Kodak Ektramax Fireworks and a Cool 110 Tip

The above image is the cover of my Kodak Ektramax 110 camera’s substantial 34-page user manual. It’s more interesting than a straight pic of the camera itself, which Kodak made commonly black. But its boring exterior belies some photographic chops.

My earlier article about 110 film scanning with a C-mount lens, included some fireworks shots from this f/1.9-lensed beast. To recap, Kate and I had been invited to an Independence Day event on the roof of a building near Boston’s Charles River. And the pyrotechnic launching barge was in the water across the street from us. This allowed me to shoot images with fireworks that filled the 110 frame. An unusual opportunity for 110.

In that article, I promised to scan a few more negs and describe the “C-clamp camera mount” I used during the shoot. So here goes!

More Fireworks

I did these scans with the simple, effective, DIY equipment described in that article. It did a great job expanding 110 frames to APS-C dimensions without overly degrading the negatives’ analog data.

NOTE: My only post processing below was to restore each image’s R-G-B channels to their full range of tones using  Levels sliders. I did not need to brighten or extensively crop. And while these negs were as low-res as one might expect, they didn’t break up as much as I feared they might.

Here, the barge launchings silhouetted buildings (and other roof people) between us and the river:

Then fuzzy “pipe-cleaner” flowers opened:

The night was so humid that my breath actually fogged the lens before these next flowers bloomed. Despite that, it may be the sharpest shot of the lot (and I like the effect):

Here’s part of the grand finale (it had been a very “white” event):

And here’s an earlier shot of fellow roof-revelers during the humidity-hazed “Blue Hour” before the show:

It demonstrates that even with Kodak Gold 400 film and the camera’s industry-fastest lens, anything that moved produced interesting effects (like the guy’s Picasso-esque face at lower-right). And I couldn’t prevent handheld softness. But the John Hancock tower in the distance was still somewhat sharp, there isn’t a lot of obnoxious grain in the sky, and the people and flag added some nice party energy.

And the Tip

The fireworks images also show the effectiveness of the novel “C-clamp camera mount” I used:

It’s obviously vintage and was manufactured by ROWI, Germany. I found it at a yard sale years ago and have even used it to mount a Bessa folder to the edge of a rolled-down car window. For all but one of my event shots in this and the previous article, I clamped it and the Ektramax to the roof’s metal rails. (The only exception was the above people shot, where no convenient rail was available.)

Also note the clamp’s very effective ball joint. And to improve the device’s holding power, I glued red rubber pads to its gripping arms.

To find this device online, search for “ROWI C-clamp camera mount.” It’s a marvelously compact way to steady small cameras on table edges, fences, barricades, street signs, and even car windows when tripods or monopods would be unwise.

–Dave Powell is a Westford, Mass., writer and avid amateur photographer.

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