shalom_septimus

<p>Jack: I posted the spec for 124 paper at http://www.photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00PXOF .</p>

<p>There's a product called Exeter paper that's supposed to be good for making backing paper, which is glossy black on one side and flat black on the other. Unfortunately it recently doubled in price from $1.50/foot to $3.00/foot for 26" wide stock, and there's a minimum order quantity of 25 feet. A bit out of my price range, I think.</p>

<p>Doug: I have some 10" film (80 speed Ilford, 90's vintage) that I bought on e*ay before realizing that I have absolutely no use for it...</p>

<p>Patrick: There's a guy on e*ay with the handle "xkaes" who sells do-it-yourself film slitters for $35. Mostly these are for cutting 120 down to smaller formats, but he did a special order for me for a slitter that will cut 105mm microfiche down to 91mm so I could make my own 122. He will gladly sell you a slitter to make 127 out of 120, which will pay for itself by the third roll.</p>

<p>Not sure what you're going to do about the frame numbers, though. If you want 4x4 frames (12 exposures), you could line it up at the bottom of the 120 film and use the numbers for 6x9, which line right up with the odd numbers on the 127 backing; you just have to interpolate the even numbers in between. If you want 4x6 (8 exposures), you would have to put two blades in and cut off a strip from both edges, leaving the center which would make the 6x6 numbers fall in the right place. Or you could just count turns, I suppose.</p>

<p>Some time ago I posted specs for various obsolete roll film backing paper for those who want to roll their own. Herewith, the spec from 130 film (old size 2c). Note that this is from a roll of Ansco Plenachrome, but I assume that Kodak is similar. Each frame number is printed four times vertically from the edge of the paper to one inch in.</p>

<p>Beginning of paper to end of tongue (narrowed area) = 1.5"<br /> to "hand" that shows through window = 21" (first of four staggered ones)<br /> to start of film = 23.5"<br /> to 1 = 26-1/4"<br /> to 2 = 31-5/8"<br /> to 3 = 37"<br /> to 4 = 42-3/8"<br /> to 5 = 47-3/4"<br /> to 6 = 53-1/8"<br /> to end of film = 60-1/4"<br /> to end of paper = 73"<br /> <br /> Width of paper: 3-1/8"<br /> Widfh of film: 3.039" by dial caliper (77.2mm)<br>

Note that when the numbers are upright, they fall in the upper right corner of the frame, increasing to the left (i.e. the full spool is on the left side). This is opposite to the way 120 film is rolled.<br>

Shalom</p>

<p>I've had a Premo #8 hanging around for a while, and when I saw what I thought were appropriately sized plates on that auction site, I figured I'd bid on them and see what I could do with them. The plates are Ilford Iso-Zenith, speed group D, which is about ASA25, and cost me next to nothing even with shipping from the UK. Unfortunately, when I went in the darkroom tonight and tried to load them, I found out that they're just that > < much too big; the camera is in 3A size, which is 5-1/2 by 3-1/4, and these plates are 5-1/2 by *3-1/2*. Just wide enough, in other words, to not fit in the plate holder. Can't rout the channel in the holder any wider, either, because then the dark slide won't fit anymore. Now I do have an otherwise useless 3A film pack adapter that came with this camera, which is probably wide enough to jam one plate in there and wad up some paper behind it to keep it in place, but this means I only get one shot at a time, rather than two, and I don't know if the register would be correct either. (On that subject, I did notice that the ground glass was in backwards, with the smooth side facing the lens and the ground side facing me, which may account for the trouble I had focusing it whilst doing the dry run. I reversed that.)</p>

<p>So I thought maybe I could pick up a glass cutter at a hardware store and cut down 1/4 inch off the long edge, thereby getting true 3A plates. Never cut glass before, but there are videos out there that seem to show it isn't that hard. Of course they're not doing it under a 2A safelight, but still. Does this sound reasonable, or am I nuts?</p>

