new film-old camera ?

hi everybody

i'm fairly new here only a couple of posts. back to film after a long time.

my question is what film would you recomend for a no1 autographic

kodak jr. i got this camera quite a wile ago at a camera show , it's

been sitting on the shelf with all the others. time to dust it off.

i'm not sure what the bellows are made of, they look like leather

with a cloth backing inside. what would you use to clean and treat

this so it doesent dry out.

the shutter speeds are 25 / B / T / 50 . the apertures are 1 / 2 /3 / 4.

any help would be great.

al.b

Assuming it accepts 120 film, any film you want to use is just fine. It just depends on what you want to accomplish.
Lexol is a good leather conditioner for keeping leather bellows supple. Before shooting with the camera, look into a light through the back of the camera to make sure you have no light leaks, and be sure to completely seal off the autographic door with black tape so you don't have a light leak there either.

Good pickup by Terry, Kodak actually did make cameras (like yours) that took 120 film back in the 1920s and 1930s. After that they adulterated their cameras so the 120 film won't fit...the beginning of the end.

ic-racer said:

Good pickup by Terry, Kodak actually did make cameras (like yours) that took 120 film back in the 1920s and 1930s. After that they adulterated their cameras so the 120 film won't fit...the beginning of the end.

Click to expand...

My 1934 Kodak Six Sixteen and its 2.5" x 4.5" negatives on 616 film might beg to differ about your "beginning of the end" comment

For me, in or about 1967, it was a great introduction to developing and contact printing film.

Every once in a while I take it out and use it with 120 and some modified spools.

Just look for a film in the range of ISO 50-60 and then you can easily use the Sunny 16 Rule as you have the 1/50th shutter speed. I'd say something funny(for me) like, you need to find old vintage film to use with an old camera like yours but, it might be taken either the wrong way or literally and you'd get a ton of emails offering to sell you rolls with a use by date of the '20s.

The 1, 2, 3, 4 on the aperture correspond to f11, f16, f22, and f32.
Ilford Pan F would be a good choice or a 100 speed film like Acros or T-Max would be a good choice too.
If the bellows are red, they are definitely leather. If they are black, they may or may not be depending on the age.

I have a No.2 Folding Autographic Brownie which takes 120 film. A quick google shows that yours takes 116 film, which is slightly wider than 120. B&H apparently can order Kodak TXP in 116 respooled from 70mm film at $25 per roll. Yikes! There may be other sources, but I doubt they'd be much cheaper. Since it's not substantially wider you can always try kludging some 120 film in there which little homemade adapters to widen the film spool, but the viewfinder and frame spacing will be off since the No 1 film frame is much larger than the 6x9 for the No. 2.

I once found an old roll of 116 in an antique store camera that they let me try to develop, but it was the first time I'd ever tried the see-saw method and I botched it badly but some pics were rescued with scanning.

Does your camera have an empty spool in the back (or even a used one like mine did)?

I have five Kodak folders that used 116 film but 116 film was discontinued in 1984. Using 120 film in those cameras is pretty easy. I have taken some very nice images using 120 film. Some of the Kodak folders have a spring metal plate that pushes up against the film which helps keep the 120 film flat.

My most recent Flickr upload is an image from a roll of Velvia 50 in a 116 Kodak 1A folder.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrismat61

Thanks mrred, if it is the the No. 1 and not the No. 1A then you're in luck!

mrred said:

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/products/techInfo/aa13/aa13.shtml

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Hey, thanks. Wow.

new film-old camera

hi guys

thanks for the great info and link to kodak. it does take 120 i put a

120 spool in and it fits . i'll give pan-f a go and see what happens.

thanks again.


al.b

Now if we can only find you a manual......

It sounds like a fun project to get one of these early cameras up and running again - something I've been contemplating doing myself, in fact. So good luck, and I look forward to seeing some images!

But I was a little surprised at the recommendation for 50 speed film. That would theoretically put the camera only in the middle of its aperture range for bright, "sunny 16" conditions. Wouldn't that mean that you would rarely if ever use the higher aperture settings? Or have I just miscalculated? I was thinking that in order to maximize the exposure range available, an ISO of at least 100 would be more appropriate; and, I could see even using 400 speed film for general use, especially if filters were ever going to be used. I also like the idea of biasing the system towards the smaller apertures in order to get better results from the simple lens (well, higher resolution and greater DOF anyway - my particular bias).

Jeff

Shutters often get slow and sticky when not used for a few years. The simple shutters used on these cameras are better than most in that regard, bit it is still worth checking it out. Often, just working the shutter 50 or so times will get it back in shape.

A modern interpretation of the Sunny 16 is to use the shutter speed of the iso. So.... use 1/50ish for ISO 50.

As far as the speed of the film, 25-100 is plenty on a sunny day.