Flea markets aren't jst a lot of second had stuff. You'll also find lots of strange new products that come from far off lands (I'm trying to be nice here...). I've seen this Nokina camera countless times, usually priced at $30-50. It looks like just another castoff 90s camcorder, but why so cheap?
Looks like Nokina has learned that the cheapest way to make a camcorder is to leave out the camcorder part. This is a 35mm still camera. The fixed-focus lens has a filter thread, an what looks like auto-exposure electronics. You can line up your shot in two ways - neither of which actually work very well. Either use the hokey viewfinder which gives you some vague idea of where the camera is pointing, or fold out the hokey fake side "monitor" to get a misty and vague idea of framing via a mirrored (that's right... the image is backwards) upright finder.
Four AA batteries juice the camera's powered film advance and rewind (a surprise luxury in an oddball unit like this). So when you're buying film don't forget to pick up some batteries... and cassettes - audio cassettes. Yes, there's a built in tape player. A little door pops open on the side where a video cassette would typically go, but it's really a Walkman type mechanism. You can either listen to music via headphones, or built in crummy speaker. So I guess you can use music to soothe your subjects before you snap a pic.
So there you have it. A fake camcorder that is really a somewhat advanced 35mm point and shoot and walkman in one. The viewfinders are both so crummy and misaligned, that maybe they actually DO give you an accurate preview of the rotten photos you're likely to get with this thing. The Nokina has some heft though, so I was curious what sort of image processing power was weighing the thing down. Turns out to be a metal weight inside. Always the sign of a quality product.
So who in the heck is this for? I can only imagine that it's for duping people at flea markets, or duping your family that you splashed out for a new 90s camcorder? The Nokina is too expensive to be a novelty or a toy, and clearly a lot off work went into creating such a bad idea... so who is the market for this?
This peaceful full color Parisian street scene was shot on July 19, 1914 - only a few days before the outbreak of WWI.
July 30, 2012
July 25, 2012
1960s Ray Gun Made Of Space-Age Cardboard
Before space patrol issues you a real ray pistol, they may have you practice your "pew pew" gun skills with this cardboard replica. It's got a deadly looking ("deadly" in that it looks like it might not be well insulated against all of that killer voltage") gun printed on both sides as well as a folded over hinge along the top.
The surprise comes if you hold the gun slightly open and bring it down quickly. A pocket of paper flaps out quickly with a loud crack. My gun is a little out of comission because it is quite old (clearly my weapon fell through some fissure in time connecting the 50th century and the 1960s), but an intact gun will issue a loud report.
While scarcely a replacement for a classic plastic or tinplate ray gun, but as a freebie with a business name printed on it... not too bad. Though labeling it "all mechanical" is a little optimistic.
Cool thing for you, dear reader, is that I found an eBay seller who has some new old stock for just a few bucks, so you can have the real thing that's intact enough to actually have fun with. You can also fold your own popper by following the link below. It won't look as cool as the paper ray gun, but it's loud enough to get you kicked out of a Junior High School lunchroom as I recall...
links:
New old stock of cardboard ray guns
Loud origami popper instructions
July 20, 2012
Liddle Kiddle Doll Pops Up In A Soda Bottle
Kids love soda, and kids love dolls. Uh oh... I feel some synergy coming on! Mattel had been chugging out the impossibly proportioned pulchritude of Barbie for nearly ten years by the time Liddle Kiddles hit the scene at your local toy shop in 1966. Though there were several versions throughout the life of the doll line (existing in some fashion or form through 1970) they were always characterized as being very tiny with a massive puzzler perched on top. Kleo here is about 2 1/2 inches tall, but there were versions ranging from 3 1/2 inches to just under 1 inch.
The dolls aren't that remarkable. Wait, I take that back - they are remarkably weird looking. Their bodies are made of floppy rubber, so they don't stand on their own; a task that's difficult at best, thanks to the "encephalitic cutie" aesthetic that still pervades (Bratz, I'm looking at you...) . I shouldn't make such a big deal about the proportions - there is a long rich history of this sort of distorted caricature. How Betty Boop ever stood upright with that giant melon of hers I'll never know. For what it's worth, I have the same doubt of Barbie's ability to stand up, but for a different reason(s).
