Ansco Clipper

What? Two posts in one day? Making up for lost time, kiddies.

So this weekend was the epic and wonderful Vancouver Camera Swap Meet and Trade Show down at the Cameron Community Centre in Burnaby. As usual it was very busy and very dangerous for your wallet. I bought three cameras in about 15 minutes, but don't worry I called it quits soon after. I also picked up an original lensbaby for $35, and then got the heck outta there! It was a good haul, though! Besides the Ansco Clipper, which I will be writing about here, I picked up a Zorki-4 and a little half-frame Yashica rangefinder. Both were good deals and great items for any collection... Gotta love the camera show!

However, a word of warning to anyone who wants to check it out next year... You will find so many amazing deals, and a lot of beautiful, rare cameras, but you will also find a lot of potentially terrible purchases. Always double or triple check everything on the camera before you buy, and even then, try to talk down the price if you can. I've almost bought things a few times, and then looked inside the camera to see the film transport is all dirty, or there's batteries melting the inside of the camera, or something. Be careful!

Here's a little example, though not as big a concern:
I bought this Ansco Clipper from an extremely friendly and talkative guy, and he said he researched the camera and that it takes 620 film, and it even had a sticker on it that said "620." However, it is a 616 camera! If you look at it for two seconds you can see that it takes much wider film than 620, and I didn't really notice while I was there. If I was really set on getting a 620 camera, which are fairly simple to get film for, I would have been devastated, since 616 film is virtually impossible to find, let alone process. So... caveat emptor. I don't blame the guy at all, this is an honest mistake, but there are dealers at that show who will sell you crap with an innocent smile.

All that being said-- apparently you can easily rig this baby up to take 120 film... One day I'll give it a shot and post the results.

Anyhow, this is all well and good, but let's talk about my new little friend.

It's a cheap little metal box, with retractable "bellows." It has a glass lens and two shutter speeds: B and around 1/50. Fixed focus, fixed aperture. The man who sold it to me called it a point and shoot but it's basically a box camera. Nuffin special! I'll have to take er for a test run and see what the lens looks like!

It's a very cute little art piece, though. The shutter release lever has a little red bead around it, and the name plate is super cute.

Marcy at Junkstore Cameras has experimented with the Clipper using 120 film. Check it out!

Moral of the story: be innovative, be creative and never spend too much of your hard earned money!!

xoxo
CWB