The largest task of late has been the annual emptying of the display cases to clean all the shelves and glass windows. Removing any dust inside helps prevent any likelihood of fungus infection on the lenses and is also used as an opportunity to test fire, exercise focus and aperture rings to keep the cameras from seizing up. Generally once a month every camera on one shelf is cocked and fired, but the annual clean and check over usually takes a whole week. As ever several were found to be in need of attention. Whilst some will be allowed to sit now, there are three that will be overhauled, The Foth Derby, Exakta Varex II and the Kodak Retina Model 117 all need attention. The Foth is firing but the shutter speed seems to be misaligned with the dial, the Retina's Compur is misbehaving likely just needs a clean but the Exakta is in deep trouble, with the second curtain needing replacement. After a year of changes the camera count is 177, with a further three in the disposal list.

The Ensign Selfix 820 has had an outing, the photograph to the left is one from the roll. It behaved itself after a long period just sat on display, with eight out of eight being usable. Four have been added to the Selfix 820 gallery.

Cameras that cleared the workshop this month were a Welta Weltix which was mostly fine but needed a shutter overhaul, a Halina 35X and an unidentified plate camera that had a major overhaul as it was otherwise destined for the tip. I suspect it's of Welta origin, but impossible to be certain. It was dismantled down to component parts and not one single marking was found anywhere.

The only camera with a film in at the moment is the 1932 Leica II. Actually that's no longer true, it's been processed and four images have been added to the camera's gallery.

A new arrival in the form of a Yashica-24 TLR has joined the camera pages.

This month appears to have taken on an Agilux flavour unwittingly, as this Agiflex has been donated. Technically this started out life as an AGI military camera sometimes referred to as an ARL (apparently, Admiralty Research laboratories). In military form it would have had a wooden pistol grip and Newtonian viewfinder, the reflex mechanism was fitted sans mirror. Post war a number of these were bought surplus by an enterprising company in Eastbourne and converted to full reflex cameras. The military identification plate and pistol grip were removed, a reflex mirror mounted, leatherette applied over the original overall gloss black paint and the Newtonian finder removed, the mounting for this was just a standard accessory shoe. They then drilled three holes through this to mount a Bakelite framed magnifier giving the accessory shoe a rather swiss cheese look. The original military Hall Bros. lens of 4.2 inch focal length was retained, this equates to 105mm, which is rather too long for 6 x 6cm format. This is one of those cameras. The original military use for this camera is often cited as aerial reconnaissance, this seems unlikely as that use requires many overlapping images, the 12 images out of a roll of 120 just wouldn't cut it with the constant changing of film. It's more likely that they were intended for training or following moving objects, hence the use of the Newtonian finder, as reversed reflex viewing is very difficult. In it's original form it would make a useful air to air camera.

The donation is most welcome but is in very poor condition, requiring a complete restoration. At the moment the camera is in the research phase, no cleaning has been done but the camera has been photographed from all angles to record the arrival condition. It has been dropped a few times over time and being a heavy thing has resulted in damage, the lens barrel is flattened and the advance lever bent, surprising as it's a fairly robust lever. The shutter curtains appear to have snapped and are either completely rolled around the tension rollers or the other side. The advance tensioning cable has snapped or popped off the drum. There is clearly a lot of rust in the mechanism. It's going to be challenge to sort out, but it deserves to be saved. I have two options, I can restore it to the civilianized form, or recreate the missing parts and return it to it's original military form. Another route might to do the latter but retain the later reflex mirror, then just removing the pistol grip and Newtonian finder makes it the civil model, in that form it tells the fascinating story of this camera. For this I would need access to a pattern AGI ARL camera to make the necessary drawings.

The sole remaining clue to this camera's military origins is an Ordnance "broad arrow" doubling as the aperture cursor. The broad arrow marking has been officially applied to British government property since the early eighteenth century although unofficial use predated that considerably. Technically this marking ought to have been cancelled when the camera was disposed of as surplus, but in practice this often didn't happen. The focus barrel is currently very sticky and the aperture a bit too, but looks to be salvageable.

Just a top down view, showing the excessive number of screws now in the accessory shoe. This came about because the conversion added an off the shelf magnifier on the inside of the hood that couldn't be aligned with the shoe's own mounting holes.

The camera has a leather viewing hood, I don't know if this was added during civilianization or was an original fitment. This will likely become evident when it's taken apart. It's clearly been in the damp at some point looking at the mould.

Just a hint of what awaits under the skin as much of the construction is folded steel sheet, likely unprotected where it's unseen.

From this angle, we can see one of the two guide rollers that the shutter curtains roll over as they run back and forth.... but look at the rust! Not to mention no hint of the curtains, they'll be in there somewhere though, disconnected and wrapped around one of the rollers. I suspect the tension end as I cannot hear any sign of a broken end flapping around when I turn the shutter speed dial.

I don't ordinarily publish new arrivals before they go on display, but I've broken convention on this one to pressurize myself into starting, and completing what will be a bit of an epic...

For now it's a bit of a way down the queue, but I promise to rescue it in due course!

The Agiflex has had an Agilux 16cm telephoto bought in to enhance the display. These early Agiflex camera had a smaller diameter lens mount than the later versions, partly due to complaints about vignetting from users. This lens arrived dirty with very stiff focus and aperture controls, it was completely stripped down cleaned, lubricated and recalibrated and is shown fitted to our Agiflex I after completion.

Below are two images during the process, it's a simple affair with two cemented pairs with an aperture of f/5.5, the ten leaf aperture assembly is slightly tricky to install as it's deeply nested in the barrel and the static pins seat in blind holes, so there's no way to see what's going where. For this lens I wet assembled the leaves with trumpet oil onto the rotating inner barrel set wide open, this effectively sticks the assembly into a whole piece and allows it to be lowered into the outer barrel. A bit of wiggling will then gradually drop each static pin into each respective hole, making sure that the activating pin will be aligned with the correct end of the slot. Once the activating pin is screwed home and the holding ring screwed back down to stop the leaves springing, the trumpet oil is washed out with aerosol brake disc cleaner, this will blast out the thin oil and leave the mechanism dry. Each leaf was polished prior to any of this.

The engravings were a bit beaten up so the black paint and in fills were restored, as shown in the second image, below.

The nice early Leica II dating from the first year of production has cleared the workshop. As seen here the patina from use has been preserved. There were several shards of torn film inside the mechanism, at least one of which was causing the second curtain to hesitate. The largest piece was harmlessly sitting behind the pressure plate. A good clean and service seems to have it all working as it should. The lens adjustment was checked through the blanking plate these early example have, the original shims could be retained and the rangefinder is much brighter after good clean. It's joined the museum pages now.

Next up in the workshop is a Halina 35, see we aren't at all snobby!

Only one loaded camera at present, the Ensign 820 that recently had a minor service to free up the focus.

Our first Welta joined the collection in the shape of a Welta Weltix. It was immediately followed by another. Although that donation is an unmarked wooden plate camera for 6 x 9cm plates. After much digging it looks to be of Welta origin. Currently it's a bit of a mess so hasn't joined the collection pages pending a decision on what to do with it.

It's been a busy few months but little relating to the camera collection. Camera wise, the Serbian Kiev 4 has been out and about on a trip and the Ruby Reflex had a couple of plates exposed too. An unknown plate camera was dropped through the door and the Mercury II (shown) was removed from the display cabinet for an overhaul and cosmetic tidy up.

The unknown plate camera is a German built object, likely from the Munich area. The only markings found were on the lens, OMFA, Doppel Anastigmat, Munchen. The lens wasn't looking too clever with fungus and a good deal of gunk all over it. It was borderline bin material as the fungus was between elements and they resisted unscrewing. But soaking them in acetone for several days freed them up and the fungus cleaned off leaving some very clear and scratch free lenses. So now I feel compelled to save the old thing. It's fitted with a common Gauthier Vario shutter from the mid 1920s and the shell is wood. Although missing a focus screen or plate carriers, it's 9x6cm so can borrow those from an Ensign Cameo we have. Technically the black and nickel Leica II was the next camera in the workshop, but the mystery plate camera may jump the queue.

In 2013 this Leica III was donated to the collection by my old school friend Stephen Saunders, although is was sans lens and not working it was greatly appreciated. I got it working partially and it had several films run through it with a Jupiter lens attached. Sadly Stephen passed away in November 2024 and his sister passed his cameras to me to be sold on her behalf or kept for myself if I wished. This has resulted in seven additions to the museum, but also the lens that this Leica III had when Stephen acquired it was found amongst the boxes. He had used it for a black enamel Leica II. That lens is now back on this Leica III and a correct date Elmar has been sourced for the Black Leica II, not without some angst I might say! As a result of all this I decided that the Leica III should be rebuilt to get the slow speeds working finally and that was completed this month. Interestingly when this Leica was first made in 1939 it left the factory as one of 300 standard models in black enamel made that year. It was returned to the factory some time later to be rebuilt as a model IIIA, a service that Leitz offered its customers. It retains the original serial number, although I very much doubt there's much of the original remaining.

Seen at left post service.

When based in Kyiv between December 2018 and February 2022, I would often peruse the stalls on Andrewskaya Descent looking for tidy well priced Moscows. The problem was the "well priced" component of that statement. The unjustified Russian invasion moved us on and we relocated to Belgrade in Serbia, where the search continued to no avail, but we did find a nice Kiev 4 instead.

Returning to the UK in October 2024 the quest was back on and this rather nice Moscow-2 turned up on auction and joined us in March 2025. It's now been through the workshop and is perfectly working and awaiting a suitable opportunity to take it out. It had previously belonged to Ivan Karavaev the deputy head of Soviet Naval Aviation, as a pilot during WW2 he had flown fighter cover over the Yalta meeting of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. I doubt Ivan and I would have seen eye to eye, but history is history and to be recorded factually, not erased, glossed over or cancelled.

