Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/05/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]RABS BEGINS! On May 4, 2011, at 1:50 PM, Mark Rabiner wrote: > 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 > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information