So, did you all hear that bin Laden had no internet or phone connection when they found him? Hopefully my tech-hiatus works out a bit better than his…

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It was the least obvious latch on the camera, but I finally got the Folding Pocket Kodak open! Special thanks to Todd from George Eastman House in Rochester, NY – the home of Kodak.

Carved into the wood on on the right is an instruction reading: “Start the paper under this cross-piece”. So, not only were cameras made of wood back then; their film was called ‘paper’. Things have changed since 1899…

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Well, my Folding Pocket Kodak arrived from the US today. At 112 years old, it’s the oldest camera I’ll be using (everything before that will be with a pinhole camera I’m going to make – fingers crossed!). This one’s very pretty and has that beautiful old leathery smell to it…

Now. To get it open. Not the easiest thing to Google…

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Well, the next one has arrived. This is a 1967 Ricoh Super 8 400Z and came out two years after Super 8 went on the market (and six years before they started recording sound). I put some batteries in it this afternoon and it seems to run okay. Excellent. Now to fork out $40 for a 3-min film cartridge to see how it actually looks.

I should be getting another camera in the next week or two, so watch this space. In the meantime, if anyone has any leads on where I can source a mid-1990s DV camera or a mid-1980s Hi8 one in or around Melbourne or Brisbane (or for sale online), I’d be very grateful!

So today I’m watching the LCD Soundsystem funeral concert (which is streaming on the Pitchfork website) on the projector in our house.

It’s pretty incredible.

And it’s exactly the sort of thing I’ll miss during my 90 day stint…

Bugger.

Finally got myself a VHS tape ($2. Bargain!) and tested out the VCR part of my new JVC. All good! The photo to the left is from the eBay sale and, to be honest, I thought there’d be no way I’d need all the equipment displayed in the picture. But I really did need it all. Technology certainly has come a long way. When you compare this once-innovative wired remote to functions like AirPlay on the new Apple products, it really goes to show you how far we’ve come. Just imagine what it’ll be like in another 35 years…

So! I’m about to head to the shops to get myself some VHS tapes (they still sell those, right??) and test out the new camera. Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I’ve been sorting through my lists of other things I need to get this film made; things like a better microphone for my Canon 550D and some china ball lights, so things aren’t so dim in my house when we’re shooting. Additionally, I need to track down the other cameras for the other eras I’ll be ‘living in’. The ones I definitely need are:

1) a 1990s DV camera

2) a 1980s Hi8 Sony

3) a 1960s Bolex 8mm

4) a late 19th Century folding pocket Kodak

Apart from these, I’ve been trying to track down an old box camera (with glass plates etc inside), but they’re pretty expensive and I think I might switch to a pinhole camera that I’ll make myself. Has anyone done this before? If so, I’d love to hear/see how it went!

Anyway, better head off and get some video tapes!

It begins! Today my new JVC GX-88E Colour Video Camera arrived! It’s a typical 1970s VHS camera and, as you can see, it records on a separate VCR. I’m yet to test it with a tape, but I’ve been able to turn it on and have a look through the viewfinder (the instruction manual boasts that it’s an electronic viewfinder!) and it looks pretty incredible – very grainy, very low-res, but also beautifully retro. I’m going to have a lot of fun with it!

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