| Author |
Message |
    
Alex
Tinkerer
Username: Alex
Post Number: 13
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - 02:47 am: | 
|
I don't know if it counts as a classic, but I have an old Kodak Brownie Portrait box camera, in cosmetically good condition, but the lenses could do with a clean. Getting at the flip-in-place portrait lens attachment looks like it means taking the front panel off the box, as it needs a thorough clean and polish on both sides. I know it's as simple a camera as can be (apart from a pinhole), but I'm guessing maybe they weren't meant to be taken apart, and I don't want to leave it worse than when I started. If anyone has ever cleaned up an old box Brownie and put it together again, I'd be grateful for any tips and pointers.
My late father used to have a box camera like this many decades past, and I have a hankering to take all my own family down to the park and take a family picture with it just like he used to do. |
Adrian
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian
Post Number: 26
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - 05:15 am: |
|
Hi Alex,
It's difficult to say for sure, as there were several Brownies with Portrait in the name. If you could find a pic of one similar and post it, might be able to offer better advice? If it is a metal-bodied one, you can probably prise the front off with a little care. If, however, it is a card-bodied one, the card is nailed into a block of wood, at least in the Kodaks I've seen, so probably not worth the effort.
Also, does it take 120 or 620 film? 120 is reasonably easy to get hold of still, but 620 takes a bit more work. However there are lots of tips on the web as to how to convert 120 rolls to 120, or how to re-spool your own.
So long as you don't expect too much, Box Brownie photography can be a great deal of fun. Remember that you have a shutter speed of about 1/30th of a second, and it was probably built for film slower than a wounded sloth. I've attached a link to some I took with 100-speed film in bright sun, and they are over-exposed. You really need dappled cloud on a day like that.
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=54824
Good luck, and have fun!
Adrian |
Adrian
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian
Post Number: 27
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - 05:16 am: |
|
Ooops - forgot to link to this! Very handy, and covers most variations on the theme of box-with-a-hole-in!
Click on "Box Camera 101" in the side bar...
http://www.merrillphoto.com/JunkStoreCameras.htm
Adrian |
Pablomartinez
Tinkerer
Username: Pablomartinez
Post Number: 43
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - 06:30 am: |
|
Hi, I've serviced several box cameras and I use them from time to time on my trips.
Have a look to my web pages about servicing this kind of cameras:
http://www.rusted.free.fr/brownie0kodakcamera.html
http://www.rusted.free.fr/brownie2ecamera.html
http://www.rusted.free.fr/lumiereboxcamera%281940%29.html
http://www.rusted.free.fr/kodak%20brownie%202F.html
For more camera reparations, go to the index:
http://www.rusted.free.fr/cameraindex.html
This cameras are very simple to repair, but you have to be careful with the shutter sping. Wrong tension can make your pictures vary dark or over exposed.
To test the speed of your camera, build a speed tester like this one: http://www.rusted.free.fr/speed%20tester.html |
Alex
Tinkerer
Username: Alex
Post Number: 14
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - 07:06 am: |
|
Guys, thank you for the excellent and comprehensive replies, and the very useful links.
This is the camera:
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l260/ofitg/cameras/KodakBrownie_2_F_portrait.j pg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l260/ofitg/cameras/KodakBrownie_2F_back.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l260/ofitg/cameras/KodakBrownie_2F_front.jpg
It seems to be a pressed metal body, so I was able to prise the front off easily as suggested, and give the portrait attachment lens, which was almost opaque, a good clean and polish. I held the shutter open on the T setting, and carefully used some chamois on a wooden stick to clean the front face of the meniscus, and similarly cleaned the rear surface, the viewfinder glasses and mirrors. They have all come up well. The portrait lever was a little sticky but a clean has brought this back to work too. As you may see from the picture links, the camera is in remarkably good condition for its age.
It had a partly exposed film in it, which I've removed. It's a 'Gevaert Superchrome', and I've no idea what kind of film it is, or I'd process it and see what was on it. I'm looking forward to putting a roll of film through it and see what it can do! (I don't get this much excitement from my digital P&S!) |
Adrian
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian
Post Number: 28
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - 07:42 am: |
|
Coo, it really is in lovely condition! What a beauty! I'm fairly certain that model takes 120 film, so you should have little trouble finding that. Just remember you'll need to go to a camera shop rather than a High Street photo place and you should be OK. 100 speed should be fine to start playing with.
