120 spool modification

I went to the flea market and suddenly I am a brownie fan. I picked up 3 cameras,an old Kodak box camera that uses 120,a brownie target 6-20 and a brownie hawkeye. They all needed a little cleaning but they are in working order now. I may try the box camera first since it uses 120 but I was wondering if the 120 that was designed for this camera was the same speed as what you get today....say 100 or 125. I was thinking that the older 120 was about 80 asa or so. Will the newer speeds work well with the shutter speed of this camera. Sorry I dont know the exact model of the camera...was told that it was made in 1904. It has no glass front lens to protect the shutter. Viewfinder is in the center top portion of the box. Appears same design as the anniversary model. Same advance knob and clasps.

Another question......The target is in fine shape and I would like to try it....Could someone elaborate on modifying the 120 spool size to fit the 620 and the hawkeye cameras. I have read about the other method of respooling but was interested in the modification. Do you change the 120 spool end diameter or just the thickness or both? Thanks in advance!

Check out http://www.toptown.com/nowhere/kypfer/120-620faq.htm and http://www.neocomm.net/~jmarshal/F_620.html for a couple of different (but similar) views on using 120 film in a 620 camera. Your Kodak 120-film box camera is probably a Hawk-Eye (the name is/would have been on the strap) ... the lens will be behind the shutter (not unusual). Film speed would have been somewhat slower when it was built, but developement would have compensated to a great degree. Modern 100ASA print film has sufficient latitude to work fine in these older cameras, check out http://freehosting2.at.webjump.com/5aace5c1d/ch/chuckc-webjump/brownie/No.2/Box.html for some examples, probably taken with a similar camera to your own.

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Good Luck

Thanks Chris for the reply. This 120 camera I was talking about has

just an open hole and then the shutter with the lens behind it of

course but it has no protective glass plate in front of the

shutter....Is that normal or is mine missing that piece? It does have

a metal ring there.....just no glass.