Also this month we went to Bratislava to collect the Kiev 4. We'd entrusted this to Oleg Khaliavin who overhauls Russian cameras out of Slovakia these days. Oleg is always busy but works his way through his list of jobs methodically and reliably in the order in which they arrive. As we were in Vienna anyway, a short train journey over the border to Bratislava worked well as Oleg had finished our Kiev a few days previously, replacing the shutter tapes and putting in a replacement photo cell and a full CLA. He took the trouble to meet us in town to hand over the serviced Kiev.

Oleg is a reliable and skilled chap, answers eMails in English promptly and his workmanship is spot on. His website is here.

Unluckily we've had an early 1930 Nickel Leitz Elmar stolen from a Black Leica II that's currently in the workshop. This is going to cost something in the order of £400 to replace and there's not enough in the kitty. We have taken the decision to sell off a number of exhibits to fund a replacement.

First up is this fabulous Jules Richard Verascope, much used both by us and previous keepers, it's been a resident for 30 years and has been all over the world. Now Sold, sadly for a measly £55.

Sad to see this one go, but it was a choice between the Verascope or a Rietzchel Kosmo Clack.

Ends Saturday 21st June, 20:09BST

Then there's this pile, should make an enticing hoard for a starting bid of 99p!

Ends Tuesday 24th June, 21:17BST

If anyone is moved to help out, please use the buy me a coffee link on the bottom of most pages.

This one is somewhat different. This very nice Leica R8 is being sold on behalf of the late Stephen Saunder's sister. Stephen was a great friend of many decades and sadly passed away unexpectedly last November. Amongst his fabulous collection was this R8 in near perfect condition and apparently little used. They retail for much more of course so you might catch a bargain, but I hope not as I'd like to raise as much as I can for Stephen's sister.

Now Sold thank you, it went for £411.00 for reference purposes.

It's been a while since the Thornton Pickard Special had an outing, so off I popped to Danebury Rings near Stockbridge to capture this magnificent tree in full blossom. Now, I'm a bit out of practice and managed to fall into several traps. Having carefully composed the image in landscape format on the top screen I completely forgot to set the plate back in the correct orientation and stuck the plate in vertically. Pillock. The sky was unfortunately a crystal clear blue when I would have preferred some fluffy white clouds to enhance the image. But the blossom will only be there a few days so I had to grab what I could. I put a deep red filter on to darken the sky. The exposure was 1/25th @ f/11 using Efke 100ASA stock, processed 7:30 in ID11. The Efke is very old now and not suitable for very smooth sky graduations. But at least the the camera got an outing and those home made shutter curtains are still working well. See Project 6 in the workshop if you're overwhelmed with curiosity.

Currently loaded are the Finetta IV and the Praktisix, The Kiev 4 from Belgrade is now in Slovakia in the care of Oleg Khaliavin as I preferred to have it looked at by an expert, it's a bit of an expensive treat for the old camera, but I think it deserves it.

A recent acquisition has been a fascinating Moscow 2. It's currently in the conservation queue, although it's in reasonable condition. I have yet to decide the repair/conservation/restoration approach for this one, so it remains unlisted on the museum for now.

Stop press! The Finetta IV is no longer loaded, in fact the film is out processed and in an act of photographic madness I have elected to publish every image from the entire roll, just because it's been a painful journey to get something for an image gallery for the Finetta IV.

The Plaubel Makina has had some kind of results gallery added, although it's been far from a stellar performer. It didn't exactly bring out the best in the photographer either. It's awkward and cumbersome to use and the lens creates flat and lifeless negatives. Apart from that it's marvelous. Three films passed through the Makina rather fruitlessly it has to be said. It rather inspires me to take the Praktisix out again though, just to see some lovely crisp and contrasty negatives emerge from the tank. Another camera that had a film go through it was the Agiflex, a colour film this time and currently away being processed.

Right now all cameras are tucked away behind glass, with none actually loaded. But I recently gave the Rietzchel Stereo Clack plate holders a good clean after particles of rust ruined the previous outings results, so maybe I'll chop up another batch of plates for that.

Ukraine. I remember you this night, as every night for the last three years. 24/2/25

The Rietzchel Kosmo Clack has an image gallery added after the initial test exposures have been completed. This entailed creating cut film plates and film processing carriers as seen at left. The object of the exercise was to try out the five ways the Kosmo Clack can make images. The camera proved to be a decent performer despite the multiple challenges it throws up. The stereo images are represented by a page of Red/Blue anaglyphs for those that have the appropriate glasses.

Avala TV tower, Belgrade, Serbia. Recorded by the FED 3 back in April 2024. A handful of images have been added to the FED's image gallery from the two films run through it. The FED did well, returning 70 usable images from the two rolls of Kodak Gold II film used. These went unprocessed until my return to the UK in May. I wasn't especially impressed with the UK processing though, several negatives were badly scratched, in places the emulsion being scraped off, and clearly whilst the film was wet, so nothing to do with the camera itself. Under the microscope the emulsion appears rippled, not sure if this is a reflection upon whoever coated the Kodak film originally or whether it's something akin to reticulation due to poor temperature control. But I have some film from the same batch and that will go to be processed elsewhere to see if there's a difference.

An image gallery has also been created for the Voigtlander Vitomatic II

At left is a Kiev 4. Built in 1965 at Kiev Arsenal in the city of Kyiv as it is called today in Ukraine. I would walk by the empty factory several times a week near Percherska where I called home with my Russian wife until February 2022. Contrary to what the murderous Russian leader would have you believe, we never once had anyone chastise us for speaking Russian, most people in Ukraine do, as that was their enforced first language during the Soviet era. We couldn't stay and moved to Belgrade in Serbia where we are welcome and continue to work for Ukraine, albeit in a differing capacity. We are still in touch with all our Ukrainian friends, yet curiously - few Russian ones. A life of denial, shame and fear is the fate they chose.

The Kiev 4 you see here was discovered in a flea market in Belgrade, still in the original box. It seemed destined for the Living Image. One day it will return to Kyiv. Slava Ukraini.

Currently just two cameras are loaded, the FED 3 and the Vitomatic. I have no desire to cancel the Russian cameras in the collection. History is history, it cannot be undone, re-written or ignored.

First off thank you to "someone" who made an anonymous donation to the film fund via the "Buy me a coffee" link. I generally use these donations to purchase film. I think this will be used to retrospectively subsidize a recent batch of 35mm colour stock that was bought at the end of 2023, thank you.

Also a camera donation in the form of a Petri Computer II from Pat and George Masterton, shown at left. The only Petri camera in the collection, this one dates from 1972, it needs a lens clean and a workable solution to the Mercury batteries it originally used. For now it will rest in the display cabinet until a plan is arranged for it.

A good deal of time was expended solving the various challenges of using the Rietzschel. Steel plates 0.5mm thick were made to substitute for the glass plates originally used. Then a method devised to cut down 9 x 12cm cut film to 45 x 107mm sheets, re notching and loading. Finally film holders were created to load the film into a daylight processing tank. Time ran out unfortunately and there was only time to do one test exposure. I won't be able to return to this project until May. The good news was that the one exposure showed everything is adjusted correctly, the camera is working fine and the one plate carrier tried was light tight.

On an obscure note, the museum website is now entirely brought to you using Green renewable energy. Also in response to a recent query as to why there isn't a GDPR policy or a cookie consent pop up, we don't use cookies, aren't tracking you, don't serve adverts (with the exception of a certain book!) and don't collect data. This is a good old fashioned non monetized (ugh, I hate that word) informational website that's here simply for you to peruse. Enjoy.

At left is the newest addition to the collection. Although technically a duplicate it was too good to pass up. A 1965 Kiev Arsenal Kiev 4 still in the original box with all the Soviet era paperwork. It comes with the original export passport showing it was built in October 1965 and shipped to Belgrade in what was then Yugoslavia. It was some two years later before the bill of sale records it being sold in November 1967, with the lens it left the factory with. There's not a scratch on it and the barest evidence of rubbing on the pressure plate indicates it's only had a handful of films pass through it. It was rescued from a market stall in Belgrade, Serbia in November 2023 and donated to the museum. It's clearly spent the majority of the last 50 years tucked away in a dry drawer. The mechanics are dry as a bone, so it no longer works though. I used to live just along the road from where this camera was built in Percherska, Kyiv, Ukraine, and walked past the old Kiev Arsenal several times a week. I hope one day to take it back. In the meantime I think this camera will be sent to be cleaned and lubricated by a specialist as it's never been tampered with.

First off, a slightly belated thank you to Trevor and Daryl who both made donations to the film fund in the last couple of months. This was used to subsidise eight rolls of Kodak Gold II 35mm as I was out of that in the fridge.

The Rietzschel Kosmo Clack has been through the workshop for it's slightly deeper than a usual deep clean. Shown here pre restoration, the process has been subtle and despite having new leather skins, new septum curtain and a thorough strip down, you'd think it was all original, which is how we like it. The process was partially documented in Project 16.

Well, what can I say. A dose of COVID, moving country yet again, now in theory living in Serbia thanks to Putin the Pathetic, a suspected blood clot and general mayhem seems to be the theme of 2023.

However currently in the UK and I treated myself to this rather fabulous little Vitomatic II. It was sat in a charity shop window and I couldn't resist it. I gave it a clean, not that it needed much doing and the viewfinder optics are pretty much sealed anyway. The shutter was working fine, even the delayed release works without hesitating, it's been added to the pages.

The camera cabinets were emptied in the last week of October and every camera dusted and test fired. this has revealed a considerable work list for the workshop. However the workshop is rather pre-occuplied with a totally dismantled Rietzschel Kosmo Clack reduced to it's component parts. The shutters have been rebuilt and are back together, working fine bar one speed. Close inspection revealed that someone ground back the speed cam in the past so that 1/25 engages the brake and runs at 1/10th. So on the look out for a scrap 45mm dia. Dial set Compur to nick the speed setting cam from.