In reasonably bright sun, if you use the smallest aperture you should get surprisingly sharp images. At risk of making a tit of myself, I think that depth of field is a function of aperture and length between lens and film. The No2 Kodaks are quite long-bodied, so focus nicely (for a Box camera, anyway!).
Have fun!
Adrian |
Adrian
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian
Post Number: 29
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - 11:16 am: |
|
Just a thought, Pablo. How do you get the nails out without knackering the cardboard?
And, while I am thinking (it doesn't happen very often!), you don't hapen to have an Agfa Box Spezial anywhere do you? If so, I'd love to see a pic of it with the front off, so I could see where the spring mine seems to be missing goes!
I still think you are crazy, the worrying thing is that you are giving me ideas!
Adrian |
Charlie
Tinkerer
Username: Charlie
Post Number: 54
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - 02:12 pm: |
|
For a guess it may have been made for ASA30 film so to use it with 100 ASA you may have to speed up the shutter by trimming a coil or two or more off the shutter spring (if it's a coilspring, not a hairpin spring). |
Pablomartinez
Tinkerer
Username: Pablomartinez
Post Number: 44
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - 03:53 pm: |
|
I get the nails with a pair of plyers that I've filed to reduce the head to the barely necesary to catch the head of the nails.
I do have an AGFA BOX, but I do not know if it is very "Spezial".
I've taken it apart only for you Adrian, even if you think I'm crazy.
 |
Adrian
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian
Post Number: 30
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 02:43 am: |
|
That's fantastic, Pablo. Thank you very much! It's not quite the same as mine, but close enough that I think now I can see where the spring should go and how it works.
Given the amount of stuff we throw away and the design life of equipment nowadays, it is good to see people who are "crazy" enough to still repair things at all costs. Sorry, I didn't mean it as an insult (possibly posting it on a public forum was a bit dim), more a comment on your dedication to fixing truly, deeply, knackered things. I like the philosophy, I just haven't the skill (yet - I hope!). |
Pablomartinez
Tinkerer
Username: Pablomartinez
Post Number: 45
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 06:39 am: |
|
I did not got it as an insult. No problem.
I'm glad it was usefull.
Many times, it is not skill, just patience and side thinking.
Cheers. |
Adrian
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian
Post Number: 31
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 07:25 am: |
|
If it's lateral thinking you enjoy, you should get a Purma Special (or at least google it!). Now that really is a triumph of lateral thinking!
Adrian |
Pablomartinez
Tinkerer
Username: Pablomartinez
Post Number: 46
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 08:20 am: |
|
Excellent. |
Adrian
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian
Post Number: 32
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 10:34 am: |
|
I thought you'd enjoy it!
Shall we leave this thread now until Alex reappears, or someone else has a box camera problem? It's in danger of becoming a love-in...
Adrian |
Alex
Tinkerer
Username: Alex
Post Number: 15
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 04:25 pm: |
|
In that case Adrian, I might as well reappear! The box camera looks perfect now, and I've a roll of Neopan 400 ready for it. I measured the diameters of the three apertures which are available on a sliding metal strip which sits in front of the meniscus lens. As close as I can measure, the diameters are 7mm, 5.5mm and 2mm. The lens to film plane distance is about 105mm. That, I think, gives f/ratios of f/15, f/19, and f/52. If I were to follow the Sunny 16 Rule, then my calculation suggests that 400th/16 leads to 30th/56. My untutored eye will not be as sophisticated as Pablos's home made shutter tester, but the shutter speed on the Brownie looks around 1/25th, so that at least gives me a starting point. (Gee, P&S-ers miss all the fun of working this stuff out!)
A little 'net searching suggests that the film that was in the camera, Gevaert Superchrome, is an orthochromatic B&W film dating from the late '40s. I plan to reload this into the camera and shoot the remaining five frames. I've no idea what the notional film speed would have been, but as it was marketed as ultra fine grain, then maybe 50ASA or slower. Exciting! |
Adrian
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian
Post Number: 33
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 - 04:36 am: |
|
Let us know what you bet out of them, Alex!
And, of course, happy shooting!
Adrian |
|