<p>(Obviously I'll be wearing goggles and gloves while doing this. And if that works, maybe I'll spring for some of those 9-1/2" square plates at the Surplus Shed; one of those could be cut down to 4 4x5s, if it's possible to cut 90 degree angles.)</p>

 

<p>Hasn't got anything to do with the darkroom per se, but this tool is indispensible for getting stuck filters off lenses (or stuck lenses off shutters). I paid about 8 bucks for it at Target. It's lined with soft rubber so it won't scratch, and it's good for eight size ranges.</p>

<p>Mike: That's brilliant. Never would occurred to me, but it's one of those things where you smack yourself in the forehead and say Why didn't I think of that.</p><div></div>

<p>I'm not even sure I'm posting this in the right forum... it equally could belong in Classic Manual, Alternative, or Large Format, but here goes:</p>

<p>I recently scored a factory-sealed box of 4x5 Eastman Dry Plates, and a holder for same to fit my Speed Graphic. I thought it would be fun to go out and shoot some of these, but I have no idea how to expose them. The box doesn't give me any guidelines, other than stating that the red seal means that it's Extra Rapid. Diligent googling hasn't turned up any info as to what speed these were even when new, let alone 100 years later: the box has no process-by date, but the seller said there were other items stored with that which were dated 1908. I don't even know what the range is: are we talking ASA 1, ASA 25, or somewhere in between? Even slower/faster? Also, are they blue-sensitive or orthochromatic? It doesn't say that either. (I'll worry about developing them once I have them exposed...)</p>

<p>Of course the next question is, how do you know which side has the emulsion. I haven't opened the box yet, so I don't know if there's a notch. Someone writing to the editor of Photo-Era magazine back in 1919 (found on google books) recommended biting it gently and see which side sticks to your teeth. I think I'll not do it that way, thanks.</p>

<p>So why am I doing this? Why not, it's fun, and I wanted to try it out. If it comes out a usable negative or two, that's a bonus. Didn't even cost me all that much. (You can still get current production 4x5 glass plates, but they cost stupid money -- current pricing is 237 euros for a box of 25, plus shipping -- so I'm not likely to be using those...)</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.<br>

Shalom</p><div></div>

<p>OK, so now we know who invented it. Colonel H.N.B. Good doesn't seem to have much info about him on the web. I did notice that he found it necessary, in his introduction to the patent, besides describing himself as a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, to declare himself a gentleman. I wonder if that word has some UK-specific meaning that escapes us USAnians.</p>

<p>Still would like to know who manufactured the thing, or what size film it takes. Anyone know where I might find this info?</p>

<p>Supply spool goes here, I guess. That metal rod comes out. You can also see the patent notice. Unforunately they didn't give the patent <strong>number</strong> ...</p><div></div>

<p>The spool and winding key</p><div></div>

<p>Rear view looking into the film gate</p><div></div>

<p>A pic of the shutter mechanism and viewing lens; the taking lens is behind the shutter</p><div></div>

<p>I came across this box camera some time ago, in a box of misc. stuff acquired from the usual place, and I can't figure out what it is, or what type of film it takes.</p>

<p>It's got one brilliant finder, a double-acting shutter which flips left or right, with a handy arrow printed on the shutter to tell you which direction to flip it for the next shot, and a winding key that screws into a threaded hole in the spool. The spool has a ratchet wheel at the end which engages in a one-way clutch; if you turn the key the other way, it screws out of the spool. The size of the film gate is 2-7/16 by 1-7/8; the film itself looks to have been almost exactly 2" wide. This doesn't seem to correspond with any film size I know of. There is no makers mark on the thing, nothing at all except the patent dates 2/25/1890 and 1/9/1894, although it looks like there may once have been a paper label inside the shell.</p>

<p>Weirdest thing is that I can't figure out how the photographer was expected to know when to stop winding. There's no red window, and no film counter, although there is some mechanism next to the spool which I can't figure out just what it does. Perhaps it detects a hole in the film and causes it to stop winding, a la 126 or 828. I dunno exactly.</p>