Back to Little Kiddles, Mattel had learned a valuable lesson from Barbie; namely the value of offering a giant selection of accessories. Kiddles didn't just come in soda bottles like Kleo. There were Kiddle sized cars, vinyl houses, even tiny UFOs for the alien based characters (which I hate to admit I'd love to find someday). There were a few human sized add-ons too; records, books, even accessories so you could wear your Kiddle like jewelry. Mattel was ready for a big hit, with the Kiddles resisted at every turn.
With a novelty vibe firmly established, it's still a little unusual that these dolls come to you in a replica cola bottle. It's not quite the mystery of a ship in a bottle, but it doesn't really fit in with the rest of the toy line. There were many flavors of doll, strawberry, grape (complete with grapes in her hair) and cola like this one. Sadly Mattel hadn't thought to embedding a soda-like stink into the dolls like stinky Strawberry Shortcake years later.
There's also no backstory or anything about the dolls having been born in a bottle, or accidentally delivered by a magic soda jerk... No carbonated crib, or other soft drink outfits. Just a novel outcropping of an otherwise not too remarkable line of dolls that fall over. Despite the short life of Liddle Kiddles, there was a pretty big variety - but nothing compared to Mattel's other stablemate Barbie. There just wasn't room for Kiddles in the toy aisle, or your grocery store's soda aisle.
July 10, 2012
50 Years of Satellite TV
The Telstar 1 communication satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on July 10, 1962, ushering in the modern age of intercontinental broadcasting and telecommunication. It was owned by AT&T and developed at Bell Telephone Labs as part of an international project sponsored by the USA, UK and France. Its $3 million trip atop one of NASA's Thor-Delta rockets was the first commercially sponsored launch.
Telstar was placed in a medium altitude elliptical orbit that circled the earth approximately once every 2 3/4 hours. This resulted in a short 20 minute window during which intercontinental communication could be established between Andover Earth Station in the United States and Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station in Cornwall, England or Pleumeur-Bodou in France.
Goonhilly became the first ground station to receive a live intercontinental TV feed on July 23, 1962, although the French were the first to receive a patriotic American test image from Andover, Maine.
Telstar 1 was successful but short-lived. High-altitude nuclear experiments by the USA and USSR dramatically increased radiation levels in the Van Allen Belt throughout late 1962 and led to the satellite's premature failure the next February. A flurry of activity followed. The first geostationary communications satellite - Hughes Aircraft Company's Syncom 3 - was launched in August 1964, followed by Intelsat 1 - the first commercial communications satellite - in April 1965.
The Telstar name has stood the test of time, with its most recent namesake - Telstar 18 - successfully launched in June 2004.
As of it's 50th birthday, Telstar 1 remains in orbit, enjoying the view.
July 01, 2012
Fisheye for the Car Guy
[Here's a guest post from Michael Posner - Ed.]
Most cars today are designed in a wind tunnel to be as aerodynamic as style will permit. This was not the case for cars sold in between 1950 and 1972, the heyday of American cars. With gas as cheap as 25 cent a gallon, style, chrome, fins and size were the hallmarks. This design aesthetic looks as good today as it did 50 years ago.
One of the best places to see a variety of classic and retro cars outside car museums and car shows is the cultural phenomenon known as the cruise-in. In most towns and cities these days, a local car club or group will stage weekly to monthly gatherings of cars to simply show off what you own without competition or judging. It frequently is a family event, as owners drive their classic car to the show, family in tow, to mingle and look at a variety of cars, with the most common being Chevy Bel Airs from the 50s, Vettes and Mustangs of all ages, and a few hot rods built on old Ford or Chevy chassis.
As much as I enjoyed looking and photographing these cars, I kept coming back to a need for a new perspective. What struck me were the retro car angles. Long, thin and often chrome, I knew that exaggerating these lines could produce some interesting shots. From this came my new approach, Fisheye for the Car Guy. Utilizing a 180 degree perspective, I try and capture the unique beauty of these cars from a fisheye perspective.
My favorite shot is the front grille or bumper. The large, wide chrome grills come alive in the fisheye shots. I also like the C3 Corvettes, as their long hoods and curved fiberglass bodies look fantastic at 8mm. I am also proud of my plain jane Corvair, smiling in front of the camera. For more pictures, please visit my blog, Fisheye for the Car Guy.
Classic Retro Thing |
