Filmwasters
Which Board? => Main Forum => : Terry July 22, 2013, 11:15:45 PM
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I've been working on an old Rochester Optical Co. view camera for a while now and finally got it operational if not quite cosmetically right. It still needs finishing touches on the wooden parts, but I made new bellows and new back frame for it, so that it would accept an old Kodak 5x7 back I had. The camera was originally 6 1/2 by 8 1/2.
So here are two shots of the camera and a scan of the first frame I shot with it. Below those are a couple of shots of my new acquisition--a long-focus ROC Premo from around 1903 (I think). Looks like being even more fun!
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Looking good Terry. Reminds me I must a make a start on my new camera.
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That's some serious bellows there!
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Ain't it just! The bellows on the long-focus camera are in amazing shape. Near the front they've pulled away from the lining cloth and stiffeners, so I think I'll try to re-glue them. I only found one pinhole! I've heard that vegetable-tanned leather lasts quite a long time; maybe that's what these are made of, because they're still very supple.
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Very unlike the ones on that old Burke & James I've got somewhere. The bellows on this thing were cracking everywhere!
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Wow, excellent work Terry. That top camera looks in very good shape, I didn't realise you had such hidden skills!
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I keep them well hidden....
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I've finished the functional repairs and most of the cosmetics on that reversible-back Premo (with the long bellows) and put some film through it this morning. I wanted to make use of the close-up potential of the long extension and I found a toadstool in a neighbor's yard that seemed a likely subject. Had to lie down in the wet grass to pull focus and only one of four frames was well exposed. I need to take a look at the shutter and do some timing tests, but the lens performed admirably. The whole rig is at least 110 years old (they were made from 1897-1903) and all it needed was a brass catch for the rear door, some pinholes in the bellows patched and some restoration of the leather covering. There's a bit of separation in the front element, but it didn't ruin the image.
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Nice.
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Thanks Peter. I forgot the tech stuff: it's a Standard Optical Symmetrical lens, 8 1/2-inch focal length in a Wollensak shutter. A small lens but it fills a 5x7 frame easily. I shot this on Shanghai 100; maybe next time I'll put some FP4 in it. The more I shoot with bellows cameras the more I like them. You can take an ancient camera and pop a newer lens on the front and it works magnificently. And if you don't want razor sharp resolution, you can use the old lenses and get some nice effects with them too. And then there's the zen thing....
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Way impressed out here in the west! You do wonderful work! You always inspire me! Need to find one of these beauties!
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Kudos indeed. Saving an old camera is admirable, and important. Aren't they just works of art?
And to think they can do things modern DLRs still can't?
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Pretty sweet...
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I've begun to understand the attraction of a bellows. Since I started playing with view cameras I realize that the flexibility is enormous. Just beginning to understand what swing and tilt is all about. I still like a conventional camera for grab-shooting but the sheer enjoyment of carefully setting up for a shot with one of these big cameras is an entirely different thing.
You have to get one Diane. I expect the pinhole possibilities are exciting too. I've got most of mine of the 'bay: there are some that the collectors just don't seem to want, but would make fine users. And once you've got reasonably OK at making bellows, you can pick up some with torn or rotten bellows fairly cheaply.
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Somehow, you make me feel like a bit of a slouch for not finishing that Burke & James restoration I started years ago :(
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Indeed you are, Francois! Get up and get it done!!!
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Indeed you are, Francois! Get up and get it done!!!
Hear hear!