There are a number of cameras that are entrusted to record normal everyday events. Out with the family for a picnic, no attempt was made to take a picture with a mobile phone and post it on facebook inside a minute. Instead the trusty Thornton Pickard Reflex was taken with two serviceable plate carriers. Here the camera is being tripped with a string as would have been done back in the day. It was extremely bright and sunny but the exposure was made with the shadows in mind, f/11 at 10th sec. which I estimated was about one stop overexposed, I then shaved a minute off the development time. The hope being to open up the shadow detail but stop the surrounding detail from burning out altogether. I needed to stop the lens down to f/11 to get a little more depth of field from the four inch Ross at this distance.

I exposed the second plate from further back to take in more of the surroundings electing f/5.6 at 1/100th, both negatives exhibiting near identical densities. The Thornton Pickard will be celebrating its 100th birthday next year

In April, the Nagel Recomar was treated to the first pure photographic away trip since 2019. That year saw the accident in South Africa and the subsequent months of recovery. Then a certain pandemic landed and we moved out of Kyiv back to UK to sit it out. Subsequently moving back to Kyiv in January 2022 when the pandemic was fading away... only to be bombed back to the UK a month later.

Having now abandoned any hope of returning to Kyiv and wanting to seek some kind of normality, a first foray out to Dubrovnik was attempted. Here the Recomar is seen on location atop the hated period tripod. It's such and awkward thing to use, but I insist on keeping things age appropriate where possible. At least the feet have something to grip on here. In keeping with the general run of things, I caught covid on my first ever trip after avoiding it for three years and went down with it badly. I have just enough breath to walk about for a few minutes after three weeks of it. A month ago I walked four to five miles a day, exploring every nook of Dubrovnik. Sadly I wasn't on my best form and can't see anything worth printing from the Recomar's trip to Dubrovnik.

The image created by the Recomar from the location above was marred, as were many, by a persistent light leak. I couldn't work out the source from the two on the rights side, but the left hand one is from the dark slide slot. Either way, the four rolls expended were largely wasted. A shame as the camera itself is a decent little thing. I had waited ages for a cloud shadow to roll down the hill behind the tower to give some tonal differentiation.

A dose of influenza has been working through the household somewhat curtailing enthusiasm...

However, whilst arranging the display cases to absorb the Kodak FPK B4, an inspection of the Butchers Cameo revealed it needed an overhaul. This camera is important to me, it was given by my Grandmother back in 1983. It's spent most of the last forty years opened and on display behind glass with occasional outings. During that time the bellows had faded on one side noticeably. Accordingly it has been dismantled, cleaned and the bellows have been treated to bring them back to life. Given that it's 40 years since this camera started the collection, it will be out and about again this year.

The Nagel Librette page was amended, it had been misidentified as a Nagel 16, when it should be Nagel 65.

The Nagel 18 Recomar is currently in the workshop for overhaul, it's scheduled for an outing in April. Two 120 roll film backs have been serviced for this purpose too.

A project page has been created for the No. 3A FPK, Project 15 for those of you that like to see cameras pulled to pieces. This old girl had a host of issues, what I generally call Kodak rot. This image shows two of the major aluminium components fresh out of the paint booth.

Currently Loaded cameras are, Praktisix, Finetta IV, Robot II,

The Buy Me Coffee fund subsidized the Purchase of order to FOMA for some black and white film. Two boxes of 9 x 12cm sheet film, this will be used primarily in the Nagel Fornidar, but it can also be used for one off images with a couple of the Folding Pocket Kodaks in the absence of roll film for those types. And 20 rolls of 120 film for the fridge.

A break from looking after the museum as I was away again in Vietnam, the first time since before Covid and good to see my extended family again after so long. This meant that the FPK restoration was put on hold, but I did drag the two Nikkormats and the Ilford Advocate out with me. This image was actually taken with a Pentax KX though, depicting a lady working is a paper tree nursery preparing saplings. These trees are used to produce paper pulp for a low grade paper used in Vietnamese schools. Aside from the traditional bamboo conical hat she and her fellow workers have covered their heads with reflective foam backed foil to further ease the effects of working in the sun all day.

Currently Loaded cameras are, Praktisix, Finetta IV, Robot II,

Three plates went through the Nagel 30 Fornidar, a rare outing for this promising looking camera. A day aboard HMS Belfast, moored near Tower Bridge in London. A decidedly frustrating day as the 1930s tripod I took, sans rubber feet or such modern niceties as tilt or even a rotating head, mush less restricted leg spread, the abominable thing simply refused to stand up.... sliding all over the deck plates in an infuriating manner designed to test the patience of a saint. Apparently I ain't no saint. Now it's all my own fault, I could have mounted it on a modern tripod, but what would be the fun of that. Anyway, I exposed three plates and have published al of them in the Fornidar Gallery.

The No.3A FPK B-4, seen in the November entry below is now in pieces... It's a bit of a wreck, but I'll see what can be done with it. At the moment the bellows are separated from the liner and cardboard stiffeners, many are crushed and torn. I am replacing those in an attempt to get it to fold flat once again.

Currently Loaded cameras are, Praktisix, Reflex Special, Finetta IV, Robot II, Nikkormat EL and Zenit 3M.

The No.3A FPK during strip down, definitely one to run away from under normal circumstances. It's been stored in damp conditions for a significant time and has corroded horribly as leather over aluminium cameras often do. The bellows are in far worse condition than originally thought, the liner stiffeners are torn and buckled and the liner itself has broken down to powder in places and has suffered from mould. This latter situation has also infected the rear element of the Cooke lens which is in a sad state too. But this is the Living Image and live it will to fight another day.

The Zenit 3M has had a results gallery published for it too.

Back in October I had the offer of a couple of Folding Pocket Kodaks, which I gratefully accepted as I like big old folding Kodaks. One was a No.3, Model G dating from around 1912 as it has black bellows and Kodak was on a push to swap from red to black bellows throughout 1912. This camera is welcome as it has an early Kodak ball Bearing shutter with features that Kodak deleted fairly quickly. The second camera is the No.3A Model B-4, seen at left. This image forms part of the initial survey for this camera, as you can see it has been a bit neglected. It has the usual Kodak rot, that is aluminium corrosion creeping under the leather on the back and sides. Added to this are mangled bellows, pitted plating and crusty paint. I know these are far from rare or prized, but it deserves rescuing as it made it this far. It's principle attraction is the Koilos shutter which is one I didn't have an example off and the camera has already thrown up some interesting observations during the initial survey. As it's likely to be a bit of an epic, the restoration will be documented in the workshop section in due course, possibly as a running project as there will be many chapters as each challenge is tackled. It will need to have the leather covering removed from the metal parts so the corrosion can be treated, the plated parts may need stripping and re plating, bellows will need separating, repairs and pleats refolded and a good leather feed. The Koilos shutter will need to be stripped and refinished. The leather covering could do with a good clean, stain, feed and polish too. That will keep me out of trouble for a bit. In the meantime, it has joined the collection web pages as it is.

Currently Loaded cameras are, Praktisix, Fornidar, Reflex Special, Finetta IV, Robot II, Nikkormat EL and Zenit 3M.

A Union Jack glows at half mast in a neighbour's garden backlit by the rising sun on 11th September 2022, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Made with a 500mm Paragon 42mm screw mount manual lens fitted to our Pentax K-X.

Not a new image, but one taken with the Leica III a few years back near Kyiv in Ukraine, during happier times.

24th August is Independence Day for Ukraine.

Two additional exhibits have joined the collection this month, a Nikkormat FTN and Nikkormat EL. The Minolta Repo half frame camera had a handful of images placed in its gallery too.

This image is from the first, and probably only, film to be put through the Hunter 35. This particular image didn't make it into the camera's gallery, but I thought I'd use it here. It's been artificially coloured, so doesn't really belong in the gallery. Six images from the roll have been selected though. Also this month, a few age relevant images for the Praktisix and Praktica Super TL have been added to their galleries,

The Finetta IV shamed itself for a second time, the entire film was ruined as it appears it's entirely likely that when you close the back the film can slide up behind the pressure plate instead of in front of it. Very annoying as I am almost out of my precious Efke 100 and that camera has now gobbled up two rolls without a single image produced.

The quarter plate Sanderson has made its way to the head of the service queue and the Unicum shutter dismantled to see why it was jamming open. As expected the Vulcanite shutter leaves had warped and were jamming, also the pivot holes were hooked. The leaves are subject to ultraviolet degradation, but can be straightened out by ironing between two sheets of paper on setting 2, then compressing between two sheets of glass while they cool. The pneumatically 'governed' Unicum was flawed from inception, but was about as good as you could get back in 1891. When new the speeds were probably accurate enough for the slow films of the day, but speed would have varied from day to day. After 120 years of wear and tear, they are all but impossible to get accurate. The Sanderson's Unicum had an error of nearly 600% at 1/25th sec.! After overhaul I got this to 210%, way to go!! Due to the plating being worn off the governing piston and the cam follower worn, all the speeds below 1/5th run fast and due to the mainspring being tired and stretched, all speeds above 1/5th run slow. 1/5th is 95% accurate. Luckily. 1/25th is actually running at 1/12th, which makes it tolerably usable as it's one stop over, but also divides into the natural sequence fairly well. If I want to use the blistering fastest speed of 1/100th sec., it actually runs at 1/66th, a little less than one stop overexposed, such fun awaits. The Dallmeyer lens had a little surface haze but it cleaned off with a single pass and looks as bright and clear as it ever did.

Also a Gauthier Ibbor shutter with Nagel lens was overhauled from the spares bin, in due course I think this is destined for the Librette.

Currently loaded cameras are: Robot II, Finetta IV (last chance for this one), Nagel Fornidar, Sanderson Quarter Plate and Zenit 3M.

Things are tight right now and the film stocks are horribly depleted, so if anyone is feeling generous....

A rarity, as I usually hide behind the camera. But I had a good chat with a photographer when at Old Warden and he captured me with the Thornton Pickard, shortly after I'd made the exposure of the Bristol scout below in the July entry. So courtesy of Craig Fleming, cheers Craig.

