We bought a vintage Kodak Petite folding camera on eBay. These were produced between 1929-1933 as the "ladies" version of the Kodak Vest Pocket Model B folding camera. The original list price was $7.50, which is approximately $100 in 2013 dollars. This was an
Autographic model, which meant it came with a small stylus pen. When loaded with special Kodak autographic film, one could write on a portion of the negative through a small opening in the camera back in order to make small notes after you shot each frame that would appear on the developed image. Neat.
To my surprise there was a roll of 127 film still captive inside the camera. It appeared to be fully exposed, as well. Since 127 film is not a film type that is produced any longer, I looked up a film lab that I thought could process it. I sent it off, only to find out about a week later that they couldn't process it and were returning my film. It turns out this film (
Kodacolor-X) requires special developing chemistry (C-22) that is no longer readily available. This film was apparently manufactured between 1963 to 1974.
Fortunately there still are a few labs that have the ability to process C-22, though it takes longer than the 35mm standard C-41 color processing because they have to process in batches to get the most use of their chemicals. The first lab I tried (
The Darkroom) was kind enough to refer me to
Film Rescue International, which I had also got a recommendation about on Twitter.
I have been very curious to find out what memories might be captured on this film. I also find it interesting that someone was using a camera in the late-60s/early-70s that was already 35-40 years old at the time.
My hopes of finding Mad Men-type images from the film were dashed, though, when I learned the likely age of the film. Hopefully, there's still something cool and interesting there.
Part 2 to come when I receive the images...
