Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/05/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I love Brownie film. And that is my understanding of what medium format film is called in Japan. So if I was listening to Japanese photographers talk to each other that would be the word I'd be able to pick out. What I'd like to know is is 120 film and 6x6 the first such film made? As in with the paper backing and spool configuration. The irony on the "Brownie" term is that many people here think of medium format film as Hasselblad film. What goes in a Hasselblad. Which is the exact other end of the spectrum as people think of such cameras as the epitome of high end ness. While a brownie being the epitome of low end ness. So there is some irony there. Perhaps intended. My very first camera as a kid was a Brownie Starlet which used film on a spool with a paper backing but as it turned out was a scaled down version of 120 6x6 film. It was 127 film and was 4x4 cm's! It took me awhile to figure out looking back that I started out shooting squares. As I think the shooting of squares has been a very big deal in my photo history much of my best work. And I took to it like a duck to water with my first Rolleiflex in 1975 right out of school. I'd like to be shooting some squares today! The Starlet was made both in Rochester and in Paris France. I took this picture with it from the top of the Empire State Building in the rain when I was nine in 1960, my first roll of film ever. Roll #1. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/New+York+Cityx.jpg.html But my first camera in around 1958 when I was 10-12 yrs old: (1960-2) was a Brownie Starlet which shot a mini 120 film called 127. http://www.ken.lyndrup.dk/Engelsk/Kodak/Brownie%20Stralet%20Camera%20E.htm http://www.geh.org/fm/brownie/htmlsrc/mE13000055_ful.html#topofimage http://www.vieilalbum.com/BrownieStarletFR.htm Manufactured : 1957-62 Lens : Dakon Shutter : Rotary IMAGE SIZE: 1-5/8 x 1-5/8in. (4.1275 inches according to the internet) ((.1275 inch = 3.2385 millimeters)) ORIGINAL LIST PRICE: $5.95 Film Size : 127 Negative Size : 4x4 cm -------------------- Mark William Rabiner > From: Slobodan Dimitrov <s.dimitrov at charter.net> > Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> > Date: Wed, 4 May 2011 06:33:48 -0700 > To: <rolleiusers at yahoogroups.com>, <rollei_list at freelists.org> > Cc: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> > Subject: [Leica] 100 year anniversary of 120 film (Care & feeding of '29 > Original) > > 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 >> >> __._,_.___ >> Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic >> Messages in this topic (5) >> RECENT ACTIVITY: >> Visit Your Group >> MARKETPLACE >> Find useful articles and helpful tips on living with Fibromyalgia. Visit >> the >> Fibromyalgia Zone today! >> >> Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - >> Get >> the Yahoo! Toolbar now. >> >> Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest ? Unsubscribe ? Terms of Use >> . >> >> __,_._,___ > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information