Wanna see my new 126-film camera?

<p>It's the one on the left ... <g></p><div></div>

<p>It arrived after being stuck in the Jacksonville post office for 10 days (thank you hurricane Isaac) and G_d knows what they did to it in transit, because the front lens cell was unscrewed and rattling around, and the screw in the speed dial had backed itself out, with misc. cogs & stuff floating around loose inside the camera and in the shipping carton. Fortunately I have another Kodak Automatic shutter, a smaller one from a Premo 3A, so I disassembled that one for a pattern and then put both together one piece at a time, and for a miracle they both worked when I was done. It also came without a spool, but I had one in my collection of obsolete spools, so I'm set.</p>

<p>Now I've just got to see about getting film for this beast. 4-1/4 by 6-3/4 rollfilm hasn't been available since 1949 or so... </p><div></div>

<p>What a wonderful piece of work, looks quite beautiful. Maybe you could try to fit a 126 cartridge into that!</p>

<p>There's something about the red bellows and the gorgeous wood grain... takes my breath away. A beautiful work of art.<br>

Now... where are the pictures from that lovely camera? :)</p>

<p>That is <em>sensational</em>, <strong>Shalom</strong>. And to think it works, as well! I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with it. I can't figure out where the flashcubes go, though...</p>

<p>Red bellows, nice. Me like.</p>

<p>Not your mother's 126, but your great grandfather's. :)<br /> I just saw a Nikon DX-style camera in red today at a record sale. I wonder if those will be as interesting in 75-100 years as this one with the red bellows is?</p>

<p>The wood and leatherette look good too.</p>

<p>and for a miracle they both worked when I was done. <br>

<br>

Did you have any spare parts left over? I usually do!</p>

<p>There is a theory that if you rebuilt a camera enough times, you will have enough left over to build a second one.</p>

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<p>There is a theory that if you rebuilt a camera enough times, you will have enough left over to build a second one.</p>

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<p>Sadly this theory rarely applies to the Reflex-Korelle. <br>

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Shalon, red bellows folders are handsome cameras, indeed. I suppose you'll find a way to use it with cut filn. Some Kodak rollfilm cameras had plate backs.... is there one available for this model ?</p>

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<p>There is a theory that if you rebuilt a camera enough times, you will have enough left over to build a second one.</p>

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<p>That's really very good, <strong>JDM</strong>! I shall add it to my folder of amusing photographic quotations, credited to you. My current favourite was <em>apparently</em> uttered by the great Edward Weston:<br /> <br /> <strong>"Anything more than 500 yards from the car just isn't photogenic."</strong><br /> <br /> Perhaps we should start a thread of Classic Quotations...</p>

<p>Wow. Thanks for all the responses, guys. My original ambition was to collect one camera of each size rollfilm that Kodak made (35, 101-105, 116-127, 130, 828), so when I saw a 4A-FK come up I jumped on it. After I bid, I saw he'd changed the description from 4A to "4 Model A", but I'd already bid, so I let it go. Then I found out he was right the first time. :) I also snagged a 4FPK at another auction, so that covers 123 as well. So far I'm missing 103-105, 117, 119 and 121. (Numbers 106-114 were for rollholders and 128/129 were UK only, so I'm skipping those.)<br /><br /><strong>Tony: </strong><em>Maybe you could try to fit a 126 cartridge into that!</em><br>

I could, but it would fall into the film gate and get lost. <br /><br /><strong>Chris:</strong> <em>Now... where are the pictures from that lovely camera? :)</em><br>