Thank you very much to two recent donors to the film fund. They are Olivia Tilleman, who was taken with the Minolta Repo, to the extent that she is adapting the camera for the face of a character she is creating, which sounds brilliant to me. The good news is that the Repo has a film in it at the moment, so fittingly Olivia's donation will be used to process that, with the rest earmarked for some colour 35mm stock when there's some to be found. The second donation came from Greg Carden, who has recently been hooked by Butcher and Ensign and was nosing around the internet, that donation will be earmarked for colour 35mm film too. Thank you both, very much appreciated.

For anyone not aware, the film donation fund is to be found at the bottom of almost every camera entry on this website and is just an informal way anyone who'd like to lend a hand to keep these old relics working. That's the cameras, not me, behave you lot!

Busy month. One additional image has been added to the Nagel Fornidar's gallery. This is a camera that really should be out more often as it has potential.

The quarter plate Sanderson had a fabulous day at Old Warden to photograph David Bremner, Pilot, Owner and creator of the only airworthy Bristol Scout to be found. Far too much to say about that for this page, you can read about it in more depth here.

The two plate carriers for the Thornton Pickard have been overhauled. Cracks soldered up and new aluminium plate inserts made, this being the first effort with the repairs. Seems to be improved leak wise, but then it wasn't that bright as it was overcast, so the jury's still out. The scratches though, have gone, yay! This was a hasty shot grabbed as the aeroplane was being wheeled away to take part on Shuttleworth's Navy day 3rd July, 2022, the TP being hand held for once with f/5.6 at 1/50th being the chosen exposure. As I am being contrary to my usual practice at the moment, this one has a wide border. The Pecto 1 didn't have such a good day, as the idiot photographer managed to expose the same plate twice. Pillock.

The Pecto was given another try on 10/7/22 with these two scintillating ladies in their steampunk guises as my subject, who gave their permission for me to use the image, should it come out. The Pecto was used handheld for this image, with only reference to the waist level finder for composition, focus was set using the very badly calibrated focus scale. Sadly they were sat in front of a brick wall, which while it suits the industrial steampunk ideal, is visually distracting in photographs. The only way I'd have been able to avoid this would have been to go in tighter on them individually in portrait format where the background would have been minimized and what was remaining would have been blurred by the shorter depth of field at that distance. But I only have one serviceable plate carrier for this camera, and this was my one shot. In fact it's a minor miracle I got anything at all, after the exposure I could feel that all was not well. When I attempted to insert the dark slide it jammed quarter of an inch open. I hastily put the camera into the bag and zipped it away from the light. When I got it back the bag went into the darkroom and the camera removed in the dark, then the plate carrier removed. Somehow the dark slide had hooked the sheet out of the carrier and gone down behind it, flexing it into the bellows, where it got crushed as I closed the camera. My prompt action of hiding it in the bag and taking it to the darkroom prevented any fogging fortunately. Despite this there's not a scratch on the image. The subject lighting was tricky for the Pecto with it's very limited exposure control, although quite ideal for a better camera with strong backlight and diffused lighting coming through the parasols to softly illuminate their faces. As it was I used the largest stop the Pecto would give me and the instant shutter setting. Focus is a little off being slightly short but the modelling into the shadows and bright parasol undersides is pleasant. The dress on the right was created from a pattern published in 1898, exactly the same year as the Pecto 1 and is a delightful coincidence. What you can't appreciate here is the fabulous colours used though. They would make a delightful hand tint or autochrome I think. The other plate exposed prior to this was of a steam road roller and can be seen in the Camera's gallery.

June 2022

When the Thornton Pickard Reflex was acquired it was fitted with an Aldis Butcher Anastigmat, not appropriate for the camera. Earlier this month a 6 inch focal length Ross Tessar Patent lens of the correct period showed up and after inspecting it I splashed out, although it wasn't ridiculously priced. It's a good clean well looked after lens completely clear of scratches. It needed some dust removing between elements and the aperture overhauling, but was otherwise in great shape. The lensboard needed adapting a little to accept the mounting ring, but judging by the numerous holes hidden by the flange this camera has had more than handful of lens changes throughout its career. First plate through the camera is shown here. I only have two vaguely serviceable plate carriers for the TP and this is supposed to be the best one, but a streak of light snuck in here. Thornton Pickard plate carriers are quite a bit slimmer than most, the clearance between the plate emulsion and dark slide is very tight, any ballooning of the plate leads to scratching and sadly this plate has a nasty group of them right through the windmill's sails. That aside, the Ross lens is way brighter than the Aldis. As you can see this is the whole plate, exposed at 1/100th at f11 and a quarter, no filter employed. This had to be exposed through a gap in a hedge whilst teetering atop a pile of horse manure, with the tripod legs gradually sinking into the depths. Owing to the location, the rear focus screen had to be used, rather than the reflex screen, as the shot was about to be taken, one leg sank into the dung so it had to be set up again, this meant the dark slide had to be re inserted and the plate carrier removed to recompose, this has added to the scratching on the plate. The joys of using old cameras. Currently I use thin plywood in the back to prevent the plate springs bending the sheet film, but am now making up aluminium plates to see if I can prevent this from happening again. If anyone has any spare metal Thornton Pickard quarter plate carriers, I'd love to have four more. The windmill is Wilton Windmill, near Marlborough, Wiltshire UK. Cameras currently loaded. Praktisix, Hunter 35, Finetta IV, Minolta Repo and Zenit 3M

May 2022

It's been a while. I hate myself. For being powerless against this monstrous atrocity from a country I previously admired using a twisted version of reality as justification. I struggle, but want to start taking photographs again. So this abstract image represents how I feel. A vortex, a swirl, both reflection and refraction. My own twisted version of reality. As viewed by anyone else it was luminous, inviting and beautiful but this dark evil swirl was created by photographing the refracted sunlight directed through the bottom of a curved Vodka bottle onto grey card, but massively underexposed. Appropriately I used the KW Praktisix, made in East Germany at a time it was occupied by Soviet Russia. There is no post manipulation, this is how the negative prints.

February 26th 2022

My last image from Kyiv, home for me in July 2020, St. Andrews at the top of Andrewskaya Desceni. Covid19 sent me away shortly afterwards. To my Ukrainian friends, may we meet again in happier times. To my blameless Russian friends, I do not believe this is done in your name. To all accountable and complicit Russians, bow your heads in shame.

February 2022

A liitle down the page is an image in December 2021 that was taken as this picture was being made. I made several images with the Kodak Six-20 Mod. C that day. The very first frame out of the camera is covered in dust. This often happens with old bellows cameras, unfolding for the first shot of the outing sucks in a lot of air, disturbing any dust hiding within, which promptly sits on the film producing the dark spots you see in the sky. The weird marks in the sky are an oddity only visible on the first frame, not sure what caused those. I made this exposure with a slow shutter speed to blur the waves, but was already at 1/25th and f/22, so unable to blur further. A handful of other images have been added to the Kodak Six-20 Mod. C gallery. Right now, the Kodak Retina II, Halina A1 and Praktiflex have films in. Grateful thanks to "q3k" who donated three bits of film via the film fund this month, it's not just the donation that counts, it serves as added inspiration to continue the efforts. The humble Hunter 35, donated back in 2012, found iself in the workshop to have various issues sorted out and is now loaded with film too. You can see it's journey through the workshop documented in Project 14 Both of the equally humble Ensign Ful Vue cameras from the 1940s also received an overhaul and the associated web pages updated, including adding a downloadable manual for one. A final job this month was to clean and calibrate a Kresta slip on rangefinder to use with the Hunter 35, having been sat in the display cases for may years it was all but opaque, but it's clean and ready for action now.

January 2022

I picked up this sea shell, whilst walking along the beach at Netley during December 2021. After the original occupier had shrugged off this mortal coil, the shell became home to these Keel Worms (Pomatoceros triqueter) who in turn died leaving behind their calcium cases. I thought it would be worth a little macro photography. There are several cameras in the collection that are ideal for this sort of thing, so naturally I ignored them and used the Reflex Special. The two lower images just show the shell beside a vintage Kodak 35mm tin for scale and the plate exposed in the Thornton Pickard, showing the enlargemt on the negative. The subject is actually light and airy, but I saw something altogether more dark and sinister and have interpretted it accordingly! Very Ridley Scott and Alien, methinks. Also this month I took out all the cameras from cabinet one and tested the shutters. Several had died, so I have started the task of bringing them back from the dead. Firstly fettling the finickitty Fenettas, actually this was good, as I have the Finetta 88 working far better than before and the Finetta IV shutter is also much improved. The Kodak Retina II was also very poorly and came apart to have the rangefinder optics cleaned and the very unhappy Compur shutter looked at. It refused to close the shutter leaves and was dismantled entirely. The escapement train in the slow speed mechanism was in a bad way, so I transplanted the left over one from the Rolleiflex restoration. Despite being made 20 years before the Retina's shutter it went right in and works pretty well. During this process a previously un-noticed date scratched into the compur's speed selector ring was found, June 1946. Whilst this can't be regarded as definitive, it would seem about right. Oh, and I fixed a link on the workshop page that had been directing visitors to the wrong project for months, oops. Sorry.

December 2021

Firstly, thank you to Mr. M. Hind for a donation to the film fund this month. Friday 10th Dec. saw a fabulous sunny day blossom in the UK after many days of grey. A quick outing to Durdle Dor with a bunch of the cameras ensued. Here is our Kodak Six-20 model C from 1932 having its turn. Also on the trip were the Halina A1, Thornton Pickard reflex and Praktisix. Nothing processed as yet as I wasn't able to finsh any rolls off. Not confident about the Praktisix either. First roll back after coming back from repair in Germany and it's clearly not advancing the film correctly and the frame counter isn't working either. Usual thing, if you want something done right, do it yourself. It just remains to wish everyone best wishes for the season, irrespective of your religion, culture, ethnicity or orientation. Be kind to one another, stay safe and healthy. Image courtesy of N. Baraize.