<p>I'm attaching some quick and dirty photos to this so people can see what I'm talking about.</p><div></div>

<p>I don't think it's a Recomar. The sports finder on a Recomar (at least the one in front of me) has a rectangular opening, not round like in this picture, and the button that you push to open the front is buried under the leatherette, not sticking up like his. Also there's a very obvious 18 on the handle that he couldn't have missed. (not to men tion the Kodak A.G. nameplate)</p>

<p>(The Kalart rangefinder and the extra tripod mount on mine were aftermarket addons. Apparently four ways to focus (scale, ground glass, brilliant viewfinder, sports finder) weren't enough for someone, so he had to add a fifth mode...)</p><div></div>

<p>I just got back three cameras from three different repair shops, so I'm testing them out at the moment.</p>

<p>The first one to return was the Minolta XD11. This one came from e*ay for not much money; it was someone's workhorse, and it came to me in not-great condition: the mirror was broken, although I think that happened in shipping, the decal with the shutter speeds was missing, and it wouldn't wind. Garry Airapetov (sp?) does Minolta stuff, so he got that one. Came back in way better shape than it went there. Only thing wrong I can see so far is the film counter doesn't. I have to send in the roll I shot for developing and see how it works otherwise.</p>

<p>Then there's the Graflex Century-35 by Kowa (the revised version with the normal focusing, rather than the weird buttons of the original model). This was another e*ay purchase, back when I was a newbie and bid on lots of boxes of junk. Once in a while you got something worthwhile in there, and this was one. The shutter was badly sticky, but otherwise it was in good shape. Funny thing is, there was a sticker in the film compartment stating that it had been CLA'd by a repair shop in Coral Gables, FL, in July of 1976... I tracked down the former serviceman and called his new shop, still in the same town, but they're only a studio now and don't do repairs any more. That one went to Carol Miller, who's my first call for leaf shutter work, and she did her usual excellent job on it. Not many people like to tackle Seikosha shutters, from what I've read online, but she didn't mind taking it on. I like this one. It just feels good to use it, I can't explain any better than that, and the lens has the reputation of being sharp. It's pretty heavy, although lighter than...</p>

<p>The third camera, which was my grandfather's PraktiSix-II. Boy that one is heavy. Lovely CZJ glass. I last used this one in 1993 for a college assignment; since then nobody's used it. I finally tracked down where it went after my Zaide passed on, and loaded it up. Found that the shutter curtains were stuck. Eventually the first one loosened up, but the second one was still stuck. That camera went down to Leonid Treskunov, who's recommended on pentaconsix.com as the expert on Communist-bloc cameras, and has the advantage of living/working halfway between my house and my work. I just got that back, and I'm trying it out now. My grandfather bought the prism finder, but I think I like the waist-level better, it's easier for someone with my lousy eyesight to focus.</p>

<p>Oh yeah, I just remembered. Purim was last week, and I hauled out the old Polaroid 104 to take pictures of my 2-year-old son in his horsie costume. Amazed that it still works.</p>

<p>(I also used my wife's Nikon Coolpix S4 for that, which is off-topic...)</p><div></div>

<p>I'm sure I've seen the scene in that first picture before. There used to be a railroad track in front of the curved portion of the building-- you can see the paved-over remains of it in the street, and somewhere in the depths of railroad.net's archives there's a picture of a train there.</p>

<p>(Unless it was a similar building on another railroad, I suppose it could have been on the old Bushwick branch of the LIRR. My memory ain't what it used to be. I'm pretty sure this was it, though.)</p>

<p>Well, I ran the experiment this evening.</p>

<p>I went into the bathroom in my store (which serves as a makeshift darkroom, although when I spend enough time in there I start to notice stray bits of light leaking through the fluorescent fixture from above; there's not that much, but I'm going to have to climb up there one day with the black tape. If the light's coming from leftover fluorescence, there's not a whole lot I can do except wait.)</p>

