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Johnmaloof
Tinkerer
Username: Johnmaloof
Post Number: 6
Registered: 06-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 02:00 pm: | 
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I found this at an estate sale in a rich suburb of Chicago (see photo links below). It looks like a 4x5 view camera but is not the accordion type. I can't find any Unitron brand cameras anywhere. Nor do I know how this functions.
It appears to have a cloth shutter curtain and the wooden camera shutter insert is removable (really cool!). It is in absolutely perfect condition and in a wood box. Can someone tell me what this is, what its worth and how to use it?
Thanks!
Pictures:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3466/3775436199_dc6de228d1_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3596/3776243796_7f874de330_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3462/3776243632_bcda5dbe64_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2598/3775437249_21e2357cde_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2602/3776243352_b4de7bfd4c_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2476/3776221158_e9d7d8af37_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3599/3776219740_00b81766e0_b.jpg |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 959
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 02:36 pm: |
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It looks like it was designed to be attached to some sort of instrument, rather than used for general photography... possibly a telescope or microscope camera? |
Tom_cheshire
Tinkerer
Username: Tom_cheshire
Post Number: 94
Registered: 04-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 05:35 pm: |
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Unitron is a Japanese telescope maker. Not an antique. It appears to be a camera that attaches to the back of the telescope where the eyepiece goes to make pic.s of the night sky. You focus with the ground glass and flip it open to load a glass film plate. I see three film holders there. The thing on the front is a shutter known as a roller blind shutter. Like a focal plane shutter but usually attached to the front of a lens. Lots of these were made by various manfucturers over the years but most are based on the original by Thornton Pickard. I see a wrinkle in the shutter curtain on yours so you need to check if the material is not pin-holed and if the shutter still works. Aside from all that, it is probably considered obsolete since everyone has gone digital even in telescope photography. Value: unknown. I could use the roller blind shutter for an old lens I have around here. That is probably the part that is worth most in the outfit. What format is that? |
Johnmaloof
Tinkerer
Username: Johnmaloof
Post Number: 7
Registered: 06-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 08:14 pm: |
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This is 4x5 format. That makes sense. I can only find telescopes from this manufacturer. Is it possible to mount a threaded camera lens onto this and use it for large format photography? I didn't pay much for it (around $30). |
Tom_cheshire
Tinkerer
Username: Tom_cheshire
Post Number: 96
Registered: 04-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 08:44 pm: |
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Not really. You would need some way to focus it. I suppose you could make two sleeved boxes extending in/out of each other and put your lens on one side and the camera on the other. If you want to get fancy, add a sliding panel on the front for "rise/falls".
What size is the "hole" in the roller blind shutter? About 2" or bigger?
Don't know what things like this are worth. Maybe a collector would want it but who knows how many telescopy collectors there really are out there who collect more than just the telescopes.
I know you can get roughly 2x what you paid for the shutter alone if it is functioning properly, etc. |
Marty
Tinkerer
Username: Marty
Post Number: 32
Registered: 11-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 07:52 am: |
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I'm sort of a long-time astronomy nut... While I wouldn't call that thing an antique, Unitron made very nice refractor telescopes, and you don't hear of them anymore. I'm not sure if they went out of business or evolved into something else.
I'd say you probably did very well if you got that thing for 30 bucks. If you wanted to sell it, you could probably do very well if you found a site selling to people collecting astronomical telescopes. |
Johnmaloof
Tinkerer
Username: Johnmaloof
Post Number: 8
Registered: 06-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 10:55 am: |
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Thanks, Marty! I'll do some research on that. |
Tom_cheshire
Tinkerer
Username: Tom_cheshire
Post Number: 97
Registered: 04-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 04:25 pm: |
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You want http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/ |
