Dec 19, 2010

Eastman Interchangeable View camera

Yesterdays experiment with the Venetian Cream worked out well. At least the bellows didn't fall apart during the night. So this morning I continued to treat the rest of the bellows. See the before and after pictures.
 
After that I touched up the wood where it was scratched with a furniture touch up pen. If you are going to do this on your camera, don't forget to wipe off the ink immediately after you applied it. Don't let it dry on the lacquer around the scratch. Just wet a tip of a finger with some spit and wipe the ink off.
Next I put the parts together again. This is the result. (Photo taken with smartphone. I hope to take some better ones during the Xmas holiday.)
 


In the picture above you can see the A. Laverne & Co shutter. It has a blade that moves up and down between the lens elements. The brass 'chimney' controls the shutter speed. The top of the 'chimney' rotates to set the speed. Range is: 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64 and 1/100 seconds. With the knob above the lens you can open the shutter manually if you want to see the image on the ground glass. On the right side there is a piston for the pneumatic release. See the bulb and tube in the background.

It would be a great adventure to use the camera, with all its shifts and swings. But the bellows is too far gone for this. Maybe I can try next summer to photograph the image on the ground glass. I have done that before. It is not the same as taking real photos with the camera, but at least I can experience a bit how it works.

3 comments:

  1. My friend, you only have to make an extra temporary bellows (raincoat/blimp) to use it!

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  2. That's a good idea. I have made bellows in the '80s when I build a pinhole camera. Not a bellows to focus the image ;) but to zoom in and out.

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  3. And it hasn't have to be a harmonica!

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