<p>I cut a strip of the film, which is Ortho Copy 5125, 105mm wide, covered half of it with a cardboard to serve as a control against base fog (this film expired in 4/84, plus I'd been handling it under a bare red bulb, so I was afraid I'd fogged the whole thing. I unrolled about three turns and threw that out, and took some from beneath that.) Covered the rest of the film with another sheet of cardboard. Then turned on the flashlight. Held it about 3 feet away, and uncovered another inch or two of the film every ten seconds or so. Once I got to the end (About 12 steps, ergo about 2 minutes), I shut the light, stuck the film into an aluminum loaf pan with about a quart of HC110 dilution E, and swished it around for about 4 minutes, which is what the nice guy at Kodak Professional recommended. Dumped the HC110 on the floor (I've not used this room in total darkness before and forgot where the damn sink was) rinsed the film, fixed it and put the lights back on.</p>

<p>Result: The film is clear and gray, but it's uniformly gray, kind of like legal car window tint, with no gradations from one end to the other as I'd have expected, or even any difference between the control half and the exposed half. You can read text through it easily. I don't see any edge markings, but I don't know if this film has any. I also don't know what the base color of the film stock is; the unexposed stuff I threw out is about the same color on the back side.</p>

<p>This could mean:</p>

<p>1a. The film *may have been* completely fogged, whether by age, improper handling before I started learning about proper safelights, or by residual light in the "darkroom", although in the latter two cases case I'd expect it to be much darker. No way for me to know without anything to compare it to; and,</p>

<p>1b. The film wasn't fogged by the flashlight, any more than it already had been; or else,</p>

<p>2. The film wasn't completely developed, in which case the results are inconclusive. The Kodak guy gave me the developing instructions from 4125, which he said is the same emulsion as 5125 on a different base; he could have been wrong about that as this film is so old that there's no online information about it.</p>

<p>The next step would be to develop some of the film that's been exposed to room light and see how dark that comes out, and compare it to the stuff I have now, so I know what it looks like totally fogged, and then a piece of totally unexposed film, so I can see what it looks like clear. (I might also spring for another roll which I haven't possibly-exposed, they aren't that expensive, and put this one away for later.) I'd also like to try it for longer than 120 seconds.</p>

<p>Maybe Tuesday, I've got to go home soon.</p>

<p>I had an idea. (This is occasionally dangerous, but sometimes useful.)</p>

<p>Some time ago I accidentally acquired an aluminum flashlight with 3 white LEDs and a completely flat end. (I'd bought something totally unrelated on e*ay, a meat slicer if I remember correctly, and the seller included this in the box for some reason...) The other day I was rummaging through a box of old series filters that I've accumulated over the years and had an epiphany: the 1-1/16" Series V adapter was exactly the right size to fit tightly over the end of the flashlight, with no light leaking backward.</p>

<p>So I rummaged some more and came up with a V-VI step-up ring and an ancient Series VI Kodak Wratten #A filter; the current designation for this filter seems to be #25. I stuck the adapter on the light, put the filter in, and hey presto: red light.</p>

<p>Anybody know if this lash-up would be usable as a safelight for ortho film? I called Kodak, and they recommended a #2 filter (dark red) for this particular film, but the designations on the camera filters and safelight filters don't seem to be identical. If this one isn't right, there are hundreds more of these filters on that auction site for not very much money; which one would be the equivalent?</p>

<p>(Also, someone on another thread mentioned Rubylith. I have a sheet of this already. Is that more like a #1A or a #2?)</p><div></div>

<p>I should point out that the unmodified Adapt-A-Roll 620 (the slide-in roll film holder for old style Speed Graphic press cameras with spring back) also wound the film on the take-up spool inside out by design, so there's precedent for this.</p>

<p>John, do you do 70mm C41? I've got a couple of rolls of respooled 116/616, and I can't find anyone local who can develop & print it for me. Fairfield isn't exactly local, about a half hour drive for me, but I'll take a run out there if you can do that...</p>

