I’ve shot with many old cameras over the years, but none older than sometime in the 1930’s. So when I came across an opportunity to shoot with a 1917 Kodak 3A Premo camera, I jumped on it.

120 film spool on the left, massive 122 film spool on the right.

First, a few things about the camera. The 3A was part of a multi-camera line-up from Kodak called “Folding Cartridge Premo”. “Cartridge” was another way of saying “Roll Film” which at the time was still relatively new compared to the plates that photographers had been using for years. The Premo line of cameras used different types of roll film depending on the camera. The 3A that I am using here originally used 122 roll film, which is a standard that is no longer made, and hasn’t been since sometime around 1970. Shooting 122 film in the 3A yielded images that were 3-1/4” x 5-1/2”, or 8.3cm x 14cm. That’s a big negative!

Another quirky thing about the Premo line was its use of the “Universal System” stops instead of the stops we all know now. On the front of my 3A it has the following stops on it: 4, 8, 16, 32, 64. In reality, these convert out to the following modern f-stops: 8, 11, 16, 22, 32. Something to keep in mind in case you decide to try your hand at shooting an older camera with the Universal System. This obscure method disappeared after about 1920, so it is rarely seen nowadays.

The back of the 3A, showing my added copper guide plates and the 120 spools with the 122 adapters on them.

After cleaning up the 3A and making a new piece of ground glass for the viewfinder (it was missing one), my next step was to source some 122 to 120 film adapters. Because 122 is so much bigger than 120, you can’t just drop 120 spools in there to make it work. You need something to fill the gap on the supply side to keep it straight, and something on the take-up side to allow you to roll the film on after each shot. I found someone on Etsy that made them so I had them in just a few days. I also had to find a way to keep the film flat, so I added two pieces of thin copper at the top and bottom of the film gate to keep the film flat. Using this gate and spacers means that on 120 roll film, the camera makes a native image of 6cm x 14cm. That’s a 2.3 to 1 panoramic ratio.

I had a few expired rolls of c41 color film that someone gave me awhile back, so I figured they would make good test subjects for my first few attempts with the camera, hoping that if things didn’t go well I wouldn’t be too disappointed. Shooting the camera out in the field can be challenging, as the tiny viewfinder is difficult to see with and compose the scene. Also, because the red window on the back of the camera no longer works due to the 120 film being smaller, coming up with the right amount of cranks to get the film started and then spacing between frames correctly is a bit of a challenge. Playing around with an old, dead roll of 120 I guestimated that once the roll is started on the take-up roll and the back is closed, its about 9 full cranks to get to the first image, then about 3.5 cranks after that to advance to the next image. In theory one should be able to get 4 shots on a roll of 120, but in practice I’ve only been able to get 3 full shots and a partial 4th. I think the fix for that is maybe doing only 3 cranks after the second image, and then maybe 2.5 after the 3rd.

OK, below are a few of the pics from several locations on different days. Click on each one to enlarge.

The image of the cyclist above was a handheld “run and gun” shot and as you can see there’s some motion blur. I don’t advise shooting huge panoramic images handheld.

This has been a fun experiment, and for someone that might be looking to get into 2x1 or larger film panoramic images on medium format, its a relatively cheap way to enter the game. With the price of the 3A Premo cameras being less than $50 nowadays due to the “dead” 122 film format, someone could put together a working kit for $75 or less with the adapters and home-made copper guide plates.

This is a set-up that I might throw in my bag if I am going somewhere and want a small, lightweight option of shooting a panoramic if the chance arises. It’s certainly easier than dragging my GX617 or some other large behemoth of a camera, while yielding better results than a Sprocket Rocket or some other Lomo product.

If you are interested in trying out a Premo 3A yourself and have any questions, feel free to drop me a line. I’d be happy to help out in any way that I can.

As always, thanks for reading!

Jeremy