new project in mind

I'd like to put some 35mm film through this:

as it seems to function perfectly. And it looks amazing.

Some issues:

• It normally takes 127 film. However as 127 is only marginally wider than a 35mm cannister, I figure that a bit of padding will be all that is required.
• The built-in mask is wider than 35mm film. My intent is to make my own mask from black card to stick over the top so I don't end up with sprocket hole exposure (I'm not a fan of this look). This will also result in panoramic images, which is part of why I want to do this..
• There is no rewind. I may need to buy a changing bag so I can get the film out. An interesting quirk is that the film is wound from right to left, but this isn't an issue, more of a novelty.
• There is a red viewing window on the back. Black electical tape on either side should sort it out.
• Not sure how the local camera chain will deal with scanning the negatives. We'll have to wait and see. My contingency is to scan it myself when I eventually get around to buying my own flatbed film scanner.
• Figuring out how far to wind for each exposure. I may have to sacrifice another roll of Lucky. Good thing it's so fecking cheap.

This is my project for the weekend or after work. Wish me luck.

Anyone ever tried something like this? Let me know your experiences if you have

Bakelite Beauty, Petrograd & old Ukrainian film...

Today's purchase ($10) was that bakelite beauty, the Kodak Brownie 127. The 127 refers to the type of film these cameras take, which I believe Kodak stopped producing in 1995. Thankfully, I'm lead to believe some Eastern European film manufacturers still make the stuff (how I will navigate online ordering in any language other than English is another matter), and if you're keen (but not keen enough to buy 127 film & then argue with your local camera chain about developing it) you can slot in some 135.

I'm not a huge fan of "toy" cameras. I do own both a Fisheye 2 and a Holga, however with me the novelty wears off eventually. The Holga has had about 6 films through it in my 7 years of owning it, and the Fisheye is still nursing a roll of expired film that I started at Christmas. So I guess it's more a using them thing. I like the look of the Brownie 127, it reminds me of a radio (c. 1950s) I once saw at the family shack. So it's worth the relatively small outlay for that alone.

WHilst in the shop that lead to the purchase of the Brownie, I took a squizz at a pair of folding cameras they also had for sale. One was a Penguin (? never heard of it until today), the other was a something I had heard of (UK brand?), but can't for the life of me remember now. Both were in pretty poor condition. The second seemed to be functioning okay, but $50 for something that is more rust that camera is a bit much.

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Yesterday I was so close to buying a Moskva 5, but in the end decided that I still haven't seen results from the Contaflex & Isolette, and only one roll from the Zorki - so perhaps it wasn't a wise idea to compound this by adding another camera to the pool. What I did decide is that a light meter would drastically increase the chances of getting good results (or at least well exposed) from those cameras. So, thanks to confdntart, I have a Leningrad 4 light meter on the way.

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Oh, and I ordered some Svema 64 film as well, expired in 2004. I figured it would be good to get into the spirit of Red Oktober by shooting film from a former Soviet Union manufacturer, in a camera made in the USSR.