My first 8x10 at a perfect price.

[Sjixxxy]

I just picked up this 8x10 Korona Home Portrait with a 10.75" Goerz Dagar f/6.8 Series III No. 5 lens tonight on indefinite loan. aka, free. Pardon the PJs.

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Appears to be in very good condition for a camera that is roughly 90 years old. Even the shutter still looks pretty accurate, although I'll have to bust out my shutter tester to verify.

Fairly light for its size--my tripod doesn't seem to have much problem with it. Although I'll need to construct a larger baseplate adapter to find a better center of balance.

Front and rear standards have a little wiggle to them, though a c-clamp or four may be able to minimize that. Probably not enough to ruin a shot made on a windless day. The thumb screws that lock the rear standards swing are missing, so that doesn't help much. Hopefully I can disassemble it and find some replacements of the proper thread at Home Depot.

Is it sad that my first gut instinct was that the best use for this would be to wait until spring and then lug it down to where the tourists gather and hope that enough families would be willing to drop $35 or so on an impromptu old-timey portrait to make it worth my time?

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Sexy.

Um, sorry. I meant the camera. Nice score, er, borrow. Be gentle with her.

 

[mike c]

That tripod looks kind of small under that camera.

Mike

 

[Colin Corneau]

I have a similar Korona View 8x10. The baseplate is needed, it just wobbled too much otherwise.

Lucked out and found an old TV camera tripod by Manfrotto for a song. Big heavy solid iron monster, works great!

Best of luck with your find, although I recommend ditching the PJ's for any shoots in public...

 

[John Kasaian]

8x10---great fun! A heavier tripod would be a nice addition. You said your camera is light, but the profile presents a lot of sail area for wind to work it's mischief. Did any holders come with her?

 

[Jerevan]

Cool! I had one of these, once upon on a time. Worst (and I mean it) Ebay purchase in history. You know, smashed groundglass in the box, mummified bellows, three huge scratches on the front element of the lens complete with balsam separation. The only thing that was nice was the brass lens flange. Unfortunately, it was my first ebay purchase and it was from overseas, so I didn't know what to do about it. Lesson learnt!

You have done better on all points, except the... uhm... outfit.

 

[Steve Hamley]

I've always liked Koronas and have an 8x20. You'd never believe it would take a sharp picture but it does time after time.

And yes, that tripod is a bit too small.

Good luck, you'll enjoy 8x10.

Cheers, Steve

 

[Sjixxxy]

8x10---great fun! A heavier tripod would be a nice addition. You said your camera is light, but the profile presents a lot of sail area for wind to work it's mischief. Did any holders come with her?

Three holders. Came with a wooden tri-pod with metal center post as well. As-is, the black tri-pod in the photo attaches more securely. Tri-pod head is rated to about 18 pounds with counterweight springs. Camera is only 10. Seems to have no trouble with the camera in my no leg extension + no wind kitchen test.

The wooden tripod needs to have some of the thumb screws to lock it in place replaced. And the camera itself doesn't doesn't want to thread onto it very securely any more. I'm keeping the Korona off of it until I can replace some parts.

 

[Sjixxxy]

Cool! I had one of these, once upon on a time. Worst (and I mean it) Ebay purchase in history. You know, smashed groundglass in the box, mummified bellows, three huge scratches on the front element of the lens complete with balsam separation. The only thing that was nice was the brass lens flange. Unfortunately, it was my first ebay purchase and it was from overseas, so I didn't know what to do about it. Lesson learnt!

You have done better on all points, except the... uhm... outfit.

I contest that last point.

Previous owner actually build a new bellows for the camera as well. They are in great shape.

 

[Sjixxxy]

Here it is with the bigger tripod. The PJs remain the same though.

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[pgomena]

Nice find/borrow. My experience with a Korona was that there was little that you couldn't fix with a screwdriver. You may find that just tightening up the various screws will help with the standards wiggling. You also may find that some of those screws won't tighten because the holes have become stripped over time. My current antique, a Rochester Optical Company camera from about 1895, shaped up nicely once I replaced the old, loose screws with one size larger. (I tried the matchstick/toothpick in the screw hole trick, but the holes were too shallow.) Most big hardware stores stock a limited number of brass screws in common sizes that are the "even" sizes, 6, 8, 10. If you can find a good little old-fashioned hardware stores, they'll carry the odd sizes in between. Have fun!

Peter Gomena

 

[ic-racer]

Nice. Now you need some film!
After shooting some 8x10 you'll wonder how you could be satisfied with those dinky little 4x5 negatives

 

[Sjixxxy]

Nice find/borrow. My experience with a Korona was that there was little that you couldn't fix with a screwdriver.

It was missing the knobs that lock down the swing on the rear standard. I took it apart last night and refitted them with some binding posts and wing nuts and the sturdiness went way up. The main weak point right now is that the one knob that tightens the front standard onto the rails still leaves some wiggle on the front standard. Two C-clamps should help with that.

 

[Sethasaurus]

Nice deal!

People just need to realise that when some of us jump out of bed in the morning, we go straight for the bathroom or kitchen OR most-recently-acquired favourite camera!

Secondly, I propose a thread in which everybody posts a pic of themselves in PJs with their fave camera. (Only providing you DO wear PJs..)

 

[Sjixxxy]

Secondly, I propose a thread in which everybody posts a pic of themselves in PJs with their fave camera. (Only providing you DO wear PJs..)

I believe that the uncensored version would be far more interesting.

 

[atlcruiser]

I believe that the uncensored version would be far more interesting.

there is nothing large about my format

 

[Sjixxxy]

there is nothing large about my format

Nothing wrong with using a miniature. Put a red dot on it if you think that will help any.