November 2021

The interweb is utterly dripping with fabulously clear, forensic close up images rendered in spectacular HDR fully saturated spectrum images, that I've become immune to them. The antidote to this absurd level of excellence is any one of the collection's film cameras and so to this end the Praktica VF was treated to a film. I largely went off on a quest for impressionistic abstraction and am soothed by the relaxing softness and grainy results the VF gave me back. There's a distinct lack of stressful intensity here. Aah, I can breathe again. Mind you, there is the disturbing impression of being impregnated as per the classic science fiction film "Alien".

The Reflex Korelle also had an outing, taken for a ride in Jodel DR105, G-AXLS, cheers John G! Taken through the canopy in less than smooth conditions, here the Korelle has snapped the "Needles" off the western tip of the Isle of Wight at 1/100th sec. at F/8. A punishing subject with all that flat grey sea waiting to betray any unevenness in the recently re-tensioned shutter. The left side now looks to be getting a little darker, a reverse from the previous film, so I have gone a little too far and can take half a turn out of the second curtain tension. Cameras that have had additional images added this month are: Agilux Agiflex, Braun Paxette II, Butchers Cameo, Kochman Reflex Korelle B and the Pentacon Praktica VF.

September 2021

As a consequence of moving, I started looking through some of the thousands of 35mm transparencies I have taken over the years. Sadly many of them have deteriorated horribly. This has prompted me to scan the whole lot in an attempt to preserve them before they are lost altogether. These were mostly taken with the Praktica Nova B prior to 1989, then with the first of a couple of Pentax K1000s. The earliest film stock was Agfa CT18, a long discontinued 50ASA colour reversal film, they have survived well, but those taken with Agfa CT100 (100ASA stock) have fared very poorly. At left is a 1930s Pou Du Ciel, the infamous "flying Flea", this example being photographed in September 1985 and as you can see the colours have faded completely, despite being stored in a closed filing system.

So the main activity at the moment is restoring photographs, a mind numbingly tedious and time consuming task it is too! Every slide is given a thorough dust off and then scanned. No two slides have faded in the same way, it entirely depends on the colours in the slide and how far it was into the storage system, those closer to the front faring worst. Restoration involves digitally editing the colour channels of the slide until it looks about right. Here is the same slide after restoration. Thanks go to M. Pendrith and an anonymous donor called "someone" who have made donations to the film fund recently. I currently have earmarked this for a colour 120 through the Agiflex, a colour film through the Praktica VF (a bit of a gamble that one!) and processing for a film through the Paxette. Owing to the ongoing slide restoration project, I only have a film in the Korelle B at the moment.

August 2021

April/May 2021

March 2021

The first test film through the KW Pilot Super was developed and a handful of results posted. Well I'm not convinced that the Pilot deserves the "Super" it acquired when developed from the Pilot 6. As suspected - the weight of the glass mirror, shutter tray and rotational mass of the speed selector makes holding the thing still enough all but impossible. From my perspective I was happy enough that the shutter actually worked in a sensible manner and that the speeds suggested by my method for timing shutters held good for this one too. The camera is mechanically as good as it was ever likely to be, the lens less so, eighty years of use and abuse have done it few favours - but the Laack Pololyt wasn't anything special before the scratches eroded whatever quality it once had. Even so it's fun to use, and will see a bit of use yet.

February 2021

Re-acquaintance with old Travel Companions. With the major restorations out of the way it's time to start the rolling maintenance tasks. This Gomz Sputnik missed out on a deep clean as it was acquired in the Old Arbat Street market in Moscow during July 2003. It was pressed into service there and then. After seven years being carted around the globe it worked it's way to the back of the camera drawer and sat there still loaded but unused. The last film from it was showing signs of uneven exposure within the stereo pairs, with the left hand side rather overexposed. It finally went into the workshop this week. The problem was the slave shutter opening early, giving a longer exposure. The focus was very stiff with dried grease, so that was all cleaned out and greased again. A thorough clean and focus adjustment, sees it ready for a test film again. Also the Praktisix has worked to the head of the queue. Some years ago it was tasked to take a photograph using the built in timed release. This jammed the shutter, the mirror wouldn't release and the camera was put aside in the display cabinet for another day. That was around 2005. I had it out of the cabinet recently to see if I could get it working and with some cajoling the first curtain released, but the mirror remained jammed. The second curtain was stuck and when I did get it moving, the tell tale wrinkles from becoming stiff were all too evident. The lens has also dried out and is solid. As this camera is quite complex I have elected to send it to Germany to be repaired, leaving on 1st Feb. and the gentleman in Germany informed me it arrived safely on 5th. In due course I will write up my experience in project 13, tempting fate?

January 2021

Pampering a Pulverized Pilot. Seen here is the KW Pilot Super that was acquired a few months back in a job lot of fetid photographic relics. This has entered the workshop for the initial survey, consuming much thought as it has been modified very early in its career. Initially I thought it was just the addition of a flash socket, but I am beginning to think it was for something else. All the components used in the modification are fairly heavy duty and would appear to come from aviation stores. Whoever did the the work was skilled, but it doesn't look like the work of a photographic technician. The remains of the marking out can still be seen, as is the number 4, which hints that there are at least three others. The marking out of the holes to be cut and new holes drilled and tapped suggests that what had to be done was planned in advance, rather than a one off ad hoc conversion. A great deal of effort was expended that entailed dismantling the entire camera. A neat rectangular hole was made and a relay contact arranged to connect when the mirror reached the top of its travel, a corresponding copper contact was riveted to the mirror platten, suggesting that a decent current was expected to flow. This would have created a considerable amount of swarf, but not a trace has been found, confirming that the camera was totally dismantled when this work was done. At the end of the exposure, the circuit remained live, no attempt has been made to break it when, say, the second blind reaches the end of it's travel. It may have been used as a sequence camera, each one triggering the solenoid of the next in sequence, or it may have been a remote camera that lit up a bulb on a control board to let the operator know that camera number 4 had tripped. It could have been used for flash too, with the proviso that the shutter be cocked before connecting the flash, otherwise it would go off instantly you connected it. When this work was carried out the depth of field and extinction meter data plate that was riveted to one side was removed and the rivets hammered flat, the extinction meter was also deleted and the holes neatly disguised. From the wear, it saw considerable use in this form. After some thought I have decided to retain the modifications in this case, although the option to return it to stock remains should an extinction meter show up. So for now the intention is to restore it to the condition it appears to have spent its working life. Now completed and can be seen in Project 12. The first thanks for 2021 go to Mr. C Flynn for his donation to the film fund. Technically this arrived at the tail end of last year, but I'd already closed the December news page by then.

December 2020

Revolting Rolleiflex rescue. The focus of our attention this month is the rescue of the rotting Old Standard Rolleiflex, documented in Project 11. Being able to spend this amount of time was brought about by our enforced Covid19 lock down here in the UK. Good progress has been made as shown in the newly painted die cast zinc shell seen here after having the Rolleiflex logo painted back in and the second coat of lacquer being allowed to harden off for a few days. The mirror came back from being re silvered and there just remains the parts that are being re nickel plated to be returned from the plater's until all the restored sub assemblies can come together once more. You can see the progress in Project 11. It was subsequently finished off and a test film has gone through it already, some of the results can be seen here.

20th anniversary clean This Ilford Advocate joined the collection in December 2000 and has always been a favourite. It was last out and about in 2008 and was about to be taken out again but I decided it had become a little dusty. The display cabinet is not exactly air tight and dust is drawn in every time it's opened and closed. So it's currently on the bench having a deep clean and service, so far nothing found to be wrong, just the focus helix grease is a little dry, the viewing optics cloudy and things felt a little slack. Checking around I noted that the Science Museum website notes that the casting material is unknown. So I dismantled the camera from the rear casting and removed all fittings. By displacement I gained a 7mm rise in a parallel plastic bottle with internal diameter 80mm, to give a volume of 32.672 cubic centimetres. With such small a volume and the meniscus to deal with, there's likely a bit of error in there. The weight was 85.5g on a calibrated digital scale. This gives an average material density for the rear casting with its enamel finish of 2.62g/cm3. Pure aluminium would be 2.6. The only logical choice of casting metal would be one of the die casting aluminium alloys, typically in the 2.7 range. Given the method to obtain the volume this is well inside the expected error and there are no metals in this density range that would be more likely used. The camera has since been re assembled

Also into the workshop went the Rollei 35S. This fabulous little camera was suffering from a cloudy viewer, so had its lid whipped off and the viewfinder optics given a spruce up. A bit of historic damp had eaten away the wiring to the light meter too, so that was repaired, but the battery is long dead, so it will still be used as a manual next time it ventures out. Thanks go to Mr. M. Teadham this month for a donation to the film fund. Thank you very much. As yet, not allocated, but I suspect that half of it will go on some rapid fixer as I am down to my last half bottle. Well that's 2020 done. Not your average year. Stay well and safe everyone, a few more months will see us through.

November 2020

Tales of terrible tamperings and rivet rot. Winter has arrived along with further Covid19 restrictions in the UK, so I bought a box of the nastiest most rotten wrecks some ebay seller ever offered to keep me amused. The one that seduced me most was a KW Pilot Super, a camera that has been on the hit list for a while. There's also an early "Old standard" Rolleiflex and a Zeiss 520 Ikonta A, both worth saving. A bonus was a Halina A1 which donated it's nameplate to our example and a very tatty Box Tengor, which will be disposed of. The Halina was robbed for parts then combined with spares from the parts bin to produce a Frankenstein edition, now on Ebay! First into the workshop is the Ikonta, seen here. Now this poor old thing (as per the others) has suffered appallingly, but the Ikonta A is the cutest of the breed, and it makes a change to have the Derval shutter, as nice as the Compur shutters are mechanically, the Derval is prettier. The Ikonta has severe rivet rot. I invented this term for the Kodaks of the 1920s that rot around the rivet heads, the different metal of the rivet causes a small electric current where it passes through the aluminium back, any moisture present completes all that is needed for accelerated oxidation. You will see this as bubbling under the leatherette covering. However Zeiss cameras suffer from it spontaneously, rather than just around the rivet heads. Unchecked, this will eventually eat right through the aluminium. Things hadn't quite got that advanced with this one, but the pits were about quarter of the way through when I removed the covering. The Derval shutter has been overhauled, during which I discovered some terrible tamperings, at some point someone lost the detent spring and associated ball bearing, and inserted a crude bit of rod instead. Ugh. Amazingly, at the bottom of my tub of bits I found a spring and a ball that fitted. It's now a happy Derval. The rest of the camera is being de-wreckified as the lock down continues. Thank you to Mr. J. Henry (again) and Mr. B. Hermansson for their donation via Buy Me a Film this month. This has been used to buy ten rolls of Foma 120.

