Kodak Panoram no. 4

[blacksquare]

Hello,

quite by chance I got my hands on Kodak Panoram No. 4. model C.

This camera is not very well known in our region, even though the Czech photographer Josef Sudek took pictures with this model. In 1959, he published a book with panoramas of the capital city of Prague, which contained 288 contacts. Due to the unavailability of the original 103 film, he used sheet film. Which he changed in big bag, where he was whole and with a camera. Even though he lost his right arm in World War I.

My Panoram is fitted with a Bausch & Lomb Plastigmat lens, most likely be a Dagor copy. Does anyone have any idea if this was paid option instead of the simple meniscus lens I see mostly on the pictures?
Also on the bottom of the camera is the name and address of some gentleman from California.

And does anyone have a tip how to make it easier to use sheet film? How to attach it on a rounded back?

Thanks a lot for the advice.

 

[OrientPoint]

I have a No. 4 model C as well. I have some 3d printed 103 spools and roll cut-down aerial film (Kodak Plus-X Aerographic 2402) onto them. I don't have backing paper so I blocked out the red window and just count my turns on the crank between shots. It's kind of an involved process, not for the impatient, but it works.

I process the film in a very large Jobo paper drum. The end result are some really huge negatives. My No. 4 has the original Kodak lens. I don't know that they made it with anything other than a Kodak lens, but I've heard of copies where the meniscus lens has been swapped out for something sharper by the owner.

 

[blacksquare]

I have a No. 4 model C as well. I have some 3d printed 103 spools and roll cut-down aerial film (Kodak Plus-X Aerographic 2402) onto them. I don't have backing paper so I blocked out the red window and just count my turns on the crank between shots. It's kind of an involved process, not for the impatient, but it works.

I process the film in a very large Jobo paper drum. The end result are some really huge negatives. My No. 4 has the original Kodak lens. I don't know that they made it with anything other than a Kodak lens, but I've heard of copies where the meniscus lens has been swapped out for something sharper by the owner.

About 10 years ago, Foma was producing a few 50m rolls for a few enthusiasts, but now it's probably not realistic anymore.

Was the 103 spool your design? Is there any way to get it/buy it?

And thanks for the info. A large negative and a more wide angle of view just appeals to me, compared to the more comfortable and today more desirable no.1

 

[OrientPoint]

There's a seller on Ebay who sells 103 > 120 adapter spools. You can't use 120 film and those spools in a Panoram as it won't conform to the film path, of course. But at my suggestion he made some custom 103-sized spools. They weren't cheap - it was a custom job - but they work great. Now that he has the CAD files for them I'd hope they'd be cheaper for you.

The seller is "bid-with" - https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ss...bidwith&_oac=1&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l161211

 

[Disconnekt]

From the "Kodak: The Fist 100 Years" & "Kodak Cameras (McKeown)" books I have, they both say the shutter it came with was:

1899-1902: Rapid Rectilinear f10, 5 inch
1902-1924: Meniscus

UK variations were:
1906: Goerz Anastigmat
1910: Ross Homocentric f6.8
1916-1924: Ross Homocentric Series IV f6.8
1912-1915: Zeiss Tessar Series IIB f8.4

 

[Ian Grant]

Your camera is probably pre-WW1 it would have been sold by Kodak Ltd in Europe, after WWI all Kodak cameras sold by Kodak Ltd had British lenses, later some had CZJ lenses. The B&L Plastigmat lens is listed as a Prtzval.

Ian

 

[mshchem]

All fascinating!

 

[Ian Grant]

It's worth adding that pre-WWI almost all specialist optical glass for lenses came from the Abbe works owned by Carl Zeiss. This caused huge problems and the UK government decided we could not be dependent any longer on Germany, so Pilkington Glass began making optical glasses. In fact they are now the major supplier of specialist components for optical glass, I think now Chinese owned.

So UK camera companies were encouraged to use British made lenses post WWI. There may have been import restrictions, this coincides with Kodak Ltd manufacturing Eastman camera models in the UK for the European market, only Graflex cameras. and a few specialist like Cirkut, were imported but sales would have been too low to warrant UK manufacture. Graflex cameras were not made in Continental European formats.

There's a lot you can find reading older literature, looking at the adverts, slowly regaining almost lost knowledge.

Ian

 

[blacksquare]

Thanks for the interesting information. The camera should be from the estate of a US photographer.
Lens: Bauch & Lomb Optical, Rochester NY 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 Plasticmat Pat. Oct. 30 1990