AUTO REAR VIEW CAMERA

The legs of the tripod fit into a triangular piece of brass and leather which then protects the camera from the screw which secures the tripod in place. To construct the tripod you have to squeeze the tops of each leg together which then slot into the triangular holder.

When not in use, the tripod comes apart and each leg folds down by bringing the top two arms (can a leg have arms?) sideways and down.

It is quite difficult to line the tripod up as the only means of lowering the camera is by spreading the legs more. There are two brass guides on the body of the camera which show if you are level, vertically and horizontally.

It's a lovely camera, and it must have been a joy to use, although very time consuming and extremely fiddly. This one was designed to be portable, with a folding tripod and a leather box to carry all the equipment in, and although it looks a lot of equipment, I suppose really it's not that much bigger than one of todays DSLR cameras.

This is my kit, two cameras and an ancient brass tripod I bought secondhand many years ago.

The Sony P72 is a whole 3 megapixels and 5 years old, in which time it has been used for about 6000 shots, is built and weighs like a small brick, and has a slightly sticky lens shield mechanism having rolled around the bottom of my shoulder bag for years. Despite this it can still take some demon shots and is remarkably easy to use.

The Nikon is much newer, has a better flash and is a fraction of the weight and size of the Sony, but is more annoying to use with its trickier menu system and blurred shot warning.

Other than that, I use GIMP photo editing software, which is adequate for my editing abilities and free to download.

Anything else is whatever comes to hand from my surroundings, especially my wife's wardrobe ;)