Starting with a Baby Al-Vista

[Terence]

Okay folks. I got a baby Al-Vista (takes 120 film) a couple weeks ago. The lens look fairly clean. The four-speed spring shutter seems seems to work. The inside looks pristine except for a replacement red window and the outside isn't too bad.

My questions are as follows:
[1] What format does this really produce?
[2] It seems like I'll expose some film when I first load it. Is this correct?
[3] What numbers do I watch for in the little red window?
[4] Any guesses as to what the shutter-aperture combos are? It's a fixed aperture, obviously, but I have no idea what to guess for an equivalent shutter speed for each setting.
[5] It seems like the wood film "rails" are pretty rough. It looks like really cheap, poorly dried pine, painted black. Is this a problem wth the film?

 

[jamie young]

the negs on mine measure 2 1/4" x 6 7/8"
2 - no you won't expose film - at least I haven't
Don't know about #'s I turn the knob a certain amount - see my web page on baby al vistas and experiment
http://www.jamieyoungphoto.com/alvistacameras1.html
I figured my f stop at f 14
I haven't had problems with the rails but the film hangs up sometimes at the end on mine - I have to fix it.
Jamie

 

[Terence]

Thank you very much. Very nice site. Somehow I hadn't found it when searching for info on the cameras. The layout is nice and the photos are very good (of the cameras AND the portfolios). Unfortunately it makes me want a No 5 and to buy that 5000' roll of 5" film that keeps popping up on eBay. Sometimes it's bad to be an engineer . . .

 

[jamie young]

The 5 inch al vistas are a nice size. For a while there was a bunch of aerial film in smaller rolls floating around for a reasonable amount of money. you could get some 5x12 film for the 5b as well and just reload after every shot.
I look forward to seeing your shots with the baby al vista
Jamie