The Rolleiflex and the Pilot Super are even worse. The Rolleiflex is so bad, a project page has been created for it. This will be updated as it progresses, as it's likely to be a fairly protracted effort. Here it is when it arrived, really it's beyond saving, but we are in Covid19 lock down so it will give me something to do. The right hand image shows the shutter speed and aperture setting window as it was being dismantled.

October 2020

First off, thanks to Mr. M, Teadham and Mr. J. Henry who made donations via the film donation links this month. This has been used to process two colour films for the Agiflex, out of the 24 frames, 23 came out, one I simply forget to shoot. Not all are worth publishing, but I have thinned them down aggressively for the results page. But here's one showing one of my favourite local sites. Given that the Agiflex was dead on arrival and needed a total strip and new shutter, the camera has settled down nicely to be a reliable performer. A new arrival this month is another Agilux camera in the form of an Agilux Agifold, this being the first rangefinder version c1950. Cosmetically it was fine as it was but the Agilux shutter was sick. A good clean sorted it out, but it did take a while as it had some surface rust on the various levers and cams. It's not ready for using yet as the rangefinder needs adjustment and the focus checked as all the lens elements were separated during cleaning, but a page has been started for it along with the usual 360 degree view. A first outing with my homemade telephoto lens for the Ruby Reflex Special was an abject failure. The plates picked up some contamination whilst stored in a transit bag and came out with large blobs all over them. Also revealed was a failed velvet light stop on one of the two "serviceable" plate carriers and some nasty reflections inside the homemade lens barrel which bathed the entire plate in scattered light, this is due to the use of a parallel tube - driven by lack of availability of anything else and simply not enough room. Back to the drawing board for that one, but one image showed promise and I think I can probably insert a light baffle to solve the reflections.

September 2020

Some new images taken with the Braun Paxette have been added to the gallery for it, also a gallery for the Brownie F has been created, The Thornton Pickard Reflex has been out and about too, although no additional images added for it. The Agiflex I was completed and now has a gallery too. The Agiflex restoration was partly documented in Project 9 and my unorthodox method of setting up shutters was finally confessed in Project 10.

August 2020

Back in the UK finally after managing to get a flight during COVID-19 restrictions. I processed a couple of films from the Brownie F, and a disappointing set for one of the Ikontas. A telephoto lens was built for the Thornton Pickard Reflex, just for the shear fun of it. Yet to take it out for an outing. It's a 305mm lens with way more coverage than needed for quarter plate, but it was sulking in the bag of bits, so I thought I'd give it a shot. May make an interesting portrait lens. Or be a CWOT... a Complete Waste Of Time. The workshop was overrun by the Agilux Agiflex I which put up a real fight during the deep clean and overhaul. I wound up putting new curtains in it, but it proved to be an awkward customer. Anyway it all seemed to come together in the end and responded well to my unorthodox method of setting the shutter up. It currently has a test film in it, so the proof will be in the pictures I guess. The Reflex Korelle B also went back into the workshop to sort out the shutter curtain timing as that wasn't quite right from it's rebuild in 2017. Sadly the Williamson Aerial camera died. I took it out for an outing and it jammed horribly when I set it to 400th/sec, Upon getting it apart, the mainspring had failed, distorting the main casting when it let go and is not repairable. So it's become the largest paperweight in the collection.

June 2020

I recently tried out the services of the boutique analogue film process lab Fotovramke in Kyiv. They processed two films from the Braun Paxette and I added a few images to that camera's gallery, but here's one anyway, taken in January 2020.

May 2020

With everything that's going on in the world, it's time for a little colour, taken during one of my permitted exercise excursions near Percherska Metro station, using the ancient Paragon 500mm lens creates a viewpoint not normally seen.

March 2020

Still alive, but with little to report. Three cameras have films in, but I am locked down without a darkroom to use...

December 2019

	A bit of a change this month. Amongst the myriad bits of old photographica that I have acquired are many negatives. This image of the Reichtag in Berlin was taken around 1946 by a late relative who was part of the occupying forces. The Reichtag was in the British sector. Already damaged by fire before the start of World War 2, it was well and truly ravaged by the time this image was taken in 1946. I've long wanted an excuse to publish it, but haven't been able to definitively identify which of the various family cameras was used for this image, but it was possibly the Ansco No.3 VP. It's not possible to photograph the Reichtag from this position today, as you'd be in the middle of a hedge.
	Turn right and walk a few metres from the position above and you will be in this position for the Brandenburg gate, again taken in 1946 possibly with the Ansco. Apart from the 120 roll film 6 x 9cm format, the image has been taken at waist level, the two pedestrians' eyes are obviously above the viewpoint. The Ansco only has a waist level finder. The original is clear enough to read the sign on the pillar that reads "You are now leaving the British Sector". The gate is liberally spattered with allied bomb shrapnel damage, small arms fire holes, heavy gauge machine gun impacts as well as the large shell hole near the sculpture near the top. The sculpture of Viktoria is blown to pieces, and slumped over her chariot. Later the Berlin wall would sweep in front of the gate making this view impossible for another few decades, the gate itself being in East Berlin. The wall finally fell in November 1989.
	Our Zeiss Icarette dating from 1931, before any of the above had happened, was taken to the exact same spot as above to record the scene as it was in 2012. The pillars still bear the scars in the form of the uneven colouration, even though the damage has been repaired. So that's my excuse for publishing the two interesting old family negatives above. An image gallery for the Leica III has been added too. As I don't have an appropriate lens for this camera, it generally borrows the lens from the Leica II, but for this gallery I elected to put a Jupiter lens on, borrowed from a Zorki 4K. As the subject material was mostly around Ukraine, it seems fair enough. Currently the Paxette, Brownie F and Zeiss Ikonta 520 are loaded.

November 2019

A handful of results for the Zorki 1 have been added. Sadly it has a shutter issue, the second curtain is tripping too early, and is sluggish allowing the first curtain to run away, the result is seen here, with the very dark edge on the left side. I may be possible to sort it out, but the camera is still original and I think I would prefer to keep it that way, rather than renew the curtains in this case. All the same, dark edge included, I quite like this image., and it was the very last one on the roll. Isn't it always the way. The Leica III has been returned to the cabinet after finishing it's outing, but as the camera was using a coated lens, it was shooting colour reversal in this case. As a general rule, if the lens is coated, I shoot colour, if not - black and white but it's certainly not a hard and fast rule. Still awaiting the processed films back, as I can't process E6 here. I also adopted a Kodak Brownie Model F this month. Right now, only the Icarette has a film in it.

October 2019

The Thornton Pickard Reflex continues to be favoured despite only having two vaguely serviceable plate holders, as betrayed by those four scratches running through the sky. It was a long drive, over 450 mile round trip to expose just two plates on a day when this Avro Lancaster was having one of it's running days. The other plate was fogged. NX611 is a Lancaster B Mk VII, dating from April 1945, which means the Thornton Pickard Reflex was already twenty years old when this Lancaster was shiny and new. Although NX611 is not airworthy, it is regularly moved under it's own power and as each item comes up for overhaul it is completed to airworthy condition, such that one day it can leave the ground once again. It's a spectacular achievement and in a very period setting, please visit the LAHC for more information and support their efforts. Two recent arrivals have joined the museum after clearing the workshop, another Russian Leica copy - a Zorki 1 and a development of the same camera, a Zenit 3M. Apart from the Thornton Pickard, other cameras currently loaded are the Leica III, Zorki 1 and Zeiss Icarette.

June 2019

Entering the workshop this month is this particularly snotty Robot II, dating from the immediate post war period. It's almost identical to pre war models, presumably making use of the same tooling. The lens serial dates it to 1944, although the camera was certainly made later. This poor thing is in atrocious condition, corroded throughout and the lens heavily fungus etched. The man made covering can't be saved. It is however making weak attempts to work, and a film found inside it produced some very weak images that showed it was working into the 1970s. It did have both N and T type film canisters within it. It's going to require an extensive effort to make it presentable, even the badge has corroded to powder on the back. I have published the image here to make it public and so force myself to complete the job. The end result will be little use other than a paperweight though, as the Schneider Kreuznach Xenon lens is severely fungus etched, the surface looking like the sea under a microscope. Quality control at Schneider Kreuznach in 1943/44 was a bit lacking too, as there are two objective lens bubbles inside the f/11 arc.

May 2019

Well I am happy to report that the Spotmatic survived its winter trip better than I did. It didn't even make it out of the camera case in South Africa, which was a shame as I had hoped to catch some wildlife with it. Instead it went to Ukraine and into the 10km exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor plant in late April 2019. I exposed two rolls of ancient HP5 in the Spotmatic and it gave 70 images. I thinned these down for the gallery, but there are a fair few of Pripyat, the abandoned city in the shadow of Chernobyl. The Thornton Pickard had another image added to its gallery this month, but the one below was made with the Spotmatic near Kyiv, Ukraine.

January 2019

On 30th December, Keith was seriously injured 200km North of George in South Africa. He suffered multiple rib fractures and a broken clavicle, then developed pneumonia as a result of chest injuries. Although on the mend, it seems unlikely that there will be any updates to the LICM for some time. Keith reports that the LICM Pentax Spotmatic which was with him as the time, escaped damage - but sadly didn't get a chance to be used either.

