A Collector's Life for Me - Tony Kemplen

While on a recent trip to Rome, I imagined that anyone who passed me by was thinking, ‘Is that a real camera he’s using?’ Even if they weren’t saying it out loud, that is clearly what people were asking themselves when I appeared to be dangling a novelty key ring in front of my face. I was blissfully unaware, of course, but my long-suffering wife watched with mild amusement (or irritation) as I juggled the five different film cameras I’d stowed away for our three-day break in the Eternal City.

The Petie camera is really a working toy. They were made in Germany in the 1950s and ’60s and are surprisingly common. They appear regularly on eBay and sell for upwards of £20. This camera tempted me as it came with four of the original films, which are a unique format and haven’t been available in the shops for 40 years or so. Previous experience has shown that there is often some life left in very old film, but that would have been the icing on the cake – what mattered was that I would have the spools and backing paper so I could load them with some old 16mm film that I’ve got in a drawer at home.

The camera duly arrived and in addition to the unused films it still had a partly used film inside. Out of curiosity I finished off the film and developed it. There were some faint images visible on the exposures that I’d made, but the first half of the film was completely blank. Interestingly, the seller had included the original hand-written receipt for the camera and films dated 4/8/61. It showed that the camera cost £2.15 and the films were 2s 9d each. In today’s prices that amount translates as around £45 for the camera and £2.50 per film. I reckoned that the £26 I paid for the bundle was quite good value.

I’m slowly gaining experience in reloading defunct film formats. The Petie camera takes 14x14mm photos on 16mm film, and it was fairly easy to attach some old 16mm FP4 film to the old backing papers. I re-spooled two films, loading one into the camera and carefully wrapping the other in foil for later use.

The Petie is very basic with a non-focusing single-element lens, a fixed aperture of f/9 and single shutter speed of 1/50sec. All this means that bright daylight is essential to create an exposure. What better excuse to leave behind a cold, dark, wet Yorkshire and jet off to the clear blue skies of Italy!

My wife and I had a great time marvelling at the centuries’ old architecture, but the trip wasn’t without its mishaps. The first time I unzipped my photographic bag my multi-image prism filter dropped out and rolled into a nearby drain. It made a faint ‘plop’ as it hit the water before disappearing forever, perhaps to be unearthed by archaeologists of the future.



Later, in the Pantheon, whose concrete dome is bigger than St Paul’s and nearly 2000 years old, I fell victim to local pickpocket and lost a small case containing a semi-fisheye adapter and the spare film for the Petie camera. I don’t know what the thief was expecting the small hand-wrapped foil package to contain, but I suspect they were both puzzled and disappointed when they found out!

For the best part of a day I was convinced that I had lost the camera as well, but after repeatedly searching our suitcases and the hotel furniture I eventually located it in the pocket of the trousers that I had been wearing all the time. I made a mental note to take a bigger camera next time we go on holiday or to wear trousers with shallower pockets.

Back at home, I developed the long-expired film in Ilfosol 3 developer before scanning it on a flat bed scanner. Considering the tiny negatives and simple lens, the results weren’t bad. Of course, the original film would have been unperforated and I was using 16mm movie stock, but I like to think that the sprocket holes (and the dust) add character to the photos.

We timed our trip well, as a day later Rome was burning, set ablaze by anti-capitalist protesters. I wonder if a disillusioned pickpocket was among them?