cameras and the film they use, as well as other articles, galleries, a forum and some links to supply and processing. Photo.Net has a forum dedicated to using Brownies. Wikipedia has an entry on 127 cameras.

I'll post some Brownie shots when I get them.