They Don't Make Them Like They Used To

[john_r_smith]

I’m going to briefly break a Forum rule here, because this was not shot with a Leica camera – but hold on a moment before you flame me down - I think Leicas were probably not around when this camera was made in 1925 (and I promise not to post any more non-Leica shots, honest). The instrument concerned is a folding quarter-plate view camera, with ground-glass screen and a set of darkslides, and a roll-film back which gives eight 6x9cm negatives on 120. It has a simple leaf shutter, and a Jos Schneider 135mm, f6.3 lens. It is all in perfect condition, including the leather bellows, with nickel-plated and black enamelled metal parts. I bought it about 25 years ago for silly money, and haven’t used it for a while, but a couple of weeks ago I dragged it out of its case, cleaned it all up, and put a roll of film through just for old time’s sake. I got the film processed and scanned by a lab, and here is a sample. Not bad for an eighty-year old camera, with no lens coating, I think – and it rather puts this digital stuff into perspective, doesn’t it? (will any digital camera made today still be working in 2096 – seems unlikely).

Schneider Kreutznach 135mm, f18, 1/50s, Kodak Portra 160NC, scanned to 6MP jpeg

[icemendicant]

Nice shot, and an interesting story - it does show what some of these lovely old cameras can do. Do you have a picture of the camera itself?

Dan

[john_r_smith]

Dan

thanks for your reply. Yes, I can certainly get a photo of the old camera with my LC1 - in fact it would be really great if someone here could identify it, as there is no maker's name anywhere. The Lens is a Rodinar Anastigmat (very simple -only three elements).

John

[calshot]

Nice photo John
. Whilst I think some Leica film camera's will still be around in 2096 doubt if our LC1 will be of any use.One of the reasons I still wonder if we are wise to shift to digital.It's all moving so quickly now and yet the end result is almost the same. You could have taken that photo and posted all in a few mins in digital.Bet it took a while to create it from your old camera and that you had loads of fun.
Robin

[john_r_smith]

Er, yes Robin, taking the picture was a slightly more complicated procedure than getting the LC1 out and pressing the shutter

First off you set up the tripod, mount the camera, unfold the bellows and set up the cable release. Open the lens right up to f6.3, and open the shutter using the 'T' setting. Then you pop open the hood on the ground glass screen, place a black cloth over your head, and frame up - the image is upside down of course, and pretty dim, so focussing is not easy, even with the help of the black cloth. When everything looks good, take out the trusty Weston Master II (made in 1946), get a reading, close the shutter and set aperture and speed (we've only got three speeds, 1/25, 1/50 and 1/100s). Now remove the ground glass screen, replace it with the roll-film back, carefully pull out the dark-slide, and take the picture. Replace the dark slide (very important!), remove the roll-film back, wind on to the next frame (also very important and easy to forget) - phew - and we are ready to take the next picture. As you can imagine, this is makes the camera a little unsuitable for candid or street photography - and it's probably why Kate is looking a bit bored in the picture

John

[john_r_smith]

Well

just in case you blokes are still interested, here is a quick snap of the view camera - (taken with the LC1, 90mm, f2.4) - which shows you the main features. As I said, there is no maker's name on the camera, but the lens serial number dates it to between 1925 and 1927, according to the Schneider website. It has a simple Vero shutter, rising and cross front, a wire-frame sports finder (!) and a simple optical finder too. I don't use those myself, just the ground-glass back. The main body is wood, covered with some sort of leatherette material, everything else seems to be brass, either nickel-plated or black enamelled. The lens is a peach, even though it has no coating. Does anyone know what the camera is?

John

[silfver]

thanks for sharing - and a great looking camera!

[elansprint72]

My money is on Ernemann.

Pete.

[ed_oneal]

Now, THAT's a camera!

[marc_dufour]

Great camera, and great work you did with it, John.
I only use R 6.2 and sometimes, Mamiya RB67, and really enjoy it.
More rarelly, I use also an old copy of Linhof Technika. It works fine.
Meanwhile films exist... :-)
Marc

[gverdon]

I know that stuff: it's the new Leica DM. But, how did you obtain a prototype?

Gérald