[Leica] 100 year anniversary of 120 film (Care & feeding of '29 Original)

[s.dimitrov at charter.net (Slobodan Dimitrov)]

I just found out that next year, 2012, 120 film will be 100 years old. 
Anyone willing to do a celebratory project to commemorate the milestone?
S.d. 

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Carlos Manuel Freaza <cmfreaza at yahoo.com.ar>
> Date: May 4, 2011 1:53:25 AM PDT
> To: rolleiusers at yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [rolleiusers] Re: Care & feeding of '29 Original
> Reply-To: rolleiusers at yahoogroups.com
> 
> Kirk:
> 120 film was available from 1912 and the Rolleiflex was designed in 1928, 
> it could be made to use 120 film but Heidecke wanted to keep the camera as 
> compact and small as posssible and then he chose the 117 film (B1-6). The 
> Rolleiflex was a market successs and hardly the firsts users got it they 
> asked the factory about to adapt it to use longer film; F&H found a way to 
> retrofit the camera for 620 film spools use with 12 frames. 
> 
> According the explanation in Claus Prochnow's Report 1, the 620 spools 
> larger flanges made contact with the upper spool chamber and then it had 
> to be enlarged accordingly, the lower spool was housed in a cage and 
> projected slightly and then the camera back received two spherical cuts. 
> The camera exterior was kept original without changes.
> 
> The camera could also be adapted for 120 film at factory, but it required 
> major changes with modifications even for the camera exterior (i.e. a 
> additional spool knob and a new wider transport knob with a groove) and 
> the changes for the camera inside were significant too.
> While the adaptation for 620 film looks pretty simple for a technician 
> wanting to do the task, the adaptation for 120 film looks more complex 
> requiring special parts, 120 spools had slight variants at the time and 
> the adaptation needed to consider these variants.
> 
> It was from January 1932 with the first Rolleiflex Standard model that the 
> Rolleiflex cameras were made to use 120 film from factory. The 117 film 
> was discontinued in 1949, F&H decision to adopt the 120 film size had 
> nothing to do with the 117 film availability, the Rolleiflex users wanted 
> a longer film. 
> 
> Carlos
> 
> PS:If you have the 620 spools, it's pretty easy to respool 120 film, the 
> only difference 120-620 is the spool, film size is the same. 
> 
> --- El mi? 4-may-11, Kirk Thompson <thompsonkirk at hotmail.com> escribi?:
> 
> > De: Kirk Thompson <thompsonkirk at hotmail.com>
> > Asunto: [rolleiusers] Re: Care & feeding of '29 Original
> > Para: rolleiusers at yahoogroups.com
> > Fecha: mi?rcoles, 4 de mayo de 2011, 1:03
> > Thanks, Richard, for having a go at
> > it, but unfortunately those aren't solutions (if there are
> > any).
> > 
> > 1. No way 120, it's too fat. The early Rolleis used 117
> > film.  Phillips explains that in 1929 it was the only
> > size that had the frame numbers printed in the right place
> > on the backing paper. 117 was 6 cm wide but had a thin
> > spindle (making a thinner roll), small flanges, and
> > different holes in the ends of the spools. 
> > 
> > When 117 was discontinued, many of the original Rolleis
> > were converted to 620 film (which is still available from
> > B&H). 620 has a skinny spindle and small flanges like
> > 117, but it required a modification of the cameras: a
> > different-sized left bump and right key to engage the
> > take-up spool. These are the conversion parts I have some
> > small hope of finding, if anyone knows of an old Rollei
> > burial site where such things can be found.
> > 
> > 2. Years of experience have proved that klutzes like me do
> > not work on their own cameras. So I still want to know if
> > there's a classic camera repairman who retains old parts and
> > skills. (Fleenor and Krikor don't work on these.)
> > 
> > Kirk
> 
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