Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/01/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I'm coming to like the look of the photo more and more. It was basically made with a small light box inverted and shining through a color negative on a flatbed scanner. Since the flatbed couldn't correct for the orange mask with the normal fluorescent light of the box providing the illumination, I treated it as a black & white image, adding a bit of yellow and red to give it a touch of the sepia look. Scanning as a grayscale image would provide a little more range & perhaps bump up the quality a bit. As for the 2C, I'd recommend against it. Not that I don't like it, I love the camera, but there are better, more plentiful versions out there. The Kodak 2C was the economy model fitted usually with a 5.5" 2 element single group meniscus lens in ball bearing shutter. One lovely thing about it is that these shutters just keep working. They are cocked and actuated on depressing the button or cable release so through the years of storage, the shutters have not been sitting at max tension with precision clockwork mechanisms to gall up. It's simplicity and it's wonderful. The better camera to get would be a Kodak 3A Autographic which takes the even larger 122 format. Converted to 120/220 use it yields a 6x14 negative. The lenses are just a hair sharper but still unit focusing so using the large scale on the bellows is easy. Fortunately Kodak flooded the market with 116, 122 and 130 folder cameras so they are very plentiful, making a potential engineering/hacking project seem not so bad when you know you're not cutting up a rare antique. This is no Ernemann Tropical mahogany field camera, it's rather more the Canonet of the day. The biggest advantage of the 3A over the 2C is the quality of the front standard. The 2C is heavy black painted stamped metal with no control besides in and out focus movement. The 3A has a much higher quality cast metal front standard, is more rigid and provides 13mm of lens rise (when the camera is positioned long axis vertically.) I'm really wanting to stick a 90mm lens on a 3A and take it to NYC to play around with vertical panoramas using the lens shift. The 2C provides no movement really aside from a little guesstimation tilt by unlocking the back and crossing one's fingers. What I'm planning for the current 2C is to replace the meniscus lens with a Graflex 90mm Optar giving me a very wide angle of view. Roughly equivalent to a 28mm lens on 35mm format. The physical dimensions of the Graflex lens and also the Schneider 1st gen Angulon 90 f/6.8 enable the camera to be refitted with newer wide-angle lens in shutter, folded up and closed just as the original. Those two lenses are quite small and portability of my panoramic camera is a big issue. Sure, I could carry around a 4x5 with 6x14 back and a tripod, but this way I have a camera that folds up into quite a neat package and deploys quickly when needed. All this for the price of the wide lens, a camera body that runs about $20 used and a little bit of time to engineer the modifications. Much less than today's 6x12 or 6x14 offerings from the custom camera makers. Philip -----Original Message----- From: lug-bounces+photo.forrest=earthlink.net@leica-users.org [mailto:lug-bounces+photo.forrest=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Leonard Taupier Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 9:24 AM To: Leica Users Group Subject: Re: [Leica] IMG: definitely not taken with a Leica Philip, No reason for excuses. That's a very interesting image just the way it is. I could try all I want and never get an image to look like that. Just remember how you did it. Now you've got me interested in looking into the 2C. Sure sounds like fun. Regards, Len On Jan 31, 2007, at 12:17 AM, Philip Forrest wrote: > Monday the 29th using my 130 format Kodak 2C converted to 6x12. > This is a > view of the Philadelphia main post office across the Schuylkill River. > There are a bunch more, but scanner problems prevent me from making > a higher > quality image. Apologies for the image quality here. Copy of a > copy. Right > now the camera is basically un-modified besides adapters for the > smaller > format. As soon as my 90mm Optar arrives though, the camera will > be much > wider & hopefully sharper. Either way, it's all fun. > > > > http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a335/PForrest/Panoramic/ > 2C_Bridge.jpg?t=11 > 70220099 > > > _______________________________________________ > 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