Gotta make some film first. I did buy on spec (for about $40 + shipping) a partial roll of 10" wide stock several years ago, only to remember that I've got nowhere to cut it down. Got a small room in the basement that might make a decent darkroom, if it only had a door on it to keep the dark from leaking out. :)<br /><br /><strong>Rick:</strong> <em>I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with it. I can't figure out where the flashcubes go, though...</em><br />More likely to be flash <em>powder</em>, given the age of this machine. :)<br /><br /><strong>Ralf</strong>: <em>Red bellows, nice. Me like</em>.<br />The bellows aren't actually anywhere near as dark red in real life as they show up in a digital photo; they're really much paler than that. <br /><br /><strong>JDM: </strong><em>Not your mother's 126, but your great grandfather's. :) </em><br />Ha, you're right. My mother's 126 was an Instamatic 44, as it happens. I was considering putting that one in the shot instead of the #1 Junior. (The FPKs are all proportioned similarly; one problem I have with the auctions is that on a bare table with no context, you can't tell which model you're looking at. I put the 1 Jr in there so viewers can see how truly enormous the 4A is by comparison.)<br /><br /><strong>JDM:</strong> <em>The wood and leatherette look good too.</em><br /><br />Wood is nice, but the leatherette is good only where it's covering wood. Any that's on aluminum (besides the front door) is all dried out and crumbling, especially on the back and below the door, which you can't see in this shot. The stuff on the back was almost entirely loose, and about 15% was missing altogether. (see more pics at the ebuy auction, <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/200806807218">number 200806807218</a>) I got almost the entire back off (what was left of it) in one large sheet and two smaller pieces, except for a couple square inches that didn't want to come off at all; then I scoured off a whole bunch of aluminum oxide dust with steel wool, and soaked the leather in Apple LeatherCare liquid. In a few days I'll try to glue it back on. I have a couple sheets of coarse seal-grain synthetic leatherette on order from cameraleather.com, maybe if it doesn't look too dissimilar I can fill in the gaps. The red window was actually a round plastic disc that was just laying under the leatherette; I saved that and will glue it back in when I do the rest of the back.<br /><br /><strong>Steve: </strong> <em>Did you have any spare parts left over? I usually do!</em><br />Unfortunately, I did in fact have one tiny washer/spacer that wasn't present in the pattern shutter. I put it where I figured it would do the most good, but I still don't know if it belongs there, or even to this camera in the first place. I might take it back out and see if it functions any differently. The air release (left side piston) doesn't work now, but I don't know if it ever did. The camera was fully assembled in the auction photos; I can't imagine the seller dismantling it before shipping it out, so I have to blame that on the post office.<br /><br />Oh, forgot to mention: the tab that holds the door shut is broken off. There are several layers of what looks like rosin-core solder on it, so apparently someone has already tried to fix this. It does stay shut without it if you don't shake it.<br /><br /><strong>Gabor:</strong> <em>I suppose you'll find a way to use it with cut filn. Some Kodak rollfilm cameras had plate backs.... is there one available for this model ?</em><br />Theoretically there were plate holders; see page 7 of <a href="http://www.piercevaubel.com/cam/catalogs/1908sweetwallachlp767.htm">this catalog</a>: Never actually seen one, and they were likely for glass negatives anyway. Some posters on this board have suggested just slipping a cut sheet inside the back in a changing bag, but I haven't got anything bigger than 4x5.<br>

(If you're looking at that page, mine is the cheaper model with the ƒ/8 Rapid Rectilinear lens, originally priced at $35. That makes the $100 that I spent seem cheap, given 105 years of inflation.)</p>

<p>oops, forgot about 115. I don't have one of those either.</p>

Well I think you did a great job of presenting it... I hope you soon solve the film dilema... When there's a wiill, therre'S a way!

<p>The plate holder back and plate holders are reasonably common in the 3A size. That's because the 3A size (122 film) was the most popular after the 1A size (116 film). There were easily half a million 3A FPK's made over the years. Sizes like 2C, 4, 4A, and 5 were just very slow sellers. So the plate holder outfits would be rarer yet.<br>

They are plate holders, but you can then hunt down film sheaths to use sheet film in them.<br>

I have the 3A plate holder back, about 5 plate holders, and enough film sheaths, but it was a long slow search. Right now I have enough 1973-vintage Verichrome Pan 122 that the plate holders don't get used. But I did shoot some Portra 160VC in the plate holders (cut down from 8x10).<br>

Also, my Pony Premo No. 4 scratches the sheet film itch very well, and it's also very light, and very very pretty.</p>