<p>My first SLR was also an SRT101, the original model with the black knob and slotted (JIS) screws, given to me by my grandfather when he couldn't see well enough to focus it anymore. I've used it for years, and yes it is loud and heavy, but fun to use, and a bit of an attention getter given its size and age, in this era of tiny digital P&S's. At the moment, though, it's on the shelf in honorable retirement. The X-sync socket seems to have a loose connection, so the flash sometimes doesn't go off: besides, I can't see well enough to focus it either... I finally broke down and got an XG-7 so I could keep using the various lenses I've accumulated over the years, and it's got a split-image viewfinder, which is easier on my eye.<br>

(I just got my hands on a used XD-11, which needs some work: mirror is broken. Anybody know if that's replaceable?)</p>

<p>Why's it got two cranks? When would anyone want to rewind roll film?<br>

(Only thing I can think of is in case you're afraid the film got loose and wasn't flat, so you can stretch it out without advancing it any.)</p>

A couple of months ago, I mixed up a batch of HC110 from syrup, and it turned out to be more than I needed. Now I

have a

quart of the diluted soup left, but I can't remember any more if I'd mixed Dilution H (as I usually do) or Dil.

B. The stuff's probably still good as it hasn't turned brown yet and there's no air space at the top of the

bottle, but not knowing how I mixed it I have no idea how long to develop.

 

(I'm pretty sure what happened was I'd misread the chart and made Dil. A by mistake, realized this, and then

diluted it out to get a reasonable developing time, which was why I wound up with about a gallon. I just can't

remember how far I

diluted it.)

 

Is there any simple way for me to figure out what exactly is in that bottle? Or should I just dump it and start

fresh, given how cheap HC110 is?

 

Shalom

An old locksmith's trick is to work on things like these with your hands and the work piece inside a large clear plastic bag. This traps things that go sproing at you. One of the old Neiman locks found on Mercedes-Benz had a spring-loaded ball bearing for a key-centering detent that would shoot out across the shop and disappear as soon as you pulled the plug from the shell; we called it the Mercedes Missile (similarly the Bimmer Bullet on BMW locks). Fortunately the service pack for these locks came with a replacement ball bearing, but you still don't want the damn thing in your eye, thank G_d for safety glasses...

You wanna see expired, I recently shot a roll of Ansco Plenachrome M6 that had an expiration date of 04/1948. Now I'm afraid to develop it...

 

What can I say, it was all I could find in 130 size, and I wanted the spool and backing paper. Now if I had access to a real darkroom instead of a changing bag I'd try developing by inspection with a red light, as it's orthochromatic film. Lacking that capability, I'm not sure what to do with it.

 

I also have two rolls of Super-XX of similar vintage in 616; again, bought for the spools and paper, but it's a shame to just throw out the film without at least trying to shoot it. (Unless anyone wants them for display purposes? Nobody bid against me, so probably not, but if someone here wants them let me know.)

 

I've also got a roll of old TriX in the Ikoflex-3 that expired in about 1995, but it was refrigerated until at least 2001. We'll see what happens with that. Needless to say, nothing in either of these rolls are anything important; I was just curious to see what would happen with them. If they come out blank, I'm out a couple dollars worth of chemicals and a little spare time, no big deal.

B&H has had 620 for years.

 

I went there recently and bought a roll of T-Max 620 (it's about a 15 minute drive for me, and if you buy enough they'll let you use their parking lot). I've never used Tmax before, but it was the only B&W 620 they had at the time, and "ya takes what ya gets"... I was assuming that they'd bought a bunch of old spools on e*ay or wherever, and rolled their own, but when I unwrapped it I found the spool in this thing is in fact made of plastic. I can't remember ever seeing an original 620 plastic spool, so it's entirely possible that they've found some plastics fabricator to make new spools for them.

 

(If so, I wonder who this was, and if they could be convinced/bribed/blackmailed into making 616 spools too...)

 

It comes wrapped in tinfoil, not in a Yellow Box, so it's probably not direct from Kodak. I also wonder how durable that plastic is, and how many times I can reuse it before the key slot gets too chewed out.