I’m looking to buy an antique camera, but have no idea the name, type, or what have you. I’ll provide a description so the more photo knowledgable dopers might be able to assist:
It’s from the era of 30’s-50’s (yeah, I know, big help, right?) It is boxy, with two handles on the sides, and a large flash off to one side, and usually a strap of some sort. If I had to guess the dimensions, I would say 10" across, 6-8" high, and 5-7" deep.
So, am I too vague, or does someone out there know what I’m talking about?
What about 620 film for a Brownie Hawkeye? Is it still being made? I’ve heard that you can use 120 film (I assume it’s still being made) by respooling it onto a 620 spool. True?
4x5 is still around, and some sources of 620 still exist, although the film is now outdated. The last source I knew of for respooling new film has stopped doing it. Frame spacing was a problem with that set up, btw.
116 118 130 122 115 roll films, among others like 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 sheet films are no longer available. Also, some of the pack film holders are semi obsolete because the films like Tri-X that used to come in 16 sheet 4x5 packs are no longer marketed that way.
There were a series of backs made by outside sources that allowed certain Century products to remain usable, but even those are becoming harder and harder to find as time goes by.
I just did a search and found this page which has some useful information, but I’m not sure how current the info is. Things tend to change really fast nowadays when talking about classic film formats.
Be sure to get a 4x5 Graphic* – they also came in 2x3 and 3x4, formats which are now obsolete and therefore expensive from the two companies that specialize in odd-sized film. It’s not worth the money or effort (you’ll also need a 3x4 developing tank, 3x4 negative carrier for your enlarger… with 4x5, you can still get all the accessories)
If you want to save weight and money, get a 2x3 camera and a 120 rollfilm back for it.
*Graphics came in two flavors after 1947, called “Pacemaker” models: the Speed Graphic, which had been around since the '20s with a 1/1000-second focal-plane shutter; and the new Crown Graphic, which was identical to the Speed save for the omission of the FP shutter, making it a bit lighter. Before '47, it was just the Speed. I recommend the Pacemaker, as they’re the last models, and therefore have the most features and are easiest to use.
Of course, a 4x5 with the flash on weighs over ten pounds. That’s just the camera itself; it doesn’t include extra film holders, which are rather heavy and bulky.
Read everything on Graflex.org, and join their forum. They’ll be able to tell you everything you want to know.
Film pack adapters are useless; Kodak stopped making pack film when the last guy putting the packs together retired sometime in the early '90s. You’ll want standard 2-sheet film holders, a Grafmatic (6-sheet quick-changer), or a 120 back (if you’re going to be using rollfilm exclusively, get a 2x3 camera – they weigh half as much).
I’m curious as to why you want one, when you didn’t even know what it was.
We had a well-worn Speed Graphic at my first job (30 years ago) and I used it often, mostly for studio type work. I’m always amazed to see old movies in which news reporters are using them for candid shots the way we’d use an SLR now. They’re relatively hard to focus, nothing automatic, you have to carry a bunch of 4x5 film holders around with you (each of which holds only two pieces of film), and it takes at least 10-15 seconds after taking a shot to slip the slide in, flip the holder around to the other side, remove the slide, and set up for your next shot. Make sure you don’t mix up the exposed film holders with the unexposed!
Ah, the good old days when photographers were real men (and women)!
And the easiest and cheapest way to load a Brownie, Johnny, is to hand-roll 120 onto the 620 spools. There’s no difference at all between the films, it’s just that the ends of the spools on the 620 are a bit thinner. Then, of course, you either have to develop it yourself or ask the lab to give you your spools back. They’re metal so they last forever.
I know this because I have been trying to find a working Brownie Six-Twenty for a year and a half and have spent the time learning about how it will work when I buy it.
Oh, I forgot to mention, if you get a 120 back, try to get one of the later ones that wind with a lever rather than a knob. They’re easier to use, more accurate with the frame spacing, and less likely to break.
You can still get most emulsions in 4x5, and I recommend it as a great learing experience if nothing else. It’s expensive (around a dollar a shot), so you teach yourself to not screw up, and when you finally get that first frame that’s been exposed once and only once (you’ll double or blank a lot at first, I assure you), it’s the most beautiful, invisibly-grained thing you’ll ever see rendered in silver on acetate.
I have a Pacemaker Speed Graphic and use it for just that sort of thing. It’s not that hard once you get used to it. Focus? Bah! That’s what magnesium flashbulbs are for! Set your exposure for the flash – don’t worry about changing ambient light, those things are twice as bright as the brightest daylight – prefocus, and just get within 10 feet of the distance you focussed for. The depth of field and big negative work together so you won’t notice if it’s a bit out of focus.
Lots of them on eBay. After my ‘tell me about your cameras’ thread a month or so ago, I bought a Brownie Hawkeye with the flash, plastic shatter guard for the flash, original manual, a few bulbs, and original box for about ten bucks. Pretty simple camera. One shutter speed, and the shutter operates perfectly. (There’s also a ‘B’ setting – at least that’s what it’s called now; I don’t remember what they call it – for keeping the shutter open for as long as you hold the button down. It works as well.)
I should have been more clear. I called it a ‘B’ setting, since that’s what it’s called on my 35mm cameras. I don’t recall what it’s called on the Hawkeye.
I know Hawkeyes are a dime a dozen, but that’s not what I want. I want a Target Six-20, the box camera from the '30s. I’ve found lots of them, but they were cheap, crummy cameras when new, and on every one I’ve found either the mirrors have lost their silvering or have come loose/broken inside, or more rarely the mirrors are decent but the shutter no longer triggers.
