Lens apertures on a Kodak #2 Autographic Brownie

[TheFlyingCamera]

Anyone have an idea what the aperture range on a #2 Autographic brownie would be? I'm guessing the max is at most f8, but it could be an f11.

 

[removed account4]

hi scott

here's what camerapedia says

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Kodak_No._2_Folding_Autographic_Brownie

it looks like f8 it is
fun camera!
i have it's cousin the 1, a box that takes 116 a real PITA to process ( bigger than 120 ).

have fun !
john

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I also have a #3 Box Brownie that shoots 124 - try finding THAT somewhere. I used it for doing wet plate demonstrations, then put it in storage for a while as I wasn't doing wet plate for a long time. Just dug it out yesterday. Remarkably capable little camera for something so simple. I suppose if you wanted to shoot film in it you could always buy 5" rolls and trim them down.

I did some more poking around on my own after posting this - the stops listed in Camerapedia are actually US stops, not f-stops, so it's actually f11,16,22,32. I dropped a roll of PanF in and I'll burn through it at lunchtime. Should get some interesting results out of that simple meniscus lens.

 

[removed account4]

....

 

[removed account4]

yeah ... they old box cameras are a lot of fun
i've never shot more than paper or film in mine,
i suppose i could convert it to shoot dry plates but
im too lazy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-number

just after i posted the other link
i got thinking it might be the old US system but it seemed like the values were 1 stop LOWER
not higher ( like f8 = f4 . f11=f8 and f16=f16 ) by "the cart" ...
glad you could make better sense of it than me

enjoy your photo-lunch

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I think with the US system there was one f-stop where the numbers were the same ( as in f8=US8) but on either side they diverged. I could be wrong on that though, and there isn't one stop they agree on.

 

[Ian Grant]

There's a few different lenses and shutters used on the No2 Autographic brownie, normally though f7.9 US, in the UK f6.3 and these are modern f numbers.

Ian

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Mine is marked 1,2,3,4. Shutter speeds are 1/25th, T, B, and 1/50th. Mine is the single-element meniscus, not the multi-element rapid rectilinear lens.

 

[BrianShaw]

I think with the US system there was one f-stop where the numbers were the same ( as in f8=US8) but on either side they diverged. I could be wrong on that though, and there isn't one stop they agree on.

16 = 16

 

[Ian Grant]

Mine is marked 1,2,3,4. Shutter speeds are 1/25th, T, B, and 1/50th. Mine is the single-element meniscus, not the multi-element rapid rectilinear lens.

I'd guess yours is one of the earliest. I have two as far as I know they are identical (one's in Turkey) just checked and mine in the UK has an f6.4 lens but it actually says U6.4, it isn't a meniscus it must be the RR. I paid £2 ($3,10) for my second one earlier this year.

Ian

 

[Whiteymorange]

Shooting a #2 Cartridge Premo (meniscus lens, aperture settings of 1, 2, 3 and 4) I assume #1= f11, 2=f16, etc. I have had good luck with it using that system. On a trip to Germany back in 2004, I found that I liked the negatives made with that camera as much as I did the ones shot with a Rolleiflex.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I've contemplated taking the lens off the Brownie and front-mounting it to a Copal 0 so I could use it on a bunch of different cameras. I'd love to see it on a ground glass so I could tell what it will do before I shoot.

 

[Ian Grant]

You should be able to tape a screen to the film plane once the camera's split for film loading

Ian