I like to use 120 film in my cameras that were made for that format. But I wanted to try out a few rolls of 35 mm just for fun. I picked this 1938 Agfa Box 45 for my experiment after ruling out some other candidates. I found that not every box camera can accommodate a 35 mm film cartridge.

I made some changes to the camera that were not harmful, and all are easily and totally reversible. I slipped a piece of black card stock under the pressure plate on the back to block the red window. I cut up a new plastic 120 spool and used the ends as spacers to hold the 35 mm cartridge in place.

Without the numbered backing paper of 120 film, I needed some way to know how far to advance after each frame. I cut a small strip of curved plastic from a soda bottle and sharpened one end to a point, and I taped this inside the camera so that the point engaged with the sprocket holes on one side of the film. Turning the winding knob, I could hear an audible click each time a sprocket hole went by. Advancing the film was just a matter of counting the clicks.

I also did not want to make big panoramic images so I cut a simple mask out of black card stock. I folded the ends of the mask and tucked these under the film rollers to hold it in place.

I scratched some of these negatives when I developed them and there is some dust on my scans. I think these things add to the images in a way.