A couple months back, I found this really rad sea foam green camera for sale in this totally hip shop off of Piedmont Ave in Oakland called Rare Bird (sidenote: I love this shop, and I buy things there all the time, just not cameras). It was outrageously priced, which I didn't know at the time (it was probably like $150). I couldn't justify the purchase. It was entirely made of plastic and super simple. Old yes..but still. So I told my work friend, Carol about it and she happened to have one that she bought on e-bay for about $8. She gifted the camera to me and its been love at first click ever since.
The savoy is basically a brownie from the seventies. A couple advantages to shooting this vs a real brownie from the day: its made of plastic. which means no rust or falling apart leather. AND its really light tight..except for the window on the back for the film counter, which I just keep covered with a bit of gaffers tape. There are some tricky points to this camera which have only worked in my favor since I'm not a very precise photographer. That said, if you are painfully careful with your picture taking, this may not be the camera for you. The lens is made of plastic, so it isn't super sharp but I really like the effect. The other thing is that the winder that advances the film doesn't stop at the end of the frame. This can also be really annoying because you have to keep your eye on the counter while you advance the film. This is not great for color shooters because that will probably lead to a light leak across the bottom of all your photographs. BUT if you just go with it and you don't mind a little wackiness, this is a really fun toy.
The Savoy was really fun to take out to a site to shoot. Its fantastic for shooting outside in daylight (unless you have ultra fast film in it, I wouldn't recommend shooting at night). I have some earlier photographs to share, but they can wait. Here are some images from Fort Funston:
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