October 2018

A full year after new shutter curtains were made for the Thornton Pickard Reflex Special a handful of negatives were exposed in it to test the shutter. The film used was the last of some Ilford FP4 quarter plate cut film, that has lived in the fridge since 1984, one of which is at left. The remainder were on Efke stock. Efke are now sadly defunct. You can see the camera being rebuilt in Project 6. The Parvola, rebuilt earlier this year, has had an image gallery started for it now. The Ensign Focal Plane Reflex has had it's image gallery updated after several years on the shelf. Further contemporary images from Grandad's DRP have been added to its image gallery too.

June 2018

This is the sad looking Ihagee Parvola as it arrived last month. A great deal of effort was expended on it as it needed a lot more attention than first thought. The Compur shutter was taken apart completely, for when I got the front off - I have never seen so much debris inside a still working shutter. Quite amazing it was still releasing at all. All the leaves needed taking out and cleaning and both cocking and release pivots were bent. The tatty plating has been left though. There's a little bit of blooming on the lens front element which isn't harmful and the lens is in good order. The leather had been painted at some point to disguise the poor state and the camera had clearly got quite wet at some point. Both of which meant the leather covering needed to be replaced. The approach used for this Parvola was to undo the results of neglect and damage and retain natural wear, then return functionality. The Parvola was also used to try out a new method of making leather impression stamps for the Ihagee logos, this is documented in Project 7 on the workshop pages. The camera has now has its own entry on the museum pages after it's restoration/conservation treatment. It is currently loaded with a roll of our diminishing stock of 127 roll film, so let's hope all is well with it. One of our long term residents, an Ensign Focal Plane Roll Film Reflex (crikey, that's a mouthful - no wonder they renamed it the Speed Reflex), recently went into the workshop (yet again!) as we found a donor to supply all the parts it needed. Viewing hood springs, correct shutter selector catch, undamaged top housing with better leather in the hatch, neater lens cover, a handful of screws and a usable carrying case. Other than that the donor's innards had all but rusted away.

This contemporary image from 1938 shows one Trevor Edmund Thomas, on the shore at Weston-Super-mare. At this time Trevor was the owner of our Graflex 1A. We know this as he had written both his name and two addresses in the back of the camera. Although faint and confused with scratches and wear, a bit of research in the census found a name of a surviving relative, to whom we wrote in May 2018. The fabulous outcome is this image. The lady I wrote to is Dorothy, the little girl in this picture. Behind her is her father, Trevor and we also see his wife Olive and their son Arthur. It would appear that this image is reunited with the camera that took it almost eighty years to the day. Very much of the era, it's a very warm summer day, sunny but hazy looking roughly easterly. Trevor is dressed in a full suit and waistcoat, a tie and neatly folded handkerchief. Wherever possible we like to show images known to have been taken by each camera, contemporary ones especially so. So I'd like to express my thanks to everyone who helped resolve the evidence trail that lead to the address, and Dorothy and her daughter Vanessa for finding and allowing me to publish this picture.

May 2018

For anyone totally fed up with the e-mails about data protection etc etc. You'll be pleased to know I don't keep anything! Unless you send me an e-mail, in which case I store those until I get bored of them in my in box. I'd love to give you a time scale, but rest assured, my boredom threshold is pretty low. Also I don't have the technical competencies to deal with all that cookie malarkey, so have had to discontinue the Google adverts altogether, otherwise those nasty Google people will try to track you and send you lots of adverts about things you've already looked for and bought last week.

Additional images added to the image gallery for the 1934 Kodak retina model 117. In November 2017 the old Kodak Retina, now 83 years old and, you might think, overdue for retirement - was despatched on what would turn out to be almost a world tour. The camera was taken from the display case, given the briefest of checks entailing a quick look for holed bellows and a visual test of the shutter, two films were grabbed from the fridge and off it went. In the next 6 months it was subjected to temperature ranges of -10 to +33c. Altitudes up to 11,000ft and about 30 airport x-rays. Of the 70 frames exposed, 58 are usable. The exposures mixed on those two films ranged from night time long exposures to insane cold, high altitude and sun so bright it made your eyes hurt. Both films were then developed together in the same tank in multi-shot ID11. What could possibly go wrong! Workshop activity is continuing with the Ensign Focal Plane Reflex having a fairly extensive overhaul, the Thornton Pickard Ruby reflex needs new velvet light seals in the plate carrier and I have been collecting together the materials and information for a total rebuild of an Ihagee Parvola wreck, this will entail new leather work and pressing logos into the covering when finished. I am developing a new method to replace the way I have been doing it for many years, documented in Project 1. This will be written up in due course and added to the workshop pages.

February 2018

Yes, still here! In terms of vintage photography I have nothing to report. The Nikon FE is out and about as is the Kodak Retina 117, but nothing to add to their pages.

And finally after 20 years, I decided to stop hiding and put up an "about" page, so those of an inquisitive disposition can find out about the author.

The view from my mountain hideaway as the sun went down on February 28th 2018, so just about okay for inclusion. This was taken with the trusty and quite battered Pentax K-X. I also used the Kodak Retina 117 for a similar shot, but that will have to wait. The mountains are the Trans Ala tau, but I don't think anyone will be able to track me down from this angle.

But here's some weird, very obscurely related photography related news. Okay, that is pushing it somewhat, but I am struggling to find anything to write! Amongst my innumerable interests, I occasionally like to play with drawing or painting, as well as a bit of writing. I recently completed a book entitled OF OUR OWN DEMISE and wanted to do the cover illustration. Now the subject of the book has nothing to do with photography, so I will not go into it here. But I elected to draw the image as a negative, exactly as you see here. As a creator, when I draw normally, I can see the progress that my efforts are taking, adjusting and modifying as I go. But I decided for this, the creator would have control but the final outcome couldn't be entirely known. "The creator does not have total dominion, but absolute interest." The final outcome would not be known until the image was "processed", in this case digitally inverted. It was interesting as there's a strong parallel with taking a photograph and seeing the film for the first time as it exits the developing tank. I was very strict with myself, I drew it once, when I was happy with the negative, I had it scanned and then flipped the negative in good old "Photoshop". The result was pretty much as I wanted, but seeing it for the first time was a joy normally denied me. If you are curious as to the finished image, click here!

November 2017

November was very busy with the move. Life will be very much different now, but I will attempt to look after the website from time to time. I decided to add a page that explains why, what and how "Rise and Fall" lens movements were used. So many folding cameras were fitted with the feature from the 1900s - I thought it might be useful to someone.

Follow this link to find the page.

And please visitors, do me a favour and take a look around the site, visit a few more pages. Whilst the majority of visits come from search engines, this somewhat perversely damages the figures. Visitors who type in a search, visit a page, find out what he or she wants then leaves is recorded as a dis-satisfied customer so far as Google is concerned, as they seem to think that "engagement" is vitally important, i.e.. - how deep into a web site you go. Hence the number of sites festooned with "click bait". So sites like this that give you information free of charge and without making you "go round the houses" to get it, are penalized with high "bounce rates". So please, do me a favour, and delve in a little deeper!

October 2017

What's new indeed, pretty much everything. New clothes. New home. New Country. New language. New weather. Gave up my job after 30 years in the same company.
Buy hey, if you're going to have a shake up, have a good one. So I am currently living in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Righto, enough about me.

Cameras wise, I'd long been cooking up ideas about making new shutter blinds, and have put quite a few in over the years. Some years back I bought some new shutter cloth from Micro Tools, but was a bit dismayed with it, as it was far too thick for the Ensign Speed reflex that it was intended for. But that's all I could get so I used it and adapted the camera to take into account the extra bulk of the cloth. Earlier this year I went to use the Ensign again but it was dead. Accordingly I thought it was time to take it all to pieces and make my own cloth to the correct thickness, as I had hatched a plan to make my own cloth and an experiment suggested I was on the right track. I had hoped the original Micro Tools cloth had degraded as it was well over a decade old. Alas no, when I stripped the camera the problem was easily resolved, so I just elected to fix the issue and move on. But I felt cheated! I had this idea in my head, and I simply had to give it a go. So I went on a hunt for a camera with a nice big cloth shutter that was in need of replacement. It didn't take long. It was advertised as a Butcher's Reflex camera. It was unmarked in any way, but with a Butcher's Aldis Anastigmat. Butcher's were notorious in not marking their cameras, as they had a history of just importing them "off the shelf" from Germany prior to the First World War and then having Houghtons Ltd. in London make them when the German supply kind of became inconvenient. So unmarked cameras from Butcher's are not at all uncommon. It didn't quite look right though. But no matter, the camera was just what I wanted, externally and cosmetically is was fine as it was, but the shutter curtains were totally ruined. Perfect. So I put my long awaited idea to make new shutter curtain material into action, and am pleased with the outcome. I wanted to make my own as I needed control over the thickness of the finished material and I had rejected the methods I that others have posted online as being unsuitable. One method I've seen involves painting cloth with acrylic paint on one side, but it doesn't produce the soft pliable low drag result of the original material. Anyway, the method I cooked up can be seen in Project 6, and the restored camera, which actually turned out to be a Quarter Plate, Thornton Pickard, Junior Special Ruby Reflex can be seen in the museum pages. Sadly with all the changes of recent weeks, any thoughts of using the cameras is on hold for a few months.

Well no, that's not entirely true. I did just manage to scurry off to get a film processed that had been languishing in the FED 3 for a while. That's actually one of the things I like about chemical photography, the fact that memories are locked away, latent - as Fox Talbot would have said, awaiting rediscovery upon processing. This instant digital gratification has its place, but I rather do like the wait, and birth of an image. The investment of hope, experience and time. Anyway, I will add a few more images to the FED 3 gallery.

September 2017

One of my occasional experiments with Autochrome-esque images.

The camera I chose for this attempt was the Ensign Selfix 220, a 1950s era 120 roll film camera. Mainly because I hadn't got around to publishing any images with it. Now the Selfix is nothing special, with a fairly average lens and self energizing shutter, with a harsh action, making camera shake a very real likelihood. My attempts to make colour images with this camera, mimic those of the earliest attempts, that is three separate exposures through coloured filters, first Red, then Green and then Blue are made on black and white film, then processed as usual. Originally, these were then made into positives, then each image was projected via it's own projector through the same filter to be coincident on a screen. This later part is done digitally here, by scanning each negative and then putting it in the appropriate channel in Photoshop - but it's much the same process, just easier as it avoids having to get three projectors working together. The camera needs to be tripod mounted, and the filters I used were fairly dense needing a three stop increase in exposure. The camera had a bit of an issue with frame spacing, the result is the colour bands down the sides of the image, which enhances it no end. The subject is the Hydrangea in my garden, which cannot make a decision as to be blue or pink, so invariably does a half and half.

July 2017

The first film, a Foma 100, went through the Reflex Korelle and has been processed. All told I am quite pleased that the old Korelle got to celebrate it's 80th birthday with a film. The B model is far from the best of the Korelles, but I enjoyed getting it to work and I am reasonably pleased with the results from the first attempt. The one at left is a small part of the very first picture from the first roll from the rejuvenated Korelle B. The only issue may be the first curtain out accelerating the second by a fraction, though this is hard to tell, so I will wait and see what the faster shutter speeds show up, also one film roller is a little sticky which has made some tiny scratches on the emulsion, but this ought to be easily cured. The camera itself is completely light tight without a hint of fogging or streaking, which makes a very pleasant change for once. A few more frames from this first film can be seen in the camera's image gallery, Grandad's old DRP was given what will be it's final outing. 90 years after Gramps bought it, his daughter was photographed by his Grandson with the 1927 DRP.

June 2017

The FED 3 went on some travels to Kazakhstan, no results back from that trip as yet though. Recently I was seduced by Reflex Korelle. Every collector wants one of these, and they are fairly common. The unusual one is the Reflex Korelle B, the rarer though cut price simplified version that no one wants, so that is the one I acquired for the camera equivalent of a donkey sanctuary. It's been through the usual deep clean and had a new shutter made for it. It currently has a test film in it, but that's not finished yet. However the restoration can be seen in the workshop pages as project 5.

March 2017

Sorry, the adverts have to go on again, It looks like I will be unemployed soon, so I cannot afford to fund the website anymore. Hopefully the adverts will cover the cost of the hosting. Apologies, I hate putting them on.

February 2017

Not much of note going on that's visible. In the background I have been sourcing backing paper for 118, 122, 124 roll films. This will be re-spooled with film I have acquired from Ilford. This should enable me to start sorting out some galleries for some of the more awkward sized cameras. The next problem is processing as I don't have any appropriately sized spirals, but I've got this far so I'm not giving in yet.

January 2017

A fairly momentous beginning to the year for entirely non camera related reasons but on the camera front, a handful of images were added for the rebuilt FED 3 which has proved to be an absolute gem. Although the test film wasn't exactly visually stunning, the experience of using the FED was a delight. Happy New Year to all.

November 2016

A very attractive FED 3 donated from Russia has been resident in the workshop for some weeks, it has now been restored and joins the collection pages, along with a humble Lomo, Smena Symbol and a No.3 Folding Pocket Kodak dating from around 1907.

October 2016

The camera that takes the credit for inspiring my interest in old cameras was given an outing earlier this month. Having sat in the display case for some time unused, it required a quick clean and check over, but all seemed in order. It was taken to this old saw mill in late evening, with just one plate loaded.

August 2016

Yikes, is it a year since I used any of the cameras? Sadly yes. The cost of replacing the computer to author the web site totally consumed the budget for film and chemicals. However we have just restored the Ensign Midget, it waited a mere 32 years before it got the chance. It was promptly sent to Siberia.

One of the images from the Siberian trip, taken near Omsk in August 2016. The Ensign Midget performed rather better than I'd hoped, returning six out of six images for the one film I had wound for it. The others can be seen here,

August 2015

Nestling in the back of the cupboard was an old box of Ilford ID11 powder developer, reputedly this has an almost limitless shelf life. This box was the wrong side of 20 years old, so in an extreme product test. I mixed it up and processed the rolls from the Exakta VP. Mixed to stock then used as 1:3 one shot developer, it was fine! Thumbs up for Ilford ID11. So here's one one image from the Exakta VP-B, depicting Bristol Blenheim returning to RAF Bicester for the first time in 70 years.

Whilst comparing the Exakta VP to recent SLRs reveals many shortcomings, considering the era from which the Exakta hails, you have to be impressed, It's easy to use, the lever advance sweeps the next frame in reasonably quickly and the controls are easily set. Fine focussing is a little tricky, but gets the desired result. A fine instrument of the day, a good working example is worth persevering with.

July 2015

Good new for the visitors, bad news for me. After three attempts to buy old MacIntosh computers I got ripped off by some idiot, who ran off with the money - fortunately, Ebay refunded me most of the money. Another machine was totally rubbish, it wasn't even worth the postage to send back, so that went to the skip, and finally the one I am writing this on. Then I had to fork out for newer software, ouch. So the Museum funds are relying on loans. I can only hope that I get some income from the Google adverts soon, although in light of recent performance this looks unlikely. So sadly there is no money for film and processing for some time. The last four rolls of 127 roll film went into the Exakta VP a few weeks back, sadly they remain unprocessed for now. However I did scrape up enough to process two rolls from the Varex IIa, it was despatched to Uzbekistan back in April where it was nearly lost, as it was impounded at Uzbek customs along with the VP as they contravened their export rules. The rule is supposed to protect Uzbek antiques from being taken out, but the border officials apply it to old cameras too. Luckily the cameras were being escorted by a UN negotiator, and they won the day. Phew. Some results from the two rolls of film that went through it are on the gallery for it,

The Kodak I restored FOC for the chap in Northern Ireland has now been returned to him. The deal was I got to keep it for three weeks to sit on my shelf. Whilst it was resident I managed to get one image from it. As it was roughly 1912, I managed to find this period aeroplane at Bicester. It's a reasonably convincing replica of a BE2c, modified from Tiger Moth airframe.

January 2015

Another year rolls by. The end of 2014 saw two new arrivals, both Exaktas. One a Varex II b and one VP, these are currently workshop residents, so aren't on the web site yet. The Varex looks to be a straightforward cleaning task, whilst the VP is likely to be more involved, possibly requiring new curtains, but the whole thing is jammed currently so hard to tell. I have added some results for the Praktica Super TL. I never thought Prakticas got the praise they deserved, the Super TL performed rather well and in the hands of a decent photographer, which patently I am not, I imagine it would be possible to get some fairly spectacular results. Anyway, here's a taster, happy New Year.

Stop Press! The Exakta II b and Exakta VP have both passed through the workshop successfully and now have entries on the web site. The VP was a bit of a challenge but appears to be behaving. This was a repair and conservation job, all the original parts have been used, the shutter curtain tapes had snapped and wrapped themselves around the internals. They needed washing and ironing to get them flat again, before putting back in slightly shorter than before. Getting the shutter set up again was a bit awkward, but a slither of paper around the roller bulked things up enough to keep the curtains running about right. Fingers well and truly crossed!

November 2014

A recent planned outing for the Sanderson revealed the Dial Set Compur had gummed up. It had never been opened up in the 30 years it's been a resident, so it was a bit overdue. Cleaning sorted it out, but whilst I was in there, I did a cut-away picture, you can view the full size by clicking the image, This Compur, mounting an f4.5 Zeiss Tessar, was originally fitted to a Contessa Nettel, whose serial the Compur is proudly displaying. Presumably that camera was broken up at some point and it's shutter/lens combination used to update the Sanderson. In turn, when the Sanderson wound up at the LICM, I rebuilt it with an original Bausch and Lomb Unicum, keeping this Dial Set Compur and Tessar combination as an additional setup.

October 2014

I've added some images for the Nikon FE taken in Kyrgyzstan, as mentioned previously, here's a taster...
Whist the image on the right was made with the Rollei 35.

September 2014

Well, I have been rather avoiding the website in recent months, concentrating on motorcycle restoration rather than cameras. In April I took a couple of the cameras to Kyrgyzstan again, the Nikon FE and the Rollei 35. The most recent outing was for the Ansco No.3, very much a humble member of the collection, this was the best I could get out of it.

February 2014

In 1861 the Scottish theoretical physicist James Clerk Maxwell whose most celebrated work concerns magnetism, electricity and electromagnetic fields, created the first colour photograph. He achieved this by making three exposures of a tartan ribbon, each through a different coloured filter - red, blue and yellow. The resulting negatives were then made into positives, and all three were then projected through their respective filters onto a common screen. This additive process results in a colour image on the screen. As a homage to this event, I decided to have a go myself. I elected to use the common additive colours used today, known as RGB - or Red, Green and Blue. I used our 1908 Sanderson quarter plate camera for the experiment. This required, a complete service before it decided to play nicely, as the Unicum shutter had decided to jam. So I set up a suitable still life with only natural light from one side, a mirror to shine some light through the back of the glasses and made my three exposures. I compensated about three stops for the rather dark filters I found. These were then processed in a suitably vintage tank, and the developer was left in too long deliberately, to punch up the contrast and was developed on the warm side. Just to really give it the aged look, the wash was freezing cold to really mess up the emulsion. As I don't have one projector that takes quarter plate, let alone three identical ones, the negatives were projected onto paper, photographed then combined on the computer to finish the process. This is the result. Maxwell's original can be found easily enough online.

On the camera front, we have been very busy in the workshop, acquiring a 1915 Graflex 1A in decidedly rotten condition as a challenge, for my 50th birthday. After many hours work, it has been returned to working order. We are also resurrecting a Ensignette and a Leica III is waiting its turn. Three further images have been added for the 1902 Sanderson, here's one of them.